Fsf-friends March 2008

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

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Internet, tech skills growing quietly in Goa...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 02 Sep '24

02 Sep '24

INTERNET, TECH SKILLS GROWING QUIETLY IN GOA PANJIM, April 30: Goa's BSNL internet service provider is already providing some 3000 broadband connections in the state, and roughly another 24,000 people dial-up to get access the Net using this central government-run service. These figures emerged during an informal discussion at the monthly meeting of the India Linux Users Group (Goa), a network promoting Free Software and Open Source in the state. ILUG-Goa, which holds its meetings usually on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Goa Science Centre at Miramar, sees a range of tech issues -- usually directly related to Free Software and Open Source in Goa. During it's meet on April 29, a range of issues came up for discussion, from how to partition your hard-disk (to install GNU/Linux side-by-side with Windows), to software tools to ehance productivity, and various internet and broadband options available to users in diverse parts of Goa. For instance, there are some useful Free Software tools to monitor your bandwidth usage on BSNL's broadband. One such tool is available for free download at http://tinyurl.com/qgu9p Called the Data One Broadband Statistics, this is a screen-scraper written using Perl to download usage statistics of BSNL's Data One (www.bsnl.co.in/service/dataone.htm) broadband service and total it. Generally, BSNL (www.bsnl.co.in) allows only the Microsoft-based IE and has no monthly total. But trust Indian software talent to find a work-around. This solution comes from the Free Software/Open Source network in Chennai. Meanwhile, the Goa free software network stays connected and announces its event via http://iluggoaannounce.notlong.com There are no fees for joining, all are welcome, and encouraged to form parallel user-groups in diverse parts of the state. Meanwhile, the Fedora Core 5 Free Software distribution has just become available on DVD in Goa. Number of foreign magazines are also available. Members of ILUG-Goa such as engineer Bijon Shaha and software pro Arvind Yadav gave diverse views on techies-only distros like 'Gentoo'. Debopriyo 'DP' Sarkar pointed to a 'mindmap' of various Free Software distributions or 'distros' available, which was illustrated at linuxhelp.blogspot.com Earlier, there was a brief presentation on FreeMind. FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java. It has the potential of playing the role of a high productivity tool. Operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster because of one-click "fold/unfold" and "follow link" operations. Other members raised a range of issues -- from how to get started in GNU/Linux, to playing around with tools like StumbleUpon, and how to encourage Free Software usage in schools and educational institutions. Remy Furtado of Rosary College, Navelim expressed an interest in working on the Free Software tool Moodle, ideal for distance education, as the Goa University moves to a pattern of semisterisation. Goa Engineering College's Prof George Easaw has done work on this platform, as have others. Reacting unofficially, BSNL officials said Goa now had six STMS 155 MBps connectivity, which was resulting in a speedy expansion of broadband to many parts of the state. But for broadband facilities to become available in village areas, at least 60 subscribers were needed to make operations viable. So far, broadband from BSNL is available in a growing number of areas in Goa: Panjim, Vasco (except Cortalim, but including Sada, Mangor, Bogmalo, Sancoale and other areas), Ponda, Bambolim, Merces, Dona Paula, Porvorim, Mapusa town, Calangute-Candolim, and Saligao, among others. Equipment has already been installed in Aldona exchange, and broadband facilities are expected to go functional -- ------------------------------------------------------------- | 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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Careers in FLOSS... (Dec 2003 issue of LFY)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Jun '24

06 Jun '24

=========================================== LINUXForYou * Dec 2003 (Vol 1 No 10) In India Rs 50 (with CD) http://www.linuxforu.com Pages 102 * US$7.95 0 74470584957 =========================================== THIS ISSUE has probably reached your city. Saw it in Bangalore, and also got a complimentary copy from the LFY team at LinuxBangalore2003. But when I reached back to Goa on Dec 4, it wasn't in as yet. So it might take time to reach 'small town' India... FN REVIEWED: Mandrake 9.2 * PhProjekt * StarOffice 7.0 COMPUTERS AT TIS HAZARI, the session courts for the city of New Delhi, are being shifted over to Linux, courtesy the National Informatics Centre. - Rahul Chopra in this month's editorial. LINUX LEARNING CENTRE at Bangalore is offering courses in administration, security, development (internals and programming essentials, programming with Qt, device driver programming, MySQL & PHP), RHCE and Red Hat rapid track certification. www.linuxlearningcentre.com DotGNU RELEASES CD: It can now be used to implement application programs and Web services in C# and C applications under multiple operating systems, including GNU/Linux, FreeBSC, MacOS, MS Windows. The 219 MB release 0.1 CD is available as a free download at http://download.freedom.biz/dotgnu/dotgnu-0.1-cdrom.iso.gz.torrent e-Bridge calls itself "the new state-of-art training facility from eSpark Infotech is now open in the heart of Bangalore". It's offering embedded Linux courses (Linux fundamentals, programming Linux, embedded C & Linux, realtime C & Linux, Linux internals, device drivers, networking) and DSP courses (DSP fundamentals, TI/analog dev programming, audio/video, image processing, bio-medical systems). www.ebridgesolutions.net Linux.net provides a free e-mail service to those who want an e-mail address that ends in '@linux.net' MAJOR UPDATES and releases: OpenNA Linux 1.0, Gibraltar Firewall 1.0, Xandros Desktop 2.0, Onebase Linux 2.0, CUPS 1.120rc6. CAN YOU MAKE money with open source? Registration entails a "nominal fee" of Rs 5000 for a three-day conference. http://www.linuxasia2004.com/attendees/ February 11-13, 2004, New Delhi. SEND IN YOUR favourite slogans for a tee-shirt, and win five free copies of the shirt... LFYedit at efyindia.com MONEY CAN't buy respect, says Robert Adkins. Some of us might have met this guy at LB2003 in Bangalore. He's the CTO of Technetra Corp, and an advocate and implementer of FLOSS solutions for government. He can be contacted at radkins at technetra.com CAREERS WITH FLOSS: The number of students opting for courses in Open Source is growing steadily, even as industry experts predict a growing need for trained professionals in this expanding field. EXIT RED HAT, ENTER FEDORA: It's official now; the free (of cost) version of Red Hat Linux will not be available anymore. This has created a lot of FUD in an already unstable environment, thanks to the SCO episode. But is Red Hat closed for good? WEB-BASED COLLABORATION SOFTWARE: PHProjekt is an easy-to-install collaboration suite, which runs on the open source platform and databases. As the design of the system is developer-friendly, adding new features and components is a piece of cake. STAROFFICE: The latest version of Sun's office suite, StarOffice 7, may just be the right solution for the cost-conscious user. It loads faster than the earlier version, and sports some noticeable improvements. IN THE LFY CD THIS MONTH: Slackware (the "oldest Linux distro") and a range of GNU software for Windows users. FALLING BACK on backup systems. MAKING ADOPTION OF Linux in the enterprise easy. www.linux4e.com Business partners required: http://wwww.linux4e.com/partners ooWRITER HELPS YOU create your own templates and styles so that you can work with documents easily. Open Source is key to IBM's vision of computing. User empowerment is key to Microsoft's, writes Alolita Sharma USING DATABASE functions in Calc, a tutorial. (Wish there were more how-tos for the user in this mag! --FN) HALDIA DOCKS: it has a uniquely designed Linux installation with an active-active cluster set up, which is considered the best of its kind. This has ensured efficiency and cost-effectiveness. BASIC UNIX commands and concepts: an extract from *Running Linux* (Shroff Publishers, Pp 674 only Rs 425 in India). VxWorks and LynxOS are definitely the biggest embedded operating systems in use today. But slowly they are acknowledging the power of GNU/Linux and how it can help them maximise deployments. HELP LINUX GO INDIAN: By using various translation tools, you can join Language translation groups working across India to help translate GNU/Linux into your language. EXPERT INTRODUCTION: Multi-threaded programming under Linux. KICKSTART YOUR Linux installation (Part I): Installing Red Hat Linux on multiple machines one after another can be quite tedious. To avoid answering the same question over and over again, try the KickStart method, as it does not need any user intervention. WRITE CHEQUES. NOT JUST BOOKS: Niyam Bhushan on how anybody can turn thoughts into words, and words into wealth. NFS CLIENTS for Windows. OpenSSL PACKAGE offers a vast crypto library of algorithms WAIT QUEUES in Linux device drivers UNDERSTANDING recursive sub-routines INDIA-RELATED NEWS: HP launches GNU/Linux laptop Mandrake's latest distribution Oracle announces 10g for GNU/Linux Delixus offers India Linux CxProtect anti-virus mailing solution for mail-servers Trade management system from Network Programs Netweb Technologies unveils Tyrone MRO-Tek rolls out Network Management Systems Review of FLOSS at BangaloreIT.com =========================================== DISCLOSURE: This journalist (FN) writes a monthly column for LFY and gets paid for it. Promoting awareness about the content of LFY however is not part of the job, and is carried on with the intention spreading awareness about FLOSS among different GNU/Linux user groups in India. -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

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Govt against curbing piracy with policy ...
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 28 Mar '08

28 Mar '08

http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?tab=r&autono=31800… Govt against curbing piracy with policy FICCI FRAMES 2008 BS Reporters / Mumbai March 26, 2008 In what is viewed as a setback for the film industry's efforts to stop piracy, the government today rejected the recommendations of the draft optical disk policy on grounds that it would lead to the creation of a regime of inspectors, and thus go against the grain of the liberalisation policy. For the past few months, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been examining the draft optical disc law to check film piracy. As the draft legislation, which included a code of regulations for content, is being prepared by FICCI and members of the film industry with the initiative of the government, a positive response is expected. However, addressing the FICCI-Frames 2008 convention here today, Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Secretary Asha Swarup made it clear that the government was not in favour of implementing the recommendations. Acknowledging that the menace of piracy in the entertainment and media industry was huge, she said the problem had to be tackled by closing the gaps in the supply. "A possible way," she said, "is to release films in 'C' and 'D' class towns in digital formats." Swarup expressed her content with Pakistani films being released in India and Indian films like Taare Zameen Par making an entry into Pakistan. She said she hoped that with a new democratic government in Pakistan, more Indian films would be screened there. The secretary also emphasised the need to develop content for TV, especially for children. Meanwhile, the FICCI-PricewaterhouseCoopers 2008 report, released today, estimates the industry at Rs 51,300 crore in 2007 - a growth of 17 per cent from Rs 43,800 crore in 2006. The Indian entertainment and media industry is projected to clock Rs 1,15,000 crore by 2011. In his address, Yash Chopra, chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee & Yash Raj Films, said that Indian cinema had transcended geographical boundaries. However, he added: "Piracy, IP protection in the animation segment and censorship are hurdles that the Indian media and entertainment industry have to overcome." Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP and president of FICCI, pointed out that the industry today had reached a point of critical mass. "I believe this industry is poised to achieve the scale and size required to have global value and presence," he said. The challenge for the industry over the next few years, he said, was to become globally relevant to the capital markets and investors; relevant to producers and consumers of entertainment all over the world. Kunal Dasgupta, co-chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee & CEO Sony Entertainment Television, said: "We are in talks with the Academy of Television Arts and Science in the US, which represents the popular Emmy Awards, and hopefully we will able to present an Indian version of the popular Emmy Awards by next year." Amit Khanna, chairman, Reliance Entertainment & FICCI Convergence Committee, said new digital technology would reshape the distribution and exhibition business. "On-demand entertainment will become a standard industry norm," he said. * * * FROM USIBC Piracy in India's Entertainment Industry Causes Huge Losses to Indian Economy March 27, 2008 Mumbai, India – The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) has released a new study showing huge job and revenue losses to the Indian economy as a result of piracy in India's burgeoning entertainment industry. The study– 'The Effects of Counterfeiting and Piracy on India's Entertainment Industry'– prepared for USIBC by Ernst &Young India, shows as much as Rs. 16,000 crores are lost each year due to piracy. As many as 800,000 direct jobs are also lost as a result of theft and piracy, afflicting India's entertainment industry. Speaking at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) FRAMES 'Business of Entertainment' Conference, USIBC President, Ron Somers, said, "This study estimates that the Indian entertainment industry loses some 820,000 jobs and about $4 billion each year to piracy. This is an enormous and unacceptable magnitude of loss – by any measure." The piracy study was commissioned as part of the USIBC-FICCI Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative. "This study covers film, music, television and video games and has been funded by the Global Intellectual Property Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which aims to highlight the value of intellectual property, as well as illuminate the adverse impact theft and piracy have on creativity and innovation. The Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative promotes the sustainable growth and convergence underway between the entertainment industries in both our countries." Presented with a copy of the study, FICCI Secretary General, Dr. Amit Mitra, said, "This study shows that the best way to make the boom in the Indian entertainment bigger is to stop the affliction of piracy. For the average Indian who wants to increase his or her chances for being employed in Bollywood and associated industries, fighting piracy is a place where all our collective efforts must start." Dr. Mitra went on to point out, "The Media and Entertainment industry in India is an industry of the future. India's entertainment industry already generates more than $11 billion annually for the country, growing at a combined annual rate of over 18%. If we can stop piracy, these industries will grow even faster and employ more Indian workers." Also present at the media briefing was Ramesh Sippy, famed producer and director of the all-time number-one blockbuster 'Sholay'. Sippy said, "I know first hand the importance of fighting piracy to support the growth of Bollywood. I commend the USIBC-FICCI Initiative for enlisting all elements of the entertainment industry against piracy." Farokh T. Balsara, National Sector Leader, Media and Entertainment for Ernst & Young-India, said, "Our Mumbai office collected data for this study from on the ground – via direct interviews with stakeholders from the Bollywood entertainment industry. We looked at the industry from every angle – films, music, TV, radio, and electronic games. The story was the same across the board: if we can slow or stop piracy, a direct correlation in the generation of wealth and employment will be the result." Commenting on the USIBC-FICCI Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative, USIBC President Ron Somers said, "This study is only the beginning. Now that we have documented the job and revenue losses to the Indian entertainment industry from piracy, we intend to continue fighting piracy across the board. We will strive to bring these findings to the attention of the average person in India. We will attempt to enlist more effectively the U.S. and Indian governments to cooperate in fighting the scourge of piracy in India, as well as in the U.S. and worldwide. We strongly support passage by India of optical disc legislation that will thwart piracy in this important industry. We are pleased to stand shoulder to shoulder with counterparts in India to help protect jobs and revenues that are now being needlessly lost to piracy." Also previewed at FICCI FRAMES as a part of the Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative was 'Illicit – The Dark Trade' – a special documentary that airs world-wide, produced by National Geographic for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center. This made-for-television documentary shows that the problem of piracy is an epidemic affecting many sectors of world-wide dimensions. The U.S.-India Business Council, formed in 1975 at the request of the Government of India and the U.S. Government to advance U.S.-India commercial ties, is hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region. The U.S.-India Business Council celebrates its 33rd Anniversary at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on June 12, 2008 in Washington, D.C. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Ym/Gmailtalk: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | fred(a)bytesforall.org Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9970157402 ----------------------------------------------------------

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BIS disappoints Microsoft
by CK Raju, Thrissur 24 Mar '08

24 Mar '08

" NEW DELHI: Microsoft India today expressed disappointment over Bureau of Indian Standards voting against the software giant's Open XML, which is file format specification for electronic documents. However, the company said that it would continue to work with the Indian government to achieve its "stated goal of technology neutrality". Microsoft said that even though it is disappointed, the company is encouraged by the support of the of industry players Nasscom, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys, which voted in favour of Open XML. Nasscom and the three IT companies formed a part of BIS LITD committee. "While we are disappointed with the decision of the BIS LITD 15 committee, we are encouraged by the support of IT industry players like Nasscom, TCS, Wipro and Infosys who voted in favour of Open XML becoming an ISO standard," Microsoft India said in a statement..." Story at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Microsoft_disappointed… ----------- Is there anyway to get the details of these 15 member committee ? CK Raju Thrissur

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [ILUG-BOM] BIS committee votes against ooxml
by Praveen A 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

2008/3/20, Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org>: > India's BIS votes against ooxml. out of 19 members, five of them did not > attend the meeting, one of them abstained, five voted in favor of ooxml, and > the rest voted against. Congratulations to all those who worked so hard for long hours, days together to bring this victory! For the rest of us, we should use this victory as a starting point and join campaigns to save our country from the lock-ins and lead to a knowledge society. In Rabindranath Tagore's words, Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action– into that heaven of freedom, my Father, Let my country awake. One such campaign which needs your support is SaveKarnataka campaign http://groups.google.com/group/savekarnataka?hl=en http://savekarnataka.wordpress.com/ Regards Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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[MAJOR X-POST] Re: BIS committee votes against ooxml
by Raj Mathur 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

On Thursday 20 Mar 2008, Nagarjuna G. wrote: > India's BIS votes against ooxml. out of 19 members, five of them did > not attend the meeting, one of them abstained, five voted in favor of > ooxml, and the rest voted against. Major win for the community, and I'd like to extend personal thanks to the 3 people who I know have been putting in long hours into this effort with no gain: - Nagarjuna - Venky (of Red Hat) - Prabir Purkayastha That isn't an exhaustive list by any means, and it'd be great if you guys could enumerate the other people who have contributed to this win. A request to the community: if you have the time and the inclination, please take a few minutes and send a personal mail thanking these front-line warriors. If we can come up with the list of organisations who voted against OOXML and a contact person, a mail to each of those organisations wouldn't go amiss either. I'm convinced that if Prabir, Venky, Nagarjuna and the others in the team hadn't worked like dogs for months on end, today we'd be seeing a proprietary standard for all our documents. Must feel good to see all that work pay off, huh? :) Regards, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves

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Re: [Fsf-friends] WORKSHOP by Moving Republic in vibgyor 2008
by shirish 20 Mar '08

20 Mar '08

On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 12:00 PM, <fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in> wrote: > Today's Topics: > > 1. WORKSHOP by Moving Republic in vibgyor 2008 (MOBIN M) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:59:39 +0530 > From: "MOBIN M" <mobstux(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Fsf-friends] WORKSHOP by Moving Republic in vibgyor 2008 > To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in, fsf-kerala(a)mm.gnu.org.in. > Message-ID: > <1f2cf8b50802130829oe636d86kb9bbfcd3c3527b0b(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > WORKSHOP BY MOVING REPUBLIC > http://movingrepublic.org/ > > > Date : February 14 and 15 > Event: Vibgyor 2008- short and documentary film festival > http://2008.vibgyorfilm.com/ > > > Schedule : > > Workshop1- Towards hactivist media culture; Introduction to > free software video production > > Date : February 14 > Time :10-12A.M > Place : Town Hall, Thrissur > > Workshop2- Towards hactivist media culture; Introduction to > free software audio production > > Date : February 15 > Time :10-12A.M > Place : Town Hall, Thrissur > > > Talkers: Anivar Aravind > Hiran Venugopal > Suresh P > Krishnanunni >

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Re: [Fsf-friends] IT@School, Kerala in News
by Vimal Joseph 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 9:36 PM, Nagarjuna <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> wrote: > The video said nothing about the use of free software. Is it because > IT@School is not using free software exclusively, or it is reporter's > bias? the reporter deliberately avoided "Free Software" :( >From 2007-2008 educational year onwards, all schools that follows Kerala State syllabus (around 2832 highschools) migrated to Free Software. They use a debian based distribution called IT@School GNU/Linux (http://support.space-kerala.org/wiki/index.php/Download_IT%40School_GNU/Lin…) see these news clips also : http://www.education.kerala.gov.in/ITexam_help/images_itschool/ie_exam_feb_… http://www.education.kerala.gov.in/ITexam_help/images_itschool/hin_exam_feb… ~vimal

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Fwd: IT@School, Kerala in News
by Vimal Joseph 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Senthil S <senthilsos(a)yahoo.com> Date: Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 10:31 AM Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] IT@School, Kerala in News Though i might sound like a conspiracy theorist.. the ndtv coverage doesnt talk about free software ..thought the students are using gnu/linux if u carefully see ;) cheers senthil

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IT@School, Kerala in News
by Vimal Joseph 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

see the children learning with Free Software... http://youtube.com/watch?v=OGKL8MG_O_E ~vimal -- Free Software, Free Society സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര്‍, സ്വതന്ത്ര സമൂഹം <http://fsfs.hipatia.net>

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Fsf-friends March 2008