Group asks CM to shun Microsoft

CHENNAI: Free Software Foundation of India, an organisation involved in the promotion of the free use of software, sent an open letter to chief minister J Jayalalithaa seeking cancellation of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Microsoft Inc.
The MoU was signed on Tuesday to implement an IT programme for government school teachers with the help of software giant Microsoft.The open letter raised objection to the software developed by Microsoft. “Students and teachers involved in the project will not be able to see how the software works. If it develops a problem, they will not have the right to make corrections or modifications. They will have to depend on the company entirely. They will be denied the right to share the software with others,” the letter said.
The letter offered to implement a similar project on a free software platform. It advised the government to study the educational system followed by Kerala and Karnataka wherein schools in the two states give their students the opportunity to study and share software.