Fsf-friends April 2005

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

29 participants
45 discussions

Careers in FLOSS... (Dec 2003 issue of LFY)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Jun '24

06 Jun '24

=========================================== LINUXForYou * Dec 2003 (Vol 1 No 10) In India Rs 50 (with CD) http://www.linuxforu.com Pages 102 * US$7.95 0 74470584957 =========================================== THIS ISSUE has probably reached your city. Saw it in Bangalore, and also got a complimentary copy from the LFY team at LinuxBangalore2003. But when I reached back to Goa on Dec 4, it wasn't in as yet. So it might take time to reach 'small town' India... FN REVIEWED: Mandrake 9.2 * PhProjekt * StarOffice 7.0 COMPUTERS AT TIS HAZARI, the session courts for the city of New Delhi, are being shifted over to Linux, courtesy the National Informatics Centre. - Rahul Chopra in this month's editorial. LINUX LEARNING CENTRE at Bangalore is offering courses in administration, security, development (internals and programming essentials, programming with Qt, device driver programming, MySQL & PHP), RHCE and Red Hat rapid track certification. www.linuxlearningcentre.com DotGNU RELEASES CD: It can now be used to implement application programs and Web services in C# and C applications under multiple operating systems, including GNU/Linux, FreeBSC, MacOS, MS Windows. The 219 MB release 0.1 CD is available as a free download at http://download.freedom.biz/dotgnu/dotgnu-0.1-cdrom.iso.gz.torrent e-Bridge calls itself "the new state-of-art training facility from eSpark Infotech is now open in the heart of Bangalore". It's offering embedded Linux courses (Linux fundamentals, programming Linux, embedded C & Linux, realtime C & Linux, Linux internals, device drivers, networking) and DSP courses (DSP fundamentals, TI/analog dev programming, audio/video, image processing, bio-medical systems). www.ebridgesolutions.net Linux.net provides a free e-mail service to those who want an e-mail address that ends in '@linux.net' MAJOR UPDATES and releases: OpenNA Linux 1.0, Gibraltar Firewall 1.0, Xandros Desktop 2.0, Onebase Linux 2.0, CUPS 1.120rc6. CAN YOU MAKE money with open source? Registration entails a "nominal fee" of Rs 5000 for a three-day conference. http://www.linuxasia2004.com/attendees/ February 11-13, 2004, New Delhi. SEND IN YOUR favourite slogans for a tee-shirt, and win five free copies of the shirt... LFYedit at efyindia.com MONEY CAN't buy respect, says Robert Adkins. Some of us might have met this guy at LB2003 in Bangalore. He's the CTO of Technetra Corp, and an advocate and implementer of FLOSS solutions for government. He can be contacted at radkins at technetra.com CAREERS WITH FLOSS: The number of students opting for courses in Open Source is growing steadily, even as industry experts predict a growing need for trained professionals in this expanding field. EXIT RED HAT, ENTER FEDORA: It's official now; the free (of cost) version of Red Hat Linux will not be available anymore. This has created a lot of FUD in an already unstable environment, thanks to the SCO episode. But is Red Hat closed for good? WEB-BASED COLLABORATION SOFTWARE: PHProjekt is an easy-to-install collaboration suite, which runs on the open source platform and databases. As the design of the system is developer-friendly, adding new features and components is a piece of cake. STAROFFICE: The latest version of Sun's office suite, StarOffice 7, may just be the right solution for the cost-conscious user. It loads faster than the earlier version, and sports some noticeable improvements. IN THE LFY CD THIS MONTH: Slackware (the "oldest Linux distro") and a range of GNU software for Windows users. FALLING BACK on backup systems. MAKING ADOPTION OF Linux in the enterprise easy. www.linux4e.com Business partners required: http://wwww.linux4e.com/partners ooWRITER HELPS YOU create your own templates and styles so that you can work with documents easily. Open Source is key to IBM's vision of computing. User empowerment is key to Microsoft's, writes Alolita Sharma USING DATABASE functions in Calc, a tutorial. (Wish there were more how-tos for the user in this mag! --FN) HALDIA DOCKS: it has a uniquely designed Linux installation with an active-active cluster set up, which is considered the best of its kind. This has ensured efficiency and cost-effectiveness. BASIC UNIX commands and concepts: an extract from *Running Linux* (Shroff Publishers, Pp 674 only Rs 425 in India). VxWorks and LynxOS are definitely the biggest embedded operating systems in use today. But slowly they are acknowledging the power of GNU/Linux and how it can help them maximise deployments. HELP LINUX GO INDIAN: By using various translation tools, you can join Language translation groups working across India to help translate GNU/Linux into your language. EXPERT INTRODUCTION: Multi-threaded programming under Linux. KICKSTART YOUR Linux installation (Part I): Installing Red Hat Linux on multiple machines one after another can be quite tedious. To avoid answering the same question over and over again, try the KickStart method, as it does not need any user intervention. WRITE CHEQUES. NOT JUST BOOKS: Niyam Bhushan on how anybody can turn thoughts into words, and words into wealth. NFS CLIENTS for Windows. OpenSSL PACKAGE offers a vast crypto library of algorithms WAIT QUEUES in Linux device drivers UNDERSTANDING recursive sub-routines INDIA-RELATED NEWS: HP launches GNU/Linux laptop Mandrake's latest distribution Oracle announces 10g for GNU/Linux Delixus offers India Linux CxProtect anti-virus mailing solution for mail-servers Trade management system from Network Programs Netweb Technologies unveils Tyrone MRO-Tek rolls out Network Management Systems Review of FLOSS at BangaloreIT.com =========================================== DISCLOSURE: This journalist (FN) writes a monthly column for LFY and gets paid for it. Promoting awareness about the content of LFY however is not part of the job, and is carried on with the intention spreading awareness about FLOSS among different GNU/Linux user groups in India. -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

2 1

To open software within three years
by Manjush G.Menon 26 Sep '05

26 Sep '05

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

2 1

[Fsf-friends] INDIA: Request to sign a petition favouring Free Software in the campus
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 25 Jul '05

25 Jul '05

Please sign this petition if you agree with it... it's an attempt to convince a prominent technological university in Bangalore (VTU) to be opened to the use of Free Software too. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign Krishna Pagadala, San Jose, USA. I have benefitted highly from the Free Software movement and the Freedoms it has provided. Specifically the Freedom to learn from the source code has helped me in getting a high-technology job in the US. I wish that all students enjoy the all the Software Freedoms. Pramode C.E, IC Software: I would like to add that there are efforts under way to develop innovative hardware experimentation platforms using GNU/Linux to improve the quality of Physics (as well as Engineering) education; and the best part is that it's being done in India. Please visit http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/ to know more about the `Phoenix Project' being developed by Ajith Kumar at the Nuclear Science Centre, India. The wealth of high quality tools and the open nature of the platform is of immense value to young engineers and scientists raring to unleash their creativity; the lessons in freedom and sharing that students learn by using GNU/Linux will also go a long way in shaping their character as caring and responsible human beings. ashidhar b desai ,6th sem E&C, B.V.Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology Hubli,Karnataka,India ,FLOSS is an excellent alternative for the existing commercial softwares..Academics(colleges and univ) is the best way to promote and support "Free Software".It will be a great initiative if the univ adopts it(it will become an example for other univ & institutes). News about open source and gnu/linux stuff---Indian Inside . Lets get Liberated.LONG LIVE OPEN SOURCE. Praveen Arimbrathodiyil (National Instititute of Technology, Calicut) Fri Mar 11 17:34:50 IST 2005 We use GNU/Linux in our main Computer center. It saves a lot of money of the college as there is no licence fee to be paid for each users. Since the source code of the softwares are available many computer science students do projects based on Linux kernel and other such projects. The possibility of use of thin-clients (which our computer center use) reduces the cost of hardware dramatically. It has proved to be beneficial to our college and I urge you to chose Free Software for giving a better alternative for students. Debapriyo Sarkar. Final year student of BCA, Goa. As a student, I plead to every university, to adopt, encourage and spread the use of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS). The benefits are clearly far-more significant than cost savings (which of course is a huge motivating factor). The quality of software reviewed and worked on by virtually the entire developer community of the world is definitely at least world-class if nothing else. It is possible to save on costs with $0 priced closed source software often termed as freeware, but the limited resources of the single developer or the couple of developers behind the software makes future of such software bleak. Compared to that, software released under an open source license, helps user as well as developer involvement to happen as deeply and transparent as no other licensing model can support. As the letter includes the following (stripped) statement "...Octave, which is simulation software written by University professors. This usually comes with the GNU/Linux Operating System." which clearly shows that professors of universities elsewhere have contributed to the solution of making quality software available to the students and colleges alike under a license that welcomes further contributions to improve the project virtually endlessly. As a personal experience, I often have used open source alternatives whenever acquiring the proprietary packages meant depending on the lab assistant to provide the CD for illegal copying or genuinely going out and shelling out all those huge wads of cash for functionality that was already at my disposal with added advantage of continuing development and a long-life (of the software). As universities use and recommend use of open source software,rate of development is bound to grow with more and more students using the same version of software both at college and home (no limited cheap "student" edition which are "cheap" imitations with myriad "limitations"). Also professors' contributions in the form of bug reports, bug fixes, new functionality patches and their work in increasing awareness about the benefits of using open source software would help improve quality of free software to an enormous extent. Vijay Kumar, Chennai, India. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html .P.Sujeevan,Project leader, S2S2, Kerala .Here at kerala at school level more than 50 of schools are still using GNU/Linux.Also SSLC IT practical examination has successfully done under the linux operating system.Some schools are still using the Linux terminal server systems.Next year aggressive work is planning to implement complete linux environment in schools.http://s2s2net.netfirms.com _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Writing with a difference, on issues that really make the difference.

2 1

Madras HC (Madurai): Inclusion of 'video pirates' under goondas act valid
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Apr '05

30 Apr '05

MADRAS HC(MADURAI) :INCLUSION OF `VIDEO PIRATES' UNDER GOONDAS ACT VALID Source: The Hindu The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday held as valid the inclusion of "video pirates" under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, popularly known as the Goondas Act, by way of an amendment last year. Dismissing a habeas corpus petition moved by the father of a person from Tiruchi, branded as a "video pirate" and detained under the Act, a Division Bench, comprising Justice P.K. Misra and Justice A.R. Ramalingam, said the amendment in pith and substance related to preventive detention; and hence it was valid. The contention of the petitioner was that the State legislature was not competent to enact a law concerning copyright, since it was a Central subject. Pointing out that the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution distinguished between the subject matter of laws that could be enacted by Parliament and State legislatures by drawing reference to three different lists ? the Union list, the State list and the Concurrent list, the petitioner said copyright fell under entry 49 of the Union list; and hence, only Parliament could enact a law on the subject. http://www.nalsartech.org/tikiwiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=4032 _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha (FN) * Freelance Journalist \ __\/ \ Goa India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.goanet.org \/

1 0

Launch of Indlinux in Indore
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Apr '05

30 Apr '05

See http://govinda.no-ip.com/linux_iips/message.html In co-ordination with SARAI-CSDS,LUG Jabalpur , Linux User Group Indore and Linux_iips, IndLinux was launched in Indore on 24th April '05. _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha (FN) * Freelance Journalist \ __\/ \ Goa India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.goanet.org \/

1 0

Will IP, Copyright, Outsourcing, Economy force next FOSS revolution in India?
by Thejesh GN 30 Apr '05

30 Apr '05

The FOSS revolution started in North America, and then it reached Europe where it blossomed with Linux. Next one probably may happen in India. Why do I think so? (1) *IP issues:* It happened with the drugs/medicine. When IP/Copyright/Patent became very stringent in USA/Europe it started a drug/bio industry in India. This stared producing much cheaper drugs compared to western countries. Most of the third world countries are dependent on India for medicine. This can happen in FOSS world too. With more liberal copyright/patent laws in India; programmers in India can code without thinking about what patents they will be infringing. This may force many FOSS startups/hosts in India. This is a major support for FOSS based industries in India. (2) *Outsourcing:* With the outsourcing along with the employment knowledge is also flowing into India. India has more software engineers than any other country now. (I remember reading Bangalore (India) surpassing Silicon City (USA) in numbers.). This knowledge flow may help in FOSS development. (I remember reading most of the open source developers have regular 9-5 job). (3) *Economy:* The growing economy of India may force people to experiment in various fields for example FOSS. With service based business model companies can earn on FOSS. *What do you guys think? Will the next FOSS revolution happen in India?* *Please leave your comments here...it will help my studies....** http://www.techmag.biz/?q=node/85* <http://www.techmag.biz/?q=node/85> Thank you, Thej *You dont have to login for leaving comments.*

1 0

Open Source goes beyond software (S Sadagopan)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 29 Apr '05

29 Apr '05

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=89284 Open Source goes beyond software Free digital archives being extended from health to all biological sciences S SADAGOPAN Posted online: Friday, April 29, 2005 at 0000 hours IST Send Feedback E-mail this story Print this story S Sadagopan What began as the 'free software' movement, thanks to Richard Stallings, has matured over the years. It is not just a posturing alternative to the commercial 'closed' software. Software and services are a dominant sector of economic activity. Major industry segments -- automobiles, banking & finance, healthcare, oil & gas, retail and transportation -- depend heavily on software. And so, interest in the open source movement has heightened. The combination of the Linux operating system (widely used at the server level and with increasing adoption at the desktop), Apache (powering half the world's web servers), mySQL (the database that has come of age) and Perl (the widely used scripting language) --- together generally referred to as Lamp -- has an eco-system of pundits, developers, evangelists and adopters that cut across geographies, industries, languages and cultures. Somewhere, it has struck an interesting chord in the minds of millions of people. What is interesting is that the open source philosophy has deeply influenced many other segments of human endeavour. I will touch upon scientific publishing as one such segment in this column. For long, scientific publishing was controlled by the scientific societies. With technology starting to dominate industry and 'licensing' contributing a significant part of the revenue of technology companies, scientific publishing went into the hands of commercial companies. Authors had to 'pay' a fee to get their papers published; the journals' subscription rates started rocketing. The nexus between libraries and publishing houses could partly alleviate the problem; individuals were given 'subsidised' subscription. There are some bright spots. Societies such as IEEE in the US and IEE in Britain do have clout: they are still in the hands of professionals. But such success is not widely prevalent. Responding to this, an Open Source publishing movement started some time ago. In the early Internet days, there was even talk of 'self publishing,' where you create a website and keep all the written stuff, for access to any intended reader. With the growth of 'web spiders' and search engines, such as Google, there was even a feeling that publishers would be "driven away." Luckily, no such thing happened. . After free digital archives have come individual internet weblogs . The Open Source philosophy is invading one territory after another One clear example of an alternative to 'commercial publishing' is the PubMed Central (http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/index.html) project of the US National Institute of Health (NIH). It is a free digital archive of citations and scholarly journals. It is not a replacement for publishing, but provides an alternative open and free resource for all humanity. The same group also provided GenBank, the highly successful genetic data sequence repository, that allowed researchers anywhere in the world to tap into the huge database of human genomic sequences. Even more interesting is the arrival of the blog (internet weblog), that is permitting thousands of individuals to 'self-publish.' Blog became the most used word in the year 2004, as per Webster's online dictionary (see my FE column of Feb 4). Google, MSN, Sify and Rediff provide space and tools for bloggers today. But what really excites me is the Cambia (Italian word for change) Project, that is building an alternative, BIOS (Biological Innovation for Open Society). Bios is extending the Open Source software movement to biological sciences (including agriculture and pharmaceuticals). Their Bio-forge (www.bioforge.net), on the lines of the highly successful repository, Source-forge (http://sourceforge.net/), of Open Source projects (code, code samples, white papers, FAQ, tutorials and guides, with 99,483 live projects and 1,062,251 registered users as on April 28) is another idea whose time has come. Bio-forge also has an excellent free, full-text access to some key parts of patents' information. I find them to be the best among all online patent tutorials, database, white papers, etc). It will be interesting to watch this Open Source movement over the next decade, as it invades many other territories of human endeavor. The writer is director, IIIT, Bangalore. These are his personal views END OF FORWARD _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha (FN) * Freelance Journalist \ __\/ \ Goa India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.goanet.org \/

2 1

SITEWATCH: http://www.mksarav.org/
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 28 Apr '05

28 Apr '05

This is a personal site of "M K Saravanan, currently working at STMicroelectronics Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Singapore, as DSP Systems Design Engineer. I am also doing part time Masters (CS, by research), at National University of Singapore." It however also contains a number of useful links: * MIT (Madras Institute of Technology) * MIT Alumni Association - Singapore * MIT Alumni Association - Bangalore * AU-KBC Research Centre * Centre for Internet Research, NUS Many links to Tamil fonts for GNU/Linux. Also, tutorials on GNU/Linux (preliminary tutorial with five exercises, networking tutorial, the MKS Linux Kernel HOWTO, premilinary tutorial in the Tamil language). Internet-related links take you to: * Internet Society Home Page Learn about history of Internet * Internet Engineering Task Force Here you can find the people who are giving shape to Internet Standards * Request For Comments - RFC Archive * World Wide Web Consortium * History of the Internet and WWW: Road 1 -- USA to Europe * Internet & World Wide Web History Then, there are interesting links to computer gurus, and other GNU/Linux links, which end up at: * www.linux.org * GNU/Linux Documentation Home Page * Red Hat GNU/Linux * Indian Linux User Groups * Chennai Linux User Group - ILUGC * www.linux.com * Linux Journal * Linux Today * freshmeat - All GNU/Linux related new arrival * Slashdot * GNU/Linux Telephony * Diskless Workstations - Most Economic Solution * GNU/Linux Terminal Server Project * GNU/Linux IP Masquerade Resource * Akaram TeX Editor for Tamil & Localisation of KDE * xterminal to view Devanagari Script This guy has tonnes of other links, including: * Links related to Software Development in Tamil & other Indian Languages * Government of India Sites * Optical character recognition * Unix and Networking related links * Search engine technologies * Online books and magazines (including Project Madurai, a collection of Tamil literary books http://www.projectmadurai.org ) * Tips on his educational institution ( I am getting lot of emails from various students enquiring about the possibility of doing Undergrad/Master/Ph.D. programmes at NUS. I can't guarantee that I will answer all of them. So please read this NUS-FAQ first. All possible details you may need are already there on the NUS websites. You have to spend enough time on Internet to gather all the details. You can use google search engine also.) Very interesting Saravanan. Thanks for getting in touch with that tiny URL peeping out below your signature file! FN _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- If you are related to the field of IT (or even if not) please visit http://www.bytesforall.org, a network on how computers can help the commonman, and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers

1 0

Report 'piracy', earn reward (The Financial Express)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 27 Apr '05

27 Apr '05

REPORT PIRACY, EARN REWARD Source: The Financial Express Eavesdropping on pirated software users and reporting the crime can now fetch you up to a cool Rs 5 lakh. All you need to do is call the anti-piracy toll-free number. Any individual can report under-licensing and/or use of illegal software at a workplace and qualify for a reward. Launching an anti-piracy hotline toll-free number (1600-11-0033) on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Rights day, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal said, "In the last 20-30 years, there has been a movement in favour of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Protection of IPRs is needed to bring back the returns for those who make investments for generation of intellectual property," Mr Sibal said. However, enforcement of laws towards protection of IPR related to all areas, including software and drugs, becomes difficult if needs of different communities are not taken care of, Mr Sibal said. "While on one hand, we say computerisation must reach every village, prices of software are high," he said adding, this leads to piracy. http://www.nalsartech.org/tikiwiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=3952 _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- If you are related to the field of IT (or even if not) please visit http://www.bytesforall.org, a network on how computers can help the commonman, and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers

1 0

RMS: BitKeeper bon-voyage is a happy ending
by Anivar 26 Apr '05

26 Apr '05

RMS: BitKeeper bon-voyage is a happy ending Monday April 25, 2005 (01:00 PM GMT) By: Richard M. Stallman http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/04/25/130207 For the first time in my life, I want to thank Larry McVoy. He recently eliminated a major weakness of the free software community, by announcing the end of his campaign to entice free software projects to use and promote his non-free software. Soon, Linux development will no longer use this program, and no longer spread the message that non-free software is a good thing if it's convenient. My gratitude is limited, since it was McVoy that created the problem in the first place. But I still appreciate his decision to clear it up. There are thousands of non-free programs, and most merit no special attention, other than developing a free replacement. What made this program, BitKeeper, infamous and dangerous was its marketing approach: inviting high-profile free software projects to use it, so as to attract other paying users. McVoy made the program available gratis to free software developers. This did not mean it was free software for them: they were privileged not to part with their money, but they still had to part with their freedom. They gave up the fundamental freedoms that define free software: freedom to run the program as you wish for any purpose, freedom to study and change the source code as you wish, freedom to make and redistribute copies, and freedom to publish modified versions. The Free Software Movement has said "Think of free speech, not free beer" for 15 years. McVoy said the opposite; he invited developers to focus on the lack of monetary price, instead of on freedom. A free software activist would dismiss this suggestion, but those in our community who value technical advantage above freedom and community were susceptible to it. McVoy's great triumph was the adoption of this program for Linux development. No free software project is more visible than Linux. It is the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system, an essential component, and users often mistake it for the entire system. As McVoy surely planned, the use of his program in Linux development was powerful publicity for it. It was also, whether intentionally or not, a powerful political PR campaign, telling the free software community that freedom-denying software is acceptable as long as it's convenient. If we had taken that attitude towards Unix in 1984, where would we be today? Nowhere. If we had accepted using Unix, instead of setting out to replace it, nothing like the GNU/Linux system would exist. Of course, the Linux developers had practical reasons for what they did. I won't argue with those reasons; they surely know what's convenient for them. But they did not count, or did not value, how this would affect their freedom -- or the rest of the community's efforts. A free kernel, even a whole free operating system, is not sufficient to use your computer in freedom; we need free software for everything else, too. Free applications, free drivers, free BIOS: some of those projects face large obstacles -- the need to reverse engineer formats or protocols or pressure companies to document them, or to work around or face down patent threats, or to compete with a network effect. Success will require firmness and determination. A better kernel is desirable, to be sure, but not at the expense of weakening the impetus to liberate the rest of the software world. When the use of his program became controversial, McVoy responded with distraction. For instance, he promised to release it as free software if the company went out of business. Alas, that does no good as long as the company remains in business. Linux developers responded by saying, "We'll switch to a free program when you develop a better one." This was an indirect way of saying, "We made the mess, but we won't clean it up." Fortunately, not everyone in Linux development considered a non-free program acceptable, and there was continuing pressure for a free alternative. Finally Andrew Tridgell developed an interoperating free program, so Linux developers would no longer need to use a non-free program. McVoy first blustered and threatened, but ultimately chose to go home and take his ball with him: he withdrew permission for gratis use by free software projects, and Linux developers will move to other software. The program they no longer use will remain unethical as long as it is non-free, but they will no longer promote it, nor by using it teach others to give freedom low priority. We can begin to forget about that program. We should not forget the lesson we have learned from it: Non-free programs are dangerous to you and to your community. Don't let them get a place in your life. Copyright 2005 Richard Stallman. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted worldwide without royalty in any medium provided this notice is preserved.

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Fsf-friends April 2005