Fsf-friends May 2005

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

20 participants
43 discussions

Website maintainer
by Sandip Bhattacharya 25 May '05

25 May '05

Hi! Who is managing the current fsf-in website? I had mailed the address given on the site quite a while back about a link to be updated. Havent got any response till now. - Sandip -- Sandip Bhattacharya * Puroga Technologies * sandip(a)puroga.com Work: http://www.puroga.com * Home/Blog: http://www.sandipb.net/blog PGP/GPG Signature: 51A4 6C57 4BC6 8C82 6A65 AE78 B1A1 2280 A129 0FF3

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FLOSS... in Pakistan
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 23 May '05

23 May '05

From: "Shahzad Ahmad" <shahzad(a)isb.sdnpk.org> Add Address Date: 2005/05/23 Mon PM 01:18:25 IST To: <bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com>, Subject: Pakistan: The Open Option Folks, Here is a kind of basic status report on Open Source regime in Pakistan by the writer who works for the Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) project of the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB). An ex-SDNPier, she reports some very interesting developments on this front in Pakistan. Just for your kind information. Any suggestions or queries can be directed to Mr. Osman Haq, Project Manager, OSRC in Islamabad at <hosman(a)pseb.org.pk>. Best wishes and regards. Shahzad Ahmad ---------------- The Open Option By Seema Javed Amin, May 21, 2005 http://www.dawn.com/weekly/science/science6.htm A cash-strapped computer student or a professional cannot afford to purchase different software packages of Microsoft's MS Windows XP Home Edition, which costs about Rs. 5,000 or more per package. But illegal and pirated computer versions are available in the local market at a fraction of the original cost. The software are being used in our homes and in our offices. We cannot deny that we are violating international intellectual property right laws. Since its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pakistan has repeatedly been criticized by the international community because of this. But now there is an alternative. Countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, India, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, South Africa, South Korea, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, the United Kingdom; California, Oregon and Texas in the United States and Zambia have saved a lot of money because their government projects and businesses have switched from proprietary to open source software (http://www.iosn.net/downloads/foss_primer_current.pdf). This fact might not be very well-known in general, but its proponents have been working quietly behind the scenes, revolutionizing computer technologies since the sixties and seventies, providing computer users, who cannot afford expensive proprietary software with an alternative set of options. Microsoft's (MS) software, although user-friendly, is vulnerable to malicious viruses and requires regular security upgrades. This is something that only MS's software developers can take care of, because the way in which computer language is used to "write" a program like MS Word is a secret known only to them. This is known as "closed source code." On the other hand, open source software developers the world over modify and share their written version of an already existing "open source code." This results in open source software, which individual computer users can download from the internet for free. Programs include OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org/), an alternative to MS Office. Browsing the internet with Mozilla Firefox is similar to MS Internet Explorer and Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/) can be used instead of MS Outlook or MS Outlook Express. A multi-protocol messenger is also available in the form of Gaim (http://sourceforge.net/). At the local level, open source software's proponents include Linux Pakisan (http://www.linuxpakistan.net/) and the Free and Open Source Software Special Interest Group of the Computer Society of Pakistan (http://www.csp.org.pk/). At the national level, Pakistan is open to investment from the private sector, provided it can respect intellectual property rights. The government, however, can also explore open source software as a relatively cheap and security-intensive alternative. The Electronic Government Directorate's (http://pakistan.gov.pk/e-government-directorate/index.jsp) e-projects and all mission-critical security, business and financial systems and industrial sectors of the economy can flourish cost-effectively by using open source software. The Ministry of Information Technology (http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/moitt/index.jsp) is currently implementing two open source software-related projects under the Pakistan Software Export Board (http://www.pseb.org.pk/). The "Automation of Domestic Industry on Open Source Systems" project aims to develop Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for four to five industrial sectors and to introduce the automation culture in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with a developmental budget of Rs38 million. This project will create jobs by initiating open source software development in Pakistan, and help local software companies acquire knowledge and experience of open source technologies. It is expected that this will help in eliminating the software piracy issue in Pakistan, and also bridge the gap between the local industry and software companies. In the first phase, the following industrial sectors have been selected for the development of business process automation software: - All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA). - Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM). - Pakistan Ready-made Garments and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) and Pakistan Hosiery Mills Association (PHMA). - Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association of Pakistan (SIMAP). Another project worth Rs29 million, the Open Source Resource Center (http://www.osrc.org.pk/) facilitates stakeholders and investors in the software industry, should they decide to shift their businesses from vendor-dependent proprietary software to open source software technology. It aims to create a culture of open source software use in Pakistan through media awareness and training workshops, and act as a virtual community for experts in this field. A project worth Rs24 million has begun under the auspices of the Pakistan Computer Bureau (http://www.pcb.gov.pk/). Its target is to create a talent pool of 4,000 end-users and 200 systems administrators in open source software technologies. It has already trained a number of people in this regard. Another objective of this exercise is to prepare related training material in a simplistic format. The writer works for the Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) project of the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB). Selecting the right software Quite a few of us want to opt for open source software, but we don't know where to begin. Sci-tech World presents a few basic tips for selecting the right software, thus making the switch a tad easier. Here is what you should look out for: 1. Reputation - find out more about the software, that is, whether it is able to perform well. Visit your CD vendor several times if you have to, but do not buy a software because you're running out of patience. Discuss your plans with an experienced person before purchasing it. 2. Ongoing effort - quite a few open source software have been launched, but not much has been done to improve upon them. So, before you decide to purchase a relatively unknown software, do find out if efforts are being made to develop it. You don't want to pay a lot of money, only to find out that the software you selected is probably going to fall flat on its face. 3. Standards - choosing the software, which implements open standards is very important, for it could turn out to be very costly, if you buy software that may eventually force you to learn new languages or complex data formats. 4. Support community - make sure that the software you choose does have an interactive support community that is ready to answer your questions about deployment. If not, then you might have a hard time trying to figure out things on your own. 5. Versions - try to buy software that has the latest version available in the market. Doing so will not only make sure that you have all the relevant updates, but will also keep your system relatively stable. END OF FORWARDED MSG .......................................................................... Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436 Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.net ..........................................................................

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FLOSS, how the term came into being...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 May '05

22 May '05

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOSS Free/Libre Open Source Software >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from FLOSS The term Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS as different from FOSS) is a hybrid term for both free software and open source software, which are different terms for the same substance. "FLOSS" was created as a project acronym by Rishab Ghosh[1] (http://flossproject.org/people.htm), and popularised after the European Commission in June 2001 funded a study on the subject [2] (http://flossproject.org). In July 2002 a survey and study [3] (http://flossproject.org/report/) and a report of the workshop [4] (http://flossproject.org/workshop/) portion was produced and gave wider publicity for the term. The aim was to create a term which didn't alienate the advocates of either the free software philosophy, or the open source philosophy. It was hoped that such a term would ease friction between the two movements and thus improve cooperation. Indeed, Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software movement, has publicly recommended[5] (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/audio/rms-interview-edinburgh-040527.txt) the use of this term for those, especially in the research community, who wish to appear neutral. The L in FLOSS is meant to emphasise the "has freedom" meaning of the word "free" rather than "no charge" (gratis), while FOSS, for Free/Open Source Software, can give the impression that "Free" refers to "no charge". Some non-English speakers prefer this acronym as it can be translated to languages other than English: the F can stand for Frei in German while the L was explicitly drawn from Libre in French and Spanish, Livre in Portuguese, and Libero in Italian, and so on. At the end of 2004, FLOSS has been used as an English-language term of choice in official documents in a number of countries including South Africa[6] (http://www.naci.org.za/floss/index.html), Spain[7] (http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/1637/470) and Brazil[8] (http://www.softwarelivre.org/news/1727). In Spanish and Portuguese, libre/livre software remains the term for free software, avoiding the English-language confusion that led to the creation of the term Open Source. Another term similar in aim to FLOSS is non-proprietary software. Legally speaking, however, only public domain software is non-proprietary. See also * Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) External links * Please read original The Lifecycle of Software Technology (http://www.moonviewscientific.com/essays/software_lifecycle.htm)) to find more. * Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Survey and Study FLOSS Workshop report (http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/workshop/proceedings.htm), links to full study. * Free as in Education. Significance of the Free/Libre and Open Source Software for Developing Countries. (http://www.maailma.kaapeli.fi/FLOSSReport1.0.html) * Information for development www.i4donline.net (http://www.i4donline.net/floss/introduction.asp) * FOSS primers at International Open Source Network (IOSN) by UNDP (http://www.iosn.net/foss-primers) * FLOSS conference at National Institute of Technology Calicut, INDIA (http://glugc.nitc.ac.in/conference) * FOSS examples and adoption in countries

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Indian language computing
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 May '05

21 May '05

This is the text of an advert from the Indian Express, May 21, 2005: Partner the nation on the road to IT empowerment. The Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India's mission is to proliferate the use of Indian languages on computers, to overcome language barriers that restrict the nation's path to knowledge and development. To give an impetus to the movement, the DIT invites individuals, public, private agencies and academic institutions to participate in a national initiative in public-private partnership to launch and distribute applications, tools, utilities and products developed for Indian language computing through a campaign spearheaded by the DIT with the Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). We invite you to join us for a discussion about the tools, technologies or resources you can offer for any of the 22 official Indian languages. ----------------------------------------------------- * Fonts-True Type Fonts and Open Type Fonts * Keyboard Drivers * Font Encoding Converters * Storage Code Converters * Open Office (Word Processor) * Presentation Tool * Drawing Tool * Spreadsheet * Browser * E-mail client * OCRs Optical Character REcognition * Spell Checker * Dictionary * Thesaurus * Keyboard Typing Tutor * Language Learning Tool * TTS- Text To Speech System * ASR Automatic Speech Recognition * Corpora -- Suitable for the developer community * Machine Assisted Translation System * Braile utilities and others. The tools and fonts will be consolidated in a CD for free distribution in a public release function, starting with Hindi, in the next few weeks. A response by May 30, 2005 will therefore be appreciated. Unveil a new chapter of knowledge-sharing across language and cultural barriers. Please respond to us at indianlanguages(a)cdac.in and register with details soon at http://www.ildc.in or http://www.ildc.gov.in Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing A Scientific Society of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Govt of India Pune University Campus, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007 http://www.cdac.in Tel +91-20-2569 4000 01/02/03 Fax +91-20-2560 4059 CIRCULATED IN PUBLIC INTEREST by http://www.bytesforall.net Join the network http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers .......................................................................... Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436 Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.net ..........................................................................

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BBC Creative Archive
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 21 May '05

21 May '05

Hi List The Creative Archive is an attempt to digitize all the programming the BBC has commissioned, clear the copyrights and post it online with a Creative Commons-like license. This will allow Britons to download the BBC's content, distribute it and non commercially remix it into their own films, music, gags, projects and school reports. http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk/ Another off shoot of these BBC initiatives is Backstage Project covered in this post http://arky.in/node/23 It wonderful that when entertainment and entertainment establisments are looking at Net as a threat, BBC is talking bold step ahead of everyone. --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

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an invite to FLOSSblog
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 May '05

21 May '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Hi Fred, Hope you are doing fine. You are aware that Planet FLOSS India (http://planet-india.randomink.org) is an effort to provide a window into the world, work and lives of developers and contributors from India who are working on Free/Open Source Software. Do go through this URL when you can - this is an invitation to all who blog and are part of FLOSS in India to provide their blog feeds. http://sankarshan.randomink.org/blog/2005/03/28/a-call-to-writers/ ... Regards Sankarshan -- http://www.gutenberg.net - Fine literature digitally re-published http://www.plos.org - Public Library of Science http://www.creativecommons.org - Flexible copyright for creative work

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Free Software, Free Society
by Arun M 19 May '05

19 May '05

Hi Friends, Antonio Albuquerque and Elaine of GESAC project Brazil will be here in Kerala for FSFS conference. GESAC is community telecenter project in Brazil based on free software. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=reutersEdge&storyID=8516497 regards, arun.

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ILDC invites Localizations proposals
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 19 May '05

19 May '05

Hello List, TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Languages) Programme of DIT, Government of India has invited Individuals/ public/ private agencies and academic institutions to participate in a national initiative in public-private partnership to launch and distribute applications/tools/utilies and products developed for Indian Language computing. The tools and fonts will be consolidated in a CD for free distribution in a public release function, starting with Hindi in the next few weeks.A response by May 30, 2005 will therefore be appreciated. Please contact the program at indianlanguages(at)cdac.in or visit these websites www.ildc.in www.ildc.gov.in Blogged at http://arky.in/node/20 FYI --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

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Mediawiki in telugu
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 19 May '05

19 May '05

Morning Friends, I have a request from a friend who wants to setup mediawiki software in telugu language(like http://te.wikipedia.org), anyone who has knowledge about this can kindly provide me pointers for this. TIA --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

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Can I get a list of Banking and financial institutions using GNU/Linux platform
by Praveen A 18 May '05

18 May '05

Hi all, I got a chance to know more about Sanghamitra, a software developed by OSS Ernamkulam for Co-operaive banking instituions. Anyone know of other banks using softwares on GNU/Linux platform ? bye Praveen A -- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.pravi.co.nr Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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Fsf-friends May 2005