April 2008 - Fsf-friends

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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Open Letter to Mammooty
by Praveen A 22 May '08

22 May '08

Microsoft will be signing up Malayalam movie star Mammootty as one of the brand ambassadors for the Computer Literacy programme that is to be organized soon in Kerala, a Southern Indian State well known for its pro-free software policies. Read, Sign and Share the letter at http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Open_Letter_To_Mammooty Also digg the story http://digg.com/microsoft/Mammooty_don_t_join_hands_with_Microsoft -- 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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Dear fsf-friends@gnu.org.in April 89% 0FF
by VIAGRA � Official Site 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

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Indian students in SoC
by Praveen A 26 Apr '08

26 Apr '08

Hi, We know about 7 students from India who got selected for SoC this time. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SoC/2008 If you know of any student from India not listed there please update. 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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Interview with Debian Devleoper from IITM Varun Hiremath
by Praveen A 22 Apr '08

22 Apr '08

Which project do you currently contribute to? I am a Debian Developer and I am currently maintaining about 135 packages in Debian. This is my Debian QA page where you will find the list of packages I am currently maintaining in Debian: http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=Varun+Hiremath Apart from Debian I have been contributing to many open source projects: 1) I am author of open source project python-gastables: python modules for compressible gas flow calculations: Homepage: code.google.com/p/python-gastables 2) I am also author of Krickscore - KDE applet for cricket scores. http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Environment/KDE/krickscore-25612.sht… Homepage: http://varun.travisbsd.org/krickscore.php 3) I have been contributing to Jajuk - Advanced Juke box project, where I am working as a Developer and Debian package maintainer. Homepage: http://jajuk.info/index.php/Main_Page 4) I am also currently maintaing pidgin-festival ( formerly knows as festival-gaim). I rewrote festival-gaim to make it work with the new pidgin API. Homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin-festival/ How does it feels to have two DDs from neighbouring rooms? (Kumar Appaiah stays next to my room) It is a big advantage having him next door because we get to learn a lot from each other. Usually there is a lot of activity going on in Debian, and it becomes very difficult to keep track of things; having another DD next door really helps a lot to catch up with action. Read More about Varun at http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Varun_Hiremath Cheers 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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Re: [Fsf-friends] a list discussing the ICT policy for education
by Raj Mathur 21 Apr '08

21 Apr '08

On Saturday 19 Apr 2008, Nagarjuna G. wrote: > Those of you who would like to take active role in shaping the ICT > policy of India, please join this group and voice your opinions. > This group has members from various organizations, and not > necessarily from free software community. > > http://groups.google.com/group/ict-education-india Why Google? It won't let me join the group unless I have a Google account, and it won't let non-Google-members view archives, etc. I presume increasing Google's market worth isn't one of the objectives of this discussion forum. 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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Why Schools Must Embrace ODF and FOSS
by Praveen A 20 Apr '08

20 Apr '08

Schools are being prevented from enjoying a revolution in software provision, and self-sufficiency is being halted by the promotion of dependency, said Ian Lynch, spokesman for the Open Schools Alliance. "Innovation starts with teachers and pupils, but under BSF the school's IT strategy is taken out of its hands," he said. see more news at how Microsoft is trying to lock students at an early stage http://boycottnovell.com/2008/04/19/school-odf-koffice-nlnet/ We (those us us from Kerala) can be proud that we did not let our children to suffer, but be watchful, they are trying hard. See how Microsoft's playmate Infosys is selling our children and our countries future. http://groups.google.com/group/ilug-tvm/browse_thread/thread/5187fd263da0e0… -- 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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New debian project leader Steve McIntyre talks about his plans
by Praveen A 20 Apr '08

20 Apr '08

"I love the knowledge that I'm working on a complete operating system which covers my needs. If it breaks, I have a chance of fixing it, or I can find a friend who will be able to do it for me. If I want to do something new with the system, I'm confident that it will support me. The fact that millions of other people appreciate what I'm doing as well is icing on the cake!" Read the full interview at http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17716/1090/1/0/ -- 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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Re: [Fsf-friends] Futility of going after ISO
by CK Raju, Thrissur 19 Apr '08

19 Apr '08

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> wrote: > free software supporters , hackers community and several industries do > support free/open standards. This community is not small. ISO > demonstrated its inability already. We have to therefore make an attempt to > create an alternate body. May be an initiative to create an alternate body > may trigger ISO from restructuring itself and may become better than it is > now. ISO may have become too big and too large which may be preventing it to adapt effectively. But, as you rightly point out, it caters only to a section of society, for purposes that favours their businesses, with least concern for the marginalised - it can never be a government-sort-of-mechanism that way which takes into account the welfare of its poorest citizens. "ISO only launches the development of new standards for which there is clearly a market requirement..." [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/faqs/faqs_standards.htm]. It should be clear to us now, that as an organisation, ISO possesses a deep-rooted cognitive disorder, where negotiations or such efforts would induce little meaning. Its an apolitical organisation worthy enough to be disowned by our community which is a political one, having firm goals. > Of late, free software movement is mostly on the defensive. It will be a > good way to take up proactive steps rather than spend our limited energies > in defending the moves of MS and others. True, ROS team these days says "For every OS, there is an equal and opposite ReactOS." > Meanwhile, we should point out to the community that ISO standard does not > imply free/open standard. Their criteria are purely technical, and clearly > favors the interests of a section of the Industry. We should create a > portal that shows how many of the ISO standards do not clear as free/open > standards to make our point. We may even demand ISO and appeal to remove > 'open' from the OOXML, for that does mislead the users in a big way. Looking at the increasing interest and participation from premier research and educational organisations towards free-software activities, what is needed, could just be a "GPL" clone for standards, which can put the whole domain of standards into an evolutionary process. Please take the lead and do it, Nagarjuna. All the best. CK Raju

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Futility of going after ISO
by CK Raju, Thrissur 19 Apr '08

19 Apr '08

Dear RMS, I think its futile to chase ISO anymore. We would only land up spending our own creative energy which we can't afford to at this pace. " * Market-driven ISO only develops standards for which there is a market requirement. The work is mainly carried out by experts from the industrial, technical and business sectors which have asked for the standards, and which subsequently put them to use." .. in their own words at http://www.iso.org/iso/about/discover-iso_the-iso-brand.htm Why should Free Software Foundation and other like minded organisations allow ISO to take over software standards and make it - only *market-driven* one ? Its not difficult to realise that the *very conditions* that necessitated a Standards Organisation to be promoted, are now prevalent and omnipresent. Why not create another organisation that develops standards for the common world citizens to communicate with freedom ? Shouldn't we ask ourselves now about this, and try to define the *framework* that would set in motion a new organisation which would be able to come out with Free/Open Standards after *defining* them in as unambigous terms as possible ? CK Raju, MES College of Engineering, Kuttippuram Kerala, India

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Kumar Appaiah: 5th Debian Developer from India
by Praveen A 18 Apr '08

18 Apr '08

Kumar Appaiah (ILUGC Member and Final year Dual degree student, EEE Dept, IIT-Madras) is the 5th Debian Developer from India. Other 4 from India are Ganesan Rajagopal, Ramakrishnan Muthukrishnan in Bangalore. Kapil Hari Paranjape in Institute of Mathematical Sciences Taramani. Varun Hiremath, student of Aerospace Engg. at IIT Madras. Congratulations Kumar. It is a great boost for the Debian community in India. -- 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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photos ODF-liberate your documents -candle lamp vigil - 25th april 2008 Townhall bangalore
by renuka prasad 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

here are some of the snaps that were taken during candle lamp vigil --- liberate your documents --- use odf http://www.flickr.com/photos/25734428@N06/

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Hindu story and pictures of the candle light vigil
by Praveen A 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041660721100.htm http://flickr.com/photos/kushaldas/sets/72157604562832040/ 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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Fwd: [FSUG-Bangalore] Groklaw picked up NITC Students Open Letter & Todays Hindu Report
by Praveen A 15 Apr '08

15 Apr '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/4/15 Subject: [FSUG-Bangalore] Groklaw picked up NITC Students Open Letter & Todays Hindu Report To: Free Software Users Group - Bangalore <fsug-bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080414181840439 Anyway, the protests continue, for the simple reason that people are disgusted by what they saw, I gather, and they understand what's at stake. In India there was an Open Letter to Wipro, Infosys and TCS published recently by students at the National Institute of Technology. It begins like this: This letter is to express our deep disappointment over your open support to the OOXML format forced through ISO by Microsoft. Being the top IT giants and thus the representatives of the IT industry in the country, it is a great shock to us that you do not stand with academia of the country and its representatives like the IITs, IIMs and IISc in supporting the Open Document Format (ODF) which is a true Free and Open Standard already recognised as an ISO Standard. Of course, India voted against OOXML, but the students noticed the vote breakdown: 1. National Informatics Center - NO 2. Center for Development of Advanced Computing - NO 3. Computer Society of India - NO 4. Department of IT - NO 5. IBM - NO 6. Institute for Electronic Governance - Absent 7. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad - NO 8. Indian Institute of Science - NO 9. Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi - NO 10. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay - NO 11. Infosys - YES 12. Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkatta - NO 13. Manufacturers Association of IT - Abstain 14. Microsoft - YES 15. National Association of Software and Services Companies - YES 16. National Institute of Smart Governance - Absent 17. Reserve Bank of India - Absent 18. Red Hat - No 19. Standardization Testing and Quality Certification Directorate - NO 20. Sun - NO 21. Tata Computer Services - YES 22. Wipro - YES (for changing India's vote from NO to Abstain) The students noticed such fine details, and their letter was a request for an explanation. By the way, did you notice that Sun voted No? Just to put to rest the conspiracy theorists out there busily spinning some fables. Todays Hindu Report doesn't get all the details right, but they noticed the same thing the students did: The BIS, which represents India at ISO, had 19 members of which 13 voted against Microsoft's OOXML. Many academics and colleges (NIT-Calicut among others) have written open letters to TCS, Infosys, NASSCOM, Wipro (that voted to abstain) and Microsoft (voted in favour of OOXML). There is a rising fear among academics and advocates of free software standards that BIS will come under pressure in the absence of any national policy. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the only two States who have a policy in place. "Very big voices like NASSCOM and Infosys that have not participated in even one meeting have voted irresponsibly. We fear that if such lobbying continues, academics and individuals like us will be put on the defensive, unless there is a policy in place," said Nagarjuna G., professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who was part of the technical committee of BIS. This committee alone identified 200-odd technical flaws in OOXML's 7,000 page document — the Open Document Format is 600 pages — and more than 1,000 others were identified internationally. I see I am not alone in viewing OOXML as a move of aggression. Microsoft must be realizing by now by the outpouring of dismay all over the world that this isn't just a typical vendor fight, where winner takes all and everyone shakes hands and moves on. The public cares about ODF, because it realizes it will impact every one of us directly, and we see the obvious, that OOXML is a spoiler. This has nothing to do with market share. _______________________________________________ FSUG-Bangalore mailing list FSUG-Bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore -- 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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The Hindu: Techies protest proprietary standards; seek policy
by Praveen A 15 Apr '08

15 Apr '08

Today's Hindu has a report on Candle Light Vigil and Campaign for Document Freedom. BANGALORE: Ever since the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) vote on April 2 adopted Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) as a document standard, techie blogs and websites have been inundated with posts and articles voicing their opposition to proprietary software and technical issues with the new standard. Organisations and online communities — such as the Free Software User Group and the Free and Open Source Software — are looking to raise the issue more aggressively in the public domain. "We call the OOXML format a "banana standard." Besides raising awareness, we want the Government to formulate a policy supporting Open Software and also appeal the ISO mandate," said Anivar Aravind, a software consultant who will participate in a rally in front of the Town Hall on Tuesday to raise awareness about Open Document formats and demand a national policy on standardisation and use of Open Software. In simple words, the problem is one of compatibility, an important issue in this digital world. For example, take the much hyped e-governance. If the Government maintains its land records in a certain digital format, and the documentation uses a proprietary format, then a user will have to keep upgrading his operating system to access the record. Proponents of Free Software argue that even with Microsoft's old document format (.doc), a file created seven to eight years ago may not be recognised by a modern operating systems such as XP. "This is like being sold a house without being given the key to it. We need public support to take it to the policy level," says Venkatesh Hariharan, who was part of a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) committee. The BIS, which represents India at ISO, had 19 members of which 13 voted against Microsoft's OOXML. Many academics and colleges (NIT-Calicut among others) have written open letters to TCS, Infosys, NASSCOM, Wipro (that voted to abstain) and Microsoft (voted in favour of OOXML). There is a rising fear among academics and advocates of free software standards that BIS will come under pressure in the absence of any national policy. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the only two States who have a policy in place. "Very big voices like NASSCOM and Infosys that have not participated in even one meeting have voted irresponsibly. We fear that if such lobbying continues, academics and individuals like us will be put on the defensive, unless there is a policy in place," said Nagarjuna G., professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who was part of the technical committee of BIS. This committee alone identified 200-odd technical flaws in OOXML's 7,000 page document — the Open Document Format is 600 pages — and more than 1,000 others were identified internationally. The National Knowledge Commission Report 2006 and the Eleventh Five Year plan for Information Technology recommend Free Software. http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/15/stories/2008041554380500.htm -- 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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Bangalore, 15th April: Candle light vigil for Document Freedom
by Praveen A 14 Apr '08

14 Apr '08

Dear Friends, Recently International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) is approved Microsoft's broken standard OOXML( with 1000s of Technical Flaws) also as a Document standard. India's Vote was No to this standard that creates vendor lock-in and prevents interoperability. Micro$oft played a lot of nasty games to get the approval from member countries. In this context we are Conducting a Candle Light Vigil for Document Freedom Demanding bureau of indian standard (BIS) to appeal ISO's Decision of approving the banana standard OOXML Venue : In Front of Townhall, Corporation Circle , Bangalore Date : 15th April 6.00pm The programme is planned as a starting point for various events & awareness campaigns on Document freedom . Please use following wiki page for organising the programme http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_for_Document_Freedom Also add your name on campaigners section Contact : Praveen A <pravi.a at gmail.com> +91 9986348565 Anivar Aravind <anivar at movingrepublic dot org> +91 9449009908/ +91 080 23435606 Why Document Freedom? We live in an age in which paper documents increasingly get replaced by electronic records. Document freedom is fundamental for your documents to outlive the application you are currently using and allows you to choose and change applications freely. Previous proprietary document formats have become difficult or impossible to read within little more than a decade. There is no reason to believe this trend will not continue if allowed so to do. Without open standards for our documents we are likely to inflict a 'digital dark-age' on our descendants when they discover that they are unable to read any of the sources for their history, such as Government records, acts of Parliament, property title deeds, scientific research papers, and family histories. They will not forgive us if we fail to act to protect them now, but instead allow another generation of poorly specified proprietary standards to become widely adopted. Document Freedom and Democracy Electronic records kept today include records of your government, such as tax and legal records or minutes of parliamentary proceedings. Making sure that such records remain in the control of the government is essential for a functioning democracy. The same is true for all interactions between citizens and their government, which should never depend on monopolies or on the proprietary product of a single company. How to achieve Document Freedom? Make a stand by saving your documents in ODF today. If your application does not support ODF, get one of the ODF supported applications like OpenOffice.org, Staroffice, NeoOffice, KOffice, AbiWord, Google Docs, IBM Lotus Symphony etc We request all users to 1. not send attachments in proprietary formats like .doc, .xls, .ppt 2. not pollute their friends computers and the internet with unethically encoded documents. 3. inform the users that they do not have right to decode the documents they themselves have written, if they use proprietary software 4. distribute open office cds, containing apps with source code for windows. 5. distribute live cds. 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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Re: [Fsf-friends] [FSUG-Bangalore] Demonstration against approval of OOXML by ISO amid huge irregularities
by Vikram Vincent 11 Apr '08

11 Apr '08

On 11/04/2008, tb dinesh <dinesh(a)servelots.com> wrote: > > Maybe we can continue this at IIMB on 19/20 barcamp? > > Maybe also have a session on the OOXML - politics and technology. > Lots of possibilities. Anyone from IIM or IISc or anywhere else who can address the gathering on the 15th evening? -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://www.swatantra.org/ http://translate.swatantra.org/

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An Open Letter to Wipro, Infosys and TCS
by Praveen A 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

http://www.fossmeet.in/node/128 6th April 2008 This letter is to express our deep disappointment over your open support to the OOXML format forced through ISO by Microsoft. Being the top IT giants and thus the representatives of the IT industry in the country, it is a great shock to us that you do not stand with academia of the country and its representatives like the IITs, IIMs and IISc in supporting the Open Document Format (ODF) which is a true Free and Open Standard already recognised as an ISO Standard. Considering that a major portion of your employees come from such institutions, it is a wonder to us that you have decided to go ahead with this decisions. We would like to hear your explanation with respect to these points :-(quoted from www.noooxml.org/petition) 1. There is already a standard ISO26300 named Open Document Format (ODF): a dual standard adds costs, uncertainty and confusion to industry, government and citizens; 2. There is no provable implementation of the OOXML specification: Microsoft Office 2007 produces a special version of OOXML, not a file format which complies with the OOXML specification; 3. There is information missing from the specification document, for example how to do a ´autoSpaceLikeWord95´ or ´useWord97LineBreakRules´; 4. More than 10% of the examples mentioned in the proposed standard do not validate as XML; 5. There is no guarantee that anybody can write software that fully or partially implements the OOXML specification without being liable to patent lawsuits or patent license fees by Microsoft; 6. This format conflicts with existing ISO standards, such as ISO 8601 (Representation of dates and times), ISO 639 (Codes for the Representation of Names and Languages) or ISO/IEC 10118-3 (cryptographic hash); 7. There is a bug in the spreadsheet file format which forbids any date before the year 1900: such bugs affect the OOXML specification as well as software applications like Microsoft Excel 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007. 8. This standard proposal was not created by bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties (such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators), but by Microsoft alone. With this decision, the impression you are making on your future employees in the academia is not a very pretty one. In fact, the development of OOXML receiving ISO´s approval has devalued our confidence in the standards setting process itself. We hope that you will put self-profit behind our country´s needs, change your decision, and stand with the rest of the country on this issue. PS: Please forward this to the groups you are in... -- 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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OOXML - what next? planning meet tomorrow 6.30 pm 10 April
by Praveen A 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Hi, Come to Cubbon Park (Victoria Statue entrance, circle at the end of MG Road) at 6.30 pm tomorrow to discuss plans about OOXML campaign. We should let the people know of those who sold the country out for some bucks and put pressure on BIS to go for a an appeal. See you there. Cheers 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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Report on FOSS@School
by Pramode C.E. 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Hello, There was a 2 day workshop for school kids called FOSS@School as part of the recently concluded FOSSMeet at NIT Calicut - please read the report here: http://pramode.net/2008/04/08/report-on-fossschool-fossmeetnitc-2008/ (Be sure that you check out the last photograph in the report) It would be great if Vimal puts up some details of the discussion he had with the school teachers. Regards, Pramode ----------- Get the freedom to save as many mails as you wish. To know how, go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html

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GNU/Linux Installation festival in Bangalore
by Omshivaprakash 05 Apr '08

05 Apr '08

"No more *Virus,* No more *crashes* and no more *Blue screen of Death!*" A* GNU/Linux Installation* *festival* dubbed *GNU/Linux Habba* has been planned on *Saturday,* *April 26th, 2008.* *We will: * 1. Help you install GNU/Linux on your Laptop/Desktop. 2. We will show you how to type in Kannada and configure, optimise your system for Kannada. 3. If you bring an empty CD, we'll copy your favourite distribution on it for you*. (And this won't be piracy! You're also free to distribute those.) 4. We will answer all your questions related to Kannada on GNU/Linux to the best of our knowledge. *Venue*: *SERC, Indian Institute of Science. * More info at: http://dev.sampada.net/GNU_Linux_Install_Fest http://kannada.sampada.net/event/gnu-linux-habba-bengaluru http://sampada.net/event/GNU-Linux-Habba and few more articles are here: http://sampada.net/Bengaluru-Linux-habba/2 http://sampada.net/article/8005 *Online Registration:* Kannada: http://sampada.net/event/GNU-Linux-Habba English: http://kannada.sampada.net/event/gnu-linux-habba-bengaluru *Off-line Registrations:* Call or SMS: 9945270698 Hari Prasad Nadig 9902026518 Om Shiv Prakash 9740322699 Srinidhi N Iyengar *Lastly, who is organising this?* A bunch of human GNU/Linux enthusiasts and volunteers from Sampada Community. - Sampada Team -- http://sampadafoundation.org "ಹೊಸ ಚಿಗುರು ಹಳೆ ಬೇರು" -- -- "A well-directed imagination is the source of great deeds" -- With Best Regards, Omshivaprakash.H.L WebPage : http://platonic.techfiz.info Phone: 91- 9902026518 / 9343726518

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Re: [Fsf-friends] any place on the internet where information on open source can be shared
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 03 Apr '08

03 Apr '08

Kussh, You're also wlecome to join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa Kindly see http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList FN On 04/04/2008, Kussh Singh <kussh.singh(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Frederick, > > Is there any unofficial site for open source/free software > hobbyists/nerds etc in India where information they have collected > with some effort could be shared. > > e.g. I have quite a few ebooks now on technology and management which > i am unable to share due to lack of webspace, lack of anonymity and > legal restrictions etc. Was thinking of a hackers meeting > joint/exclusive club --the mumbai LUG seems to be dead/irrelevant --it > seems we don't have the sharing/giving/meritocracy culture that is > found in the west--here its a dog eat dog world. > > Kush > ps: pls reply to kussh.singh(a)gmail.com > > -- > http://core.nic.in > http://directory.fsf.org http://ohloh.net > -- ---------------------------------------------------------- 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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Re: [Fsf-friends] [ssug-malappuram] Bad news: OOXML won the vote for ISO standards approval!
by CK Raju, Thrissur 03 Apr '08

03 Apr '08

"ISO captured by vendor Microsoft Brussels, 2 April 2008 — ISO members failed to disapprove the Open XML format. Microsoft has compromised the International Standards Organisation (ISO) during the rush to get a stamp for their Office OpenXML (OOXML), using unfair practices such as committee stuffing in several countries and political interventions of ministers in the standardization process.." ..... "I see an anonymous comment suggest that ISO now stands for: I Sold Out" — Groklaw, What Really Happened at the BRM for OOXML & Who Attended Details at http://www.noooxml.org CK Raju On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 10:28 AM, Anivar Aravind <anivar(a)movingrepublic.org> wrote: > The long story of how ISO standardisation process fails > > Also read India's coments on ISO Ballot Resolution process on venky's Blog > http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/03/indias-comments-on-brm-to-iso.html > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [bytesforall_readers] OOXML won the vote for ISO standards > approval! > Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 14:13:46 -0400 > From: Satish Jha <satish.jha(a)gmail.com> > Reply-To: bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com > > > > While ISO isn't set to announce the official voting tally until > tomorrow, the OpenDoc Society > <http://www.opendocsociety.org/Press-information> has posted to a > mailing list what it claims are the final results indicating that > Microsoft will be granted ISO approval for its Office Open XML (OOXML) > document format. > > According to the alleged results page, OOXML received a 75 percent > "approve" total > <http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9907583-7.html?tag=nefd.top>. It > needed 66.66 percent to become an ISO standard. Here is the alleged ISO > ballot information on OOXML (zipped PDF file). > <http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/images/ooxml-vote-pdf.zip> > > ISO officials aren't commenting on the leaked ballot tally. Nor is > Microsoft. ISO officials said on March 31 that they planned to notify > privately the national bodies who participated in the standards vote > before publicizing the final results on April 2 > <http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1301>. > > *Update*: Microsoft is now confirming (in a rather long-winded way) that > OOXML won the vote for ISO standards approval > > <http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/apr08/04-01OpenXMLVotePR.mspx>. > From the company's April 1 press release: > > "While the final vote has not yet been announced formally, publicly > available information shows overwhelming support for Open XML. > According to documents available on the Internet, 86% of all > national body members support ISO/IEC standardization, well above > the 75% requirement for formal acceptance under ISO and IEC rules. > In addition, 75% of the Participating national body members (known > as P-members) support standardization, also well above the required > 66.67% requirement for this group. > > "Open XML, IS29500, now joins HTML, PDF and ODF as ISO- and > IEC-recognized open document format standards. > > "The ratification of Open XML is proof that the consensus-building > process worked." > > OOXML is currently an ECMA standard. Microsoft has been advocating for > OOXML to receive ISO standard status, as that is seen as more of a > "gold" standard by many governments when evaluating standards compliance > of new software. > > In a note sent to its mailing list recipients, OpenDoc Society Board > Member Michiel Leenaars portrayed the alleged OOXML victory as having > "minimal"impact on OOXML vs. Open Document Format (ODF) adoption. > Leenaars wrote: > > "OOXML which was submitted by Microsoft to ECMA, and by ECMA to ISO, > has literally crawled through the needles eye > > > <http://lists.opendocsociety.org/pipermail/members.announce/2008-April/00000…>. > After a year of discussion and repairs it still receives the very > minimum of support. The BRM convinced some yet unconvinced others, > and counter votes from large countries like China, India, Brazil, > Canada, South Africa and Iran speak volumes. This must be one of the > worst results ever for a standard to pass within ISO/JTC1 in years. > > "Appartently (sic) the chair from the Norwegian comitte(e) has filed > a protest against the national outcome. Although one vote would not > make much difference, others may follow." > > __._,_.___ > > Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional > Change settings via the Web > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaTg2YjF…> > (Yahoo! ID required) > Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest > <mailto:bytesforall_readers-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email > Delivery: Digest> | Switch to Fully Featured > <mailto:bytesforall_readers-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change > Delivery Format: Fully Featured> > Visit Your Group > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers;_ylc=X3oDMTJkYTFoZXJlBF9T…> > | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> | > Unsubscribe > > <mailto:bytesforall_readers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe> > > > __,_._,___ > Wiki: http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Malappuram > > >

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Fsf-friends April 2008