Computer-literacy In India at Robert Pogson

India, with over a billion people and a rapidly growing middle-class is ripe for a rapid uptake in IT yet poverty is still a huge factor in adoption. GNU/Linux and FLOSS is part of the answer to this problem. Another major part are small cheap computers now coming on the market. India is ready to catch the wave. The “Spoken Tutorial” project is the on-ramp to modern IT for people of all backgrounds in India. It is multi-lingual and reflective of many needs and abilities.

“The main purpose of this project is to make India computer literate,” reasons Moudgalya, adding that it is not possible if one relies only on commercial software. “We have to make the most use of open source software like LibreOffice and Latex and OS like Linux. It’s our only solution,”
see Found: Blueprint for a computer-literate India.

While uptake of FLOSS has been weak in some regions, India has many millions of users of IT coming on-line who are not locked in to Wintel. India alone could multiply the users of FLOSS within the next few years. I recommend Debian GNU/Linux to newbies everywhere. It takes a bit of learning to install but it has the flexibility people need to get things done.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.