Fsf-friends January 2005

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34 participants
67 discussions

NGOs, searching long for alternatives, find flavour in alt.software (long)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 Jan '05

21 Jan '05

NGOs, SEARCHING LONG FOR ALTERNATIVES, FIND FLAVOUR IN ALT.SOFTWARE >From Frederick Noronha For an sector that talks of alternatives, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or voluntary sector stays surprisingly aloof from one significant alternative that has really worked -- free software. But there are stirrings to bridge this huge chasm. In end-January, India's technology mecca Bangalore is to be the venue for an international 'camp' meant to promote FLOSS among the NGO sector. Others talk of building 'another world'; in free software, it is already there. Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS, using the newish acronomy that better describe both diverse strands that make it up) today allows just about anyone to avoid globally dominant players, and to find more freedom-oriented options. It also, at the same time, works very efficiently in the growing world of computing. Asia Source, as the 'tech camp' is called, will be held from January 28 to February 4, 2005 and "hopes to bring together over a hundred people from 20 countries to increase the use and awareness of FLOSS amongst the non-profit sector in South and South East Asia." There will be participants coming in from a range of backgrounds. Sucharat "Ying" Sathapornanon from Thailand looks after IT for the Asia-Pacific Regional Resource Center for Human Rights Edcuation. Umesh Pradhan comes in from Thimphu, Bhutan. Ujjwal from Nepal is a "technical supporter" of non-profits in Kathmandu, Nepal. Yee Yee Htun from Myanmar lives along the Thai-Myanmar border, and is a volunteer webmaster for AAPPB (Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma) -- www.aappb.org. Alecks Pabico from the Philippines is a journalist working with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. >From a range of Asian countries, NGOs and grassroots technology support professionals will come in "to learn new skills, exchange tips, and share experiences", organisers say. Local hosts reminded participants that Bangalore is famous for its silk, sandle wood, handicrafts, designer jewelery and (tasty vegetarian) food. But beyond the names and faces and local attractions, there's a more important message. FLOSS bestows on the user four freedoms -- freedom to use the software for any purpose; freedom to study how the software works; freedom to modify the software; and freedom to share the software with others. From a technical perspective, this can be used to reduce costs and hardware requirements while also improving security, reliability, performance, stability, and scalability. >From a wider philosophical perspective, FLOSS can transform patterns of access, usage, control and ownership of knowledge and technologies. Globally, FLOSS has grown after several hundred thousand hackers and students scattered across the globe collaborated to produce a unified body of knowledge without resorting to hierarchical structures and exploitative relationships. This movement is also seen by some to demonstrate how wealth can be created by entrepreneurs in the free market without using the proprietary copyright regime. In Bangalore, four themes will flow throughout the event. FLOSSophy for NGOs (or, why Free Software and Open Source makes sense), migration and access to non-proprietorial software, tools for content-building and communication, and the localisation of computing to make it relevant to countries across Asia. Elizabeth, originally Timorese (from East Timor), is currently doing her internship at the Open Forum of Cambodia with KhmerOS (Khmer Open Source). The KhmerOs is working to localise software to Khmer, the Cambodian language. Says she: "I'm learning from them while also preparing a localization document for Tetum, one of our national language in Timor Leste." Tetum uses the Latin script with some accents, since it has words imported from Portuguese. Talat Numanov from Dushanbe, Tajikistan works in Central Asian Development Agency as an IT specialist, and his goal is to learn more about FLOSS and distribute it to users. Says he: "My friends use Mandrake Linux (because it has been localised to Tajik)." Russell T. Kyaw Oo from Myanmar says: "I am focusing on localization, translation and modification." Guests from overseas should be meeting up with Guntupalli Karunakar, a soft-spoken extremely low-key Mumbai-based champion of localisation. He's one of the key movers behind the Indian Linux Project (http://www.indlinux.org). Explains Karunakar: "My primary experience is in F(L)OSS localization. I have been working on this for last four years, We have almost completed Hindi localization part." Not-so-friendly neighbouring regions are sometimes united by common concerns. From Pakistan, Sufyan told Karunakar in a pre-conference online discussion: "We at Open Source Resource Center of Pakistan (www.osrc.org.pk) will be grateful to you if you can give us an action plan for localization in Urdu." Localisation is an issue that many are addressing in the FLOSS world, and taking computing to communities which otherwise might just be seen as an unviable market. Javier Sola, a Spaniard living in Cambodia, is coordinator of the KhmerOS project. "Our goal is to make Cambodia OpenSource-Country by means of localization. I am an enthusiast of F(L)OSS localization. I believe that it is the key to adoption of F(L)OSS by users," says he. He has been also working on a "toolkit" on how to do FLOSS localization. In Javier's view, localization and making migration easy are the two "keys to FLOSS adoption". In Bangalore, he regrets not being able to attend both tracks. Hok Kakada, another Cambodian, works for the KhmerOS project, which she sees as aiming to "enable all the Cambodian people to use a computer in their own language". She says that by using FLOSS, their team has already localized a number of applications into the Khmer language -- actually, not just applications, but even the operating system as well. OVER A HUNDRED Over a hundred participants are expected at this global meet. Together with experts and specialists, they'll look at how technology and free and open source software makes sense within the non-profit sector -- in terms of access and content. Asia Source organisers -- the Dutch TacticalTech.org network and Mahiti.org in Bangalore -- say theirs will be the "first event of its kind" in the region. Peer-learning will take top priority. Participants will look at available options, learn how to select and apply alternative technologies. They'll access skills and tools to utilise this in their daily work. There will be experts to share the skills. Colin Charles, also from Malaysia, considers himself an "all round open source person, actively involved in The Fedora Project and OpenOffice.org." He has helped many NGOs, companies and individuals make the switch, first to the Windows-like Open Office and then to GNU/Linux. Soon-Son 'Shawn' Kwon from South Korea works with a "big corporation" by day and by night has been managing the highly-successful Korean Linux Documentation Project, "as a hobby". David Tremblay is a French Canadian volunteer working for Oxfam Quebec as an IT analyst in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. He says: "I'm implementing websites, intranet, extranet and networks using -- as much as I can -- open source, open standards and accessible technologies. I'm trying to build a strong open source community in Ha Noi. I'm also a proud [GNU]Linux desktop user." Tremblay argues that he wants "to raise awareness among my NGOs that are too often giving away computers without thinking what their are doing.... I want to raise awareness that software choice isn't genuine. Too often, they think of their computers as a hammer, and everything become a MS-nail." One of the more colourful and high-profile though is "Rasta coder" Jaromil. Denis 'Jaromil' Rojo is the maintainer of dyne:bolic, HasciiCam MuSE and FreeJ. He calls himself "a nomadic rastafari of south Italian origins" and a free software developer. Dynebolic (dynebolic.org) comes out with a GNU/Linux multimedia-oriented distribution. Jaromil sees it as being suitable for "audio/video manipulation, network radio streaming, veejaying and anything else we can come up with together". He points out that this is a "100% free" operating system. (In the world of FLOSS, the word 'free' doesn't refer to zero-cost, but refers to the freedom to run, study, redistribute and improve software.) At the 'camp', there will be a range of sessions. From planning and helping an NGO to migrate to FLOSS, to sharing tips and techniques on using tools for content development, advocacy and campaigning. In parallel to this they will look beneath user-level scenarios, and break-down tricky issues such as techniques for localising software and forms of understanding the real cost of technology use. Asia Source will be held in a small artists community on the outskirts of Bangalore. But perhaps this needs to be recognised as an endeavour that goes beyond just code. FLOSS ideals are spreading to other fields. It's amazing to see the manner in which the sharing of knowledge and information is catching on in other circles too. Today, like sharing Free Software, the same ideals are growing in fields like open law, open source biology, MIT's OpenCourseWare, Project Gutenberg and Books Online (that distributes e-texts free online), free dictionaries and encyclopedias, and the open music movement. VENTURES THAT MAKE SENSE Various experiments are seeing FLOSS being deployed to bridge the 'digital divide'. While the potential is vast, and significant achievements are being reported at the ground level, there probably just isn't enough awareness about it. Tomas Krag in Copenhagen runs a small non-profit called wire.less.dk. It works primarily with low-cost wireless solutions for remote areas (mostly in the so-called 'developing world'). With a background as a web-developer, technical architect, and technology evangelist, his interest is "in a variety of open (standards, source, spectrum, doors) technology solutions to bring more people on to the Internet, and make it a richer better place". Adi Nugroho lives in Makassar, a small town in Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. He's been using FLOSS since 1998. In March 1999, with some friends, they founded the Linux User Group Ujung Pandang, to learn GNU/Linux together and to help each other to migrate and use it. Way back in September 1999, they build iNterNUX, the first full-GNU/Linux Internet cafe in Indonesia, which use FLOSS for all servers and workstations. NEEDING A LEG-UP IN ASIA In the West, FLOSS grew early. But in Asia it is a younger development, mainly because widespread public access to tools vital for collaboration -- like the Internet -- grew in these parts only very recently. In Bangalore, the camp is being supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Aspiration. This event is sponsored by Hivos, the Open Society Institute, and the International Open Source Network (IOSN). This perhaps marks a shift in the approach of international development organisations, who have come to recognise that the Free Software approach to knowledge and skills makes the most sense in a world where poverty and illiteracy and unconquered enemies for a few thousands millions. Prior to this event, similar 'source' events have taken place in South East Europe, Southern Africa and are planned in 2005 in Western Africa. See http://www.tacticaltech.org/asiasource (ENDS) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha is a freelance journalist who writes often on Free Software, and can be emailed at fred(a)bytesforall.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://goabooks.swiki.net * Reviews of books on Goa... and more

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Freedom of Knowledge, Accountability and Justice
by Krishna Pagadala 19 Jan '05

19 Jan '05

Please find a half-finished essay on "Freedom of Knowledge, Accountability and Justice" at http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/issues/freedom_of_knowledge_and_justice.… and also at the end of this email. Criticisms welcome. Regards, Krishna Freedom of Knowledge, Accountability and Justice ------------------------------------------------ This essay is highly influenced by lessons learnt from the Free Software Movement, I encourage the reader to read the companion essay on "Freedom of Knowledge and Development" before reading this one. Knowledge: What is it? ---------------------- "The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned." For the purposes of this essay Knowledge should be understood to include all forms of knowledge used in the public sphere, whether or not such knowledge is considered private. The knowledge not included is the personal/private/intimate kind of knowledge about natural persons, which the public has no right to know. Specifically all information in all human institutions in whether it is technology, accounts, planning documents, reports, to the minutest detail excepting knowledge infringing which is personal and intimate to natural persons. Freedom of Knowledge -------------------- * The freedom to use knowledge for any purpose. * The freedom to learn and adapt it to your need. * The freedom to share and help your neighbor. * The freedom to improve on existing knowledge and share your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. * The freedom to use the knowledge no matter its source. Accountability -------------- Human institutions whether they are in the form of governments, corporations, trusts etc. must be accountable to the people. However abuse of power has been a constant throughout history irrespective of the outward form the concentrations of power have taken. The most important way in which this abuse of power is sustained is by restricting the flow of information. To make these institutions accountable, knowledge about their workings needs to be widely avaiable so that the institutions can be improved by the public in both adversarial and collaborative manner. In the absense of such knowledge power, will continue to be abused. This is the prime reason why there is enormous resistance to right to information laws around the world. To help please join a right to information advocacy group in your home country. Also do not restrict right to information only to government entities. Justice ------- I have been concerned about Justice in the context of colonialism. The first criteria to acheive justice is that it must not be vengeful / retributive. It must be of the healing variety by nursing the sick back to health. One of the immediate responses in this context has been reparations, usually meaning money. However I see serious problems with such forms of reparations, given the history of "AID" by developed countries. The problems being 1) AID has not reached the level that the developed countries have promised. 2) 80% of AID is restricted, in the form of soft loans, requirements to buy from donor countries corporations etc. 3) Elites in the recipient countries eat the money away. 4) Money does not have value in itself, it is merely representation of wealth, it has value because of socio-economic circumstances, in particular violence that is required to maintain such violence. In light of these problems with money, reparations in the form of money seem inadvisable. Knowledge however represents true wealth that is independent of violence, increases in utility as it is shared and leads to increased levels of development. Knowledge is thus an ideal solution to the problems brought out by money. It has a healing effect in that the developing world gains real wealth without cost to the developed world. Attribution ----------- There are three pillars that have contributed to my understanding of the world, and in helping me form my worldview. First I would like to thank Richard M Stallman and Free Software Foundation, for their important message of software freedom. Second Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen's works inspired me in thinking about solutions to a lot of misery that I am aware of. Finally I would like to thank Noam Chomsky for helping me overcome my blindness and helping me understand how the world really works. Resources --------- Freedom of information. http://www.freedominfo.org/ "Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard Stallman" http://notabug.com/2002/rms-essays.pdf Philosophy of free software http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/ ===== Books for Disadvantaged Children - $10 Health Care for a Tribal Village - $100 Electricity for a remote community - $1000 Satisfaction of making a difference - Priceless Visit: http://www.oneforindia.org/?r=krishnaact To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the next step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to self-reliance for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? -Mahatma Gandhi __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Patents & Biotech
by Rakesh 'arky' Ambati 19 Jan '05

19 Jan '05

Patents and Open Source Biotech Biotech Posted by michael on Tuesday January 18, @05:32PM from the my-new-asian-bird-flu-technique-is-unstoppable dept. sebFlyte writes "Since Slashdot readers seem to be interesting in the issues and problems surrounding software patents, I thought they might be interested to see that Wired is running an interesting piece on patents in Biotech and the way that they can hold up important research, and how there are clear parallels with the open source software community with the way that advocates of openness are trying to solve these problems." http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,66289,00.html ===== ____________________________________ /\ \ \_| Rakesh 'arky' Ambati | | Bangalore (INDIA) | | Homepage: http://arky.port5.com/ | | _______________________________|_ \_/_________________________________/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! http://my.yahoo.com

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Fwd: [glugc] need help for switching 2 linux
by Praveen A 18 Jan '05

18 Jan '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: shiyasvp <shiyasvp(a)yahoo.com> Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 21:26:10 -0000 Subject: [glugc] need help for switching 2 linux To: glugc(a)yahoogroups.com Hai friends My name is Shiyaz. Now I am working at Doha Qatar. Now here Microsoft people searching for pirated products. So it's very difficult To give new pc with windows xp and other software. Every pc manufactures must Install windows xp (windows products.) if they use Microsoft products. So many customers didn't agree with this policy. We have an internet café, Today Microsoft people came here and ask license for Microsoft windows for all PC (50) computers is there So today our IT section decided to switch red hat Linux. Our IT section is not powerful, and they don't know Linux. I have some idea in installation of Linux. Here all people call to foreign countries and India, Philippines, using software dialers Gcc2u, net2phone, globalvoiz, mypccall, netpccall, www.gcc2u.com,www.net2phone.com, www.globalvoiz.org, www.mypccall.com www.netpccall.com . I think in these dialers will not support Linux if we switch Linux customers can use only net browsing. And Linux will support yahoo messenger and msn messenger?. And these software. Dialers. At any cost we want this dialer and messenger. Any remedy is there, anybody help me. Please replay me immediately By shiyasvp(a)yahoo.com ________________________________ Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/glugc/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: glugc-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. -- A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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Listen to what you type !!!
by Praveen A 17 Jan '05

17 Jan '05

Check out this wonderful text to speech converter program site. Download and feel it !! http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/download.html Praveen A -- A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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[Fsf-friends] The GNU/Linux Commands Dictionary by Santhosh Thottingal
by Praveen A 17 Jan '05

17 Jan '05

Hey all, My friend Santhosh has written a book 'The GNU/Linux Commands Dictionary'. I've attached the pdf file. Go through it and sent feedback to him at santhoshthottingal at yahoo.co.in Regards Praveen A -- A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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SLYNUX -- Sarath Laxman's Linux website
by Praveen A 17 Jan '05

17 Jan '05

Check out this site www.slynux.co.nr Regards Praveen A -- A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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FreeSoftwaremagazine.com
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

Issue 1 Volume 1 of this new magazine has just hit the (cyber)stands. And, don't be too surprised, you're free to download a copy too of this 78-page publication. Some of the articles in the first issue: o File formats; format wars (Marco Fioretti) File formats: the past, the present, a possible future o XML: The answer to everything? (Kay Ethier, Scott Abel) This article weighs the pros and cons of XML for some applciations (publishing) and explores why it is the best possible solution for many programming and publishing needs. o Free file formats and the future of intellectual freedom (Terry Hancock) Information as property may be served by closed file formats, but the freedom of information requires free formats. o Creating the Free Software Magazine (Tony Mobily) A long path that takes us to the very beginning of this project. o Mac OS X: Welcome to the jungle -- a look inside the Mac OS X software ecology (Chris J Karr) o The magic of live CDs (Harish Pillay) What are live CDs, and how do they work? o Every engineer's checklist for justifying Free Software. It's not just about 'no licence fees' (Malcolm D Spence) o Smarter password management (John Locke) How to handle your passwords without getting lost o The content tail wags the IT dog (Daniel James) Without hardware and software, there would be nothing for digital media to be created on, or used with. And yet the content industry attempts to tell the far larger IT industry what it can and cannot do. o Motivation and value of free resources. Wikipedia and Planetmath show the way (Aaron E Klemm) o It's all about freedom (Christian Einfeldt) Freedom is free software's competitive advantage. o The Commons (Dave M Berry) The Commons as an Idea -- Ideas as a Commons o Let's not forget our roots (Free Software is not just about cost or stability; it's a movement that mustn't forget the principles which made it possible) Tom Chance. A PLANT NEEDS WATER TO GROW! Free Software Magazine -- by subscribing you will be supporting a magazine which believes in Free Software. All our articles are released under the GNU free documentation license, enhancing existing information on Free Software. Download your copy today from http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com Subscriptions open! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://goabooks.swiki.net * Reviews of books on Goa... and more

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 21, Issue 4
by fjsylvester＠marketweighton.com 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

happy new year friends fjsylvester

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[Fsf-friends] FLOSS into the Mayan languages... and a LatAm distro based on Gentoo
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

Ola, here's some news from Latin America... Julio Cesar Gonzalez of LUGUSAC <juliocgc(a)fisica.usac.edu.gt> writes in to say that they have got "organized as a Linux Users Group, currently pursuing to be a Technological Foundation. The mail list is open and can be reached at: http://espanol.groups.yahoo.com/group/lugusac and our site is at http://www.lug-usac.org Says Julio: "We are the forge of several projects, maybe the most interesting 'Proyecto Luciernaga', on translating FLOSS into mayan languages, (see it at http://luciernaga.berlios.de ) and "Proyecto Mayix", the very first Central American distribution based on Gentoo -- http://www.mayix.net " In the first half of 2005, this team expects to partner the creation of a GNU/Linux Users Group in the west highlands (Quetzaltenango, native name Xelaju), their site will be at http://xelalug.linuxserver.at/ Says Julio, whose based in Gautemala: "In Central America the major interest on FLOSS is here in my country (Guatemala) and in El Salvador. Some LUGs in Belize and Honduras." He, together with several friends, formed a GNU/LUG at their university three years ago. Their Mayan language project incidentally is an inter-institutional project, also involving groups such as the "Fundacion Rigoberta Menchu Tum" (Nobel Peace Price, 1992) and "Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala" (national autority for mayan languages)." According to Julio, they're currently working on the translation of OpenOffice.org Writer 1.1 into the Mayan language k'iche'. He adds optimistically: "After that, we'll produce the OpenOffice.org suite in all the major Mayan languages, a web browser and, eventually, a Live-CD with a Mayan-languages GNU/Linux distribution." We wish these big and ambitious plans all the very best. If you could support in any way, get in touch with Julio Cesar Gonzalez Cordon <juliocgc(a)fisica.usac.edu.gt> who says: "It's exciting to share, to learn, and to build another world with you!". FN Related URL: Fisired (http://fisica.usac.edu.gt) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://goabooks.swiki.net * Reviews of books on Goa... and more

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Fsf-friends January 2005