Brilliant! What can we do to have Sugar more formally recognised by the FSF? I think it should be their desktop of choice for primary school education.
Sridhar Sridhar Dhanapalan Engineering Manager One Laptop per Child Australia On 31 January 2012 23:28, Anish Mangal <an...@activitycentral.com> wrote: > Hi, > > Just received a message on the fsf-info list about FSF relaunching the > GNU education project: > > Links: > [1] http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-education-website-relaunch > [blog post] > [2] http://www.gnu.org/education/ [GNU Education website] > > -- > Anish > > > * * * > > > BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Monday, January 30, 2012 -- The GNU > Project today announced the relaunch of its worldwide volunteer-led > effort to bring free software to educational institutions of all > levels. The new effort is based at http://www.gnu.org/education. > > The newly formed GNU Education Team is being led by Dora Scilipoti, an > Italian free software activist and teacher. Under her leadership, the > Team has developed a list of specific goals to guide their work: > > > Present cases of educational institutions around the world who are > successfully using and teaching free software. > > Show examples of how free programs are being used by educational > institutions to improve the learning and teaching processes. > > Publish articles on the various aspects involved in the use of free > software by educational institutions. > > Maintain a dialogue with teachers, students and administrators of > educational institutions to listen to their difficulties and provide > support. > > Keep in contact with other groups around the world committed to the > promotion of free software in education. > > GNU and its host organization, the Free Software Foundation (FSF), > emphasize that free software principles are a prerequisite for any > educational environment that uses computers: > > Educational institutions of all levels should use and teach free > software because it is the only software that allows them to > accomplish their essential missions: to disseminate human knowledge > and to prepare students to be good members of their community. The > source code and the methods of free software are part of human > knowledge. On the contrary, proprietary software is secret, restricted > knowledge, which is the opposite of the mission of educational > institutions. Free software supports education, proprietary software > forbids education. > > In an article at > http://fsf.org/blogs/community/gnu-education-website-relaunch, > Scilipoti adds insights about the project's organizing philosophy, > current contributors, and progress so far. Of her basic motivation for > being involved, she says, "As a free software advocate and a teacher, > I always felt that the GNU Project needed to address the subject > specifically and in depth, for it is in the education field that its > ethical principles find the most fertile ground for achieving the goal > of building a better society." > > In her article, Scilipoti also highlights some of the free software > success stories from around the world, especially Kerala, India, where > the government has migrated over 2,600 of its public schools to free > software. > > While the Education Team has already compiled a collection of useful > materials, they are also looking for more volunteer contributors. > People who want to help, or who have information about instructive > examples of existing use of free software in schools, should contact > educat...@gnu.org. > > "Education really is one of the most fundamental areas we need to > focus on to achieve real social change," said Free Software Foundation > executive director John Sullivan. "We need to be acknowledging and > assisting schools that are doing the right thing, and helping those > who aren't yet on board understand why those giveaway Microsoft > Office, iPad, and Kindle deals aren't so great for classrooms after > all. We're very thankful to all of the Team members for stepping up to > meet this challenge. I hope others will be inspired by their work and > join the effort." > > The Education Team has also been working closely with GNU's > Translation Team to make the new materials available in as many > languages as possible. People interested in helping with the > translation component of the project should see the information at > http://www.gnu.org/server/standards/README.translations.html. > > About the Free Software Foundation > > The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to > promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and > redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and > use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating > system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free > software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and > political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, > located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information > about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at > http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA. > > About Free Software and Open Source > > The free software movement's goal is freedom for computer users. Some, > especially corporations, advocate a different viewpoint, known as > "open source," which cites only practical goals such as making > software powerful and reliable, focuses on development models, and > avoids discussion of ethics and freedom. These two viewpoints are > different at the deepest level. For more explanation, see > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html. > > About the GNU Operating System and Linux > > Richard Stallman announced in September 1983 the plan to develop a > free software Unix-like operating system called GNU. GNU is the only > operating system developed specifically for the sake of users' > freedom. See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html. > > In 1992, the essential components of GNU were complete, except for > one, the kernel. When in 1992 the kernel Linux was re-released under > the GNU GPL, making it free software, the combination of GNU and Linux > formed a complete free operating system, which made it possible for > the first time to run a PC without non-free software. This combination > is the GNU/Linux system. For more explanation, see > http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html. > > Media Contacts > > John Sullivan > Executive Director > Free Software Foundation > +1 (617) 542 5942 > campai...@fsf.org > > ### > > > -- > Follow us on identi.ca at http://identi.ca/fsf | Subscribe to our > blogs via RSS at http://fsf.org/blogs/RSS > Join us as an associate member at http://fsf.org/jf > Sent from the Free Software Foundation, > > 51 Franklin Street > Fifth Floor > Boston, MA 02110-1335 > United States > You can unsubscribe to this mailing-list by visiting the link > http://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/mailing/unsubscribe?reset=1&jid=125657&qid=1290156&h=4c5de871cf45122d. > > To stop all email from the Free Software Foundation, including > Defective by Design, > and the Free Software Supporter newsletter, click this link: > > http://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/mailing/optout?reset=1&jid=125657&qid=1290156&h=4c5de871cf45122d. > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > i...@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep _______________________________________________ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel