Fsf-friends August 2006

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35 participants
40 discussions

APC CHRIS NICOL FOSS PRIZE IN 2007
by Fouad Riaz Bajwa 24 Aug '06

24 Aug '06

=============================================================== ANNOUNCING THE APC CHRIS NICOL FOSS PRIZE IN 2007 Making it easy to use free and open source software =============================================================== The APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize recognises initiatives that are making it easy for people to start using free and open source software (FOSS). The prize will be awarded to a person or group doing extraordinary work to make FOSS accessible to ordinary computer users. The APC FOSS Prize has been established to honor Chris Nicol, a long time FOSS advocate and activist who for many years worked with APC. We are looking for initiatives that: * improve the accessibility to, knowledge of and/or usability of FOSS * are user-oriented * are documented so that others can learn from and replicate the model * have demonstrable impact and have increased the number of people using FOSS on a day-to-day basis THE PRIZE IS OPEN TO: Any person or group anywhere in the world who supports or promotes user-oriented free and open source software. The application form must be completed in either English or Spanish however there are no language restrictions regarding the language of the project. Small-scale activities are encouraged to apply. THE PRIZE: US$ 4,000.00 may be shared by up to two initiatives at the jury's discretion. DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS: March 30 2007 MORE ABOUT THE APC CHRIS NICOL FOSS PRIZE: http://www.apc.org/english/chrisnicol http://www.apc.org/espanol/chrisnicol or write to fossprize(a)apc.org ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROGRESSIVE COMMUNICATIONS (APC) http://www.apc.org The Association for Progressive Communications is an international network of civil society organisations dedicated to empowering and supporting groups and individuals through the strategic use of information and communication technologies, especially internet-technologies. =============================================================== Courtesy of _______________________________________________ APCNews mailing list APCNews(a)lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/apcnews Forwarded for information by ----------------------- Fouad Riaz Bajwa General Secretary - FOSS Advocate FOSSFP: Free & Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan ® Secretariat Cell: 92-333-4661290 Tel: 92-42-5030039 E-Mail: bajwa(a)fossfp.org URL: www.fossfp.org ; www.ubuntu-pk.org Disclaimer: This e-mail message is intended for its recipient only. If you have received this e-mail in error, please discard it. The author of this e- mail or FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan (R) takes no responsibility for the material, implicit or explicit. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.5/426 - Release Date: 8/23/2006

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from Bangalore GPLv3
by Nagarjuna 24 Aug '06

24 Aug '06

Many of you attended the fourth GPLv3 Conference held at Bangalore. We thank you for your interest and attending the conference which made it a success. Many of you actively participated in the discussion, which made the event even more interesting and useful. We continued informal discussion till late evening. Many of you opted not to attend the conference. As a registered participant this meant several things for the event. Those who opted not to attend the conference, and did not inform us in advance, actually were squatting on the empty seats in the auditorium. We had only 270 seats in the auditorium. Since the registration was overwhelming, we had to inform the new registrations which were still pouring in, 'to say sorry, we are already full.' So we said registrations are closed. Your gesture of supporting this event by registration actually turned out to be a way of disrupting the event. FSF India, made 300 bags for each registered participant, we also made 300 peices of specially embroidered 'kurta' which were on sale at Rs. 250/-. We expected this way we could make up for the expenses. We had ordered for more food, and tea. You could understand how your action of opting out of the conference added a lot of discomfort to the organizers who were working hard for the last several days. We apologize on behalf of the foundation for those who were denied registrations, and could not attend. Thankfully, the volunteers at IIMB and FSF India made efforts to record the event. You will all get to hear and, most likely, see the proceedings of the event. If you had come, the event would have been more successful. In the events to come, please give us more substantial support. Thanking you Nagarjuna G. Chairman, FSF India.

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Press Release: India should opposse DRM: Richard Stallman
by Anivar Aravind 23 Aug '06

23 Aug '06

India should opposse DRM: Richard Stallman India should not enact a Digital Rights Management (DRM) law, Dr. Richard M. Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Movement and the GNU Project said. He was speaking at the Fourth International Conference on GPL v3 held at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, on August 23rd, 2006. He commented that the people who implement DRM, which he called the "Digital Restrictions Management", should be in prison if the government is really of the people, by the people and for the people. This law actually restricts the freedom of the people. A company that uses the restrictions in producing its DVD will give the format it uses to create the DVD only to a company that promises to protect that restriction. The law has been enacted in the US and the European Union has given a direction in favour of DRM. Now the government of India is contemplating modifying its laws to incorporate DRM. The time given for the public to register their comments on the law was short and was insufficient for anyone to give a comprehensive response. That time itself is now over. It is important that the public take this issue and try to convince the government that what they are planning to do goes against the interests of the people and protects only the interest of the large companies. He went on to say that the Free Software licences like the GNU General Public Licence can do only a little to protect users from these laws. The conference was organised by the Free Software Foundation of India, and the Free Software Users Group, Bangalore, in association with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, to discuss the draft of the new version of the General Public Licence (GPL), GPL v3. Dr. Stallman explained why a new version became necessary. He said that revisions become necessary when problems with the existing licence became clear, and when new circumstances threatened the freedom that Free Software promised its users. As an example of the new circumstances, he mentioned the DRM law and the example of a program called Tivo. Tivo is a device that records television programmes for the user to watch at another convenient time. This is a combination of software and hardware. The software is based on the GNU/Linux operating system, which is Free Software. All Free Software gives its users the freedom to modify the software to suit their purpose, and thus this software also gives the freedom to its users. But the hardware is designed to reject any software that is not one of the versions that is designed to run on it. Thus, though the user has the freedom to modify the software, it becomes meaningless because then it cannot be used. In other words, though the software is Free, the freedom becomes meaningless. The present GPL is not violated, though the freedom is, in practice, useless. The new version became necessary because of such circumstances. Prof. Eben Moglen, Professor at the Stanford Law School, Legal Advisor to the Free Software Foundation, and one of the important contributors to the new draft, said that protecting the licence from violations is not an easy job, and involves considerable work from a trained advocate. He said that a legal expert will be engaged in India if many violations of the GPL are found here. Referring to the problem related to some circuits used in wireless networking, he said that there has been serious problems from Japan, which has declared that any programmer who releases software for wireless circuits under any licence that makes its source code available, will be arrested next time the person lands in Japan. The conference will continue on 24th August, when two panels will discuss the relevance of Free Software for software businesses and in Education. The draft of GPLv3 can be read at http://gplv3.fsf.org/ and the detailed programme of the conference can be seen at http://gplv3.gnu.org.in/Conference/Schedule. Some photographs of the event are available at -- http://gnu.org.in/gplv3-conf-pics/index.html Anivar Aravind Free Software Foundation of India http://gnu.org.in

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Hi all
by kuldip M katatiya 23 Aug '06

23 Aug '06

Hi frds this is kuldip your new frd

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INVITATION
by Mishi Choudhary 21 Aug '06

21 Aug '06

Note: Forwarded message attached -- Original Message -- From: "Mishi Choudhary" <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com> To: sailaw(a)gmail.com Cc: "mishi_c" <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com> Subject: INVITATION Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: 3 films for linux advocacy
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 20 Aug '06

20 Aug '06

Thanks to Shakthi Kannan and Tinku Sampath. We were looking at the possibility of screening the movie in one of our university GLUG meets. It seems that it might now be a reality soon. Cheers, Debarshi -- Don't be humble ... you're not that great. -- Golda Meir

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INVITATION
by Mishi Choudhary 19 Aug '06

19 Aug '06

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INVITATION
by Mishi Choudhary 19 Aug '06

19 Aug '06

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Aruba Networks bag contract to upgrade Microsoft's wireless LAN
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 19 Aug '06

19 Aug '06

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;754084996 Cheerio, Debarshi -- Don't be humble ... you're not that great. -- Golda Meir

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we need such machines in india
by Kush 19 Aug '06

19 Aug '06

To bring the concept of free/open source software to most Indians without fast internet access http://www.freedomtoaster.org/?q=node/72 If south africa can do it so can we. Kush

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Fsf-friends August 2006