Fsf-friends January 2004

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

42 participants
97 discussions

by Manjush G.Menon

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

17 years, 6 months

PERUVIAN EFFORT COULD BAN MICROSOFT ON GOV. COMPUTERS (fwd)

by Frederick Noronha

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)

18 years, 6 months

RMS meets President

by V. Sasi Kumar

RMS met the President and had discussions with him. A press release issued by FSF India on this matter is given below: FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION OF INDIA PRESS RELEASE January 29, 2004 Richard Stallman meets the President of India Dr. Richard M Stallman, world-renowned software guru and founder of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), had a meeting with His Excellency the President of India, Bharat Ratna Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at 2:15 pm today. The meeting took place at the Rashrapati Bhavan, official residence of the President of India. At the meeting, Dr. Stallman explained to Dr. Kalam the ethical issues related to the use of proprietary software. The President was impressed by the issues raised by Dr. Stallman. It is understood that the President has instructed for the use of free softwaree for his IT facilities. Dr. Stallman also discussed the issues of using proprietary software in schools, which prevents children from sharing and learning to share. Implications of IT@School project in Kerala also got mention. Stallman's meeting with the president took place in the backdrop of support for free and open source software extended by the president at a public speech recently. Dr Stallman has been in India from January 16th. His programmes included the World Social Forum in Mumbai from January 16 to 22, lectures at Thrissur, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and meetings with various government officials in the state regarding the use of free software in government initiatives. Further information on the Free Software Foundation and its Indian chapter can be obtained from the web sites: http://www.gnu.org and http://gnu.org.in. Free Software Foundation, India. Press Contact Email : gnu(a)gnu.org.in Phone : 094470 34795 -- V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)vsnl.com> CESS

19 years, 1 month

Is FSF India tax exempt

by Krishna Pagadala

Does FSF India have non-profit status? Is it possible to channel funds to FSF India via FSF US? Thanks Krishna ===== To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/

19 years, 1 month

Kannur University Courses

by Manilal

Friends, Most of the students wish to learn GPL'd softwares from Universities. But unfortunately many of the universities in Kerala(and in India) are not offering such courses. The Kannur University is a role model in this case. The University is offering Post Graduate programmes in Swathanthra Software right from the year 2000. The courses offered are M Sc(Computer Science) and MCA(Master in Computer Applications). The syllabus of these two courses are based on GPL'd software. Only one paper is there in the whole course which has a proprietary nature(Microsoft Architecture and VC++(theory only)). Some of the prominent topics covered are Linux administration, PostgreSQL, BIND, Apache, Etherboot, Squid, Samba, Linux Kernel, TCP/IP, Socket Programming etc... The labs are arranged with GNU/Linux OS(RedHat and Mandrake). The disappointing matter here is that these courses are in a phase of disintegration. The University authorities are now trying to change the syllabus completely to Proprietary nature due to some external pressures. In my knowledge, some of the faculty members are also trying to topple the course. Many of the Kannur University centres are being shut down due to lack of students. I think the main reason is the lack of publicity(and funds). Earlier there were some protests in changing the syllabus from the students itself. Many students are unaware of the fact that the university is offering such a course. My request to the list members is that please take over this matter(if relevant) to as many lists as possible so that those who are interested can join the course. It's a nice opportunity to learn Swathanthra Software. I think the ?Free Software Community? may have some interest in such courses.Those who need the syllabus of these course contact me. regards Manilal

19 years, 2 months

RMS meets the president

by Sajith VK

Hi, RMS today met APJ Abdul kalam, our president. The discussion is just over, and We didnt got the complete details. Our president has clearly mentioned that "Open-source" is the way we need to choose. The president became very much impressed in the "social aspects" of free software, pointed out by stallman. During the discussion, president called the "techinal head" there, to discuss about completely switching to free software. Meanwhile, someone from Microsoft was waiting there for a meeting with our president. On this, RMS commented "The British did visit the imperialist here before colonisation, they are trying for the same". -- "Freedom Matters" Sajith VK

19 years, 2 months

FreeMe

by Arun M

---- On the 55th republic day of India, Free Software Foundation of India launches the FreeMe initiative, to help India to switch to the world of software freedom. http://www.gnu.org.in/freeme/freeme.html ---- Hi, if you can help the initiative, write, regards, arun.

19 years, 2 months

What should friends of FSF India do?

by Krishna Pagadala

"Vision"(1) of FSF is stated as "Broadly, FSF India will strive to ensure that free software is strengthened in all respects so as to form a genuine, credible and viable alternative to proprietary software for every kind of application." "Goal" (2) of FSF India is stated as "Our goal is to ensure the long term adoption of free software, and aim for the day when all software will be free." In poster (3) "And the right to explore how similar freedoms can be attained and shared in all branches of knowledge." I find 2 and 3 above interesting, especially "aim for the day when all software will be free." "shared in all branches of knowledge." Making all software free means educating the public about the problems with copyright laws. And therfore an awakened public might get the laws changed. Having sharing of knowledge in all branches of knowledge means that we have to expand the process of educating the public beyond software and talk about the harm done by building walls around knowledge. However I see a narrowing of thought when it comes to vision, "FSF India will strive to ensure that free software is... viable alternative to proprietary software" I see this narrowing on both the lists. The only person consistently saying that all software should be free software is RMS. Since free software (as great as it is), compared to the amount of software developed every year is a drop in the bucket (if not ocean). Another way of putting it is, iff tommorow all software becomes free software, we will see an increase of the size of free software by atleast 1000 times. For the above reason, I think that not only should we be talking about why free software is better, but also talk and reason about why *all* software should be free. Any comments? Is my reasoning flawed in any aspect? Thanks -Krishna To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ (1) http://fsf.org.in/philosophy/purpose.html (2) http://fsf.org.in/ (3) http://fsf.org.in/graphics/FSFIndiaPoster.pdf __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it! http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/

19 years, 2 months

Media Coverage of RMS talk at WSF

by Rajkumar S

Hi, How well has media coverd the RMS talk? Any pointers to articles or interviews ? raj

19 years, 2 months

RMS in Delhi

by Arun M

Hi All, RMS today after noon left for delhi. His visit to Kerala was very effective. The message of free software has reached all over the state. It seems that this visit will have an effect on kerala's IT policy. RMS's delhi programs are. Venue : JNU Date : 28th Jan 2.30 pm Topic : Venue : IIT Delhi Date : 29th Jan 5.15 pm Topic : The Danger of Software Patents Venue : School of Convergence, International Management Institute. Date : 31th Jan 2.30 pm Topic : Copyright vs Community regards, arun.

19 years, 2 months

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Fsf-friends January 2004