Fsf-friends April 2006

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

46 participants
49 discussions

Interview Peter Brown, the executive director of the Free Software Foundation
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 19 Apr '06

19 Apr '06

Bringing free software to the masses Ingrid Marson <mailroomuk(a)zdnet.com> ZDNet UK April 13, 2006, 13:15 BST Peter Brown, the executive director of the Free Software Foundation, hopes to 'get the message of free software outside the hacker world You'd think it would be easy to research the right-hand man of a free software icon, given the mass of information about the free software movement on the Internet. But a search for "Peter Brown" — the executive director of the Free Software Foundation — and "free software" produces only 14,000 hits on Google and little information about his past. So when we visited the Foundation's headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts it was a surprise to discover a clean-cut, suited English man from Oxford, who was quite so different from FSF founder Richard Stallman with his impressive beard and baggy clothes. Their backgrounds are also totally different. While Stallman is a programmer, having almost single-handedly developed the original version of applications such as Emacs and the GNU C Compiler, Brown has a background in business and finance, and only dabbled with coding when he was in his teens. But despite these differences, the two men share the same goal — in basic terms freedom around software, but more specifically to give people the freedom to run software for any purpose, to study and adapt that software, passing on the improvements to the public and to freely redistribute copies of the software. Both men are responsible for the overall direction of the Free Software Foundation and seem to offer complementary skills, with Brown coming across as more of a pragmatist than Stallman, whose idealism and drive to fulfil his goals has led him to spend his life telling people across the world about free software. ZDNet UK met with Brown last week to learn more about some of the Foundation's upcoming projects, how the FSF is run and funded, and what he feels makes the organisation so special. Read the full interview http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,39020463,39263218,00.htm Photos: Inside the Free Software Foundation http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39263220-1,00.htm -- "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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Fwd [phoenix-project] Traning Program for Teachers
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 19 Apr '06

19 Apr '06

Cross posting. CK Raju ----original message------- Hello All, Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, is conducting and two weeks training program starting from 22-May-06 for physics teachers from Indian Universities and colleges. Maximum number of participants is twenty. Mailing list members are requested to convey this message to teachers interested in Physics laboratory experiments. For online registration visit http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/workshop/index.html Ajith Kumar B.P. IUAC To unsubscribe from this list send a mail to phoenix-project-request_AT_freelists.org with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. (Needless to say _AT_ replaced by @ )

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Free Software and Open Source
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 18 Apr '06

18 Apr '06

Hi, Nagarjun replies to a long thread in ilug Mumbai about Free Software and Open Source Clarifies a lot of doubts. See the thread here http://mm.glug-bom.org/pipermail/linuxers/Week-of-Mon-20060417/025404.html Regards Praveen _____________________________ This is a reply to the entire thread so far, so not quoting any of them. I wish to clarify the difference by example, between OSS and <free> (swatantra/mukta/ajadi) software. Take 'Pine', an email client, releases source code, you can modify the sources, but can't distribute the changes you make according to pine license. Such a software is open source according to OSI. So, opening is not enough, we need the freedom to distribute the changes we make. Similarly 'scilab', a scientific application, is open source but not a <free> software. Therefore, all <free> software is open source, but not vice versa. So, free software is a proper subset of open source software. However, the number of open source applications that are not free software is very very tiny. So, it is also correct to say MOST open source applications are free software. Count the number of applications, not the number of licenses, to get the correct inclusion relation between them. If, OSI excludes those few applications that do not give the freedom to distribute the changes, then all <free> software is open source and vice versa. FSF should not change its stand is very clear, if you see how carefully the <free> software is defined. OSI's definition is left vague. May be business thrives by being vague. Let us ask OSI to modify their license listing policy. The use of the term 'open source' by the OSI may have created a nice term for the tongue, but at the cost of freedom. But, as I told you MOST open source applications do give you the freedom anyway. Still, it is surprising that OSI advocates seldom talk of the values like freedom. They continue to fetch contracts from govt and companies by arguing that oss is economical. Remember, they said they wanted to eliminate precisely this problem when they chose 'open' in place of 'free'. Did they succeed in clarifying? Certainly not. Open source adherents talk of total cost of ownership, while <free> software people say freedom is always expensive for we need to protect it constantly. That is why I always end my speach with: "Run for freedom even if it is expensive!" In order to sustain freedom we need to constantly work against the tendencies that try to take away our freedom. Metaphorically, a system must do work to maintain its stability, other wise the system will tend to a state of higher entropy. <Free> software community is an open system, like a living organism, takes feed from the environment and sustains itself by working against non-free software and those who promote them. I agree with the interpretation that <free> software is a social, cultural movement with wider implications to the future of human society. open source movement, if at all it is, emphasizes technology and a development model. I have no disagreements with their development model. If only OSI mends their licensing list policy, the differences between <free> and open source community will become thinner, if not disappear. -- "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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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 14
by Mishi Choudhary 17 Apr '06

17 Apr '06

hi can someone tell me whens the august event scheduled? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 15
by Mishi Choudhary 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

is the bandipur trek the only way to discuss about the august event. kindly lemme know in case i need to visit b'lore for the same Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 15
by Mishi Choudhary 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

is the bandipur trek the only way to discuss about the august event. kindly lemme know in case i need to visit b'lore for the same Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 14
by Mishi Choudhary 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

hi can someone tell me whens the august event scheduled? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Annual Free Software Event, India
by Shakthi Kannan 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

Greetings! I would like to know if there is an annual free software event held in India? I believe the Free Software, Free Society Conference (http://fsfs.hipatia.net/) is held in a different country, each year? Software Freedom Day, and other GLUG events are primarily local to the place or city where they belong, and they are not exclusively free software. I believe, an event in India for free software will greatly help our cause. Any thoughts? SK -- Shakthi Kannan http://www.shakthimaan.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Annual Free Software Event, India
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

Its not just the magazines that say like this, at times even "premier" newspapers like "The Hindu" too is prone to making such off-remarks. Thankfully the paper has a significant presence only in South India. Here's what G Mahadevan wrote on 28 Feb this year. "... In fact, there are many committed users of free software who argue that this `geek factor' may be one reason for inhibiting the growth of free software usage in the State. A lecturer in a teaching department of the University of Kerala and a vocal proponent of free software points out that the `free software debate' as it were has now become politicised, personalised and is today anything but `free.' Some votaries of free software have taken their case beyond all limits. The kind of philosophical arguments about the differences between free software and open-source software actually put off everyone except the most committed users. Many a time the casual user of the computer is scared off Linux by all this geek-speak...." G Mahadevan could have taken some time off to learn about the differences in the same time he took for going after someone who doesn't know it. CK Raju Thrissur

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Formation of Ubuntu-India
by Baishampayan Ghose 14 Apr '06

14 Apr '06

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 [Sorry for cross-posting] Hello Fellow Ubunteros, Greetings!!! Hope by this time you would have known that the Ubuntu Indian Local Community Team has got the Official Status from the Council. See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/IndianTeam We have a few requests as well as announcements to be made. * Firstly we would appreciate if the GLUG's have their Local Ubuntu Teams who will be responsible for creating awareness about Ubuntu and Ubuntu-In community and also distribute the Ubuntu CDs in their Monthly meets or FOSS Events organised by placing bulk orders. [http://shipit.ubuntu.com] * We request you to create a Wiki page for your Local Team on our ubuntu-in.org website and start posting/contributing. Once you have created a wiki page kindly link it from http://ubuntu-in.org/wiki/Regional_Teams For e.g.. Once you have created a wiki page for your regional team say [Ubuntu_Chennai] kindly go to the Regional_Teams wiki page mentioned above and add your team name and link it. * You can help us in Localisation/translation/Packaging for Dapper as well as future Ubuntu releases. * Contribute Articles, Documentations, Frequently Asked Questions /Answers * Keep giving suggestions to help make Ubuntu better for us and the world. You can subscribe to ubuntu-in mailing list to get the latest information: http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in Hang around in our IRC channel #ubuntu-in @ irc.freenode.net "Live the Spirit of Ubuntu - Linux for Human Beings" Regards, BG - -- Baishampayan Ghose <b.ghose(a)gnu.org.in> Free Software Foundation of India http://www.gnu.org.in/ 1024D/86361B74 BB2C E244 15AD 05C5 523A 90E7 4249 3494 8636 1B74 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFEP6qaQkk0lIY2G3QRAv1qAJ4q5M2R27wyMEf7dotFTZVyaW7cEwCgnTXV oAvg8yFeO9+badpYuR3NvEU= =xDV+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Fsf-friends April 2006