Fsf-friends March 2006

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

19 participants
15 discussions

most popular linux applications
by Kush 01 Apr '06

01 Apr '06

I hope we can find the latest news on the best packages in linux. I > have found this link for some most popular applications in linux in 2005. > > http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?f=69 > Kush

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Linux for the Blind
by malovika roy 31 Mar '06

31 Mar '06

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."

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[Fwd: [eGovINDIA] Keeping Free Software Free]
by Ramanraj K 31 Mar '06

31 Mar '06

-------- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Blab-away for as little as 1¢/min. Make PC-to-Phone Calls <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/postman2/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/ev…> using Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. SPONSORED LINKS Open source software <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Open+source+software&w1=Open+source+sof…> India <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=India&w1=Open+source+software&w2=India&…> Communication technology <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Communication+technology&w1=Open+source…> Women empowerment <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=Women+empowerment&w1=Open+source+softwa…> India gift <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=India+gift&w1=Open+source+software&w2=I…> India tour <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=ms&k=India+tour&w1=Open+source+software&w2=I…> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS * Visit your group "eGovINDIA <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eGovINDIA>" on the web. * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: eGovINDIA-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com <mailto:eGovINDIA-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe> * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 35, Issue 10
by Mishi Choudhary 30 Mar '06

30 Mar '06

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

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 35, Issue 9
by Mishi Choudhary 30 Mar '06

30 Mar '06

hey ppl i am not getting any mails from anyone am i still on the mailing list? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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ILUG-Goa: Tech writing, software for libraries...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 29 Mar '06

29 Mar '06

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 | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | 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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Re [Fsf-friends] swatantra software in kerala election
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 29 Mar '06

29 Mar '06

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

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swatantra software in kerala election
by james mathew 29 Mar '06

29 Mar '06

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!

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Fwd: [+PLUS][I+MM] Hello
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 27 Mar '06

27 Mar '06

---------- 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

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Wikipedia on a computer
by Krishna Pagadala 26 Mar '06

26 Mar '06

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 --------------------------------- New Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Call regular phones from your PC for low, low rates.

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Fsf-friends March 2006