Fsf-friends May 2005

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

20 participants
44 discussions

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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The Controversy on Smart City
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 18 May '05

18 May '05

Arun, The Smart City controversy in Kerala is taking turns after turns, for the worse. Should we analyse/modify this draft and go public, with a press release. Let us show that FSF-India is there. 1. Information technology (or to be more precise, its productive market) is like a picture that needs a wall to be painted. The wall in most cases represents the traditional industry, where IT co-exists, adding value to the existing services offered by such industry. Very rarely do we see the same IT industry consuming itself, though there are instances. Hence for IT to survive and excel, the traditional industries should be in a position to consume the value-added services. This traditional industry, if situated in a foreign land, brings in foreign exchange. Hence if Government is really concerned about promoting information technology, it should revive the local traditional industries (or liaise with foreign governments to revive their traditional industries, and insist them to buy solutions from us). 2. The wall can also assume the form of Government, where it consumes information technology aided services. Presently our Government is leasing services from monopoly developers like Microsoft Inc, where it is shying away from owning such services. This is a long-term liability for the Government. The Government can rejuvenate this intake, thereby creating a demand for such services, provided it redefines its position and declares on *how* such services are to be provided. By insisting on solutions that are totally indigenous, devoid of elements that allow control from outside (insisting that every component of software be traded under the GNU General Public Licence, for instance). The solutions should also not be monopolistic in outlook (i.e., if for amending a solution, one has to necessarily refer back to the original provider, then the provider is a monopoly). 3. The Business Process Outsourcing segment of the "conventional" Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) that includes transcription services and call-centres is another area that consumes services from information technology. To promote such an environment, and create new opportunities, the Government has to necessarily influence the foreign nations or foreign industries who consume these services. This is usually a difficult task for any Government. If this is not adhered to, the creation of jobs actually are those which are transferred from one location to another - and not new opportunities. As a caution, one should always recall that transcription service will decrease as and when appropriate speech recognition or pattern recognition software are developed. Moreover these opportunities do not need any "engineering skills". 4. Most of the "big" software development companies in India, who keep their average age of employees in 20s, are those who mainly help commission solutions with other traditional industries in the service or productive sectors, in India or abroad. The phenomenal profits, some of these companies earn are heavily dependant on the favourable monopolistic conditions under which they lease their services. New international intellectual property rules are increasingly in favour of these companies, those that prevent similar smaller companies from emerging. Hence the main service that these companies are providing to the domestic market, is the help which it extends to train (a kind of apprenticeship) their employees for short duration (reflected through their average age figures, and attrition rates). There are also studies that indicate that by energising foreign traditional industry, empowering them with information technology at subsidised rates, the local counterpart is pushed to a disadvantageous position. This shift in balance determines the winner when the corresponding service sector is "liberalised", activating GATS provisions. 5. The remaining sector visible in the information technology field is the one which is co-located at its site-of-need. Industries operating in the sectors of finance, telecommunication, distribution, transportation, health, tourism, consultancy, construction etc. for instance, are examples. The information technology segment cannot be detached from these sectors so easily, and relocated outside its area of operation. Hence any suggestion for exclusive geographical area for such operation of this industry sector incorporating information technology would appear meaningless. By far, this is the largest sector that houses information technologists and sees them through the rest of their life, or as long as they wish. 6. All these points are suggestive of the wrong steps that the incumbent Government in Kerala is indulging at present, making the controversies that are following in public view, a non-affair. It appears as if the Government is keen in to place the cart before the horse. CK Raju, Thrissur

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IT@School
by Arun M 17 May '05

17 May '05

Dear Friends, Teachers from Palakkadu district in Kerala are organising a meeting on 14-15th of this month. If any of you can go for that meeting please let me know. Teachers training for 4th batch has started today at Ernakulam. Now 7 districts have completed district level meetings. Sub district level meeting started in Kozhikkodu district. State level review happened on 27th of last month. Representatives from 6 districts which had conducted district level meetings participated in the meeting. KSTA, teachers union, is planning to print and distribute a FAQ on free software. Draft of the same has been completed. regards, arun. -- Free Software, Free Society http://fsfs.hipatia.net

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Looking for volunteers to mainain a non-non-free Java OpenOffice
by Anivar Aravind 17 May '05

17 May '05

GNUs Flashes * http://www.gnu.org The FSF is looking for volunteers to maintain a version of OpenOffice that doesn't require a non-free Java platform. If you want to volunteer to be one of the leaders of this effort, please write to rms(a)gnu.org There is a vital need to draw the Free Software community's attention to the ongoing development work on Free Flash and Free Java platforms. These projects <http://www.fsf.org/news/free-java-and-flash.html> are important because computer users are continually being seduced into using non-free software, because there is no adequate free replacement. For other news, as well as for items that used to be in this GNUs Flashes section, see What's New <http://www.gnu.org/server/whatsnew.html> in and about the GNU Project. Knowlege is power... share it equitably! -- Anivar Aravind

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Indian Constitution
by Annamalai Gurusami 17 May '05

17 May '05

Hi All, Have anybody tried to access Constitution of India from the following URL? http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html Except the preamble, I am not able to access any of the other parts of the constitution. I sent them a mail yesterday, but haven't got any response yet. Do you people find problems with the above URL? BTW, I am using Firefox 1.0.3 on GNU/Linux (Slackware 10.0.0). Rgds, anna -- As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my own programs. -- Maurice Wilkes discovers debugging, 1949

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FSF Europe Newsletter (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 May '05

16 May '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- 1. Ciaran O'Riordan working full-time for FSFE 2. IFSO becoming associate organisation 3. WIPO IIM on "Development Agenda" 4. FSFE office in Hamburg 5. Fellowship SmartCards being sent out 6. Freedom party in Milano 7. Teaching the World Bank 8. FSF Latin America on its way 9. Nordic University Computer Club Conference in Sweden 10. Alessandro Rubini speaks at University in Lecce 11. Web pages translated to 14 languages 1. Ciaran O'Riordan working full-time for FSFE Thanks to the success of FSFE's Fellowship campaign, Ciaran O'Riordan, long-time Irish Free Software advocate, is now working full-time for Free Software Foundation Europe in Brussels. Among other things he is working with FSFE's associate organisation FFII on the software patent issue and the other FSFE activities at European Union level. FSFE hopes that with the increasing number of Fellows it will be possible to make this a permanent activity. 2. IFSO becoming associate organisation The FSFE is happy to welcome Irish Free Software Organisation (IFSO) as its latest associate organisation. IFSO was founded on 5 January 2004, the 20th anniversary of the GNU project, and works to protect Free Software developers and users from harmful changes in legislation as well as promoting awareness of Free Software in Ireland. 3. WIPO IIM on "Development Agenda" Last month, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) met in Geneva for its Intersessional-Intergovernmental-Meeting (IIM) on the establishment of a "Development Agenda for WIPO." That title refers to the idea of establishing a critical review process for WIPO policies in terms of their beneficial and harmful effects with specific regard to developing country needs. As this is the kind of reform the WIWO declaration [1] is pushing for, Georg Greve and Karsten Gerloff participated in the IIM. Georg Greve also staid for the Permanent Committee on Cooperation for Development related to Intellectual Property (PCIPD) and both statements are available online [2][3]. More information is available in Karstens Blog [4]. [1] http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/wiwo.en.html [2] http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/statement-20050413.en.html [3] http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/statement-20050415.en.html [4] http://www.fsfe.org/Members/gerloff/blog/ 4. FSFE office in Hamburg To handle the growing organisational needs, especially regarding the Fellowship, the FSFE rented a small office in Hamburg, Germany, where Georg Greve and Karsten Gerloff are located when they are not travelling. 5. Fellowship SmartCards being sent out After weeks of preparation, the first batch of 250 Fellowship SmartCards has been sent. For security reasons, a unique random admin pin is generated for each card, and sent via snail mail from a separate location, independently from the card. Each Fellow will receive two envelopes from two different senders, one containing the card, and the other containing the admin pin. https://www.fsfe.org/card/ 6. Freedom party in Milano The Fellowship of FSFE is a huge success and the team is proud of it. With Georg Greve available in Milan, FSFE hosted a small aperitif with some journalists and few of the first Fellows in town. It has been a nice evening with very relaxed chats and exchange of opinions with old and new friends. The Italian Chapter of FSFE is preparing a new, bigger event during the upcoming GNU/Linux World Expo still in Milan. If you want to host a Fellowship party please get in contact with the Italian team. 7. Teaching the World Bank After the good experience of last year, the World Bank again invited FSFE's president Georg Greve to teach about "Free Software in World Bank financed projects" at an internal course for World Bank employees held at the International Training Center (ITC) of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) in Torino, Italy. 8. FSF Latin America on its way After some months of discussions including FSFE president Georg Greve, a team of Free Software advocates in Latin America have published their declaration of intent to join the global network of Free Software Foundations. http://www.fsfla.org/doi-en.html 9. Nordic University Computer Club Conference in Sweden Jonas Öberg participated in the Nordic University Computer Club Conference in Uppsala, Sweden, which gathered participants from Norway, Sweden and Finland. Jonas gave a lecture on the philosophy and law of Free Software, which was followed by several interesting discussions with the participants. 10. Alessandro Rubini speaks at University in Lecce Alessandro Rubini has been invited in Lecce, where there is a strong GLUG and the University is launching "Sistemi Operativi 3", a course on kernel internals, the third course in the Engineering Faculty completely about Free Software. There he had a talk about "Developing Free Software in the Technological Market", and has been interviewed, together with Prof. Tommasi who organized the events, at the local TV station. 11. Web pages translated to 14 languages After some new volunteers from Eastern Europe joined the translation team, the FSFE homepage is now available in no less than 14 languages! However, the Czech, Greek, and Portuguese translations have not been updated for quite a while, and the translations to other languages are incomplete and need maintenance. So any help with translations to virtually any language is always highly welcome. http://www.fsfeurope.org/contribute/translators.en.html You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html _______________________________________________ Press-release mailing list Press-release(a)fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release

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Free Software Foundation Latin America releases Declaration of Intent
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 May '05

16 May '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Free Software Foundation Latin America releases Declaration of Intent Free Software in Latin America has taken a step forward. Yesterday, April 19th, six longtime Free Software advocates from Latin America published a Declaration of Intent, in which they announce the creation of a Free Software Foundation Latin America. [1] "The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) congratulates this group of experienced activists on the progress made in their efforts", says Georg Greve, FSFE's president. "FSFE will keep on helping to build the organisation. We are looking forward to work in even closer cooperation with these talented and dedicated women and men." The group aims to strengthen the Free Software philosophy and ideals. In this endeavour, its members will work to guide and influence politics related to Free Software. During the initial phase, the emphasis will be on building internal structures carefully, rather than on rapid expansion. The Free Software Foundation Latin America will join the international network of Free Software Foundaions. It aims to become a sister organisation to the United States of America's Free Software Foundation (FSF), Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and Free Software Foundation India (FSFI). The group's founders are developing the organisation's structure and work in close coordination with their European and north American counterparts. The Free Software Foundation Latin America's Declaration of Intent can be found here [2]. [1] http://www.fsfla.org [2] http://www.fsfla.org/doi-en.html _______________________________________________ Press-release mailing list Press-release(a)fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release

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SITEWATCH: apc.org and Free Software
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 15 May '05

15 May '05

------------------------------------------------------------------ SITEWATCH: http://www.apc.org/english/news/os_index.shtml ------------------------------------------------------------------ HOME MEMBERS ICT CAPACITY WOMEN ABOUT Version en Espanol POLICY BUILDING & ICT APC The Association for Progressive Communications - Internet and ICTs for Social Justice and Development Free Software Developers tell us about their favourite ActionApps-based site and the benefits for them of using APC's free software MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, -- *Oliver Zielke of Web Networks, Canada on AttavikApps, a derivation of ActionApps which allows the Inuit to publish online in their own language. *Jaime Torres of Peru on SIA an agrarian system for Peruvian farmers developed by CEPES in Lima *Sarah Escandor-Tomas on the *Voting Campaign for the Presidential Elections Centre for Migrant Advocacy* developed by WomensHub, Philippines. * And more! Audio interviews now ready to listen to. - 04/15/2005 More Free software camp in Asia brought together non-profits and grassroots hackers BANGALORE, India, -- In late January, India's technology mecca Bangalore became the venue for an international 'camp' intended to promote free and open source software (FOSS) among civil society. Asia Source, as the 'tech camp' is called, was held from January 28 to February 4, 2005 and "hopes to bring together over a hundred people from 20 countries to increase the use and awareness of FOSS amongst the non-profit sector in South and South East Asia." - 01/28/2005 More World Social Forum: Open Systems for Open Politics LONDON, UK, -- The World Social Forum has open information systems in place to go with an open political ethos. All of about 1,000 computers at the forum are using free software. The official website has been developed for the first time in 'php,' an open source language. A new translation system is also a free software tool. The Forum is hosted in Brazil, a nation whose government at the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva in 2003, strongly opposed intellectual property on software, and succeeded in getting this omitted from the final resolution. - 01/26/2005 More >> NGOs, searching long for alternatives, find flavour in alt.software GOA, India, -- For an sector that talks of alternatives, the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or voluntary sector stays surprisingly aloof from one significant alternative that has really worked -- free software. But there are stirrings to bridge this huge chasm. In end-January, India's technology mecca Bangalore is to be the venue for an international, APC-supported 'camp' meant to promote FLOSS among the NGO sector. - 01/22/2005 More >> Progressive programmers from across the APC and beyond gather in South Africa MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, -- Progressive technology organisations all over the world met in Cape Town to discuss the future of the free content management system - ActionApps. ActionApps is a software that makes websites easier to manage and more dynamic and facilitates the creation of portal sites, improving the visibility of civil society information. Almost 40 developers from as far afield as Egypt, Cambodia, Spain, Peru and the Philippines debated future plans, sustainability, documentation needs and a new online campaigning action kit for activists which will come to life in 2005. - 11/26/2004 More >> Training on free and open source software for NGOs MANILA, Philippines, -- The Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA), together with key free and open source software (FOSS) advocates in the country organized a training-workshop for Philippine non-government organizations (NGOs). Held on 28-29 October 2004 and attended by 30 participants from 18 organizations, the learning activity sought to impart not only with the necessary skills and knowledge of FOSS but more importantly, to provide the trainees with the confidence in using FOSS-based applications. - 11/24/2004 More >> Resistance in Hungary to EU proposals on software patenting BUDAPEST, Hungary, -- A crowd of about four hundred turned out to demonstrate against proposed European software patents legislation. It was the first "geeky", free-software related demonstration in Hungary said APC member Green Spider, organised by groups not typically used to leaving their computer screens to get their voices heard. - 09/30/2004 More >> The Zitt Geeks - Young Nigerians turn to computing to improve their job prospects BAYANLOCO, Nigeria, -- The Fantsuam Foundation provides refurbished computers to civil society organisations and partners, runs computer training centres and offers the only internet connection for hundreds of miles around in rural Nigeria. All this in Kafanchan State where electricity is often unavailable and innovators power their computers using car batteries. The Foundation*s work is supported by a home-grown corps of ICT youth volunteers, the Zitt Geeks. The Geeks are already free software devotees and they are the first participants in Fantsuam*s business incubator which provides training, mentoring and funding to enable enterprising youths to become self-employed. - 08/30/2004 More >> Hands-on workshop on free software targets women technicians from Southern Africa JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, -- From 6-10 September 2004 in Johannesburg, South Africa, APC member Women'sNet hosted a southern Africa-wide workshop to build awareness of and demonstrate the potential use of free and open source software (FOSS) in the non-profit sector, and women's organisations specifically. - 08/30/2004 More >> Cambodians have access to Khmer-language email software for the first time PHNOM PEN, Cambodia, -- Until now, a native Cambodian has needed to be able to read in a foreign language to be able to send email in Cambodia. Software was not available in Khmer. But APC's member organisation in Cambodia, the Open Forum, is changing that. The KhmerOS portal, set up earlier this year to bring together previously isolated developers is starting out by providing Khmer translations of well-known free applications such as the powerful e-mail application, Thunderbird. Thunderbird was ready for use after just two months - sixty days earlier than expected! The Open Forum has sent APC the report on their advances in the first half of 2004. - 07/30/2004 More >> Free and open source software sweeps US non-profit tech conference PHILADELPHIA, USA, -- Looking around at the recent Non-Profit Technology Enterprise Network conference in Philadelphia, it would have been easy to think that free and open source software is sweeping the non-profit world. With an attendance of over 700 people, this year's NTEN event featured a full track of six workshops on free and open source software (FOSS) topics - almost all of which were packed. - 04/28/2004 More >> Tea and internet security advice come in the same cup at recent Hungarian green meeting BUDAPEST, Hungary, -- Once again, at the Annual Meeting of Hungarian Green Non-profits (OT2004) APC member Green Spider offered herbal teas and sound internet access, training and advice to participants. Raising awareness of environmental contamination and in support of free software, Green Spider collected up visitors' old CD-roms and exchanged them for new GNU/Linux CDs. - 04/28/2004 More >> Choosing open source software: Decision-making materials for civil society organisations MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, -- Free and open source software (FOSS) holds a great deal of potential for civil society organisations. The most obvious benefit of FOSS is that it is often free to use or low-cost. However, it also offers more including -crucially- better security. Ddid you know that if your computer uses the GNU/Linux operating system you don't have to use anti-virus software? No more days or data lost recovering from the latest virus... The materials available in the MultiMedia Toolkit's latest unit on FOSS provide an introduction to FOSS, tackling questions like 'what is open source?' and 'how will it benefit my organisation?' They also include practical advice on how to review open source software packages and select the right ones for your organisation. - 03/29/2004 More >> APC ActionApps is one of the top 10 open source tools for e-Activism MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, -- APC*s free content management system designed specifically for progressive organisations to publish news automatically and share content at the click of a button has been nominated one of the best open source software tools that can be used by activists to spread the message and promote interaction by e-newsletters, forums, blogs, and online petitions. Compiled by Dan Bashaw and Mike Gifford in an article for the Democracies Online Newswire APC ActionApps came out tops along with other well-known applications like PostNuke, Twiki and WebCards. - 02/07/2004 More >> New intellectual property law forces Cambodians to start developing their own Khmer-language software PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, -- *We envision, in 2007, a country where Cambodians can learn and use computers in their own language, a country that does not have to change to a new language in order to use computers!* say the activists behind the new KhmerOS initiative. Until now, computer use in Cambodia has been mostly in English, and mostly using unlicensed copies of Microsoft Windows products. However, a new Cambodian intellectual property law means that a user will have to purchase a license for each copy of software sold by companies such as Microsoft and that*s unaffordable for most Cambodian computer users. This new portal coordinated by APC member, Open Forum of Cambodia, gets together some previously isolated developers and is starting out by providing Khmer translations of well-known free software programmes such as Mozilla (the powerful web browser and mail programme). But the eventual goal is to create a full applications package under GNU/Linux, "which has 90% of all applications which 100% of all users need". Find out more about the motivation behind KhmerOS. - 02/04/2004 More >> Farmers and local government in rural Peru use free APC software LIMA, Peru, -- CEPES, one of APC's newest members, has trained participants in a rural-urban information service to set up a portal and exchange agricultural information from six telecentres in a remote area of the northern Peruvian sierras. A replication of the course is being organised for staff at the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture's offices in the same region. The technology of choice is APC's free software, APC ActionApps. - 01/29/2004 More >> Idlelo - First African Conference on Digital Commons Cape Town, South Africa, -- The conference addressed the challenges and opportunities of the creation and use of free / open source software and open content and their development potential for Africa. The conference had both strategic and practical objectives, as it sought to bring together participants from government, education, business and civil society together with the developer community. - 01/16/2004 More >> Making it easier to build online information communities using APC*s free software: APC ActionApps MONTVIDEO, Uruguay, -- APC ActionApps allows anyone to publish online without knowing any programming or learning specialised software. It*s a content management system design specifically for progressive organisations. And because it is being developed and adopted all over the world APC ActionApps software is available in English, Spanish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Japanese and German. Find out more about the ActionApps! - 01/05/2004 More >> *Free Software and Digital Inclusion*, a new book published in Brazil RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, -- Two of the directors of APC member in Rio de Janeiro, RITS, are co-authors of *Free Software and Digital Inclusion* which was published in Brazil in August. *The book is an interesting project,* says RITS information coordinator, Graciela Baroni Selaimen, *and it*s part of a larger much larger digital inclusion initiative by the Sao Paulo e-government which is setting up community telecentres in marginal and often violent neighbourhoods throughout the city.* RITS is administering the telecentres and providing training in the use of free software. Visit RITS. - 09/15/2003 More Foundation for Africa: Action plan for the next three years JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, -- The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) in conjunction with APC has completed an action plan for 2003-2005 and a briefing on the state of FOSS in Africa. - 07/02/2003 More >> HOME | MEMBERS | INTERNET RIGHTS | CAPACITY BUILDING | WOMEN & ICT | ABOUT APC Copyleft Association for Progressive Communications APC 1999 - 2005 - Contact APC .......................................................................... 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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Free software user groups ... in and around India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 14 May '05

14 May '05

Have been trying to build a listing of Free/Libre and Open Source Software user groups in the region. The current compiliation needs volunteers to keep it updated. It is available at http://maitri.ubuntu.com/softwarefreedomday/wiki/index.php/LUGs/FSUGs/GLUGs… Or if you're having a problem with the long URL, just go to http://indiaflosslist.notlong.com Currently, what the page lists includes: Table of contents [showhide] 1 GNU/Linux links and lists (India) 1.1 All India networks 1.2 Regional networks in India 1.2.1 Northern India 1.2.2 Southern India 1.2.3 Western India 1.2.4 Eastern India 1.2.5 Miscellaneous 1.2.6 Indic Computing, localisation 1.2.7 GNU/Linux in Education (India) 1.2.8 Magazines, other resources 2 GNU/Linux links and lists (Asia) 2.1 West Asian region 3 GNU/Linux links and lists (Africa) 3.1 Nigeria 4 GNU Linux links and lists (Latin America) 4.1 Brasil 5 GNU/Linux links and lists (Miscellaneous) If you would like to volunteer and help to keep this page up-to-date, your involvement would be appreciated! This is a wiki, so you can go, log-in and make the improvements. Thank you! FN .......................................................................... Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436 Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.org ..........................................................................

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: suggestions needed on an initiative
by Krishna Pagadala 14 May '05

14 May '05

Punnet, Sorry. I live in US, so I cant be of much practical help. So while emails matter, I was not sure that I another comment would useful. Coming to the matter on hand. I think that only a handful of students in any given college will be interested. I think we should target them by personal contact. My plan of action would be to drop into a CS lab, catch the students who are in there of their own interest (not just because it is a lab period), and see if they are interested. 1st and 2nd years students are ideal. >From the FLOSS report http://floss.infonomics.nl/report/Final4.htm#_Toc13908256 We know that 2/3rds of the FLOSS community are motivated to join and stay in FLOSS for the following reasons. 1) Share knowledge and skills. 2) Learn and develop new skills I think we should try to find common ground on those reasons. Also we should mention that their job prospects will improve (and they will, it happened to me). I am quite surprised that nobody took Thejesh up on his offer of money. Maybe an award kind of system (from FSF) will be more useful. I am quite keen on IT@School, and Skole Linux, if anybody wants to take it up, I will be more than happy to fund it with small amounts of money. Sarath, will you be interested? -Krishna --- Puneet Goel <puneet.maillist(a)gmail.com> wrote: > what man! > > no comments from your side ??? > > cheers! > Puneet > > On 5/10/05, Krishna Pagadala <krishnaact(a)yahoo.com> > wrote: > > Fully agree with your suggestions. > > I was thinking along the same lines. Since all > > students are required to do some or the other > > projects. I was thinking that we should try to > > leverage that time. Especially we should try to > > encourage CS engineering final year project to be > free > > software. > > > > Thanks > > Krishna > > > > > > --- Puneet Goel <puneet.maillist(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Dear Nagarjun, > > > > > > Thanks for sharing about > > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc > > > > > > These folks seems to be doing the interesting > work. > > > appreciated. and > > > the best thing is they started some 5 years > back. > > > > > > For the last 2-3 days i have been discussing > this > > > info with some more > > > folks and seeing the way this sarai list is > going > > > on. virtually > > > scanned all the posts till date. > > > > > > Without undermining the purpose behind this > list, if > > > we look at the > > > traffic generated at this place and the kind of > > > discussion going on, I > > > feel this is not going in the direction they > should > > > have excelled by > > > now. And the reason is only one, the way they > are > > > going on. precisly > > > their operating model. The place is not more > than a > > > maillist. Not too > > > many people even know about it. > > > > > > and the sarai.net itself is in lot of other > things. > > > Particulary their > > > 'About us' link says "Sarai: the New Media > > > Initiative - a space for > > > research, practice and conversation about the > > > contemporary media and > > > urban constellations." > > > > > > What i am talking is a whole-sole concentrated > > > approach towards a goal > > > and that too without any deviation. Not only > this we > > > have some more > > > points which can be added gradualy. > > > > > > we have 2 options either we start on their > portal > > > etc. (but they might > > > have their own reservations) or we start on our > own > > > with few more like > > > minded people and take these guy's help, learn > from > > > their experiences. > > > > > > As Mr. Raghav said rightly "I agree with > Nagarjuna's > > > email that > > > instead of coming up with new initiatives, it > might > > > be a good idea to > > > leverage existing ones. Personally, I see a > mailing > > > list as only one > > > part of the answer, and for that, we can > definitely > > > use the sarai.net > > > mailing list. I think what we need to do is to > come > > > up with a > > > comprehensive proposal and then take it to > > > FSF-India, sarai.net, > > > Sarovar and any others out there to see > how/where > > > they can help. There > > > are lots of people on those forums whose > experience > > > will prove very > > > valuable to us." > > > > > > rest sarover has been just a host for various > > > projects. it is not > > > relevent to what we r thinking of. yes! we can > > > try/will to support it > > > by hosting some of the projects there. > > > > > > but one thing is for sure. whatever we will do > we > > > shall be doing it in > > > complete harmony with FSF India. > > > > > > let me know your comments. > > > > > > Thanks and Regards, > > > Puneet > > > > > > Ps: I am looking forward to hear from more > people on > > > this. Please feel > > > free to flame me if you think i am wrong at some > > > point :) > > > > > > On 5/6/05, Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> > > > wrote: > > > > On Fri, May 06, 2005 at 10:04:25AM -0600, > Ragavan > > > Srinivasan wrote: > > > > > On 5/5/05, Puneet Goel > > > <puneet.maillist(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Hi Puneet, > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Please have a look at the link > > > > > > http://www.communitycode.org/ > > > > > > > > > > [snip...] > > > > > > > > > > I was just about to post a similar message > to > > > the list. I definitely > > > > > share the sentiments, and think this could > be a > > > wonderful opportunity > > > > > to help spread the awareness/usage of free > and > > > open source software in > > > > > India. > > > > > > > > > > I think instead of targeting specific > cities, we > > > may want to start > > > > > with specific communities of users. Folks > > > working in the computer > > > > > industry and the student community may be > two we > > > can target for > > > > > starters. > > > > > > > > Instead of starting a new initiative, it is > better > > > to strengthen the > > > > existing initiatives, such as > > > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc, > and > > > sarovar.org. > > > > > > > > Nagarjuna > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Fsf-friends mailing list > > > > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > > > > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Fsf-friends mailing list > > > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > > > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > > > > > > > ===================================== > > To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower > > http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ > > > > The great moral question of the twenty-first > century is: If all knowledge, all culture, all art, > all useful information, can be costlessly given to > everyone at the same price that it is given to > anyone === message truncated === ===================================== To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ The great moral question of the twenty-first century is: If all knowledge, all culture, all art, all useful information, can be costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to anyone -- if everyone can have everything, everywhere, all the time, why is it ever moral to exclude anyone from anything? -Eben Moglen __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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Fsf-friends May 2005