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
Hello All,
In the last visit, RMS went different places in India and He covered
different topics in his speech. I am planning to collect all of them
in a CD.
Presently I am having following audio tracks with me:-
1) Danger of Software Patents @ IIT Madras.
2) Free Software Movement @ REC Trichy (Thanks to Vijaykumar)
If you have any audio track, Kindly send it to me in CD/Tape/WebLink.
Bye :)
--
Bharathi S
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/entry-20050212.html
One of our most important projects is the Free Software Directory.
by Janet Casey
To make a donation supporting the Free Software Directory and other FSF
projects, please visit donate.fsf.org.
The Free Software Directory is a project of the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). It catalogs useful free software that runs under free operating
systems, particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants.
The Directory maintainer verifies the license for every package in the
directory by opening each package and checking the license of each source code
file. Almost 90% of the packages included are under the GPL or LGPL, but any
package under a license we consider acceptably free (see this list), that runs
on a free OS, and that does not depend on non-free software can be included.
The Directory has grown enormously since its inception in late 1999. It now has
almost 3,300 packages, each one individually checked as described above. The
scope of the Directory has also broadened: the original template for a
Directory entry had 30 possible fields; the current template has 47. Licensing
issues with Qt and PHP4 have been resolved, so packages that use Qt or are
written in PHP4 are now included. Originally, almost all packages had command
line interfaces; now Web-based and GUI packages account for roughly a third of
the Directory.
The Directory accounts for between 40 and 45% of the traffic on the FSF's Web
site; in a recent five day period, it had almost 2.5 million total hits.
THE DIRECTORY IS AT: http://directory.fsf.org/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia
Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436
http://fn.swiki.nethttp://fn-floss.notlong.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/free-bios.html
Campaign for Free BIOS
Chips and Motherboards that support LinuxBIOS
The Free Software Foundation's Campaign for Free BIOS
In 1984 the GNU Project set out to make it possible to operate a computer in
freedom--to operate it without any non-free software that would deny the user's
freedom
At the time, the obstacle to this was simply the operating system. A computer
won't run without an operating system, but all the modern operating systems of
1983 were proprietary, user-subjugating software. There was no way to use
modern computers in freedom. We set out to change the situation by developing a
free software operating system, called GNU.
When the kernel Linux became free software in 1992, it filled the last gap in
GNU. The combined GNU/Linux operating system achieved our goal: you could
install it in a bare PC, and run the computer without any installed non-free
software.
Strictly speaking, there was a non-free program in that computer: the BIOS. But
that was impossible to replace, and by the same token, it didn't count.
The BIOS was impossible to replace because it was stored in ROM: the only way
to to put in a different BIOS was by replacing part of the hardware. In effect,
the BIOS was itself hardware--and therefore didn't really count as software. It
was like the program that (we can suppose) exists in the computer that (we can
suppose) runs your watch or your microwave oven: since you can't install
software on it, it may as well be circuits, not a computer at all.
The ethical issues of free software arise because users obtain programs and
install them in computers; they don't really apply to hidden embedded
computers, or the BIOS burned in a ROM, or the microcode inside a processor
chip, or the firmware that is wired into a processor in an I/O device. In
aspects that relate to their design, those things are software; but as regards
copying and modification, they may as well be hardware. The BIOS in ROM was,
indeed, not a problem.
Since that time, the situation has changed. Today the BIOS is no longer burned
in ROM; it is stored in nonvolatile writable memory that users can rewrite.
Today the BIOS sits square on the edge of the line. It comes prewritten in our
computers, and normally we never install another. So far, that is just barely
enough to excuse treating it as hardware. But once in a while the manufacturer
suggests installing another BIOS, which is available only as an executable.
This, clearly, is installing a non-free program--it is just as bad as
installing Microsoft Windows, or Adobe Photoshop, or Sun's Java Platform. As
the unethical practice of installing another BIOS executable becomes common,
the version delivered inside the computer starts to raise an ethical problem
issue as well.
The way to solve the problem is to run a free BIOS. And our community has
developed free BIOSes--for instance, LinuxBIOS, which is a modified version of
the kernel, Linux. However, few computers can run them. Whereas "PC clones"
were and are quite similar, and fully-documented as regards what the kernel and
user-space programs need to know, the commands that the BIOS must execute in
order to initialize the machine are varied, and in most cases secret. How to
install a new BIOS is also secret on many machines. And so far, most
manufacturers have not given us the necessary cooperation of providing these
specifications. Some desktop machines can run a free BIOS, but we don't know of
any laptop that can do so.
The FSF uses laptops donated by IBM over the past few years. This was one among
several ways IBM cooperated with the GNU Project. But the cooperation is
incomplete: when I asked for the specifications necessary to make LinuxBIOS run
on these laptops, IBM refused--citing, as the reason, the enforcement of
"trusted computing" http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html
Treacherous computing is, itself, an attack on our freedom; it is also, it
seems, a motivation to obstruct our freedom in other ways.
Not all of our community perceives the non-free BIOS as an acute problem. Much
of our community supports the open source philosophy, which says that the issue
at stake is choosing a development model that produces powerful, reliable
software. The open source philosophy doesn't say that "closed source" software
is unethical, only that it is likely not to be as reliable. People who hold
those views might care about the loss of freedom imposed by a non-free BIOS,
because in their philosophy, freedom is not the issue. For us in the free
software movement, freedom is the main issue; we have to solve this problem,
whether they help or not.
How You Can Help
Since requests for manufacturers' cooperation have not solved the problem,
another approach is needed. Now we are asking you to help.
For instance, simply installing a new BIOS in the machine is a substantial
challenge. Most manufacturers don't publish the information on how to do this.
If you can figure this out for some recent model, especially a laptop, that
would be a substantial contribution.
Cooperation from the manufacturers would make that work unnecessary. However,
to gain cooperation we need to press for it.
The most uncooperative company is Intel, which has started a sham "open source"
BIOS project. The software consists of all the unimportant parts of of a BIOS,
without the hard parts. It won't run, and doesn't bring us any closer to a BIOS
that does run. It is just a distraction. By contrast, AMD cooperates pretty
well.
You can help our campaign by buying AMD CPU chips and not buying Intel, and by
publishing statements about what you're doing. Likewise, buy motherboards that
support free BIOS. See http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/free-bios.html for
information on which companies cooperate and which models and motherboards are
supported.
When you do this, tell your friends and your coworkers. And please tell us,
too--please write to bios(a)gnu.org to tell us that you have chosen what to buy
because it supports a free BIOS.
You can also help our campaign by writing to manufacturers such as Intel,
saying they ought to cooperate with a fully free BIOS. Calm but strong
disapproval, coupled with stating an intention to take action accordingly, is
more effective than venting rage. Please send a copy of your message to
bios(a)gnu.org, so we can monitor the support for this campaign. The more mail
they get, the more effect, so please do add your voice to ours.
We would like to offer positive inducements as well as pressure. Our idea is to
endorse, for a period of time, the first manufacturer in a given category of
machine (for instance, laptops) that cooperates fully with free BIOS. To make
this offer effective, we would like to collect a long list of people who say
they intend to make their choices according to our endorsements. See
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/free-bios.html for how to add your name to this
campaign.
Once this campaign has built up strength, we will publicize offers of
endorsements and begin inviting manufacturers to accept them. We will ask for
your help at every step.
Created by peterb Last modified 2005-02-28 10:27 AM
FORWARDED VIA:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia
Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436
http://fn.swiki.nethttp://fn-floss.notlong.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your
vocation. --Aristotle
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Ilugc] Theo de Raadt gets FSF Award
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 22:54:00 +0530 (IST)
From: Suresh Ramasubramanian <linux(a)frodo.hserus.net>
To: topa_007(a)yahoo.com
CC: LUG-C linux <ilugc(a)aero.iitm.ernet.in>
References: <20050227162441.26866.qmail(a)web30203.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> This years award commitee has two well known faces (
> e-mail handles actually :) from our very own ILUGC mailing list.
>
> srs : Suresh Ramasubramanian and FN : Frederick Noronha
The third indian in that list is Raju Mathur, moderator of linux-india-*
It should be fun seeing Theo and RMS together on the same stage :)
-srs
_______________________________________________
To unsubscribe, email ilugc-request(a)ae.iitm.ac.in with
"unsubscribe
" in the subject or body of the message.
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Ilugc] Theo de Raadt gets FSF Award
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 08:24:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Toufeeq Hussain <topa_007(a)yahoo.com>
Reply-To: topa_007(a)yahoo.com
To: LUG-C linux <ilugc(a)aero.iitm.ernet.in>
Hi,
Slashdot News for those who might have missed it.
Theo de Raadt, creator of OpenBSD and ex-NetBSD hacker
has been bestowed the 2004 FSF Award.I know very less
of Theo but his work towards OpenSSH and the fight
against Wi-Fi Hardware Chipset Manufactures is well
known in the FLOSS world.
Congratulations to Theo.
He joins the ranks of Alan Cox, Larry Wall and Guido
van Rossum in the FSF Hall of Fame.
This years award commitee has two well known faces (
e-mail handles actually :) from our very own ILUGC
mailing list.
srs : Suresh Ramasubramanian
and
FN : Frederick Noronha
Good Choice Guys.Keep up the good work. :)
Cheers,
Toufeeq Hussain
=====
############################################
# mail me @ toufeeq at computer dot org #
# running Debian Sarge \w 2.6.10-ck5 #
############################################
_______________________________________________
To unsubscribe, email ilugc-request(a)ae.iitm.ac.in with
"unsubscribe
" in the subject or body of the message.
http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
hi,
it would be of great help if you could get me a copy of RMS speech...
where shall i collect it?
regards,
Sri Ramadoss M,
On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:33:26 -0800 (PST),
fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in <fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
wrote:
> Send Fsf-friends mailing list submissions to
> fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> fsf-friends-owner(a)mm.gnu.org.in
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Fsf-friends digest..."
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. [Fwd: [meronidavide(a)libero.it: <nettime> A Call to Action in
> OASIS]] (Ramanraj K)
> 2. Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, Speaks on Open
> Source Code Software (Venkat Kumaraswamy)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 19:22:51 +0530
> From: Ramanraj K <ramanraj.k(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [Fsf-friends] [Fwd: [meronidavide(a)libero.it: <nettime> A
> Call to Action in OASIS]]
> To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
> Message-ID: <421F2DB3.1030807(a)gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [meronidavide(a)libero.it: A Call to Action in OASIS]
> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:36:23 +0100
> From: Holger Blasum <holgerlists(a)blasum.net>
> To: us-parl(a)ffii.org
>
> ----- Forwarded message from DAVIDE MERONI -----
>
> To: Nettime-l
> From: DAVIDE MERONI
> Subject: A Call to Action in OASIS
> Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:54:01 +0100
> Reply-To: DAVIDE MERONI
>
> A Call to Action in OASIS
>
> The free and open source software community has long demanded that
> industry standards be freely available to all to implement without
> patent or other licensing encumbrances. Open standards are essential for
> free software and open source to thrive.
>
> Now OASIS, a major industry consortium that produces e-business and Web
> services standards, has adopted a patent policy that threatens to
> undermine our development and licensing model. This patent policy
> (available, grouped together with other unrelated legal issues, in
> http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.php) permits
> standards to be based upon so-called "reasonable and non-discriminatory"
> patent license terms--terms which invariably and unreasonably
> discriminate against open source and free software to the point of
> prohibiting them entirely. It would lead to the adoption of standards
> that cannot be implemented in open source and free software, that cannot
> be distributed under our licenses. While the policy includes a provision
> for royalty-free standards, it is a secondary option, which will have
> little effect if a few OASIS members with patents can ensure it is not
> used. The OASIS patent policy will encourage large patent holders to
> negotiate private arrangements among themselves, locking out all free
> software and open source developers.
>
> This is not a new issue for us. We fought hard for a royalty-free patent
> policy in W3C and encouraged that standards organization to commit its
> members to open standards. But some W3C member companies, steadfast
> opponents of software freedom, moved their efforts to OASIS. Without
> consulting the free software/open source community, they produced a
> patent policy designed so that we cannot live with it.
>
> We ask you to stand with us in opposition to the OASIS patent policy. Do
> not implement OASIS standards that aren't open. Demand that OASIS revise
> its policies. If you are an OASIS member, do not participate in any
> working group that allows encumbered standards that cannot be
> implemented in open source and free software.
>
> Please send email to open(a)rosenlaw.com to indicate your support. We will
> forward your comments to the proper authorities at OASIS.
>
> If we stand united in opposition to this unacceptable patent policy, we
> can persuade OASIS to change it.
>
> /signed/
> Lawrence Rosen
> Bruce Perens
> Richard Stallman
> Lawrence Lessig
> Eben Moglen
> Marten Mickos
> John Weathersby
> John Terpstra
> Tim O'Reilly
> Tony Stanco
> Don Marti
> Michael Tiemann
> Andrew Aitken
> Karen Copenhaver
> Doug Levin
> Dan Ravicher
> Larry Augustin
> Mitchell Kapor
> Russell Nelson
> Guido van Rossum
> Daniel Quinlan
> Murugan Pal
> Stuart Cohen
> Danese Cooper
> Eric Raymond
> Mark Webbink
> Ken Coar
> Doc Searls
> Brian Behlendorf
>
> # distributed via : no commercial use without permission
> # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> # more info: majordomo(a)bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
> # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime(a)bbs.thing.net
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
> --
> Holger Blasum +49-174-7313590 http://demo.ffii.org/
> GnuPG 1024D/ACDFC3B769DC1ED66B47 No Software Patents
>
> _______________________________________________
> Us-parl mailing list
> Us-parl(a)ffii.org
> http://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/us-parl
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 09:12:54 -0800 (PST)
> From: Venkat Kumaraswamy <ellakannada(a)yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Fsf-friends] Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India,
> Speaks on Open Source Code Software
> To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
> Message-ID: <20050225171254.52497.qmail(a)web51310.mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> "In India, open source code software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people."
> -- Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, May 28, 2003
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> President ADDRESS AT THE JUDICIAL COLLOQUIUM ON SCIENCE, LAW AND ETHICS AT NATIONAL JUDICIAL ACADEMY, BHOPAL
> 19-02-2005 : (Through Video Conference) From New Delhi
>
> Q.2 Computers and information technology have an important role in reducing the arrears in the courts as well as in helping in other areas. Broadly there are two kinds of software's to do that. Proprietary and Open Source. Which one is better?
>
> - Justice Yathindra Singh, Justice Allahabad High Court
>
> PRESIDENT Answer:
>
> First of all, I would like to clarify that the choice of proprietary vs. open software is driven by the usage and requirements of the user at the operating system level.
>
> Since, proprietary software is predominantly used at the client level; many users are familiar and comfortable with this.
>
> However, at the server level mature users choose the software as per their requirement.
>
> Open source operating system enables the development of language independent software's and also building one's own security algorithms to suit his requirement.
>
> Indian IT industry is capable of providing a solution for the justice delivery system and its e Governance to the justice administration on top of any proprietary or open source systems.
>
> What is important here is justice delivery system should be inter-operable system built on top of open standards such as web services.
>
> Q.3 In case in your opinion open source software is more secure, cheaper and better option or is as good as proprietary software, then
>
> a. Why all courses in computer science at school level teach only proprietary software?
>
> b. Why should almost all Govt office continue to have proprietary software
>
> c. Why should govt. despite saying that they do not have any preference continue to favour proprietary software?
>
> - Justice Yathindra Singh, Justice Allahabad High Court
>
> PRESIDENT Answer:
>
> This has already been answered above.
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more.From sbharathi(a)MidasComm.Com Sat Feb 26 10:10:08 2005
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> Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2005 10:20:58 +0530 (IST)
> From: Bharathi Subramanian <sbharathi(a)MidasComm.Com>
> To: FSF-Friends India <Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
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> Subject: [Fsf-friends] Audio of RMS Talks
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> <mailto:fsf-friends-request@mm.gnu.org.in?subject=subscribe>
>
> Hello All,
>
> In the last visit, RMS went different places in India and He covered
> different topics in his speech. I am planning to collect all of them
> in a CD.
>
> Presently I am having following audio tracks with me:-
>
> 1) Danger of Software Patents @ IIT Madras.
> 2) Free Software Movement @ REC Trichy (Thanks to Vijaykumar)
>
> If you have any audio track, Kindly send it to me in CD/Tape/WebLink.
>
> Bye :)
> --
> Bharathi S
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Fsf-friends mailing list
> Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
> http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends
>
> End of Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 22, Issue 28
> *******************************************
>
--
Regards,
Amachu
Mobile: 98416 87639
The text of the President of India's *Address at the Judicial
Colloquium on Science, Law and Ethics at National Judicial Academy,
Bhopal*, is available at:
http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/eventslatest1.jsp?id=830
The above also includes a "Question and Answer Session" touching upon
free software.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [meronidavide(a)libero.it: A Call to Action in OASIS]
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:36:23 +0100
From: Holger Blasum <holgerlists(a)blasum.net>
To: us-parl(a)ffii.org
----- Forwarded message from DAVIDE MERONI -----
To: Nettime-l
From: DAVIDE MERONI
Subject: A Call to Action in OASIS
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:54:01 +0100
Reply-To: DAVIDE MERONI
A Call to Action in OASIS
The free and open source software community has long demanded that
industry standards be freely available to all to implement without
patent or other licensing encumbrances. Open standards are essential for
free software and open source to thrive.
Now OASIS, a major industry consortium that produces e-business and Web
services standards, has adopted a patent policy that threatens to
undermine our development and licensing model. This patent policy
(available, grouped together with other unrelated legal issues, in
http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.php) permits
standards to be based upon so-called "reasonable and non-discriminatory"
patent license terms--terms which invariably and unreasonably
discriminate against open source and free software to the point of
prohibiting them entirely. It would lead to the adoption of standards
that cannot be implemented in open source and free software, that cannot
be distributed under our licenses. While the policy includes a provision
for royalty-free standards, it is a secondary option, which will have
little effect if a few OASIS members with patents can ensure it is not
used. The OASIS patent policy will encourage large patent holders to
negotiate private arrangements among themselves, locking out all free
software and open source developers.
This is not a new issue for us. We fought hard for a royalty-free patent
policy in W3C and encouraged that standards organization to commit its
members to open standards. But some W3C member companies, steadfast
opponents of software freedom, moved their efforts to OASIS. Without
consulting the free software/open source community, they produced a
patent policy designed so that we cannot live with it.
We ask you to stand with us in opposition to the OASIS patent policy. Do
not implement OASIS standards that aren't open. Demand that OASIS revise
its policies. If you are an OASIS member, do not participate in any
working group that allows encumbered standards that cannot be
implemented in open source and free software.
Please send email to open(a)rosenlaw.com to indicate your support. We will
forward your comments to the proper authorities at OASIS.
If we stand united in opposition to this unacceptable patent policy, we
can persuade OASIS to change it.
/signed/
Lawrence Rosen
Bruce Perens
Richard Stallman
Lawrence Lessig
Eben Moglen
Marten Mickos
John Weathersby
John Terpstra
Tim O'Reilly
Tony Stanco
Don Marti
Michael Tiemann
Andrew Aitken
Karen Copenhaver
Doug Levin
Dan Ravicher
Larry Augustin
Mitchell Kapor
Russell Nelson
Guido van Rossum
Daniel Quinlan
Murugan Pal
Stuart Cohen
Danese Cooper
Eric Raymond
Mark Webbink
Ken Coar
Doc Searls
Brian Behlendorf
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