I have been associated with Dgplug since april 2006,in this last 1 year (i year 2 months to be specific ) i came to know lot about linux and the Foss world.
This create a strong enthusiam in me for Free and Open source software.
With my this very little knowledge i would like to share a view.

In February 2007 , a meeting was held in Dr.B.C.Roy Engg.College regarding introduction of FOSS electives in our syllabus with WBUT in association with NRCFOSS.

there i came upon a phrase that meaned ' Zero percent tolerance for pirated software'.
Thereby i came across this many times after.

In context with a fake raid by Microsoft and the above ,there lies a loophole in the idea itself.

Suppose i own a computer centre having 10 computers. i ,due to my above mentioned principle,have all genuine propeitary software(say microsoft windows xp and associates) installed in it.
As per schedule say 10 students come across this computers and they are learning something.In any general case few of the following happens:-

1) the student gets gets a wrong idea that microsoft and computer are inevitable part of computing.

2) Even if they didn't ,there lies a strong possibility that every time that student wants to do something regarding computers he/she looks for a familier platform( andas in most cases and here also its Propetiry Soft).

3)Apart from the above ,if each student has a computer in his home ,Despite off all tries there lies very less possibity that each student will buy a genuine copy of propeitary OS and associates.

So even though the try is to lessen piracy,it acually giving a boost to it.

While on the Other hand if the knowledge is shared using FOSS softwares,not only piracy gets lessened( due to no need of it any more) but also knowledge gained is much more than above mentioned case due to availability of a good number of choices.


So we can very easily conclude FOSS not only give us a chance to curb piracy but also increase knowledge.

Only need is to convice the syllabus designing bodies and educational heads about the importance of FOSS.