Hi,
I am keen to know how Linux can enable the disabled (Visually impaired). I
am aware of Emacspeak, ESF project and speakup. But is there anything else
- tools, software applns or weblinks that are handy for the blind?
Do chip in, I need leads for an article I propose to do.
Thanks for your time.
Malovika.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Things work out best for the people who make the best out
of the way things work out."
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [eGovINDIA] Keeping Free Software Free
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:31:08 -0800 (PST)
From: OSS FOSS <ossrti(a)yahoo.com>
Reply-To: eGovINDIA(a)yahoogroups.com
To: egov India <egovindia(a)yahoogroups.com>, egov gok
<egovgok(a)yahoogroups.com>, ella kavi <ellakavi(a)yahoogroups.com>, egov
Orissa <egovorissa(a)yahoogroups.com>
*Keeping Free Software Free*
MARCH 28, 2006
Viewpoint
By Richard Stallman
Next-generation computers are designed to restrict how you use them
even before you buy them. What can the free software community do?
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2006/tc20060328_903602.htm
In 1989, in a very different world from today's, I wrote the first
version of the GNU General Public License, a license that gives computer
users freedom. The GNU GPL, of all the free software licenses, is the
one that most fully embodies the values and aims of the free software
movement by ensuring four fundamental freedoms for every user. These are
freedoms: 1) to run the program as you wish, 2) to study the source code
and change it to do what you wish, 3) to make and distribute copies when
you wish, and 4) to distribute modified versions when you wish.
Any license that grants these freedoms is a free software
license. The GNU GPL goes further -- it protects these freedoms
for all users of all versions of the program by forbidding
middlemen from stripping them away. Most components of the
GNU/Linux operating system, including the Linux component that
was made free software in 1992, are licensed under GPL Version
2, released in 1991. Now, with legal advice from Professor Eben
Moglen at Columbia Law School, I am designing Version 3 of the
GNU GPL.
GPL v3 must cope with threats to freedom that we couldn't have
imagined in 1989. The coming generation of computers, and many
products with increasingly powerful embedded computers, are
being turned against us by their manufacturers -- before we buy
them. They're designed to restrict the uses to which we can put
them.
TRUSTED OR TREACHEROUS?. First, there was the TiVo. People may
think of TiVo as a device to record TV programs, but it contains
a real computer running a GNU/Linux system. As required by the
GPL, you can get the source code for the system. You can change
the code, recompile and install it. But once you install a
changed version, the TiVo won't run at all, because of a special
mechanism designed to sabotage you. Freedom No. 1, the freedom
to change the software to do what you wish, has become a sham.
Then came "trusted computing," what I call treacherous
computing, meaning that companies can "trust" your computer to
obey them instead of you. It enables network sites to tell which
program you're running. If you change the program, or write your
own, they will refuse to talk to you. Once again, freedom No. 1
becomes lip service.
Microsoft (MSFT <javascript: void showTicker('MSFT')>) has a
scheme, originally called Palladium, that enables an application
program to "seal" data so that no other program can gain access
to it. If Disney (DIS <javascript: void showTicker('DIS')>)
distributes movies this way, you'll be unable to exercise your
legal rights of fair use and /de minimis/ use. If an application
records your data this way, it will be the ultimate in vendor
lock-in. This too destroys freedom No. 1 -- if modified versions
of a program cannot access the same data, you can't really
change the program to do what you wish. Something like Palladium
is planned for a coming version of Windows.
ROOT OF EVIL. AACS, the "Advanced Access Content System,"
promoted by Disney, IBM (IBM <javascript: void
showTicker('IBM')>), Microsoft (MSFT <javascript: void
showTicker('MSFT')>), Intel (INTC <javascript: void
showTicker('INTC')>), Sony (SNE <javascript: void
showTicker('SNE')>), and others, aims to restrict use of HDTV
recordings -- and software -- so they can't be used except as
these companies permit. Sony was caught last year installing a
"rootkit" into millions of people's computers through CDs and
not telling them how to remove it.
Sony learned from its mistake: It will now install the "rootkit"
in your computer before you get it, and you won't be able to
remove it. This plan explicitly requires devices to be "robust"
-- meaning you cannot change them. Its implementers will surely
want to include GPL-covered software, again trampling freedom
No. 1. This scheme should get "AACSed," and a boycott of HD DVD
and Blu-ray <http://bluraysucks.com/boycott> has already been
announced.
Allowing a few businesses to organize a scheme to deny our
freedoms for their profit is a failure of government, but so
far, most of the world's governments, led by the U.S., have
acted as paid accomplices rather than policemen for these
schemes. The copyright industry has promulgated its peculiar
ideas of right and wrong so vigorously that some readers may
find it hard to entertain the idea that individual freedom can
trump profits.
SOFTWARE FREEDOM. Facing these threats to our freedom, what
should the free software community do? Some say we should give
in and accept the distribution of our software in ways that
don't allow modified versions to function, because this will
make our software more popular. Some refer to free software as
"open source," that being the catchphrase of an amoral approach
to the matter which cites powerful and reliable software as the
highest goal. If we allow companies to use our software to
restrict us, this "open-source Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
could help them restrict us more powerfully and consistently.
Those who wield the power could benefit by sharing and improving
the software they use to do so. We too could read it -- read it
and weep if we can't make a changed version run. For the goals
of freedom and community, the goals of the free software
movement, this concession would amount to failure.
We developed the GNU operating system so that we could control
our own computers, and use them in freedom. To seek popularity
for our software by ceding this freedom would defeat that
purpose. Therefore we have designed Version 3 of the GNU GPL to
uphold the user's freedom to modify the source code and put
modified versions to real use.
The debate about the GPL v3 is part of a broader debate about
DRM vs.your rights. The motive for DRM schemes is to increase
profits for those who impose them, but their profit is a side
issue when millions of people's freedom is at stake. Desire for
profit, though not wrong in itself, cannot be justification for
denying the public control over its technology. Defending
freedom means thwarting DRM.
First published by BusinessWeek Online. Stallman is the founder
of the GNU Project, launched in 1984 to develop the free
software operating system GNU. Verbatim copying and distribution
of this entire article is permitted worldwide without royalty in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved
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Hi everyone
Can you all learned pEople suggest the name of industry big wigs who should be approached,so as to make free software reach the right venues and end users?
Warm Regards
Mishi Choudhary
March 25 saw an interesting user-group meet, with a full-house in the
small Goa Science Centre board-room.
Suhag Shirodkar, recently re-settled back from the US, explained all
about technical writing and what it offered to youth wanting a career in
it. She mentioned they had opened a 'brand new' India office at
Caranzalem (Goa) and were looking for writers with the required skills.
Though this is not a GNU/Linux subject, it obviously would be of
interest to many of our younger members. GNU/Linux also needs to build
its own technical writing skills.
Suhag said they had three lines of work -- writing for the hardware and
software industry, science writing (grant proposals, white papers,
abstracts), and business writing (web content, white-papers, etc).
Edgar D'Souza, ILUG-Goa's long time member, shared his own experiences
in technical writing.Suhag stressed that what was needed was good
grammer, a knowledge of sentence structures, the use of thought and
logic inone's work.
"Technical writing is not about giving an opinion, or having a slant and
angle. It's about figuring out who is the user (of your writing) and
what they need to know. It's not about us and what we want, but it's
about what other people want," she added.
She stressed that the fundamental "building blocks" of
good technical included good knowledge of the subject,
some domain knowledge (either in coding, or having worked
as a physicist, biotechnologist, chemist).
"There are many things thrown on our plate that we know nothing about.
Our job is to grasp the fundamentals quickly, talk to the experts and
get the knowledge," she added. "It's not rocket science."
* * * * * * * * * *
After a brief Q&A, Bijon Shaha took up the challenge of presenting ideas
he had encountered minutes earlier. He shared with all a presentation
titled Introduction to Open Source Library Management Systems. This talk
is by Edward M. Corrado of Rider University Libraries and
ecorrado(a)library.rider.edu You could probably find a copy on the
internet, or ask me for one which ia 1.8MB file.
A very interesting subject. It covers software such as Koha, the
made-in-Finland Emilda (www.emilda.org), PhPMyLibrary from the
Philippines, phpmybibli (from FRance), OpenBiblio (which works on
GNU/Linux as well as Windows), AvantiMicroLCS (an easy-to-install tool
with a small footprint) and more.
The screenshots are very interesting and instructive.
After sharing time with the 15 people present, we broke and look forward
to the meet on April 22, 2006. Do send in your suggestions on what you
can talk about then... FN
--
-------------------------------------------------------------
| India Linux Users' Group, Goa |
| Join the friendly user group |
| Mail list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/join |
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| 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: \_/ \_/
"-"
James,
Newspapers seem to send a different story; they say the manifesto is keen on introducing "Malalayam" in e-governance.
Things are reaching a stage where the decisive move is heavily dependant on whether VS gets the mantle.
CK Raju
(another infidel)
--------Original Message -------
Friends,
Kerala is heading for an election in about a months time. The Left
Democratic Front has promised support for Free Software in its manifesto. It
says:
"The development and use of Swatantra Software will be encouraged for
resisting the monopolistic trends in Software field"
James.
--
HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!
_______________________________________________
Fsf-friends mailing list
Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends
Friends,
Kerala is heading for an election in about a months time. The Left
Democratic Front has promised support for Free Software in its manifesto. It
says:
"The development and use of Swatantra Software will be encouraged for
resisting the monopolistic trends in Software field"
James.
--
HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Stallman <rms(a)gnu.org>
Date: Mar 27, 2006 2:05 PM
Subject: [+PLUS][I+MM] Hello
To: plus-discuss(a)lists.sarovar.org
March - Iginite the PLUS month
---------------------------------------------
Hello, Libre users of Palakkad!
It is exciting to address a group of people who understand what GNU is
really all about. Most operating systems were developed for
commercial motives or technical motives, but GNU was developed for
ethical ideals: freedom and community.
All user groups invite, teach and help people to use the GNU/Linux
system, and I'm sure you are going to do that. But your commitment to
freedom means you can also do jobs that get to the root of the matter,
campaigning for software freedom in your schools, in your civic
institutions, and in all areas of life.
Thank you for helping our community, and best wishes to your work.
_______________________________________________
Palakkad Libre software Users Society Main Mailing List
"Adding freedom to common minds"
PLUS-discuss(a)lists.sarovar.org
http://lists.sarovar.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/plus-discuss
--
"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
Hi All,
I want a package/CD/DVD/computer which has wikipedia installed on it. I know that some of the members are working on it. Can you please help me.
Thanks
Krishna
=====================================
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
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