Original Message -----
From: "IT@School" <itschool(a)asianetindia.com>
To: <manjushmenon(a)hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 5:08 PM
Subject: Reply
> Mr.Manjush G. Menon
> We are not giving to depend totally on Ms. Products. Rather MS
> Office is taught along with open office and Windows along with Linux
> from this year. Arranging the resource persons for training an open
> software, making available the software, the maintenance of a help desk
> etc. are logistical issues which could not be immediately undertaken.
> We plan switch out to open software within three years.
> Executive Director
>
---- Original Message -----
From: Manjush G. Menon
To: itschool(a)asianetindia.com
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 5:46 PM
Subject: Respected sir,
From
Manjush G. Menon,
Sr.Programmer,
Sofker Solutions Pvt Ltd,
Kochi-18.
To
The Executive Director,
'IT @ SCHOOL' Project,
SCERT Buildings,
Poojapura,
Thiruvananthapuram-12.
Respected sir,
SUB: In protest against the inclusion of products from multinational companies
in the syllabus of 'IT @ SCHOOL'
It's a very dissappointing fact that when the whole world is moving towards
Free software, we at kerala are going behind a major MNC - Microsoft. I hereby register
my protest in such an act from 'IT @ SCHOOL' Project team.
Breaking of prototypes will definetly help us in finding economical and high quality
products for our future generation.
For students and programmers, the GNU Linux contains 'GNU Compiler Collections'
which includes C, C++, FORTRAN, PERL, TCL etc. Also, for DTP and other publishing purposes,
it includes GNU Office utilities like Abi-Word, gedit, and other worksheet utilities,
all these with a nominal cost of Rs 700-800/-. The software as it is, is free and
the cost is accounted towards the media (CD + Documentation) included.
By this letter, I urge you to take this matter seriously and suggest necessary modifications
in the action plan of 'IT @ SCHOOL' project.
Wishing you all the best and wishing all 'Students @ SCHOOL' a bright future,
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully
Manjush G. Menon.
______________________________________________________
Check out all the latest outrageous email attachments on the Outrageous Email Chart! - http://viral.lycos.co.uk
Thanks to George Lessard for posting this across. FN
---------- Forwarded message ----------
PERUVIAN EFFORT COULD BAN MICROSOFT ON GOV. COMPUTERS
Peruvian Congressman Edgar Villanueva is pushing legislation to obligate all
public institutions to convert exclusively to open-source software.
Open-source programs, embodied by the Linux operating system, have
underlying code available to anyone who wants to modify or customize it.
Such software, in unadorned form, can be downloaded from the Internet for
free. Villanueva hopes his measure triggers activity in Peru's software
industry by freeing programmers from the constraints of working with coding
controlled by a few large companies. Open-source could take the expense out
of software upgrades; which is important for a country like Peru that owes
about $30 million in overdue software license fees.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/3531007.htm)
Hi all,
Work has started on the Akruti Bengali fonts, and Dr Anirban Mitra
<mitra_anirban(a)yahoo.co.in> has already developed a beta OTF using the
glyphs.
The GPOS tables are still incomplete, and some of the yuktakshars are
still missing.
I will upload the fonts asap in the download sections at
www.nongnu.org/freebangfont/
-regards-
sdg
Mahesh T Pai has completed an unofficial translation of GNU Public License :
http://in.geocities.com/paivakil/freecommunity
Regards,
Baiju M
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: [smc-devel] Re: [malayalamlinux] Looking for Malayalam Unicode text
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 14:02:42 +0530
From: Mahesh T Pai <paivakil(a)vsnl.net>
To: Rajkumar S <raj(a)linuxense.com>, smc-devel(a)nongnu.org
Rajkumar S wrote:
> Hello,
>
>
> Any one having some Malayalam Unicode text?
Try it on the GPL. Here it is
Rajkumar had posted the original message to
malayalamlinux(a)yahoogroups.com, but since it has moved to
smc-devel@nongnu, my reply comes to this group. Hope it is all right.
This is how I created this file. Original was file created in iLeap,
and 'saved as' ISCII text from .lp2 format. From ISCII format, it
converted to varamozhi text. (athaayathu ithu pOle). From varamozhi
text, converted to unicode, using varamozhi. Varamozhi is not able to
convert direct from ISCII to unicode - it hangs on win98.
The Malayalam translation of the GPL will go on line at
http://in.geocities.com/paivakil/freecommunity within a few hours
definitely before 00.00 hours, November 1.
With regards,
Mahesh T Pai.
-------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
From: "Srinath S" <sri(a)iiitb.ac.in>
To: <Indic-computing-users(a)lists.sourceforge.net>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 11:41:09 +0530
Subject: [Indic-computing-users] Richard Stallman on the Dangers of Software Patents
Dear All,
I'm sorry that I have been a dormant member of Indic-computing list. There
is very little I can contribute to Indic computing per se.
In case you are interested, Richard Stallman (of GNU fame) is giving a
speech on the Danger of Software Patents at IIIT Bangalore on Nov 2nd. The
talk is between 11:30 -- 13:00 hrs. You can register for the talk at this
URL http://osl.iiitb.ac.in/stallman-register.php
Hope this would be of help in your research and your projects.
Best Regards
Srinath Srinivasa
Faculty member IIIT-B
Can we post a more detailed update to the various mailing lists.
One confirmation: Goa should read Nov 5 evening-Nov 7 noon (not 6-7).
Talk on Nov 6 at 4 pm, Goa Engineering College, Farmaguddi, Ponda.
Also planning an interaction with Goa Chambers of Commerce and Industry
and the CM. FN
PS: We need to be publicising this early. Can friends from Bangalore give
an update of programmes there too?
* * * * * * * * * * *
This is from the fsf-friends mailing list....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Stallman is visiting India. He will be in Bangalore from 31st to
5th. On 31st he is giving a talk organised by CSI. The venue is JN Tata
Auditorium Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. Time; 14.45 to 15.45 hrs.
On Nov 1st he will be talking at IT.com (I guess in Palace grounds)
He will e at Goa from Nov 6th and 7th and will be giving talks at
engineering colleges. Venue to be decided.
So mark your calenders and plan to attend them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regards,
Amol Hatwar
--__--__--
Hello List
There are obvious errors in the article about free software in the
malayalam text book of 8th Std IT@School Project. The errors may have
crept during the translation of the English text to Malayalam. But it
cannot be allowed to happen because if allowed to, it would convey a
wrong interpretation about free software amongst the
students/teachers/other persons.
The exact malayalam text in mnglish
Line 15 : Ennal panam kodukkate mikacha software
aarkkum nalkunna oru prasthanam undu. Athanu free
software foundation. Free software prasthanathile
prashastharaya 2 peranu richard stallman um Linus
Torvaldsum
<English Translation>
There is a movement which gives best software to
anyone without taking money, that is Free Software
Foundation. Two famous names in the free software
foundation are Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds.
</English Translation>
(Information technology 1, malayalam version, page 25)
It also didn't mention anything about freedom and sharing.
The English version is OK.
The exact English text
Free Software Foundation
------------------------
Many of the software available today are proprietary
in the sense that they are actually owned by the
manufacturing companies. It is illegal and hence
punishable by law to copy them or share them with
others. Also, the companies do not generally disclose
the underlying code or the method of development of
these software. So we have to buy these software at a
high cost and also forced to buy the updates the
companies bring out from time to time. So, there is a
periodic expenditure in maintaining the computer up
to date. "Free Software" is a solution to these
problems. Such software developed by the Free
Software Foundation can be copied, shared or
modified. So, they can be acquired at a low cost,
even free of cost sometimes. The movement was founded
by Richard Stallman. Another name to note is that of
Linus Torvalds.
(Information Technology 1, English version, Page 25)
The authorities at IT@School are saying that they will convert to more
free software. But I do not think it will ever happen. If one looks
at the text books for 8th Std, this becomes quite evident. One would
doubt whether it is a text book or some advertising supplement of
Microsoft and Intel. Wherever there is a picture of a microprocessor,
it is an Intel Pentium chip. The chapter on software packages shows a
logo of Windows XP. The chapter on wordprocessing shows a logo of
Microsoft Word 2000...
Should this be allowed ? This has to be fixed.....
--
Vimal
I presented a paper on the social fairness of software at the just concluded
34th Regional Science Conference at Thrissur. The core theme is attached
herewith for remarks and suggestions from members of this list.
I deliberately avoided the terminology of 'Free Software' as the audience had
been economists and planning experts.
CK Raju
Hello,
Thanks for writing to gnu(a)gnu.org.in.
You can find out more about our activities on our website, fsf.org.in
or gnu.org.in. A good way to keep in touch with our activities is by
subscribing to our mailing lists (subscription information is on the
website). Please consider subscribing to fsf-friends, which is the
principal support list of FSF-India, and also to fsf-india, which is
FSF India's announcement list.
-- gnu(a)gnu.org.in
On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 09:53:46 +0500, "SEPSIT KANNUR" <sepsit(a)linuxmail.org> wrote:
> Hello,
> Sepsit is a registered society working for the enhancement of Free
> software in Keralam.We had already contacted GNU and they redirected
> us to You.It's a pleasure to know that FSF India is headed in
> Keralam.We arev currently developing Software in GPL'd tools on
> GNU/Linux Platform.We are also providing necessary guidelines to firms
> that wishes to move to GPL.We wish to know more about FSF India and
> its activities .We have a tie-up with Open Software Solutions
> Industrial Co -Operative Society Limited,Ernakulam,which is working
> for the enhancement of free software and related matters.Kindly give
> necessary Information.
>
> From Social Entrepreneurship Promotion Society on Information
> Technology (SEPSIT), Reg No 463/2002, Dinesh Software Park, Kannur,
> Keralam, India - 670002, Telephone : 0497-712965
>
> --
>
> Powered by Outblaze
>
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