Mumbai: Free software activist groups from across the city came together at the Don Bosco Institute of Technology, Kurla on Saturday to celebrate Software Freedom Day (SFD) along with 100 school teachers, in order to educate them about the importance of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), a software that is owned socially and not by a specific proprietor.
Proprietary software programmes like Windows, Photoshop, Corel or Tally, that have registration and application fees, can be replaced by FOSS, which is allegedly better and cheaper than the proprietary ones. Apart from this, the activists also focused on the privacy aspect that is lost in these software. The activists spoke to the teachers about open source software and its benefits.
Kranti Ghag, a member of the Free Software Movement Maharashtra said, “Freedom is our birthright and hence I want to use the software the way I want it to be. Moreover, if this software is taking away your privacy, it should be deleted as soon as possible. If you are talking to your friend about buying a new mobile phone in any social media applications (which is also a software) and the next day you find advertisements or recommendations of mobile phones in your feed, this means your software is hearing what you are saying. I don’t want this kind of software and hence I support FOSS.”
Nagarjuna G who works at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research said, “Today everyone across the country is celebrating and making people aware of the benefits of using open software.”
