Fsf-friends March 2003

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

22 participants
57 discussions

Languages of India
by Kanti Jadia 11 Mar '03

11 Mar '03

Hi, There are around 18 languages recognized by the Indian Constitution. These languages are 1. Assamese 2. Bengali 3. Gujrati 4. Hindi 5. Kannada 6. Kashmiri 7. Konkani 8. Malyalam 9. Manipuri 10. Marathi 11. Nepali 12. Oriya 13. Punjabi 14. Sanskrit 15. Sindhi 16. Tamil 17. Telgu 18. Urdu Hindi is the national, official and main link language of India. Its homeland is mainly in the north of India, but it is spoken and widely understood in all urban centers of India. It is written in the Devanagri script, which is phonetic and, unlike English, is pronounced as it is written. Hindi is a direct descendant of Sanskrit through Prakrit and Apabhramsha. It has been influenced and enriched by Dravidian, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, Portugese and English. It is a very expressive language. In poetry and songs, it can convey emotions using simple and gentle words. It can also be used for exact and rational reasoning. URL: http://indiaimage.nic.in/languages.htm

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Fwd: [linuxlingam@bhairon.com: [LIG] [draft] open letter to indian finance minister]
by Nagarjuna G. 08 Mar '03

08 Mar '03

----- Forwarded message from LinuxLingam <linuxlingam(a)bhairon.com> ----- > Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2003 15:52:28 +0530 > From: LinuxLingam <linuxlingam(a)bhairon.com> > Subject: [LIG] [draft] open letter to indian finance minister > To: ilugd(a)wpaa.org, linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net, rms(a)gnu.org, > fred(a)bytesforall.org, karunakar(a)freedomink.org, rahul(a)electronicsforu.com > Reply-To: linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net > X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.3.1] > > [first draft: please submit your suggestions, changes. once a final draft is > ready, will post it so those interested may sign or contribute their name to > it. will then forward this to the indian finance minister and others in the > government.] > > [cross-posted, > and further cross-post, especially to other mailing lists, if required] > > *** > > Dear Sir, > > Re: Levy Excise Tax on All Commercial Software Sold in India. > > > We, the undersigned, propose the Indian Government levy excise tax on all > commercial software sold in India. Reasons: > > 1) Commercial software (C.S) is a big cash drain for both the Indian > government and Indian corporates. > > 2) Almost all commercial software are non-free. This means, they do not give > the end users the freedom i) to use the software for any purpose ii) to study > the source code of the software iii) to make changes and improvements to the > source code iv) to legally share copies of the software with their neighbours > and colleagues. v) to pass on such freedom to those who further receive the > software. > > 3) these freedoms are important for a developing, poor, country like India, > where every citizen, organization, and state, dreams of harnessing the > opportunities offered by IT. > > 4) these freedoms also significantly curtail strong anti-competitive > behaviour in the software industry. > > 5) countries like China are moving away from non-free software to > freedom-based software. India has no such significant, clearly-defined > initiative in place for adopting freedom based software. > > 6) in the lack of such a clear initiative, commercial software vendors raise > the stakes for both their competitors and for freedom based software. this > further kills innovation in the industry. > > 7) a large and significant percentage of commercial software is usually sold > as bundled, OEM software. end-users find they are *forced* to use such > software, since their requests to buy machines with such software uninstalled > is usually turned down. > > 8) indian customers usually find their *only* option is to buy the computer > with the bundled software, then carefully disagree the end user license > agreement (eula) of the bundled software preferably in front of witnesses, > then contact the OEM software vendor independently and press for a refund. > this is clearly anti-competitive. and the computer is perceived in cost as > (hardware+OEM software as One). > > 9) Commercial software companies are usually quite rich. Not taxing them > allows them to hoard their wealth even more and give them more implicit power > to quash their competition in commercial software and in freedom-based > software. > > 10) by taxing them, the indian government will immediately have more powers > to i) accelerate the adoption of freedom based software. > ii) fund the development of much-needed indigenous solutions in IT for india > using freedom-based software (indian language technologies, education > projects, free and freedom-based education software, more secure and > transparant software for indian defense industries, lower IT infrastructure > costs for indian government and businesses, etc.) > > 11) by taxing commercial software and funding several projects in india on > freedom-based software, the indian government also creates a quantum leap in > the number of jobs and opportunities available to the indian developer > community and IT industry, thus creating and sharing more wealth. > > 12) the adoption of free and freedom-based software allows indian corporates > to save considerable sums of money towards commercial non-free software, > where the Return on Investment is loudly questioned. this money can then be > used for further job-creating opportunities such as expansion of new units of > industrial manufacturing, factories, etc. shareholders of indian companies > will also benefit from stronger dividends due to stronger profit margins due > to the adoption of free and freedom-based software. > > 13) the already financially-starved education sector in India will gain, > since the large allocation of funds for software in education can be used > more productively, even for opening more schools instead. > > 14) finally, as a statement of leadership and values, india must adopt > freedom-based software that is being proposed to the UNICEF to be declared as > a world-culture heritage. > > We hope the Indian government sincerely considers these suggestions. For more > information on what is freedom-based software, please check out www.gnu.org. > > Bizarre as it sounds, when it comes to software: > Give us Freedom, or Give Us Taxes. > > > Your Sincerely, > > <signatures...> > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Etnus, makers of TotalView, The debugger > for complex code. Debugging C/C++ programs can leave you feeling lost and > disoriented. TotalView can help you find your way. Available on major UNIX > and Linux platforms. Try it free. www.etnus.com > _______________________________________________ > Linux-india-general mailing list > Linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-general ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ nagarjun(a)hbcse.tifr.res.in www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/gn/ Key fingerprint = C1E2 1B8C 8E98 A697 68B7 ADAC E956 6D4B DE90 BF01

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Mozilla Localization
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Mar '03

07 Mar '03

This note is from Venky Hariharan. FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- One of India's most respected Internet companies is looking for programmers who will help localize Mozilla to Indian languages. Those who apply need to have at least 2-3 years experience, but above all, a passion for the Internet and for free /open source software. The objective of Indianizing Mozilla is to revolutionize computing in Indian languages, especially on the Internet. The selected individuals will be based in Mumbai. Those interested are invited to apply to venky@indlinux.org/karunakar@indlinux.org. For more details, see the attached job description. Regards, Venky ===== Mozilla Indianization ===================== 1) Goal: Enable Mozilla browser to display & handle indian languages properly, with proper font technology available. Localize Mozilla interface also to indian languages. 2) Project Requirements: All work done should be contributed back to Mozilla codebase, so that it becomes part of it. Solutions arrived at should make into main tree, rather than be done as adhoc hacks / addons / patches. i) i18n part (involving changing mozilla codebase) : a - Should be able to render Indian languages encoded in Unicode/UTF-8 b - Use a standardized font technology - eg OpenType. c - Support any encodings standardized for a language eg ISCII, TSCII, KSCLP (KGP) ii) l10n part (no code change - UI customization, translations of UI and Help text): a - Incorporate locale support (chrome level) b - Translate Mozilla UI into indian languages c - Making indianized mozilla theme - custom graphics, logos 3) Skill sets req a - Knowlegde of at least two Indian languages - reading & writing, script & language processing level 2.i & 2.ii.b b - C, C++, XML, Java for 2.i c - Graphics expertise for 2.ii.c d - For translator - good vocabulary in English & at least one Indian language, previous exp in translation also helpful. e - Proj. mgmt skills, ability to work with volunteers remotely , coordinate work through email/IM/group meetings. f - Interest in localization and passion for having indian languages on mozilla. g - Work experience of 2-3 years in the IT industry Current status: Mozilla supports Unicode, so all indian languages represented in Unicode work at unicode level - no proper rendering, if a suitable unicode font is available. ie proper vowel sign positioning, conjuncts etc are not avialable. Some work is on by Prabhat Hegde from Sun Microsystems on adding devanagari support, basically by using Pango (www.pango.org) rendering engine. He is exploring doing it using Opentype fonts. (Any one working for this should work with Prabhat for guidance & review, as he already has experience in Mozilla codebase ) Some hindi translation work has been done by a group based in Mumbai, available at http://www.bttlindia.com/mozilla/ . Some translation work for Tamil is also on. (These translations should be reused, instead of starting from scratch) Notes: 2.i has to be done in active participation with Mozilla developers & done at those forums ( mozilla-i18n , mozilla-l10n ) 2.ii.b is pure translation work, can be done in centralized or distributed fashion. 2.i.c - Since ISCII, TSCII etc are not registered character sets, it may not be possible to use them with Mozilla autodetection feature. Some workaround could be suggested. ISCII text will basically be converted to Unicode internally for display, enabled through use of \\\'iso8829-12\\\' ( reserved for Indic - ISO is waiting for us to settle to something :) . (The rationale to support ISCII is since ISCII chars will take 1byte, UTF-8 indic characters take 3bytes, or 7 bytes when used as named character references - The debate will pick up heat when indian languages are fully supported ) --------------------------- * Indian Linux project * * http://www.indlinux.org * ---------------------------

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Debian...KDE programming... dynamic images (DEVELOPERiq * March 2003)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Mar '03

07 Mar '03

THIS ALL AND more is included in the March 2003 issue of DeveloperIQ. Check the issue for THEN THERE ARE [GNU]Linux fanatics. I admire Linux pros a lot, and I know that using the OS needs more than mere mouse management. But what puts me off is an attitude, which many have for Windows users, developers and the rest of the community. I know many who have thrown away (actually they formatted the hard disk and loaded a new distro) Windows boxes and switched to [GNU]Linux and continued being happy. Great! But you just cannot stamp all Windows users and developers as mentally retarded. -Editorial, S. Ramdas Contact: ramdas(a)developeriq.com o DEBIAN 3.0 -- the first of five CDs. (Readers can avail of the other four at Rs 149, incl courier. But the CDs will be shipped with DeveloperIQ over the next year too.) o READER'S QUERY on why the installation program could not write to the MBR... o JAVA IN the enterprise: "Java's heritage is more aligned with the Open Source movement and community process. In fact, many would argue that free software forms an important part of the dynamic Java..." 4-pg.article o STATE OF WEB services: One of the biggest myths, which many developers especially coming from the Microsoft camp have, is that Web Services means .Net. This is not true... Where Sun and Microsoft score is they have ready-made roadmaps and product offerings.... Soon all the products from MS, including MS Office, will be .Net enabled, locking the customers to a .Net environment as far as possible... The Open Source world still does not have a combined solution... But there are lots happening, read the next article. o OPEN ROLE in Web services. Open Source (Free Software?) is fast catching up with their Web services portfolio. Axis from Apache, jBpm, OBE, Powerfolder, TestMaker, Rotor ("this is not exactly Open Source and is more Shared Source"), NetAything, The Go Mon Project, DotGNU. o DotGNU; The GNU version of the .Net initaitive. GNU branding is big, but the project somehow is lagging behind Mono. DotGNU is being developed jointly under the auspices of FreeDevelopers and the GNU project. The DotGNU system will be a well- integrated part of the GNU system and it will also be available to the users of all other wisely used OSs. It sounds very ambitious since the final goal is to create an operating system for the Internet. Currently a primitive beta version of the framework is available. See http://www.dotgnu.org o APACHE AXIS, the leading FLOSS tool kit for implementing Web services, gets two pages. o MASTER EMBEDDED Linux/Linux drivers from experts. Projects on porting, writing BSP for embedded GNU/Linux, network, wireless LAN, SCSI, fibre channel, USB device driver. Fees Rs 12,500-30,000. Four to six months course. Grace Systems, Bangalore contact(a)gracelabs.com http://www.gracelabs.com (ad) o TERMINAL CAPABILITIES of UNIX. By Arun Sundar. http://www.geocities.com/delightfularun/index.html o INSTALLING Pear:Soap o LINUXMAGINDIA on a CD. 18CDs in a year, customised for you, at Rs 1499. o KDE Programming Part 2. The KDE project had the goal of simplifying the use of GNU/Linux, very much like the Windows OS. This looks at how one can program using KDE in a typical GUI environment. o CREATING dynamic images, using PHP and GD.These are images that are generated on-the-fly by the server. o PLAYING AROUND with Python buttons. "Windows programmers may be warned that if you are comparing Python GUI with Visual Basic, it's like ptiching the Australian cricket team against the Bangladesh team." There are several widgets, which the Tk module supports. Mastering them is quite easy and infact learning Tkinter is as easy as learning Visual Basic. -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Free Software Business Strategy Guide
by Vinay Pawar 07 Mar '03

07 Mar '03

Free Software Business Strategy Guide http://FreeStrategy.info "Abstract:This Net.Book outlines strategies for running a successful business while at the same time making valuable contributions to the Free Software community. The main point is that with an appropriate strategy, significant business benefits can be obtained from the "reputation game" social dynamics which are at the heart of the Free Software community." -- Vinay Pawar http://nodegroup.com/vinay/ http://antomic.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/ActivityLog

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Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa launched at WSIS
by KG Kumar 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=9965 "They met at the African Information Society Initiative meeting organized by the Economic Commission for Africa in November 2002 and have been working as a task force behind the scenes since. During WSIS, this team of dedicated Africans launched the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa - FOSSFA." -- KG Kumar Indian TeX Users Group kg at tug dot org dot in ------------------------

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Re: [Fsf-india] GNOME and KDE desktops for MS-Windows users
by Ajith Kumar 05 Mar '03

05 Mar '03

Biju G C wrote: > I wish, I could start using GNU/Linux, but plenty other reason make me stay in MS-Win. Previously > I had dual boot PC, but found that is not a good solution. > > Finally I found Redhat's Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com), an open source UNIX emulation layer on MS > Windows. And Cygwin/XFree86 (http://cygwin.com/xfree/) as its XWin. Sounds good technically but what is the advantage if you have o keep Windows with all it's problems. In my personal opinion, we should switch over to GNU/Linux where it is possible and live with windows where there is no other option. We have gotten rid of MSOffice, Explorer etc. but still living with some CAD software that has no GNU/Linux alternatives. ajith > > > - also found KDE-Cygwin (http://kde-cygwin.sourceforge.net/) and > CyGNOME (http://cygnome.sourceforge.net/) projects at SourceForge.net, > which are KDE, GNOME porting on Cygwin. > > Joined CyGNOME project, now I am trying to popularize it among windows users. > Also looking for people to join and contribute to CyGNOME project. > So please visit http://cygnome.sourceforge.net/ as well as please tell ur friends abt. it. > > Thank you > Biju > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more > http://taxes.yahoo.com/ > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-india mailing list > Fsf-india(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-india

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Young minds, pretty faces... and a greying beard
by FN 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

THIS SET OF MINUTES is so outdated, that had I to delay any longer, it would have been criminal. The intention was to write a detailed report on the Feb 22 meeting at Panjim... it was a great meeting. But then, in the chaotic life of a freelancer (we're so busy doing nothing), this was not to be. Anyway, here are some highlights... o CSI'S SMALL HALL was almost bursting with participation. At one stage the count touched 25. Impressive eh? o IF YOU THOUGHT that was impressive, you should have seen the number of newcomers who were present. Besides, lady-participants touched nearly a one-in-four ratio! Who said GNU/Linux is for left-brained male geeks? o RAVI DEKA got started talking ... and man, this guy really knows to narrate a story. But before we went off-the-beaten track on the subject of motorcycling across India (Banduji's perchance for such themes makes it a lethal combination) we hurriedly shifted gear to focus back on GNU/Linux. o BIJON SHAHA, as planned, was prepared to tell the LUG about GNUnify, India's first free software festival held at Pune's deemed university, Symbiosis. Quotes: "There were 15 techie talks, two parallel sessions, each hall having at least 100 people. Basically, the audience was of students." "Some youngsters proved to be very good speakers. Nirav Mehta made two presentations on PHP." Among those speaking were the skilled orator and free software evangelist Prof Nagarajuna of TIFR, Sam Metryani of the Simputer team, Venky Hariharan and G Karunakar on Indic solutions for GNU/Linux... and of course hacker-guru RMS (Richard M Stallman). Shaha also spoke on the presentations by Prof Shivakumar and Prof Jeetendra Saha of VJTI, a very determined campaigner for FLOSS. FreEDUC CDs (the latest rage, after Knoppix) were handed around to demo the power of educational free software that boots from a CD-rom. Ravi Pradhan of Via (recently resettled in India from Silicon Valley, and determined to bring in low-cost GNU/Linux-based computers to the market) was also in Pune, presenting thin clients and inexpensive computing using Via's C3 chipset. The promise: notebooks for Rs 35K next year! Dr Ramakrishna of the DoIT presented the government's thinking on FLOSS. Basically, the idea would be to encourage FLOSS, while not dictating any one route for computing, and letting the market decide, Shaha quoted him saying. Shaha was himself one of the speakers at Pune. o ARVIND YADAV, founder-member of ILUG-Goa, narrated his experiences at COMPAS in Kolkata. The LUG had the biggest stall at this exhibition of IT and computers. There were demos of FreEDUC and LinuxRacer (which Arvind described as "less of a game and more of a simulation... with 50 cars and 20 cracks". IN NO time the debate shifted (don't recall how) to educational games -- free software fo maths, symbiolic maths, equations and J'compris (maths, language, shapes and colours for the very young). Octave, where the plots come out as graphs, etc... o SANGEETA NAIK, the coordinator of the Goa Schools Computers Project, explained that 104 schools had been given once-used computers under the Goa Sudharop project. Some 20-25 had LTSP solutions installed. There was a need to extend this to enable computer-aided learning and after-hours access for nearby communities, she said. The need for locating relevant and working software (given the hardware constraints) was always felt. o ASHLEY DELANEY SPOKE of his recent visit to Bangladesh, to share ideas with attempts at taking FLOSS to schools. o OTHER ISSUES throw up and spoken about as we interrupted each other included discless-PCs, whether FLOSS could replace Pagemaker and the needs of a DTP-ised magazine, o IN THE ROUND of introductions that followed, one of those present was Biju Chacko of Bangalore. He is an ex-coordinator of the Bangalore LUG, and since last year has started his own business. Biju said there were a "lot of companies" in Bangalore moving to open tools, like PHP and Zope. "But the basic problem is that if you're not selling a thing (as against a service), they're iffy about paying big amounts." Biju also suggested that a number of B'lore LUGers getting active in their own businesses or professions was a good thing, except activity became a bit lax compared to earlier highs. But for big events like Linux-Bangalore200*, large numbers did actively participate. o IT WAS time for the meet to end, yet no sign of Tilmann Singer. Just as we were headed for the Navtara restaurant cuppa tea, we ran into a young foreigner, who could have been Tilmann Singer. He was! Earlier we had promised that: o Tilmann Singer <tils(a)tils.net> from Europe will be briefly speaking on OpenACS. This is a cool toolkit for building community web applications. See http://openacs.org (specially of interest for people into web apps). Singer lives in Berlin, and came to know of us via the Wizards of Os conference. He is currently working for four months in Hyderabad, helping with setting up a small company focussed on the development of a Free/Libre and Open Source Software web toolkit (openacs) and is an open source campaigner himself. Anyway, we at the restaurant, we kept discussing various things. Tilmann (who had got onto the wrong bus -- a slow-moving 'local') gathered a crowd around his table of those interested in web-issues. The rest of us simply couldn't follow what was going on; they understood each other. Miracles do happen.... o FOR US, THE debate looked at the Goa government's unnecessary gift to Microsoft of ten million rupees, strategies to popularise free software among students, and a whole range of other issues. By the time we looked at our watches, it was past 2030. So what if we started just after 1600? o THOSE PRESENT INCLUDED B B Shaha (ETDC-Saligao), Mario Alvares (Alienwiz), Lisa Mendonsa (Phil), Flavia Lobo (Phil), Victor D'Souza (GU), Sharon Bothelo (Phil), Greta Mattos, Amey Hegde (Controlnet), Alka Pai and Ajay Cuncolienkar (Khandola College), Agraj Agranayak, Yogesh Teli and Ravi Deka, Sangeeta Naik (Goa Schools Computers Project), Rina Patel (NRI volunteer working in Goa of the America-Indian Foundation), Biju Chacko (Bangalore), Gurunandan Bhat (ex-GU/PlusThought), Anil Seth (head of dept IT, PCC), Arvind Yadav (Online), Animesh 'Banduji' N Nerurkar, Sreenivas (Navy Hydrography School), Sanil Talaulikar (PCC), Mohandas Gopani (Selections). o LASTLY, don't forget the meetings for March. Margao is on March 8 (Clinton, get working to arrange something interesting... this was shifted for you!) and March 22 (Panjim). More details http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa o PS: Don't ask what the subject-line has to do with this report. In case you didn't guess... it was aimed at getting you to read it ;-) -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.bytesforall.org : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : Goa India 403511 : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re:Request to RedHat
by Kanti Jadia 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

On Tue, 04 Mar 2003 Arko Provo Mukherjee wrote : >On Tue, 2003-03-04 at 11:40, Kanti Jadia wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > The primary source of the name [GNU/]Linux is the projects >which > > use them.And that includes us. > > > > So,in order to get the importance of GNU to the users i >propose > > the following actions. > > > > 1.Urge the developers to use GNU/Linux (in > > websites/documentation/Code etc.). > > > > 2.Get involved and do a few corrections yourself. > > > > 3.If you work for a company,which uses [GNU/]Linux,get the >word to > > your marketing department. > > > > Further suggestions awaited. > > > > Can we come up with a comprehensive list. > > > > regards > > > > Kanti > >Hello, >I think that the first point is very important. We must urge >developers >to develop on the GNU/Linux platform. > Use GNU/Linux and not Linux >One more point: >Spread the FREE Software Philosophy to the people and tell people >that >GNU/Linux is not only an $ saving solution to software problems >but also >an OS that respects your freedom. >Many people don't understand that. A lot of people do understand and just ignore. These are the people who gain the benefits of free software and refuse to recognize its importance. And for those who really are unaware(growing day by day),we must come up with a concrete action. That is why i proposed a comprehensive list of actions. regards Kanti > >Regards >Arko > > > > > > Have been doing the some of the things above from quite some > > time. > > > > >Do you think any request to Red Hat to change the name of >their > > >distro > > >to Red Hat GNU/Linux will work? > > >We can try that as it is the most popular distro and the name >can > > >reach > > >many people. > > > > >Arko > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Fsf-friends mailing list > > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > >

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Fwd: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re:Request to RedHat
by Kanti Jadia 04 Mar '03

04 Mar '03

Note: Forwarded message attached -- Orignal Message -- From: Arko Provo Mukherjee <arkoprovo(a)peacefulaction.org> To: Kanti Jadia <j_kanti(a)rediffmail.com> Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re:Request to RedHat

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Fsf-friends March 2003