December 2006 - Fsf-friends

Internet, tech skills growing quietly in Goa...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 02 Sep '24

02 Sep '24

INTERNET, TECH SKILLS GROWING QUIETLY IN GOA PANJIM, April 30: Goa's BSNL internet service provider is already providing some 3000 broadband connections in the state, and roughly another 24,000 people dial-up to get access the Net using this central government-run service. These figures emerged during an informal discussion at the monthly meeting of the India Linux Users Group (Goa), a network promoting Free Software and Open Source in the state. ILUG-Goa, which holds its meetings usually on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Goa Science Centre at Miramar, sees a range of tech issues -- usually directly related to Free Software and Open Source in Goa. During it's meet on April 29, a range of issues came up for discussion, from how to partition your hard-disk (to install GNU/Linux side-by-side with Windows), to software tools to ehance productivity, and various internet and broadband options available to users in diverse parts of Goa. For instance, there are some useful Free Software tools to monitor your bandwidth usage on BSNL's broadband. One such tool is available for free download at http://tinyurl.com/qgu9p Called the Data One Broadband Statistics, this is a screen-scraper written using Perl to download usage statistics of BSNL's Data One (www.bsnl.co.in/service/dataone.htm) broadband service and total it. Generally, BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) allows only the Microsoft-based IE and has no monthly total. But trust Indian software talent to find a work-around. This solution comes from the Free Software/Open Source network in Chennai. Meanwhile, the Goa free software network stays connected and announces its event via http://iluggoaannounce.notlong.com There are no fees for joining, all are welcome, and encouraged to form parallel user-groups in diverse parts of the state. Meanwhile, the Fedora Core 5 Free Software distribution has just become available on DVD in Goa. Number of foreign magazines are also available. Members of ILUG-Goa such as engineer Bijon Shaha and software pro Arvind Yadav gave diverse views on techies-only distros like 'Gentoo'. Debopriyo 'DP' Sarkar pointed to a 'mindmap' of various Free Software distributions or 'distros' available, which was illustrated at linuxhelp.blogspot.com Earlier, there was a brief presentation on FreeMind. FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java. It has the potential of playing the role of a high productivity tool. Operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster because of one-click "fold/unfold" and "follow link" operations. Other members raised a range of issues -- from how to get started in GNU/Linux, to playing around with tools like StumbleUpon, and how to encourage Free Software usage in schools and educational institutions. Remy Furtado of Rosary College, Navelim expressed an interest in working on the Free Software tool Moodle, ideal for distance education, as the Goa University moves to a pattern of semisterisation. Goa Engineering College's Prof George Easaw has done work on this platform, as have others. Reacting unofficially, BSNL officials said Goa now had six STMS 155 MBps connectivity, which was resulting in a speedy expansion of broadband to many parts of the state. But for broadband facilities to become available in village areas, at least 60 subscribers were needed to make operations viable. So far, broadband from BSNL is available in a growing number of areas in Goa: Panjim, Vasco (except Cortalim, but including Sada, Mangor, Bogmalo, Sancoale and other areas), Ponda, Bambolim, Merces, Dona Paula, Porvorim, Mapusa town, Calangute-Candolim, and Saligao, among others. Equipment has already been installed in Aldona exchange, and broadband facilities are expected to go functional -- ------------------------------------------------------------- | India Linux Users' Group, Goa | | Join the friendly user group | | Mail list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/join | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teach-yourself-linux | | http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa-announce | | http://www.iosn.net/country/india/organizations/ilug-goa/ | ------------------------------------------------------------- , , / \ .-. * SOFTWARE ((__-^^-,-^^-__)) (. .) * FREEDOM `-_---' `---_-' / V \ * SHARING `--|o` 'o|--' // \\ \ ` / /( )\ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ): :( '.^^_^^.' SHARE IT EQUITABLY :o_o: \_/ \_/ "-"

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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.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Exaile
by Vihan Pandey 31 Dec '06

31 Dec '06

> I just happened to come across Exaile. It is a GTK+ based media player > very similar in functionality to Amarok. I could not find any RPMs for > it though there is a package for Edgy Eft. if there are no RPM's and people are demanding them, you could use alien and make one then put it up online :-) Regards, - vihan

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Asian Development Bank's intervention in Kerala
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 30 Dec '06

30 Dec '06

Aniwar's report on ADB activity in Kerala reveals something very strange about future of e-governance *software projects* in Kerala. Its shows that ADB clauses will force urban bodies to accept suggestions on software projects to be implemented here, based on the recommendations from the consultants whom ADB approves for the purpose. This evidently appears to be an attempt to subvert the declared policy of the elected government that Kerala will be transformed into a destination for Free Software. Strange are the ways in which the Secretary to LSGIs in Kerala, SM Vijayanand IAS is helping things get around. Our self-declared *champion of IT*, PV Unnikrishnan's role here needs to be suspected and followed up much more closely vis-a-vis his known links with Micro$oft. CK Raju Thrissur

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Exaile
by Debarshi Ray 30 Dec '06

30 Dec '06

http://www.exaile.org/trac I just happened to come across Exaile. It is a GTK+ based media player very similar in functionality to Amarok. I could not find any RPMs for it though there is a package for Edgy Eft. Installation from the tarball is nothing but 'make install', but one can easily run into dependency hell since there is no configure script to tell you what you need. Make sure you have: a. python-gstreamer b. notification-daemon c. notify-python d. python-sqlite2 e. python-mutagen You might need some more, but these are what I noticed. It is still not as polished as Amarok, but is surely nice if you can manage to install it. Cheers, Debarshihttp://www.exaile.org/trac I just happened to come across Exaile. It is a GTK+ based media player very similar in functionality to Amarok. I could not find any RPMs for it though there is a package for Edgy Eft. Installation from the tarball is nothing but 'make install', but one can easily run into dependency hell since there is no configure script to tell you what you need. Make sure you have: a. python-gstreamer b. notification-daemon c. notify-python d. python-sqlite2 e. python-mutagen You might need some more, but these are what I noticed. It is still not as polished as Amarok, but is surely nice if you can manage to install it. Cheers, Debarshi -- After the game the king and the pawn go into the same box. -- Italian proverb

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OpenDNS
by Debarshi Ray 30 Dec '06

30 Dec '06

http://www.opendns.com/ http://wahjava.wordpress.com/2006/11/23/opendns-for-faster-domain-name-reso… OpenDNS claims to be a safer, faster and smarter DNS service. Regards, Debarshi -- Universities are places of knowledge. The freshman each bring a little in with them, and the seniors take none away, so knowledge accumulates.

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RMS ... on Microsoft "allows licensing of Open XML document format 'for free'"
by Frederick Noronha 25 Dec '06

25 Dec '06

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Richard Stallman <rms(a)gnu.org> To: letters(a)globe.com Subject: Letter column Your article on Dec 7 said that Microsoft allows licensing of the Open XML document format "for free", and that this is similar to the situation with PDF format. However, the two situations are not similar. The normally used parts of PDF format can be freely implemented by programmers, and place no restriction on the licenses of their programs. Many free/libre software packages implement PDF. The patent license that Microsoft offers for Open XML does not demand a license fee, but it places a strict requirement on the license of any program that implements Open XML. (See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/microsoft-new-monopoly.html.) Free/libre software is not allowed to implement Open XML at all. Users should follow the State of Massachusetts' plan: keep away from the Open XML trap, and insist on such as ODF whose implementation is unrestricted. Sincerely, Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation Cambridge, Massachusetts 77 Mass Ave rm 32-381 Cambridge, MA 02139 617-253-8830 (but currently away thru tomorrow eve) -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please) http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com http://www.goa-india.org http://feeds.goa-india.org/index.php

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A New Year Gift: festival_mr and festival_hi
by priti patil 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

Hi all, On this upcoming special occassion of new year I am very happy to announce a new year gift on behalf of janabhaaratii team :) festival_mr (Marathi Text-To-Speech engine) and festival_hi (Hindi Text-To-Speech engine) are in their alpha state. Working crudely for both Marathi and Hindi, now under refinement process for it's next version. Will be available for testing on an eve of new year (most probably) !!! After testing, please do revert back to us since your valuable inputs can make it BETTER. Acknowledgments to Dr. Alka Irani (Chief Investigator, janabhaaratii), Sunil Mohan and Chaitanya Kamisetty (telugu l10n team), DONLab, Dept. of CS&E, IIT Madras, our team, karunakar (indlinux) and many.... Warm Regards Priti Patil janabhaaratii Language Computing Group C-DAC, Mumbai __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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The battle for wireless network drivers
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

The battle for wireless network drivers Written by Jem Matzan Dec 20, 2006 at 08:52 PM "BSD and Linux programmers have had a lot of success in creating drivers for new computer hardware in a timely manner, but much of their effort has been without the support of major hardware manufacturers. Intel, Marvell, Texas Instruments and Broadcom, though separate and competing entities, seem by one consent to prevent non-Microsoft operating systems from working properly with some of their most widely-used network chips." Read the full story http://www.thejemreport.com/mambo/content/view/293 It is a bit long but really worth it. The author has interviewed many of the wireless chip manufactures and gives an insight into the issues surrounding wireless card drivers for Free and Open Source Operating Systems. He suggests the main issue is the lack of communication between the developers and the manufacturers. Take this into account when you buy a new wireless network card and support the companies which provides specifications and documentation to the Free and Open Source Operating Systems developers. Cheers Praveen PS: Sorry for cross-posting -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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HP-Microsoft tie-up
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 21 Dec '06

21 Dec '06

"..Seattle, December 14: Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co have agreed to invest jointly at least USD300 million over three years and work more closely together to win over large business customers. The two companies, the world's largest makers of software and personal computers, respectively, said on Wednesday they plan to work together to develop, test, validate or ensure that products conform to standards and deploy new products, while also collaborating on sales and marketing..." Story at http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=78167 -------- Does it mean that HP printers will start misbehaving with Free Software ? CK Raju

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*Treachery* in its elements, in its finest form ...
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 21 Dec '06

21 Dec '06

1. The Bush administration in US has formulated an offensive cyber attack strategy declared through its National Security Presidential Directive 16. Details on this at http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/ 2. Major news agencies across the world carried the details. Clippings from The Hindu. "...The U.S. President, George W. Bush, has signed a secret directive ordering his administration to develop a national-level guidance for determining when and how America should launch cyber attacks against `enemy' computer networks, officials said... ...military planners imagine soldiers at computer terminals silently invading foreign networks to shut down radars, disable electrical facilities and disrupt phone services..." News from PTI at http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/02/08/stories/2003020801891400.htm 3. Against this backdrop, Kerala State Electricity Board is going ahead with its Microsoft-platform based implementation and Local Self Govt Dept in Kerala is wedded to Microsoft-based package from Information Kerala Mission. What are these middlemen upto ? Working for US security ? Masking as a recruiting agency for IT professionals ? Let's watch them a little more closely.... CK Raju, Thrissur --------------- Communication will no longer be a means for any revolution, they may the means for an colonial offensive. ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using NWebmail, BSNL's Webmail Program

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Re: Condolense
by Vihan Pandey 20 Dec '06

20 Dec '06

> Dear All > Appropriate Technology Promotion Society (ATPS) which was he main source > of > venture fund for OSS in its previous meeting has taken an administrative > decision to start an endowment in the name of Rajendran Chettan. > Every year we propose to launch a project in the Free software domain and > the students can work on this project, Are you aimed specifically at launching new projects or will you be giving students work on currently active projects as well? Also, are you looking at GNU's ``high priority" project list? Especially the one on writing free video drivers. We will evaluate the work and present > the award to the best contributor. Great initiative :-) Let me know if there is any way i can help. Regards, - vihan

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Fwd: [OSSICS] Re: Fwd: FW: [OSSICS] Re: Condolense
by Anilkumar K V 20 Dec '06

20 Dec '06

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Krishna Das <dasatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 19-Dec-2006 21:23 Subject: Re: Condolense To: ATPS(a)googlegroups.com Dear All Appropriate Technology Promotion Society (ATPS) which was he main source of venture fund for OSS in its previous meeting has taken an administrative decision to start an endowment in the name of Rajendran Chettan. Every year we propose to launch a project in the Free software domain and the students can work on this project, We will evaluate the work and present the award to the best contributor. Please give your suggestions. Regards and lots of love DAS

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Re: Fwd: I require your suggestion on the matter - Kalpesh Sharma, Information Security Expert, India
by Vihan Pandey 18 Dec '06

18 Dec '06

> This may be of interest to the group members--a spat between Ankit > Fadia and another self-proclaimed security expert...I wonder if we, as > a community, should respond to this. i guess the only real way to respond is cheer and support those who are really fighting for freedom. Those who want to ``bother us with politics" are best ignored. At the end of the day the people who are actually contributing to Free Software, even in the smallest possible way are the ones who are going to change the world. Those who want to just have public spats and quote big names, are free to do that. At the end of the day it really achieves nothing except a waste of time and energy. If someone has violated GPL, or even plagiarised someone's genuine copyrite of a GPL'd program then it is a matter of concern and something must be done. Though i personally doubt this case qualifies as one. The only thing we can so is continue spreading awareness amoung the people around us, and beyond of what Free Software is all about and why it's important. Regards, - vihan

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Fwd: I require your suggestion on the matter - Kalpesh Sharma, Information Security Expert, India.
by Satish Babu 17 Dec '06

17 Dec '06

This may be of interest to the group members--a spat between Ankit Fadia and another self-proclaimed security expert...I wonder if we, as a community, should respond to this. satish ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sudhakar Jaani <mhm_777(a)dataone.in> Date: Dec 17, 2006 12:46 PM Subject: I require your suggestion on the matter - Kalpesh Sharma, Information Security Expert, India. To: sbabu(a)ieee.org Respected Sir, I am an Information Security Expert with more then 6 years experience in the field of Information Security. Before proceeding further, I would like to introduce myself and about my achievements. Recently, I proved LIVE ON-AIR on a reputed news channel of India, that India's all internet banking, internet shopping and internet trading websites of India have vulnerabilities. I proved this LIVE (on camera) right in front of 'IT' Minister Mr. Shakeel Ahmed, Technical and Legal Experts, Director of Indiabulls Securities LTD. (Share broking firm) and India's star editor and chairman of IndiaTV news namely Mr. Rajat Sharma. You may confirm about my expertise level by checking on (+91)9350593505(INDIA TV). In this LIVE and Exclusive Breaking news continuously till 24 hours I challenged and proved right in front of camera LIVE by hacking all bank websites, shopping, websites, trading websites of INDIA. This is the world's biggest ever Hacking proved challenge in legal way to help the Nation and with an intention to work for National Interest. I proved that as concerned to India's Information Security field not one or two or three but all internet banking websites, all internet trading and all internet shopping websites within India can be hacked. This was proved to be possible during my LIVE telecast on 3rd August 2006 recently. To know more about me, go through the below mentioned reference sources. Now, coming to point I am in touch with you for a matter of Ankit Fadia. I need your valuable support and co-operation in this, so that we can save the citizens of our nation and other nations also, media peoples, publishers, government and non-government sectors as well as inform CBI, CIA and FBI that how this person is misusing your Honorable names by false comparisons and attachments with them. And the biggest exclusive and breaking news is that world's biggest encyclopedia wikipedia's two india administrators are behaving as if they are ankit fadia's relatives or near - dear ones. A very hot comment going between a wikipedia administrator and me on wikipedia articles mentioned on below pages. These nominated india administrators of wikipedia are also equally responsible for spoiling wikipedia reputation. Whereas I am trying to save the wikipedia which is world's biggest online encyclopedia. He has spoiled prestigious names by falsely misguiding them. Some of them are: 1) Stanford University 2) President of India 3) Amazon 4) Wikipedia 5) Rediff.com 6) Similarly many others. In short, you are a part of public and I am trying to do something for you. So Kindly please follow as much as you can from the below links below and give your suggestion and opinion on them: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976861802 http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=121822&nav=Namespace http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=155782&nav=Namespace Thanking you with hope of early reply, Sincerely Kalpesh Sharma Information Security Expert. Ahmedabad, India. Website: http://www.esnips.com/web/shriganesh33sBusinessFiles Blogsite: http://kalpeshsharma.wordpress.com and http://kalpeshsharma.blogspot.com Join ME: http://kalpeshsharma.gather.com (My Groupsite) My Reference Sources: 1. http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Internet_Vs._Traditional_Banks-106678-1.html 2. http://knowyourbroker.blogspot.com/2006/08/online-trading-safety-debate-hea… 3. http://www.nabble.com/An-Important-Information---Please-go-through-it.-t270… 4. http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=121822&nav=Namespace 5. http://www.gather.com/viewArticles.jsp?memberId=155782&nav=Namespace 6. http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-33274.html 7. http://www.indymedia.org/content/2006/11/849890.shtml 8. http://www.shvoong.com/science/423737-fullstop-e-system 9. http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?threadid=272872 10. http://www.mail-archive.com/misc@openbsd.org/msg33681.html 11. http://www.traderji.com/general-chit-chat/7564-kalpesh-indiatv.html 12. http://forum.janmat.tv/viewtopic.php?p=177&sid=20b608a3ea76ae9b25f2b80e5570… 13. http://www.chiragmehta.info/chirag/2006/08/03/a-challenge-a-fullstop-on-e-s… 14. http://parasthetux.gather.com/ 15. http://groups.google.com/group/lug-indore/browse_frm/thread/abb5e98a751e6193 16. http://digg.com/security/Ankit_Fadia_Ethical_Hacker_A_Zero_byte_character 17. http://eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspnet/72eabce4-d74c-4abf-b8a0-6f7ae4f476e… 18. http://econpapers.repec.org/RAS/defaultotherS.htm

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BadVista.org: FSF launches campaign against Microsoft Windows Vista
by Anivar Aravind 16 Dec '06

16 Dec '06

Boston, MA—December 15, 2006—The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today launched BadVista.org, a campaign with a twofold mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free software alternatives that respect users' security and privacy rights. "Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new 'features' in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We'll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care", said FSF program administrator John Sullivan. The campaign will organize supporters into effective and unusual actions drawing attention to this daylight theft of computer users' rights, aggregate news stories cutting through the Vista marketing propaganda, and provide a user-friendly gateway to the adoption of free software operating systems like gNewSense (http://www.gnewsense.org). Peter Brown, executive director of the FSF said, "Whilst Microsoft embarks upon its largest ever product launch, its marketing dollars will be spent in an effort to fool the media and user community about the goals of Vista. Our campaign will ask the important questions. Can you set yourself or your company free? Can you ever be free from Microsoft? As with our campaign against Digital Restrictions Management, we aim to demonstrate that technologists can be social activists, because we know the harm that Vista will cause". Among other harms, BadVista.org will focus on the danger posed by Treacherous Computing in Vista. Commonly called Trusted Computing in the industry, it is an attempt to turn computers from machines controlled by their user into machines that monitor their user and refuse to operate in ways that manufacturers don't authorize. Supporters can sign up to receive more information and participate in the campaign at http://badvista.org. ------------------------------ The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software—particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants— and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA. Press Contact: For more information about this announcement or to schedule an interview, please contact Peter Brown or John Sullivan at +1-617-542-5942 or <pr(a)fsf.org> <pr(a)fsf.org>.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] A National Shame
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 16 Dec '06

16 Dec '06

M$ is known to bribe politicians secretly and announce concessions to public institutions openly. What is disturbing here is that all left-front ruled governments in India figure in their list as do the Government at the centre, where the left-front is the principal supporter for its policies. Is Bill Gates' anti-theological stand (made public in 1996 when e-governance was taking roots in Kerala), such a strong and convincing reason for this covert friendship. Will they do this to all capitalists who renounce existence of God ? I think this is a terrible shame and more shameful is the fact that they had already entered into strategic partnership and alliance with State Governments involved for e-governance efforts, when news were spread that Microsoft became a technology choice after due deliberations with expert committees. Microsoft, at least, is not lying here. Its the middlemen, those proxies, who are playing the treacherous game with the citizens of the nation. CK Raju Thrissur ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using NWebmail, BSNL's Webmail Program

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Re: [Fsf-friends] A National Shame
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 15 Dec '06

15 Dec '06

I suggest we should stop whining and do something. Inplace of accusing M$ of being hatching a conspiracy with GoI departments (this will anyway continue, even if we complain). Sometimes it is and can be partnership. Why, the reasons should be obvious, 1) for a GoI officer/ babu, it looks cool if their name is associated with M$ (which no doubt is a big name), and is also a status symbol for them. 2) They can always claim that M$ will do this and that and will provide them with some immediate short term benefits that is tangible in terms of money. 3) They can relate to M$, from the one and only OS known/ taught to them into which they can _click_into_. 4) Don't forget the banquets/ dinners/ free passes to conferences. 5) And sometimes actual genuine help too, though usually inspired from future benefits M$ will/ can have. ... .. and many more... Free Software still has to go a long way in terms of acceptance, and our best bet is and should be the coming next generation, if they can be introduced to the concept of FLOSS and made to realise the benefits of FLOSS, especially the younger technocrats, who are shaping the future of Indian Computing Industry. And if possible, provide solutions to the GoI people. BTW don't expect too much from babus. PS: If any one of you is familiar with DICE (A Windows based software developed by NIC for use in sarv sikhya abhiyan), I am working on a free, web based and generic version of it, still in preliminary stages, anyone interested? -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA -------------------------------- http://www.bbsbec.ac.in http://www.ajaypal.com -------------------------------- ajaypal[at]bbsbec.org, ajaypal[at]acm.org

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A National Shame
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 15 Dec '06

15 Dec '06

Unfolding of the drama ============== "September 28, 2006 -- Microsoft India today announced the winners of its first “Microsoft E-governance awards”. The first of the annual awards set up to recognize the most impactful E-governance applications in the country received over 300 nominations and the winners include 20 E-governance applications implemented across the country (the names of the winners are attached in the addendum). The projects nominated include those developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), State IT Departments, and Department of Information Technology, Government of India in partnership with Microsoft..." "Mr Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India added, “E-governance is a critical necessity for our country today. A strong E-governance infrastructure enables an efficient and transparent governance mechanism providing a thrust to the development indices of a country. We are very happy to be working with the Indian governments on creating such applications.”.." "As pioneers in the E-governance space in India, Microsoft has been working closely with various departments of the Central and State Governments and Public Sector organizations for the last 13 years. Currently Microsoft partners with 14 state governments and there are nearly 150 e-governance applications running on the Windows platform. Additionally Microsoft continues to create benchmarks in local language computing and community outreach programs that help facilitate affordable access to technology in rural areas for effective delivery of E-governance service..." Complete official document at http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/3/6/03695790-07C9-4EF2-845E-F12092… (also available as cached google page - if M$ withdraws this document) =========================== Surely this is an occasion of national shame to all of us, who work to propagate values of freedom in an information society. It should also put to shame the recommendations of Knowledge Commission of India to Govt of India - because already 14 states have already entered into partnership with Microsoft, some for the last 13 years. Its also a shame to the Right to Information Act 2005, where "preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information" has been thrown to winds - because these are now guaranteed only if US State agrees - refer Akbar Raj's case and the stunts followed by Kerala Police with Microsoft HQs and US Security Department. No longer can the Ministry of Local Self Governments in Kerala now deny that Information Kerala Mission is outside this nefarious design of this proprietary corporate. Even then which are the other 13 states ? What is NIC doing with Microsoft ? What is Min of IT, Govt of India doing with Microsoft ? Are all these happening with the consent of the citizens ? Do we have a right to know ? CK Raju Thrissur ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using NWebmail, BSNL's Webmail Program

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FSF announces support for the Free Ryzom campaign with a pledge of $60, 000.
by Anivar Aravind 14 Dec '06

14 Dec '06

Boston, December 13th 2006 - Free Software Foundation announces that it will officially support the Free Ryzom campaign (www.ryzom.org) with a pledge of $60,000. The Free Ryzom campaign was established to purchase the online game and universe known as Ryzom, property of the now bankrupt Nevrax company, and release the entire game as free software. As stated by Peter T. Brown, Executive Director of the Free Software Foundation, the FSF considers the Free Ryzom campaign "a high priority project for the free software movement". The aim of the campaign is to publish the source code to the entire game under the terms of the widely-used GPL, as well as publishing all of the artwork and other content under similar free licenses. The Free Ryzom campaign represents a unique opportunity for the free software movement and the emerging free gaming field. A fully free MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) engine and client/server architecture would allow the development of a myriad of universes, each one evolving its own philosophy and unique content - but sharing in general technical improvements. If successful, this campaign would allow any user to create their own universe and produce their own content based on the Ryzom/Nevrax architecture. Since the announcement by Nevrax of their bankruptcy, the Free Ryzom campaign has drawn together a heterogeneous community of volunteers formed by ex-employees, current players and free software sympathizers. With the support of the FSF, it is now expected that the campaign will be able to increase its bid to over 200.000€. The campaign is also seeking to create a non-profit organization to run and maintain the current game servers. Monthly fees would be spent on service costs and game development. Pledges can be submitted at the Free Ryzom campaign website (www.ryzom.org). Pledges must be made within the next few days, since the deadline for the final bid is expected sometime before Wednesday, December 19th, depending on when the judges make their decision. -- About the Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of Free (as in freedom) Software - particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants - and Free Documentation for Free Software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA. About The Free Ryzom Campaign The Free Ryzom Campaign is a community-based initiative formed to purchase the MMORPG game Ryzom from the now-bankrupt Nevrax. Players, former Nevrax employees, and free software sympathizers have partnered with Olivier Lejade (former CEO of Nevrax, now CEO of Mekensleep) and Valentin Lacambre (a well known personality related to the alternative Internet movement in France) to purchase the game and release the source code under the terms of the GNU GPL, and the content and artwork under similar free licenses. For more information on their campaign, or to make a donation pledge, please visit www.ryzom.org _______________________________________________ info-fsf mailing list info-fsf(a)gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf

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[Commercial] Positions for the post of Project Assistant/Project Staff
by Prasanta Baruah 11 Dec '06

11 Dec '06

Hello all, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (TIFR), Mumbai hereby invites applications for 4 positions for the post of Project Assistant/Project Staff. Candidates should have any of the following qualifications: - B.E.; B. Tech.; B.C.A.; M.C.A.; B.Sc. / M.Sc. (Computer / Information Technology) Degree or equivalent with minimum 50% marks. Candidate should be aware of Object Oriented Programming (preferably in Python), familiarity with Web Engineering (XHTML, XML, JAVA Script), and databases (preferably in Zope, RDBMS). A candidate familiar with free software development methodology (GNU/LINUX, CVS, Sourceforge, Savannah and such collaborative platforms, etc.), additional experience in e-learning platforms (Moodle, Jabber, etc) and content management systems (Plone, Wikimedia, Drupal, etc.) will be preferred. Competence in Indian language computing will be useful. The position is purely temporary, for one year in the first instance and extendable by another six months. Honorarium will be paid as follows: Candidates with relevant proven experience of more than one or two years will be considered for Rs. 12,000/- per month to Rs. 15,000/- per month. Fresh candidates will be considered for Rs. 8,000/-per month to Rs. 10,000/- per month. Age: Below 25 years (relaxable in deserving cases). Application giving full details such as Name, Date of Birth, Full address with phone/mobile number and e-mail address, Educational Qualification, names and addresses of two referees (attach certificates) together with true copies of relevant certificates, testimonials duly attested & superscribing the post applied for and the Notice No. 20/06 on the envelope, should reach the Administrative Officer, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, T.I.F.R, V. N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd, Mumbai – 400 088 before December 15, 2006. Applicants in Govt. / Semi-Government / Public Sector undertakings / Autonomous body must apply through proper channel. Alternatively, one could also send an email to hbcse(a)gnowledge.org with the subject line "Application for the post of Project Assistant" with all the relevent documents attached. -- Prasanta http://assam-glug.org http://gnowledge.org/pipermail/gnowsys-dev/

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GNU/Hurd Shell Account
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 10 Dec '06

10 Dec '06

Hi, Get GNU/Hurd shell accounts from http://hurd.gnufans.org/bin/view/Hurd/PublicHurdBoxen Ask for an account at #hurd or You can also write email to (the freshly created) <hurd-shell-account(a)gnu.org> to get an account set-up for you. Happy Hacking, Praveen -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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[MarathiOpenSource] m17n-lib question [was]Re: जस्ट सम Observations...
by Sameer N Ingole 04 Dec '06

04 Dec '06

Hi, I am starting a new thread with relevant subject line. The message sent by someone whose name is not being displayed correctly is pasted below. Please start a new thread with relevant Subject line. --- message start --- I googled to find what is missing on my machine. My question (perhaps elementary) When I enable hindi os some indic language on my Linux (right now Manriva 2006 or 2007), should m17n-lib and related files be installed by default? Or is it standard with KDE 3.5.5? धन्य तो वाद... --- message end --- -- Best Regards, Sameer N. Ingole http://weblogic.noroot.org/gallery2/ -- Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

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Re: Protest against Novell-Microsoft agreement
by Vihan Pandey 04 Dec '06

04 Dec '06

<snip> There are serious questions regarding how Novell intends to go on with its > business. Developers are jumping ship. The very software that you sell is > owned by parties who are now hostile to your company. The C library, > essential to run every program on your system, is the property of the Free > Software Foundation, which will surely relicense that library to LGPL 3. > The > leading developer of that library is a Red Hat employee. It's already been > announced that GPL and LGPL 3 will contain terms that make it untenable to > use while your patent agreement with Microsoft stands. > > The Samba software and hundreds of other programs will probably go a > similar > path. The Novell-Microsoft agreement has even had the power to make the > Linux kernel developers and the large companies that support them take a > fresh look at GPL 3. In the face of these changes, Novell will probably be > stuck with old versions of the software, under old licenses, with Novell > sustaining the entire cost and burden of maintaining that software. Novell > will have to maintain its customers on old versions while the community > takes GPL 3 versions of the same software into the future. </snip> Its a beautiful irony that Micro$oft's strategy to kill Freedom has only succeeded in making it stronger.... again. i guess at the end of the day every tyrannical power ends up fueling the fires that incinerate it. Great post Praveen :-) Regards, - vihan

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GNU System (aka GNU/Hurd) Hackers and Users IRC meetup
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 04 Dec '06

04 Dec '06

Hi, We have our first IRC meetup of hurd.in community. When: saturday (dec 9, 2006) from 5pm Where: at #hurd.in on freenode Agenda: Sustaining the hurd.in community, Mentoring student projects, K14 celebration + http://hurd.in/bin/view/Hurd/IRC09Dec2006 Cheers Praveen -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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Fsf-friends December 2006