Dear Satish,
Free Software is not Open Source Software. Access to code is not the main
issue. Free License implies Ownership and Control. It is not the recipe of
coke but the ownership of coke.
Copyrighting is the root cause of the digital divide... here is an
oversimplification so that you can understand..
------------------------------------------------------
Before the concept of Private Property:
No Economic Divide
After the concept of Private Property:
Land Owners
Landless
Economic Divide
------------------------------------------------------
Before the concept of Intellectual Property:-
No Digital Divide
After the concept of Intellectual Property:
Those with Knowledge
Those without Knowledge
Digital Divide
------------------------------------------------------
You will notice this trend in all forms of privatization:- water, phrases,
gestures, ideas, products etc.
General Public License transfers ownership of digital assets to the poor.
To use a Marxist phrase - the means of production in the knowledge economy
will be transfered to the poor. This is a 'critical' component of any
digital divide intervention.Without this type of systemic intervention all
other ICT is merely technology band-aid.
Please see my IIM-B presentation for more details:
http://www.mahiti.org/events/Event.2002-12-16.3025/view
Thanks,
Sunil
Thanks,
Sunil
=====
Sunil Abraham [MAHITI]
314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur
Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA
Ph/Fax: +91 80 5352003. Pager: 9624 279519
sunil(a)mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
KNOPPIX 3.1 Released
Version 3.1 of KNOPPIX with KDE 3.0.4 and many other new features (see
[23]CHANGELOG and [24]packages.txt) has been gone from internal tests
to a public Betatest release, and is now available on the public
[25]mirrors. The information on this webpage has been modified
accordingly.
New: Starting from Release 29-08-2002, KNOPPIX is capable of booting
remotely via PXE from a server already running KNOPPIX. This is
especially useful for clients that have no CD-rom drive, but a
Linux-supported bootable network card.
_________________________________________________________________
What is KNOPPIX�?
KNOPPIX is a bootable CD with a collection of [30]GNU/Linux software,
automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards,
sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can
be used as a Linux demo, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and
used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not
necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly
decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software
installed on it.
* [31]Slides for the Knoppix presentation at the Chemnitzer
Linux-Tagen 2002 (PDF, German)
* [32]Slides for the cloop presentation at the Chemnitzer
Linux-Tagen 2002 (PDF, German)
* [33]Paper for the Annual Linux Showcase 2000 (HTML, English)
* [34]Paper for the Annual Linux Showcase 2000 (PDF, English)
* [35]Slides for the presentation at the Annual Linux Showcase 2000
(PDF, English)
* Slide updates for the presentations at the IFA 2001 (English)
[36][Postscript] [37][PDF]
* [38]Sources for the special components of the KNOPPIX-CD
How is KNOPPIX started?
To start the CD, set up the BIOS of your computer to boot off the CD,
put the CD in the drive, and power up the computer. If your computer
doesn't support this option, you have to use a boot disk. You can
create this disk from the image in KNOPPIX/boot.img on the CD.
Is there a mailing list, a forum or a newsletter for KNOPPIX?
New: A [142]web-based Knoppix-Forum is now present at
[143]http://www.linuxtag.org/forum/.
Interested beta testers can fill out [144]the web form to be included
in the newsletter for beta testers. They can find out about new
versions and planned features, or make suggestions for future
versions. Developers and people interested in technical discussions
can subscribe to the Knoppix developers' list at [145]debian-knoppix
at linuxtag.org.
______________________________________________________________________
� Klaus Knopper [150]<knoppix(a)knopper.net>
Hi Richard,
Free software will follow. All of us will need each other's help to pull it
off with students community in india. I am already working on making
students aware of the movement.
Now there seems to be a small issue here. I am unaware of who is formally
handling the indian wing of GNU and on your advice, have been repeatedly
mailing them from my informal and fomal mail ids but honestly, you (after
handling GNU world over) respond faster than them. I am yet to hear from
them. I suppose i have sent you the copies of the mails that i have sent to
them too.
I am not blaming anyone, but we have to act fast.
The movement and free software! Richard, it will take time, but once it
picks up in india, we'll rejoice on the results. Someone has to sow to reap
the fruits later.
As for the movement, what Suraj and others are doing is quite encouraging.
Regards,
Tarun Gaur
From: Suraj Kumar <suraj(a)symonds.net>
To: Richard Stallman <rms(a)gnu.org>
CC: raamanp(a)yahoo.co.in, gaur_tarun(a)hotmail.com, fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Mentoring students !!
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 08:26:19 +0530
Richard Stallman wrote on Fri, Dec 20, 2002 at 12:12:11PM -0500:
,----
| ,----
| | We at Chennai have a movement for imparting ideals of
| | Free Sofware to students, with aim of getting future
| | developers. You can look at
| | www.gpasokan.com/demo-schools
| `----
|
|
| Have you managed to develop a useful free software package yet?
`----
No. We have the following course of action:
1. Teach Free Software to school kids
2. Pilot a software development project - by students, for students,
of students
3. Take this software to other schools; repeat through step 1 but in
step 2 make students improve / fix bugs (thereby telling them the
importance of sharing)
We are also writing free books for use with a formal Free Software
syllabus. There has been an overwhelming response from the
community. We found a good deal of books. We will also be using a few
books from gnupress.org and trim it down to fit a typical school
student's mind.
Our FAQ: http://gpasokan.com/demo-schools/faq.php
-Suraj
--
+-------------------------------------------------<suraj(a)symonds.net>--+
| Evils dare not touch families of high tradition, |
| and succession free from blemishes |
| (wealth of children - 2), Thirukkural |
+--<http://symonds.net/~suraj/>----------------------------------------+
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FSUG Chennai new affiliate of FSF India, will undertake activities of
FSF India locally, in Tamilnadu. FSUG Chennai will also be coordinate
the demo@schools program which tries to bring Free Software to schools.
For more information contact demo-schools(a)gpasokan.com. Also, read a
recent brief on demo@schools and what it does on Freedom Matters.
More information on demo@schools site is available here
http://gpasokan.com/demo-schools/.
For FSF India.
We are also writing free books for use with a formal Free Software
syllabus.
That is a very important project. Can you show me one of them,
whichever you think is best?
This is what a friend of mine from Belgaum says about Hurd. It seems to be
true...FN
On Sun, 22 Dec 2002, Ashutosh Naik wrote:
> Hi Fred,
> Rohan just sent u Connectiva and Hurd yesterday..
> Hope it reaches u soon.. I am also sending a copy of
> Hurd to Supreet in Pondy... And all the
> techies,interested in Hurd are too busy developing
> Hurd, rather than popularising it....
> Something needs to be done abt it..
> The new versions Knoppix, and Mandrake
> r the most popular out here
[Beware: cross-posted]
The DRM players are battling it out, and MS seems to be in a
vulnerable position:
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0%2c15935%2c400412%2c00.html
INTERTRUST
Can Victor Shear Bring Down Microsoft?
Maybe not. But his company's patent suit is the biggest legal threat
to Microsoft since the antitrust case.
FORTUNE Tuesday, December 17, 2002 By Roger Parloff
A small Santa Clara, Calif., company called InterTrust Technologies
maintains that it is, in fact, that company. Though there are those
who dispute this claim, InterTrust has some awfully big players
convinced, including consumer electronics giants Sony and
Philips. Indeed, in November, the two companies offered to buy
InterTrust for $453 million in cash; as FORTUNE goes to press, they
are in the process of trying to close the acquisition.
In its current incarnation, InterTrust consists of 39 employees and a
patent portfolio: 26 issued patents and about 85 more pending, all in
the fields of DRM and trusted systems. InterTrust also has one other
asset of note: a suit against Microsoft that appears to be the
highest-stakes patent litigation in history. The suit's charges give a
good feel for the scope and breadth of InterTrust's patents, at least
as InterTrust sees it. The company says its patents are being
infringed every time Microsoft ships its Windows XP operating system;
Office XP suite; Word 2002 word processor; Excel 2002 spreadsheet;
Outlook 2002 e-mail client; PowerPoint 2002 slide presentation
software; Windows Media Player; Xbox videogame console; Microsoft
software for servers, mobile phones, pocket computers, and consumer
electronics devices; and many of the components and tool kits that
Microsoft now markets in connection with its most cutting-edge "bet
the company" initiative: the networked computing and web-services
platform known as .NET. Understand what that means: InterTrust is
seeking an injunction barring distribution of about 85% of Microsoft's
product line. (Though the DRM and trusted systems technologies form
only a piece of each product, they have been, in Microsoft's trademark
fashion, tightly integrated into these larger programs.) InterTrust
seeks damages too--which could be trebled if Microsoft were shown to
have acted willfully. Polaroid's spectacular 1976 patent suit against
Kodak--which eventually forced Kodak to scrap its $2 billion foray
into instant photography and pay $900 million in damages--is dwarfed
by the scope of the InterTrust-Microsoft litigation.
[snip]
--
Raju Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/
It is the mind that moves
e88~~\ 888b | 888 | L 888 888 ,e,
d888 |Y88b | 888 | I 888 888-~88e e88~\888 " /~~~8e
8888 __ | Y88b | 888 | N 888 888 888 d888 888 888 88b
8888 | | Y88b | 888 | U 888 888 888 8888 888 888 e88~-888
Y888 | | Y88b| Y88 | X 888 888 888 Y888 888 888 C888 888
"88__/ | Y888 "8__/ / 888 888 888 "88_/888 888 "88_-888
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Formerly LinuxInIndia * Compiled by: Frederick Noronha * Dec 22,2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------
o GNU/LINUX UTILITIES FOR EDUCATION... GLUE: Ajith Kumar
<ajith(a)nsc.ernet.in> deserves credit for his work on this front. Recently,
Ajith announced that his product -- the "GNU Linux Utilities for Education"
CD is now hosted at "ftp.seul.org". This is a bootable CD that will install
a GNU/Linux system with OpenOffice, several educational software packages
and the Terminal Server Software "within 10 minutes", as he puts it. Ajith
needs help in testing. You can download the ISO image from
ftp://ftp.seul.org/pub/glue/ Bowse the contents of it at
ftp://ftp.seul.org/pub/glue/GLUE/index.html
Recently, Ajith was demoing the CD to the Press. Says he: "It takes only 10
minutes to setup the lab. Method is extreamly simple. Create a RedHat (or
any other) installation and all other required software. Make a tarball of
it. A bootable CD with a small script plants it to another computer. "Kudzu"
does a good job in detecting new hardware." Free Software campaigners in the
Southern State of Kerala are convinced that the local government is "wasting
their money" if they sign a MoU (memorandum of understanding) for costly
proprietorial software to be implemented in their IT@School Project.
o MAKING FREE SOFTWARE/OPEN SOURCE A 'HOUSEHOLD NAME': Abhishek
<efylinux1(a)electronicsforu.com> of ElectronicsForYou magazine writes in to
announce the planned launch of a new Indian mag, devoted entirely to Free
Software and Open Source. Some key facts, as promised by this publishing
group, are as follows. Launch date: mid January 2003. Pages: 100 plus. Cover
price: Rs 50, or about US$1 (including a CD).
This mag is likely to be called 'Linux For You'. It is being
published by the same group that brings out 'Electronics For You'
and the 'i.t.' magazines. Ideas, suggestions, doubts and inputs
for editorial content invited.
o LINUX-INDIA GENERAL: This is the list which still is working to play the
role of networking different Free/Libre and Open Source Software initiatives
across India. See the Linux-India General list at
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-general
o LITTLE LEAGUE: The idea is to help smaller LUGs around India to network
and share resources and ideas to grow and survive. If you belong to this
category, contact Sukrit D of Pondicherry <sd_root(a)yahoo.com>. There's also
an offer to help you get inexpensive (maybe even zero-cost) CDs of useful
distros... provided you undertake to share the same widely in your area.
o BELGAUM LUG: Belgaum is a city of c. 300,000 in North Karnataka
and home to one of the youngest GNU/Linux user groups in India.
This was recently launched with most members being students of
the Gogte College of Engineering there. If you'd like to get in
touch contact Ashutosh Naik <a7ash(a)yahoo.com> and Rohan
Kangralkar <rohankangralkar(a)hotmail.com>. See also their list at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-belgaum All the best to them.
o LINKING STUDENTS, PROJECTS, MENTORS: Mumbai/Bombay-based Trevor Warren
<trevorwarren(a)yahoo.com> or <trevor.w(a)media.mit.edu>, while still in his
early twenties, has come up with this idea of a Project Resource Centre. The
goal? To link students wanting socially-useful and challenging projects with
techies willing to play the role of mentors. Any volunteers?
Says Warren: "As of now...we are looking forwards to having a decent site
dissimanating information to the FSF/OS community on the following aspects.
--> What is the objective of the PRC. --> List of projects for (students) to
take up --> List of mentors with their skill sets (based on a Wiki-like
tool) --> List of projects students/community wants to propose --> Section
for commercial projects that the industry wants to offer --> Collabration
tool for all.
Tripta <tripta(a)sarai.net> from Delhi, another young lady behind
a lot of interesting work, volunteered to list some of the people
who have already signed up at the PRC as mentors, some possible
projects, and who's coming forward to work on the same.
For more details, sign on or check out the archives at the site
http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
SiteWatch RANDOMLY-SELECTED INDIAN GNU/LINUX SITES:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://ilugmvgr.sourceforge.net
Hi all, this is MVGR college linux user group website. In this website
we will chat and explore to Linux as well as Linux applications. This
website has lots of information as well as good links to visit on
LINUX. Every one is invited to join us, we are well supported by
OSDN (open source development network), SOURCEFORGE (world's biggest open
source arena) as well as lots of Linux lovers.... We will
discuss all Linux issues and help each other. Members can also
write application programs for Linux but under GNU (the General Public
License).
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/in-phpug
A group for PHP users and developers in India. Anyone and everyone who is
interested in PHP, the world's most popular scripting language, is invited
to join the Indian PHP User Group. Share your code, your problem, search for
solutions, create fantastic new projects. And most importantly *enjoy*.
Founded Dec 2001. Members 103.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR INPUTS to this newsletter are welcome. Volunteers more than welcome.
Contact us at fred at bytesforall dot org --COPYLEFT 2002, GPL. May be
freely circulated provided entire text is retained. FN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Richard,
The genius that started it all cant be left out. My apologies for calling it
"open source". Let me correct it and call it 'free software movement" as i
myself firmly believe in the ideology. Thanks again for correcting me.
Now, on students, Richard i dont agree with your and Gopal's view that the
mainstream students cant contribute and will not contribute. i agree your
assumptions are based on your experience in US and are for sure backed by
statistics, but with India it is a bit different.
There is a massive educational setup that india can boast of in IT,
especially when IT is generating such a huge revenues for a developing
country, the country is for sure interested in upping the tempo in this
promising field.
The manpower is in abundance, making India a powerhouse for future global
software development alongside US (No. of MNCs setting up dev. centres in
India is a witness).
This manpower is of two kinds, one in the industry and one waiting to be
churned out.
My experience with the students says; if this community is guided and pushed
a bit, they come out with amazing results.
The environment is very conducive for FSF, as gopal said, universities dont
claim ownership of the work ... Its good, it can be Free.
Universities in India will be more than willing to associate with FSF for
the sake of students. FSF should be willing too. If it does not give us free
software, atleast it will push the ideology to a larger base of future
professionals.
But with my experience with students in india; i firmly believe they can
contribute a lot. Believe me every single student in IT in india has the
desire to catch up with the global level. Stakes are higher here for a
student than his counterpart in US, my indian friends can understand.
FSF on one hand is a window for them to peep into good quality s/w and on
the other hand become a forum for this community to channalize their
innovations.
the students are not contributing today on their own because i am sure the
majority (in india) is oblivious of our existance or the kind of work being
done at FSF or the ideology. We need to push the ideology and i am sure they
will push free software back at us.
[to Gopal]
Gopal, if you and me can do it at our individual levels, then lets not leave
this community out. If we are able to get 50 wonderful developers per year
from this massive community making free software, i dont see it as a
failure; alongwith we will sure get a big community supporting the ideology.
[to Richard]
Richard, i can vouch for Indian students, they can give you amazing results.
Believe me they can rock the base of all the business initiatives and
tactics being employed by the properietry world. lets make them understand
what free s/w is; the way you have done it for us.
leave you with this thought,
regards,
tarun gaur
>From: Richard Stallman <rms(a)gnu.org>
>Reply-To: rms(a)gnu.org
>To: gaur_tarun(a)hotmail.com
>CC: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in, abhas(a)deeproot.co.in
>Subject: Re: Mentoring students !!
>Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 13:51:41 -0500
>
> I have lately been discussing the fact with RMS that how majority of
>the
> students are being left out of open source initiative (FSF/GNU).
>
>Our discussion was about the free software movement, not "open
>source". "Open source" is the slogan of another movement in our
>community, one that rejects our idealism. The Open Source Initiative
>makes me feel "left out", and I am glad if some others feel the same
>way.
>
>When people with those views contribute to free software, we recognize
>their contribution to the community. But we in the FSF never work on
>"open source" activities. We want it to be clear that what we are
>doing is "free software".
>
> I have myself been interacting with students on various projects and
>have
> been amazed at their ability to push things through.
>
>This is very different from my experience in the US and Europe.
>Occasionally a student who becomes a free software developer and does
>important work acting on his own, but students *in the academic
>context* hardly ever contribute anything that works.
>
>Have you found it is different in India? I would be glad to learn
>that Indian students are more effective. If so, it could be worth
>some effort to try to reach out to them.
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