Title of the Article: Some Chinese colleges and universities are banned from MATLAB ,Turning to open source software to regain attention
June 11, 2020

This is interesting. Implausible as it may be, it now seems that relying too heavily on proprietary software does carry a fair bit of risk! As the above news piece reported, at the moment the US is only banning certain US-made software (in this case, MATLAB) from being used by certain universities and research institutions in China. But then things tend to go down a slippery slope, wouldn't they?  One day, it can be a whole country banned from using your favourite software, like MS Office, Photoshop, AutoCAD, ... all in the name of "National Security".

No wonder more and more people are taking an interest in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS for short) - Linux OS, LibreOffice, GIMP, OpenSSH, ... just to name a few! Just about any proprietary software out there, in any field, any sector, there is always the FOSS equivalent, ready to take its place. Like the software in this story - MATLAB. You can ban its use, but the students can easily find alternatives (e.g. SCILAB, R, or the Python programming language ...) that are not just as usable, but also free the users from the shackles of EULA's or the threat of ban ...

That's why in recent times, from a city council to a University, and through to a whole third-world nation, the decision-makers are starting to think the unthinkable - ditching proprietary software for Free and Open Source alternatives!

Sharing it here.

Regards,

Wen