Hi all,
Nowadays a lot of kids of middle class, upper middle class and rich
sections of society play video/computer games which have a lot of
violence etc in them. These games are generally expensive and very
addictive plus they make children self centered and unable to think of
working in a team or group. (sense of getting inputs from the community
is not there as collaboration is not a part of the game)
Lincity (or similar games) could be a way to motivate a child to the
profession of town planning which is a very specialised job right now
and in the hands of an elite few leading to a lot of lost inputs from
the general populace. The mess in urban areas is a result of too few
fossilised thinkers at the top who have a lot of power but paucity of ideas.
Once children are introduced to such games which call for inputs from
others (maybe at a later stage) and once such games become commonplace,
more and more people will start participating in town and country
planning processes far more easily than at present.
I hope ngos and software developers can both think of such better ways
to educate the newer generation and take away the dread of a specialised
occupation by building even better games and user interfaces. Such games
taken at a young stage could easily launch a child into a career and
give them a headstart. Parents would also like to see children doing
something constructive even while playing computer games.
Besides several offshoots of such games can take place such as easily
designing a place of residence etc (profession of architect, civil
engineer, structural engineer, interior designer, landscape artist, GIS
planners etc etc) There is a lot of scope in this idea for people in the
game/educational software business.
Kush
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Fsf-friends] city planning--application software
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:34:14 -0400
From: Kush <be_a_sport(a)rogers.com>
Reply-To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
CC: Anil Laul <anillaul(a)vsnl.com>, karmayog <karmayog(a)yahoogroups.com>
Hi all,
Is there any site which rates open source application softwares in
various categories? e.g. I was trying to find applications under town
planning etc and I found only one working application software which has
not been improved after 2004 or so.(looks like the development has stopped)
The application is known as http://lincity.sourceforge.net/ and after
playing it in ubuntu one can see it is entry level and not like the
commercial simcity game. Still town planning is a very specialised
occupation and it will become increasingly relevant as more and more
parts of India get urbanised.
Allowing such FREE tools in the hands of youngsters and the youth will
only lead to better plans, debates, creativity and decision making as
town planning impacts so many areas for a better quality of life. Its
time we start thinking strategically on key applications such as these
to make India and the world a better place.
Maybe then such imaginative scenarios can be added to real gis maps etc.
http://www.freemap.in/ is an effort in that direction (for the city of
mumbai) but it leaves much to be desired as the data used is faulty or
outdated.
Kush
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Hi all,
Right now it is easy to always go to sites which provide certain kinds
of application softwares but in the real world people need collaborative
softwares. I think the business world is using propreitary applications
for distributed work and we don't have sites which give any ratings for
such softwares from the open source world.
I am talking of the virtual private network applications or CRM or CMS
or wiki type softwares where lay people can really collaborate in an
office or group setting. We have no rating mechanisms to judge which
features are better among a group of softwares. Typically people are
interested in knowing
1 whether moin moin is better than (and in what ways) mediawiki or zwiki
etc etc in the field of wiki softwares. (I came across Moin moin
accidentally thru the dapper ubuntu cd which features it in the
opencd.org project.)
or
whether egroupware is better than other softwares in the same line?
(groupware substitutes for lotus notes etc)
or whether joomla is comparable to drupal or mambo etc etc in features"
(cms applications)
or whether openoffice's base application (database) is any good and if
there are alternatives available in the open source world at present
which can take on msaccess? (or a workaround with a mysql application
for ms access)
or how does freegis compare with postgis and maxdb etc gis application
softwares ? (in the gis world of open source software)
or whether ruby on rails will soon outpace python, perl and php in web
based application development? (though perl, php, python each have a
HUGe body of historical strength)
Or whether eclipse is better than kdevelop(c++) or anjuta or bluefish or
boa constructor(python or delphi/pascal) or other IDEs? (when newbies
have to develop open source softwares)
or the merits/demerits of IDE tools which are linked to version control
system tools like cvs or subversion etc etc--which are the best tools in
version control according to various features/parameters
or whether there are better tools than argo UML (poseidon is
propreitary) in the field of application development software in terms
of high level requirements specifications software and automatic
generation of software tools
or what are the strengths vs weaknesses in short form and
dispassionately analysed etc without advertising jargon.
I don't know any place where such information can be easily read and
found. and these are the things which really matter for laymen to come
to speed in the adoption of open source software in India.
Sourceforge.net earlier used to give a maturity rating (development
status) for an application but it does not do so now. Even earlier the
application software results could never be ordered by the development
status (except for paid customers of sourceforge) It would be great if
fsfindia or somebody could enhance the work of sourceforge by having
some ratings and categorisation of key application development
tools/catalysts.
Thanks
Kush
All,
I have not seen any more news about gpl conference in Bangalore. How are the preparations proceeding?
Krishna
=====================================
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paid a stipend of 4,600 INR to 8,000 INR a month depending on the level of
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More Information: http://drupal.in/training
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Hi all,
If we look at the pc revolution and how it spread after the IC and
microprocessors came into being, we would see that the following had a
great effect on the PC phenomena.
1 --IBM came into the picture and its methods of mass producing or
handling the distribution of quality items helped thru proper procedures
and quality control processes
2 --a media which worked complementarily to the PC revolution (and
helped advertise the social phenomenon)
3 --spread of software and hardware which met needs of small businesses
which could then feel the prestige of owning a machine which was
equivalent to the large corporation's multi million dollar machines.
This led to much needed money/capital coming in.
In the area of software for the common man and particularly software for
small businesses which fueled the growth of the pc revolution by
bringing in much needed money and absurd profits were the financial
softwares.
If open source or free software has to go beyond the researchers level
and not be milked by existing corporations like microsoft, sun, IBM,
Oracle etc (who just copy the code at no cost) there has to be accurate
and good knowledge of application softwares particularly for the rapidly
automating small businessmen of India in the tier 2 cities etc..
We need open rating systems (and impartial websites which are not market
driven) for existing softwares in the field of point of sale systems and
financial software.
I came across these sites for rating such softwares (from the Toronto
LUG mailing list) and maybe we could find others much better or
complementary to them and have them put up on a wiki based website such
as that of this group.
http://linuxfinances.info/info/miscpersonalfinance.htmlhttp://www.linas.org
++
also another suggestion--
our fsf website URL needs to be put/added to each email from this list
automatically in addition to the existing footer
as below
Kush
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Hi all,
I was wondering if the computing movement in India has some sort of plan
for putting information on the web about computer pioneers and leaders
etc in India or from India, who have done some amazing things or are
doing amazing things in the field of computers or technology.(examples
could be pioneers of the cdot rural exchange etc when cdot was formed)
This would really help increase the number of people attracted to
computers and open source computing (or free software ) by giving pride
and recognition to the best in the field and also help bring some sort
of community culture.
We should build this as part of our folklore on the lines of the hacker
culture in the elite US universities in the 70s etc. There is a site
for amazing stories about India called www.goodnewsindia.com but it is
too generalised and not technology related.
I know atleast 3 stories of great work done by people of Canadian
origin(RIm-- blackberry phenomena, QNX real time OS from waterloo univ,
APL or J by Ken Iverson) but very little about Indian achievements
(except Vinod Khosla's being one of the 4 who started Sun microsystems
and Sabeer Bhatia who started hotmail). The germans, italians, french,
chinese and the japanese and now even the south Americans, Korean etc
take so much pride in being leaders in specialised areas of the open
source movement whereas we don't hear much of our pioneers.
Kush
Its so interesting to read history and hear folklore. Maybe you have
come across the name below but it was news to me and quite a surprise to
know about the India connection of this person.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Osborne
We can only get more young and old people into technology related areas
when history becomes a part of our daily life.
Kush
Hi,
Unfortunately I invested in Nokia 3120 for accessing internet via PC(I
was/am looking for a non-camera and non-song phone for the purpose).
Is there any way I can get it working as modem on Linux atleast?
I have tried gnokii 0.6.12 on Linux kernel 2.6.16.2 and though slow, gnokii identifies 3120 successfully, though xgnokii seems to take ages to get contact details and often I have to kill the app.
I am trying with (non-nokia) CA-42 cable to connect to phone, and have been successful in using Nokia PC-Suite to view contacts etc. on windows, but again no success in using it as modem.
I don't know about the possibility of it, but is it possible that a software modem simulation module (if open source community or nokia themselves provides) can be developed that once downloaded and integrated with existing phone software allows nokia 3120 to be used as gprs modem?
Regards
Sandeep
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http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2006/06/india_picks_up_.html
India picks up support for ODF
IndiaflagLast Friday, 23 June 2006 the India chapter of the ODF
Alliance conducted a National Seminar on ODF in New Delhi. Quoting an
article on the event:
Welcoming this initiative and highlighting its importance in Indian IT
Scenario, Chandershekhar, secretary, Ministry of Information &
Technology, Government of India said, "We are glad to note that with
formation of a National ODF alliance, India too would be playing a
pivotal role in spearheading the ODF revolution. Further, considering
the huge potential of eGovernance in the nation as well as the need to
adopt open standards to make our data systems more inter-operable and
independent of any limiting proprietary tools, we feel that ODF is a
great technological leap and a big boon to further propel IT right to
India's grass root levels. I congratulate this initiative of leading
private & public organisations and wish them all the best in this
endeavor."
In another article in conjunction with the event, it was reported that
several government departments in New Delhi have decided to switch
over to ODF.
Note that the India chapter of the ODF Alliance includes CDAC (Centre
for Development of Advanced Computing) and IIT (Indian Institute of
Technology).
I have encouraged before that Malaysian organizations and companies
join the ODF Alliance and I should say now that these include
Malaysian institutions of higher learning. We already have a Malaysian
ODF SIG (special interest group) of individuals, but when sufficient
number of local Malaysian organizations group together as ODF Alliance
members, a different kind of ODF grouping and support will surely
emerge in Malaysia.
Posted by Hasan on Tuesday, 27 June 2006 at 03:10 AM in Events, ODF, z
Posts by Hasan | Permalink
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----------------------------------------------------------
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http://fn.goa-india.org | fred(a)bytesforall.org
Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436
----------------------------------------------------------
AsiaCommons' blog http://www.asia-commons.net/blog/39
Hi,
Unfortunately I invested in Nokia 3120 for accessing internet via PC(I
was/am looking for a non-camera and non-song phone for the purpose).
Is there any way I can get it working as modem on Linux atleast?
I have tried gnokii 0.6.12 on Linux kernel 2.6.16.2 and though slow, gnokii identifies 3120 successfully, though xgnokii seems to take ages to get contact details and often I have to kill the app.
I am trying with (non-nokia) CA-42 cable to connect to phone, and have been successful in using Nokia PC-Suite to view contacts etc. on windows, but again no success in using it as modem.
I don't know about the possibility of it, but is it possible that a software modem simulation module (if open source community or nokia themselves provides) can be developed that once downloaded and integrated with existing phone software allows nokia 3120 to be used as gprs modem?
Regards
Sandeep
----------------------------------------------------
Want to know more about me? Check out http://www.geocities.com/shimple0
--
______________________________________________
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