Fsf-friends October 2005

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

33 participants
46 discussions

Fwd: Call to vote against software patents in "European of the Year" poll

by Anivar Aravind

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Sullivan <johns(a)fsf.org> Date: Oct 26, 2005 8:30 PM Subject: Call to vote against software patents in "European of the Year" poll FREE AND OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE LUMINARIES CALL ON WORLDWIDE COMMUNITY TO VOTE AGAINST SOFTWARE PATENTS IN THE "EUROPEAN OF THE YEAR 2005" INTERNET POLL Richard Stallman, Tim O'Reilly, Alan Cox, Rasmus Lerdorf and Monty Widenius endorse Florian Mueller's candidacy "because he runs on a NoSoftwarePatents ticket, and that is the message we want to reinforce" Brussels (20 October 2005) -- A group of Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) celebrities has weighed in on the election of the "European of the Year 2005" by calling on "software developers and users around the globe" to vote for Florian Mueller, the founder of the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign, in a public online poll. The illustrious consortium consists of--in alphabetical order of last name--Alan Cox, Red Hat Fellow and Linux kernel maintainer; Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of the PHP programming language; Tim O'Reilly, book publisher and conference organizer; Richard Stallman, President of the Free Software Foundation (who in 1984 began the work that produced today's popular GNU/Linux operating system); and Monty Widenius, creator of the MySQL database. In a NoSoftwarePatents press release, the community leaders today expressed their support for the voting recommendations that NoSoftwarePatents.com has published in more than a dozen languages: http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/vote.html Participants in the poll are required to make a choice in each of ten categories, and the voting list provided by NoSoftwarePatents.com explains the role that various candidates played in the software patent debate so that voters can reward the opponents of software patents and penalize pro-patent politicians. On 22 September, Florian Mueller was nominated for the most prestigious award in EU politics, the "EV50 Europeans of the Year". The jury thereby recognized his political efforts against a legislative proposal that in his opinion would have legalized software patents in Europe. The European Parliament rejected the bill on 6 July by a landslide of 648-32 votes. Mueller, who stressed that he owes this nomination "to our entire community and especially to the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII)", is credited with founding a multilingual campaign website, speaking out in the media and at public events, and lobbying MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) as well as governments and parliaments in select EU member states. The European Voice, a major EU-focused weekly, is now conducting an Internet poll in which Mueller runs against such famous contenders as U2 frontman Bono, Bob Geldof, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, and political leaders including British prime minister Tony Blair, the outgoing German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, and Schroeder's successor designate Angela Merkel. The poll is open to the worldwide public until 11 November. Mueller's endorsers pointed out that the FOSS community has played a particularly active role in the fight against software patents, but that software patents "threaten us all because they don't discriminate based on programming language, operating system, or licensing model". The group is "disconcerted by early reports" that the EU is now looking at alternative ways of giving software patents a stronger legal basis in Europe, such as an EU community patent regulation. The press release underscored the fact that "this is a campaign for a cause, not for a person": People are asked to vote for Mueller "because he runs on a NoSoftwarePatents ticket, and that is the message we want to reinforce". The NoSoftwarePatents.com label is right next to Mueller's name on the ballot (http://www.ev50.com/poll). The endorsement furthermore stated: "Some other nominees also stand for valid concerns and noble causes. However, those issues and individuals have already received a lot of coverage in the mass media, while the implications of software patents to the whole world, including developing countries, still require much more public awareness. In the sense that software patents monopolize mental steps, they are also a human rights issue." Mueller is confident that he can win the title of the "European of the Year" against his famous competitors in the light of the "indisputable e-campaigning power of the anti-software patent movement". In addition to a campaign statement and voting recommendations, the website provides an email form that allows supporters to spread the information (http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/notify.html), and banners (http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/ev50/banners.html). The two main slogans of the electoral campaign are "Vote against software patents" and "Vote for your right to program". Should he win the popular vote, Mueller said that "everyone is a winner". He promised "to donate the Microsoft-sponsored prize money to the FFII", without which he says he "probably wouldn't have become involved, let alone succeeded, in this political battle". The EV50 winners will be announced on 29 November. A gala evening at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels will be hosted by former European Parliament President Pat Cox, who was hired by US corporations to lobby for software patents in the build-up to the 6 July vote. The EV50 awards are supported by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. Sponsors include PR and lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller, software maker Microsoft Corporation (a major owner and backer of software patents), and pharmaceutical giant Novartis. The European Voice is a publication of the Economist group. NOTE: Florian Mueller founded the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign in 2004 with the support of three corporate sponsors (1&1, Red Hat, MySQL AB), and managed it until March of 2005. He then gave his website to the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), the leading European pressure group that opposes the patentability of computer programs. CONTACT INFORMATION Florian Mueller florian.mueller(a)nosoftwarepatents.com -- John Sullivan Program Administrator | Phone: (617)542-5942 x23 51 Franklin Street, 5th Fl. | Fax: (617)542-2652 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA | GPG: AE8600B6 _______________________________________________ info-fsf mailing list info-fsf(a)gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf -- Knowledge is power... share it equitably! http://www.gnu.org

17 years, 6 months

Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] FSF Participation in FOSS.IN Expo/Projects

by Kanti Jadia

>I had posted a message on the foss.in discussions >list regarding the Phoenix project yesterday - have >you seen it? I think it's a nice project which we can >put >up as part of the FSF stall .. let me know what you >think about it. > i could not make out the license for the software part of Phoenix project.Opened the code files as well. As a project Phoenix is very exciting. I would encourage you to put it as a separate demo on its own. Note: I do not represent views of FSF-India.These are my personal views. You could engage gnu(at)gnu.org.in for details Regards Kanti ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

17 years, 7 months

Re: [Fsf-friends] FSF Participation in FOSS.IN Expo/Projects

by Kanti Jadia

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 Pramode C.E. wrote : >Hello, > >I would like to know who is coordinating the FSF's >participation in FOSS.IN? > Hi Pramode, We were discussing participation sometime back. At that time the format for FOSS.IN was not know. As per latest info available the format of the http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-2005/message/2612 "--- In linux-bangalore-2005(a)yahoogroups.com, Atul Chitnis <listadmin@l...> wrote: > > All: > > Project groups wishing to participate in the FOSS projects Expo (projects > could be FOSS projects or groups) should let us know ASAP, so that space > can be allocated to them. Note that we are following the IT.COM 99 format > for this expo - there are no separate stalls for each project, but the > entire pavilion is one huge stall, and all projects will demo within that. > No sales are allowed (sorry guys, but we really dont want sales tax people > raiding this place), but any free giveaways are cool. Now am not too sure what we (Volunteers of FSF-India) would have as a demo. A stall or booth would have given us space to put some posters and handouts. A GNU/Hurd demo could be done , but i do not think that adds something here as FSF-India.If any ideas are there , please add up Thanks and Regards Kanti >Thanks and Regards, >Pramode C.E >------------------- > > > >__________________________________________________________ >Enjoy this Diwali with Y! India Click here http://in.promos.yahoo.com/fabmall/index.html > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

17 years, 7 months

FSF Participation in FOSS.IN Expo/Projects

by Pramode C.E.

Hello, I would like to know who is coordinating the FSF's participation in FOSS.IN? Thanks and Regards, Pramode C.E ------------------- __________________________________________________________ Enjoy this Diwali with Y! India Click here http://in.promos.yahoo.com/fabmall/index.html

17 years, 7 months

New guidelines to beat spyware

by Frederick Noronha (FN)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1278978,curpg-2.cms New guidelines to beat spyware [ Friday, October 28, 2005 11:15:59 pmAP ] NEW YORK: A coalition of anti-spyware vendors and consumer groups published guidelines on Thursday to help consumers assess products designed to combat unwanted programs that sneak onto computers. The Anti-Spyware Coalition released the guidelines for public comment and also updated a separate document that attempted to craft uniform definitions for "spyware" and "adware" in hopes of giving computer users more control over their machines. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, Internet users have become more cautious online because of worries about spyware and adware, which can bombard users with pop-up ads and drain processing power to the point of rendering computers unusable. Nearly half of adult online Americans have stopped visiting specific websites that they fear might infect them with such unwanted programs, and a quarter have ... ceased to use file-sharing software, which often comes bundled with adware. In addition, 43% of Internet users say theyhhh’ve been hit with spyware, adware or both, with broadband users generally at greater risk. The new guidelines from the coalition assign risk levels to various practices common with spyware and adware. High-risk practices include installation without a user’s permission or knowledge, interference with competing programs, interception of e-mail and instant-messaging conversations and the display of ads without identifying the program that generated them. Changing a browser’s home page or search engine setting is deemed a medium risk, while using cookies to collect information is considered a low risk. ENDS

17 years, 7 months

FN'sEyeOnFLOSS *** Oct 28, 2005 * IOSN booklets... FLOSS and disaster... five reasons... Yash from Mauritius... BytesForAll...

by Frederick Noronha (FN)

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Frederick Noronha (FN) <fred(a)bytesforall.org> Reply-To: fred(a)bytesforall.org To: LIG <linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net> Subject: FN'sEyeOnFLOSS *** Oct 28, 2005 * IOSN booklets... FLOSS and disaster... five reasons... Yash from Mauritius... BytesForAll... Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 12:36:07 +0530 ................................................................ FN's Eye on FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software ........ ................................................................ [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] IOSN's BOOKLETS AVAILBLE FOR DOWNLOAD Free/Open Source Software: A General Introduction by Kenneth Wong and Phet Sayo is a 60-page booklet, part of the Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme's e-Primers series. What makes it interesting is not just that it is written in a simple and easily-accessible style, but also the fact that it is freely downloadable. (From www.iosn.net) Its preface calls the Free and Open Source (FOSS) movement one of the "new technologies and ... new opportunities... that is playing out before us today". It also calls it many things at the same time. Including, a "revolutionary development process, disruptive technology, ideological movement, new knowledge and standards, and more". This primer launched the series which is focussed on the FOSS movement. One would prefer the use of the term FLOSS, since the "libre" concept is obviously a crucial one here. But then, the power of the corporate world is such that they define concepts and one has little choice on whether it should be Linux (rather than GNU/Linux), Open Source rather than Free Software, and FOSS rather than FLOSS. That apart, this book contains some useful material. It starts off with definitions: about the Free Software Foundation, the Open Source Initiative, the FOSS development method (reduced duplication of effort, building upon the work of others, better quality control, and reduced maintenance costs), and a brief history of FOSS. Then we go to the meat of the issue: why FOSS? Also: Is FOSS free? How large are the savings from FOSS? What are the benefits of using FOSS (security, reliability and stability, open standards and vendor independence, reduced reliance on imports, developing local software capacity, reduced 'piracy', localization possibilities, etc)? There's the other side of the balance-sheet presented too: what are the shortcomings of FOSS? This primer admits to the lack of business applications, hassles when it comes to inter-operability with some proprietary systems, and limitations on the availability of documentation and the 'polish' with which products are presented. From there, we go to FOSS success stories. These are pointers to projects where large governments (or supra-governments like the European Union) took strongly pro-FOSS policies. There are studies from The German Bundestag servers, the city of Munich, the experiences in France, UK's policies on FOSS procurement, and the migration to FOSS in the city of Turku in Finland. >From the Americas success storiasia, es come from California, Texas and Oregon -- even if the pro-FOSS laws were still to be passed at the time of writing. Then, there's Peru, Brazil, and, in Asia, China, India, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. Wong and Phet, who obviously have a good overview of the subject they're writing about, shift to some successful FOSS projects. These include Bind (the DNS server, without which internet addresses such as yahoo.com or even microsoft.com would not function), the Apache web server, the Sendmail email server, the secure network administration tool OpenSSH, and the Open Office productivity suite. Richard M Stallman, the father of the Free Software Movement and a guest of the International Open Source Network, would probably be happy with a section of this book(let) that explains the difference between the "Linux" buzzword, and the concepts like GNU/Linux. Newbies to this entire idea are told about where they can download GNU/Linux from -- don't try unless you have a fat pipe to the internet, it's just easier to very-legally make copies of a distro that someone else has. Issues like download time, installation and compiling time, quality assurance and learning time are also very briefly touched on. With so much packed in a small book, you might just realise that we've still only reached half-way through the title. Quite rapidly, the authors shift to more complex issues -- licensing arrangements, the GNU General Public License, BSD-style licenses, and issue like whether FOSS can be combined with proprietary software. We move on to localisation ("the process of creating or adapting a product to a specific locale, i.e. to the language, cultural context, conventions and market requirements of a specific target 'market'), methods for localizing, and a case-studies of FOSS in government and education. Having seen how some of this works on the ground, it might be risky to rely solely on the printed word to judge how things work in this field. For instance, a more thorough evaluation of the Goa Schools Computer Project (or, Goa Computers in Schools Project, as it has also been called) stills awaits being done. And it would be best done by someone who has empathy and appreciates the potential, without necessarily being a close observer-participant as this reviewer has been. Finally, we end with a glossary... much-needed for a subject as geeky as this. There's also a list of interesting URLs of different GPL compatible and incompatible software licenses. As noted above, what makes this book different is not just that yoiu are free to "copy, distribute and display" it, but also make derivative works from it and make commercial use of this work. Further, the authors are generous in crediting all the persons whose work, comments, feedback and copyedits went into creating this work. We are reminded at the end about the agendas of the two UNDP-linked institutions that brought it out (www.apdip.net and www.iosn.net). Clearly, there's no reason why this needs to be read by both those gung-ho and those skeptical about the potential of FOSS. You can't claim that the costs (there's none) or lack of access (it's just a URL away) kept you from reading it. -- Frederick Noronha, October 2005. [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] PROMINENT SPEAKERS EXPECTED FOR FOSS.IN: Atul Chitnis <listadmin(a)linux-bangalore.org> announces that the overseas speakers will include: Jonathan Corbet, co-author of "Linux Device Drivers", and editor of LWN.NET, aka "Linux Weekly News"; Andrew Cowie of Linux Australia; Harald Welte, who's chairman of the netfilter/iptables project, and the man behind GPLviolations.org; "Mr.Wizards-of-OS" Volker Grassmuck; the man behind the Apache project, COLLAB.NET's Brian Behlendorf; "Mr.PHP" Rasmus Lerdorf; the Diva of Open Source, Danese Cooper; Yahoo!'s Jeremy Zawodny; the man behind Linux Sound and Audio Dave Phillips; and the legendary hacker Alan Cox. ---------------------------------------------------------- FOSS.IN/2005 is a major Free/Libre & Open Source Software Event Nov 29 to Dec 2, 2005 Bangalore Palace. http:// foss.in/2005 ---------------------------------------------------------- [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] FIGHTING DISASTER, THE FLOSS STYLE: Chamindra de Silva <chamindra(a)opensource.lk> informs that Sahana phase I is currently being deployed in Pakistan together with the support of NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) of Pakistan, IBM Crisis Response Team and IBM Pakistan. NADRA has a comprehensive people database as they build and maintain the central system that maintains the registration of people (identity card, passport, etc). In Pakistan, however the system is not web based and under tight security controls. Thus Sahana fills the gap of making the data accessible to the other organizations involved in the relief effort such as the NGOs. Apart from that NADRA does not have the equivalent of the request management system and organization registry which is built into phase 1. This is what the integrated system should look like this: http://www.reliefsource.org/foss/images/2/2e/NDMS.jpg The deployment model presented by us can be found at http://www.linux.lk/~chamindra/docs/Sahana-Pakistan.pdf Chamindra is keeping notes and lessons learned on this deployment at the Reliefsource wiki at http://www.reliefsource.org/foss/index.php/Use:Asian-Earthquake-OCT-2005 * * * * * * * * * * Shahzad Ahmad <shahzad.ahmad(a)isb.iucnp.org> writes: "Just sharing this news item. The Tsunami fame, [Free/Libre and] Open Source Software product SAHANA is already almost deployed by Chamindra de Silva with support from the IBM crisis response team and NADRA (National Database Registry of Pakistan). PSEB was also extending support to them I remember. The difference here... SAHANA yet has to hit the media while Microsoft is already getting coverage." > Microsoft offers technological assistance in quake-affected > areas > Representative hands over monetary assistance to PM and > MKRF By Schezee Zaidi, The News, 21/10/2005 > http://jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2005-daily/21-10-2005/main/main6.htm * * * * * * * * * * Irfan Khan <khania(a)super.net.pk> says: For updates on the deployment of Sahana in Pakistan, check recent entries in Sanjiva Weerawarana's Blog http://www.bloglines.com/blog/sanjiva and Geek with an attitude (Buddhika Siddhisena's Blog) http://budlite.blogspot.com/ [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] FIVE REASONS WHY: 5 reasons not to use GNU/Linux, especially when compared to Windows. http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8124627492.html [Thanks for the link to Justin Joseph <justin_joseph007(a)yahoo.com> [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] THIS ISSUE'S PROFILE: Yash <yash(a)vfemail.net> is a Systems Engineer with an entrepreneurial spirit based in Mauritius. He founded the first and only Ruby User Group locally -- Rubidius. Earlier this year he "predicted that the future of web apps will be based on Ruby on Rails." Says Yash: "My interests lie in Business, Free and Open Source Software, Optimizing Business Processes and Investments, Music and technology in general. Favourite GNU/Linux distro: Yoper. Favourite programming language: Ruby (you'd have guessed that). I started programming with an Oric Atmos using self-taught BASIC. Today I'm more interesting in the strategic management issues of I.S. and Business integration." http://www.yashlabs.com/wp [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] HELP FOR A WEBSITE, IN HINDI: Shubhranshu Choudhary <smitashu(a)gmail.com> is working on a People's Website of Chattishgarh, and he got useful for some of his technical problems from Indic computing guru G Karunakar. "Shu" has been trying to put in "as much matter in Hindi as possible". They use the Hindi Mangal Unicode as font for the www.cgnet.in site, due to go online in early November. Shu says: " I am having huge difficulty with content in various different fonts in Hindi. My friend Sudhir Gore of India Today Delhi had sent me a TBIL converter from Microsoft which is working for few fonts. I also trying to work with Parivartan which came with the CD given by Govt of India. But I have not been able to make it work yet." Karunakar responds: I assume you are trying to convert texts composed in different fonts to Unicode, so what would be first needed is which fonts are those texts in. There exist few convertors There is one here, which converts to ISCII http://ltrc.iiit.net/showfile.php?filename=downloads/FC-1.0/fc.html http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/indlinux/ scripts/iscii2utf8.py?rev=1.2&view=log ISCII can be converted to utf-8 (the encoding in which you have to keep webpages) using the attached script. There is also more convertor scripts at http://www.indictrans.org/mapping/English/legecy_to_unicode.php (I am cc'ing to the developer Swapnil Hajare - he could help with specific issues). For info on using Hindi on internet read http://www.devanaagarii.net Typically if your users are sending content in lots of fonts, maybe better to identify a small set (5-6) fonts in which you could accept contributions in. Most of the above scripts are [GNU]Linux based, I guess we need to do a simple app. which can do the conversions without users having to fiddle with scripts (will try to get someone volunteer for that). Karunakar's links: * Work: http://www.indlinux.org * Blog: http://cartoonsoft.com/blog [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] NEWS FROM BELGAUM (NORTH KARNATAKA) Nitin Bilgi <nbbbgm(a)rediffmail.com> writes from GITLUG: "Hi Fred, We have not got in touch with you since long time. I saw you article in Linux For You October 2005 issue about the LUG and about Goa lug. We at GIT, as you know started the LUG in 2002 by me with dedicated students. In 2003 we conducted a meet which you attended. In 2004, there was a lull. In 2005, we have activated again with help of dedictaed student friends. On October 22, 2005 we conducted a one-day workshop on LAMP by Dr Satish Annigeri of BVB College Hubli. It was attended by nearly 200 participants. I will send ... details about our future events." Do keep in touch, Nitin and others. Also see this network for small GLUGs/LUGs/FSUGs in India http://groups.yahoo.com/group/little_league [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] BATTLEGROUND OF IDEAS: Battleground of ideas: FLOSS debate raises tempers at BytesForAll BytesForAll's mailing list[1] recently played host to a strong, and at times polemical, debate on proprietary-versus-FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software). In this debate, there were these couple of great posts here [2] and here [3], that put things neatly in perspective -- thanks to David Geilhufe who is co-founder of the SocialSourceFoundation.org [4] and Sunil Abraham of Mahiti.org [5]. It all started with a rather critical-of-FLOSS post by University of Manchester's Dr Richard Heeks [6] offering a link to an eDevelopment Briefing titled "Free and Open Source Software: A Blind Alley for Developing Countries?" [7]. It calls the 1980s shareware "FOSS forerunner" to have had "zero" impact, says data from Africa shows only five percent of computers "in developing countries" have any Open Source software running on them, and notes that proprietorial software dominates "even in Cuba... where the US embargo should make conditions highly propitious". Besides, the briefing says that "piracy" and the "limited size of initial purchase price within total cost of software ownership" there is actually no "evidence of FOSS delivering cost savings". Says the briefing: "In particular, proprietary software may not be open source but it is certainly free for the great majority of developing country users, thanks to piracy." It points to the lack of awareness of FOSS in Africa, and the lack of international links needed to be part of an "active, global community of like-minded developers". One early response to this brief text came from BytesForAll co-founder Frederick "FN" Noronha and is here for viewing [8]. It argues, "The "5% of computer systems" overlooks the role played by FLOSS in servers, in keeping the Internet running, in giving unprecedented access to developers of the Third World to take part in a global movement, and more." This study, argues this post, overlooks the potential of FLOSS in large 'developing' countries like India, China, Brazil and South Africa. It points to another study -- from Finland -- which it says is more open to the benefits of FLOSS in the "developing" world. See http://www.maailma.kaapeli.fi/FLOSSReport1.0.html FN also adds, "By saying 'proprietorial software is free' for the bulk of the 'developing' world, the study is guilty of both tolerating/encouraging the illegally copying of software ('piracy' is a loaded term, unfortunately accepted by academia too) and missing the essence of what Free Software is all about (offering the freedom to be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed). We are not fighting just for the right to remain 'pirates'...." Richard "RMS" Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation joining in the debate with these comments. [9] There was a longish debate on benchmarking FLOSS. Javier Sola, a Spanish-Chilean working on Khmer language localisation in Cambodia, added some interesting points [10]. Javier, who works with APC member the Open Forum of Cambodia, argues: "Academics should make sure that they look at all factors when they write something like this. In this case the author has not come even close to it. He has, among others, completelly ignored the power of localisation, diminished as "techies and amateurs" some of the people that have clearer ideas of what is needed for real migration and used anectdotal data for his conclusions." Sunil Abraham argues how proprietorial software could kill -- no exaggeration, due to its delays and restrictions -- in a post-Tsunami situation. He also argues that "because Sahana (a Free/Libre and Open Source Software project to cope with disasters) is FOSS, the earthquake stricken people from Pakistan and India don't have to spend money earmarked for food on software." Then, in an almost tongue-in-cheek Sunish manner, he argues that FLOSS "increases the responsiveness of an organisation. This is important whether it is peoples lives or greater profits." [11] David Geilhufe has this very interesting response to argue that FLOSS offers "viral diffusion" (to enable its uncontrolled spread, of course in a positive way), local control and lower barriers to entry. Well put, and very well argued. Here's [12] what David argues eloquently: "There is no religious war here, but I think the staunch defenders of proprietary code get stuck on analyzing the software... this isn't the important part. One needs to analyze the innovation and use of software... that, I believe, is where the real ICT impact lies." David's Social Source Foundation [13] is here. It is "a nonproft organization that exists to create open source, mission-focused technology for the nonprofit and NGO sector." Another link is the OpenNGO.org [14] network. OpenNGO calls itself "an open source project to create a set of web-based tools designed to meet the needs of small U.S. nonprofit organizations and non-governmental organizations across the globe." Meanwhile, another strong debate continued at the Global Knowledge for Development mailing-list, visible at the archives here [15]. Some supported Heeks views, while others said academia was missing the point on FLOSS. Said Mark Davies (mark(a)busylab.com): "As an African business, and as an African software development business, I still don't get it. There's so much enthusiasm for FOSS, there's so much conference mind-share spent on this topic, and yet I don't see an illuminating discussion about the opportunities for risk/reward for people like us." [16] After facing a lot of counterpoints, Heeks responded: "You can read this message in two ways: either that FOSS will never deliver; or that the FOSS community needs to rethink its strategies. Or, of course, if you've devoted months or years to FOSS and don't like the message, you'll try to denigrate the writer, deny the data, and so forth." [17] Klaus Stoll the president of Fundacion Chasquinet [18] in Quito, Ecuador also swam against the tide. He wrote: "...yes, my organization Chasquinet Foundation works with Microsoft and yes it is the same organization that produced and published the Open Source tollbox for Telecenters in Latin America [19] and yes we have as a policy in our organization that people should have a right to choose. What counts for us here at the grassroots are real ICT tools for Development, be they open source or otherwise, what counts is if they make a real positive impact in improving peoples lives." African NGO Kaibassa argued here[20]: "We at Kabissa have a very practical orientation and don't really push Open Source in our trainings or through our services and Web site unless it's just staring in our faces as just plain better. Open Source Content Management Systems and other server-based tools and desktop applications like Firefox and Thunderbird spring straight to mind. In the meantime, I hope you and other software developers in Africa are aware of and considering attending Africa Source II." But one key perspective came from Richard "RMS" Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation [21]. He commented: "The choice between free (freedom-respecting) and proprietary (user-subjugating) software is not a technical choice. It is an ethical and political issue about people's freedom. To be neutral on issues that merely concern technology is fine. To be neutral on ethical and political issues about freedom is nothing to be proud of." [1] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers [2] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6855 [3] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6849 [4] http://www.socialsourcefoundation.org/ [5] http://www.mahiti.org/ [6] mzdid10(a)fs1.ec.man.ac.uk [7] http://www.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/dig/briefings.htm [8] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6769 [9] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6794 [10] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6775 [11] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6848 [12] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6855 [13] http://www.socialsourcefoundation.org/ [14] http://www.openngo.org/ [15] http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/2005/Oct/ [16] http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/2005/Oct/0321.html [17] http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/2005/Oct/0319.html [18] http://www.chasquinet.org [19] http://tele-centros.org/tc-toolkit2.0/ [20] http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/2005/Oct/0334.html [21] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/6837 Copyleft -- verbatim copying, with credits -- allowed/encouraged. We invite you to join ILUG-Goa, the friendly GNU/Linux user group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/join

17 years, 7 months

An interesting quote...

by Frederick Noronha (FN)

Seen on a mailing list: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR200510260… The following excerpt is from the article above: "Chairman Bill Gates said on Wednesday the software giant faced growing competition from companies in China and India but, for now, the strength in those countries lies in software services. Gates, on his first visit to Israel, said Israeli companies would also confront increased competition from China and India. "There will be competitors for Microsoft and for Israeli companies coming out of those countries although today the success, particularly in India, has mostly been in the software services area, outsourcing work, doing call centers and things like that," Gates told a news conference."

17 years, 7 months

Computers Alone Can't Bridge Digital Gap (Inter Press Service)

by Frederick Noronha (FN)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30658 Computers Alone Can't Bridge Digital Gap Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Oct 17 (IPS) - "With these three computers and Internet access, it's as if we could reach up and touch the sky," exclaimed Analía Bonesso, the principal and teacher of all eight grades in a rural primary school in Argentina with no telephone, no radio, and only 14 students. Tomás Espora primary school is in Campo Durango in the province of Santa Fe, some 400 km northwest of Buenos Aires. This former dairy farming region has now been taken over by soybean plantations, and the school's students are the children of migrant farmers who travel from one source of work to another, Bonesso explained to IPS. Since 2002, the school has formed part of a network of 17 rural schools located throughout Argentina that have been provided with computer equipment and a broadband or satellite Internet hook-up though the Ministry of Education's Educ.ar Programme. The programme is also meant to encompass training and technical support, although certain shortcomings come to light during the interview with Bonesso. She said that she had learned to use the computers "partly on my own and partly with the help of friends." And while everyone at the school uses the equipment "to read the news and search for information," e-mail is used only by the staff, not the students, because "they don't have any relatives to write to," said Bonesso. "Don't they connect with children in other schools?" asked IPS. "Yes, sometimes, and I try to get them to write e-mails to the relatives that some of them have in other parts of the country," she responded. The unbridged distance between the provision of equipment and genuine assimilation of these new technologies on the part of the programme's beneficiaries is regularly stressed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to close the digital gap by familiarising the poor, excluded sectors of society with the latest information and communications tools. The problem is not limited to isolated rural schools. In the city of Buenos Aires, there are primary schools that are well equipped with computers, but the teachers do not know how to use them. "The parents decided to put up the money to hire a computer teacher who goes to the school twice a week," Silvina Márquez, the mother of a student at one of these schools, told IPS. This is what happens when the equipment "comes as manna", without the needed preliminary groundwork. "The state and private sector work hard to provide computers and Internet access, but the challenge that remains unfulfilled is for the community to feel a sense of 'ownership' of the equipment and to use it to meet their needs," Angélica Abdallah, director of the Argentine Telework Association, commented to IPS. A survey conducted by the software giant Microsoft found that almost eight million people in Argentina, a country of 37 million, regularly surf the Internet and use e-mail, a higher proportion than the majority of Latin American countries. However, the use of this technology is overwhelmingly concentrated in the country's cities. In Buenos Aires and its outskirts alone there are roughly 9,000 cybercafes with more than 52,000 computers connected to the Internet, according to the same survey, carried out in 2004. While some are privately owned and others are run by telephone companies, the affordable rates they charge have made Internet use a widespread phenomenon in urban areas. Another survey, conducted this year by the Argentine newspaper Clarín and the market research firm D'Alessio IROL, revealed that 60 percent of Internet users go online in cybercafes, 41 percent in their own homes, 14 percent at work, and a mere three percent in educational facilities at every level, including public and private universities. It is this last category that is key to expanding access in impoverished sectors of society. As part of the process leading up to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), taking place Nov. 16-18 in Tunisia, the governments of Latin America have pledged to double the current number of schools, libraries and community centres hooked up to the Internet by the year 2007. The Argentine government of centre-left President Néstor Kirchner, who took office in May 2003, has placed heavy emphasis on the provision of the needed equipment. In addition to ensuring that schools in slum neighbourhoods are connected to the Internet, the Ministry of Education launched a National Digital Literacy Campaign this year, which will distribute 100,000 computers to 12,000 schools. Laura Serra, director of projects for the Educ.ar programme, admitted to IPS that difficulties have been detected in the schools that make up the network, and that efforts are being made to resolve them. The main focus now, she added, is on the digital literacy campaign, which will include curriculum content and training for the teachers involved. "What is needed to reduce the digital gap is to work on all aspects at the same time," stressed Serra. "It's not enough to simply hand out computers and Internet connection, without training or course content." So far, half of the computers to be provided through the programme have arrived in the schools, while the remainder will be distributed by the end of next year. To ensure the necessary training, the ministry has signed an agreement with the country's public universities, which will offer courses on classroom use of new information technologies to some 15,000 primary and secondary school teachers. The Kirchner administration also continues to sponsor another project that was enthusiastically launched in the late 1990s but has only partially survived, namely the Community Technological Centres (CTCs), which are funded by the Communications Secretariat of the Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services. There are 1,350 CTCs throughout the country, which the state has supplied with both computer equipment and training for technical and teaching staff. The host institutions include schools, churches, libraries, fire halls, municipal authorities and NGOs. In the case of the CTCs, the state pays for Internet access with a monthly limit on connection time. But once again, the success or failure of this initiative does not depend solely on the technology implemented or the bandwidth used. "In order for the CTCs to have an impact on the community, people have to be trained to properly manage them, to ensure that they remain sustainable in the long term," said Abdallah. Serra, for her part, commented, "What is a centre good for if it can no longer acquire paper or printer cartridges?" Similar concerns are voiced by Nodo Tau, an NGO founded to train social organisations, including trade unions and schools, in the use of new information technologies like the Internet. "In order for this technology to be used, it is essential to provide training, create networks among organisations, and promote access for the most marginalised sectors as well," Nodo Tau training coordinator Carolina Fernández commented to IPS. Nodo Tau and other civil society groups have promoted the establishment of community computer facilities or "telecentres" in social organisations, and some of these have joined with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation) network of free telecentres, which promote the recycling of computer equipment and work with free or open-source software. "We reach out to entrepreneurs and professionals to try to get them to use the telecentre as a tool for marketing their products and services," noted Abdallah. "We also want to generate demand in the private sector for the services that could be offered by the telecentre, in order to make it sustainable," she added. But in order for this to be viable, there is a need to "train people to manage." Abdallah stressed that instead of waiting for technology to "come from above," work should be done at the grassroots level, listening to the needs of the community and providing training for the appropriate use of technology. Nodo Tau has supported the creation of seven telecentres that offer services at an extremely low cost in social organisations. "There are users of all ages, but mainly adults who are uncomfortable with the modern aesthetics of cybercafes," said Fernández. Fernández believes that the digital gap is not isolated from the other social, cultural and economic gaps typical of a developing country. "In order to bridge this gap, the solution does not lie in the acquisition of equipment, but rather in the assimilation of this tool by the members of the community, since this is the way to ensure that its use will contribute to transforming reality," she said. (END/2005)

17 years, 7 months

Need partners to emulate success

by doxa＠sancharnet.in

Friends, After the roaring success in introducing researchers, faculty and staff to the philosophy and practise of GNU systems at School of Social Sciences, MG University (thanks to Dr V Sasi Kumar, CESS) its now the turn of the Mahatma Gandhi University. Dr Rajan Gurukkal, Director, School of Social Sciences, after holding discussions with the Vice Chancellor, is requesting help for training the staff at the University Campus to embrace Free Software. This time we need more concrete help. Dr Sasi, how do we proceed ? CK Raju, Thrissur

17 years, 7 months

Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 30, Issue 21

by Frederick Noronha (FN)

That's a nice idea. I think Foss.in will be calling for community participation, and we should be ready for that when it happens. ILUGGoa would like to participate too. We have picked up a lot of members from outside Goa and would like to grow by building awareness about our activities. More techies should get a chance to discuss the politics of proprietorial and Free Software. FN On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 06:03 -0400, fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in wrote: > I am NOT in favor of giving out free cds - mainly because the > freeloaders will have a free day. Maybe we can sell the complete > Debian > DVDs (testing/stable/unstable)

17 years, 7 months

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Fsf-friends October 2005