Why is the open-source process/model important to the eductional institutions of Malaysia?
Open source is particularly important in the context of Malaysia’s education system. All schools are now encouraged to have computer and IT courses where students are supposed to learn about computer technology and the Internet. However, given the current commercial PC operating environment, most of the students will only end up learning how to use the Windows Manager and some specific applications. To promote the hacker culture and mindset, we have to encourage our young to question, probe, experiment and innovate. The current Windows-based PC environment is a close source system and provides an inflexible environment for experimentation and probing under the hood. However if an open-source system like Linux is used for the PCs in the schools, the operating environment and source code availability provides vast opportunities for teaching, learning and experimentation. Furthermore it makes huge economical sense operating open-source environments in education institutions as many of the
