Fsf-friends July 2008

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

9 participants
11 discussions

Educational resoures... from azimpremjifoundation.org

by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया]

Sukumar Anikar <anikar(a)azimpremjifoundation.org> [1] and Prasad < prasad(a)azimpremjifoundation.org> managed to get across to me a copy of a DVD … and what a DVD at that! It contained a whole lot of fascinating educational software for school children. A couple of nights ago, I ended up 'playing' some educational games with Aren, 5, and told him that my friends had sent the same across free. "Did you say 'thank you'?" he asked me in turn. In fact, he kept 'playing' on these games, though it was almost midnight, and even though he's too small to obviously understand many of the concepts being taught here (decimal fractions, and what not … but big enough to be interested in the wild animals of the jungle and to try and comprehend how fruits and a balanced diet gives us the energy we need to do work). The 'games' sent across in this DVD work excellently and without flaw (so far) on my Ubuntu laptop. They have been adjusted to work with the GNU/Linux operating system. It drew my interest enough to dash across another email to Sukumar and Prasad, requesting more programmes.Given the medium of instructions being used (and subjects taught) in Goa, I am particularly interested in software dealing with: - English language - Hindi language - Maths - Environmental Science - General Science - Social Science - Co-curricular subjects Check out the long list of what's available. http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/E_Learn_Mat_table1.htm The Azim Premji Foundation is actually keen to work with educational institutions (rather than with individuals, if I understood right) for obvious reasons. Said the APF in a mail to me: "We always support the state governments by providing them the Digital Learning Resource (DLR) for deployment in Government schools. Generally, the support is by providing the right to replicate our content to the state, without any costs. Our Digital Learning Resource is not provided if the intended use is for commercial purposes. We also share content with NGOs and other institutions who manage schools where there is no barrier on admissions and where no fee is being charged." And Mr Anikar added, "Almost all our titles or Digital Learning Resource are trilingual i.e. in English, Hindi and in any one of the regional languages. While we have just 10 titles in Marathi the same is not available for immediate release as they have to be validated by a state government. However, we will share other titles that are in English and Hindi. Further, we are also in the process of making our content compatible with [GNU]Linux platform and hence for the present we will be sharing only such titles which are compatible with both windows and Linux and those that have been tested. The remaining titles would be shared on a future date and on completion of testing. We will be clustering our titles in a couple of DVD's and send it across to you in the next week…. We also wish to state that there is a process that needs to be followed in implementing the Digital Learning Resource in schools which we will share the same with you once you confirm the receipt of Digital Learning Resource." And: "A note of caution — our Digital Learning Resource are not meant to help in computer literacy. The target group is children in the age group of 6-14 years and the Digital Learning Resource primarily presents concepts related to Maths, Science and Language related to the curriculum for classes Standard I to Standard VIII." By way of background, from their website: "Azim Premji Foundation has commenced the digital content creation effort in the year 2002. So far, Foundation has created over 100+ master CD titles for the classes 1 to 8 and the same have been translated into various regional languages in India including few tribal languages. The content is created with the pedagogical focus to enable the children to directly use and learn where the teacher will act as facilitator. The attributes of the content are; curriculum oriented, child-centered, self paced, interactive and multimedia based content." You probably know that Azim Premji is the Chairman and CEO of one of India's largest software companies, Wipro. Wikipedia [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azim_Premji] says he was rated the richest man in India between 1999 to 2005 (and is probably among the top five now). This impressed me: "Premji is known for his modesty and frugality in spite of his wealth. He drives a Toyota <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota> Corolla <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Corolla> and flies economy class <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_class>, prefers to stay in company guest houses<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guest_house_%28lodging%29>rather than luxury hotels <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel> and even served food on paper plates at a lunch honouring his son's wedding." Check it out. Really useful stuff. The educational content on the DVDs, I mean! – [1] Head - Technology for Education, Azim Premji Foundation, #134, Doddakannelli, Next to Wipro Corporate Office, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore - 560 035 Tel: 91-80-66144900/901/902 (Board) 91-80-66144922 (Direct) Fax: 91-80-66144903 Mobile: 09449820054 www.azimpremjifoundation.org -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org 784 Nr Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India Ph +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402 16,000+ photos from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/

14 years, 7 months

Is pigs flying? Microsoft adds GPL to Open Specification Promise

by Praveen A

Its indeed big story. Read it from PJ@groklaw http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080725152355696 -- 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

14 years, 7 months

[Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] Software body working on anti-piracy task force]

by V. Sasi Kumar

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Frederick "FN" Noronha <fredericknoronha(a)gmail.com> Reply-To: bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com To: bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com Subject: [bytesforall_readers] Software body working on anti-piracy task force Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:02:59 +0530 http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/07/21/stories/2008072150640200.htm Software body working on anti-piracy task force V. Rishi Kumar Hyderabad, July 20 Business Software Alliance is working towards creating an anti-piracy task force in coordination with industry bodies such as FICCI (Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Nasscom (National Association for Software and Services Companies) and the Government and favours some amendments to the Copyright Act to make it more stringent. The alliance promoted by some leading technology firms, including software companies Adobe, Microsoft, is in talks with both the Central and State Governments to spread awareness against piracy, according to Ms Lizum Mishra, Director of Business Software Alliance (India). Speaking to Business Line, Ms Mishra said that piracy numbers have shown that there is some improvement but a lot needs to be done to ensure that it is brought down significantly. "Apart from bringing down piracy level, particularly in the case of enterprises, we are also in parleys with Government departments, officials in the Ministry of Commerce and Information Technology and Communication to impress the need to bring about amendments to Copyright Act and make violations stringent," she said. Towards curbing piracy, dedicated Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Anti Piracy Cells have been created at FICCI with a focus on protecting intellectual property and educating people on use of legally obtained software, Ms Mishra said. FIVE-POINT BLUEPRINT As a part of its efforts to bring down piracy levels, the alliance has come up with a five-point blueprint. This covers increasing public awareness of value of intellectual property and risks of use of unlicensed software and the need to update national copyright laws for more effective enforcement against digital and online piracy. The focus is on creation of enforcement mechanisms as required by the World Trade Organisation, dedicate significant Government resources (including IP enforcement units) and lead by example — using only legal copies in public sector undertakings. -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Goa http://www.linkedin.com/in/fredericknoronha __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages Yahoo! Groups Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe Recent Activity 8 New Members Visit Your Group Yahoo! Finance It's Now Personal Guides, news, advice & more. Need traffic? Drive customers With search ads on Yahoo! Best of Y! Groups Discover groups that are the best of their class. . __,_._,___ -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

14 years, 7 months

created a couple of blogs, need some comments.

by krishnakant Mane

hello, there are a couple of very strong blogs which I have created, I would like all fello hackers to visit and put their comments. fossimpact.blogspot.com migratetofoss.blogspot.com the first talks about the impact of free software while the second is about tips and tricks that worked for me when I did foss awareness workshops etc. happy hacking. KK

14 years, 8 months

IEEE wants its students to be slaves?!

by ശ്യാ ം കാ രനാട ്ട് | shyam karanattu

I just saw the letter and could not resist to write about it. http://swatantran.blogspot.com/2008/07/ieee-wants-its-students-to-be-slaves… Its not complete/formated but i am in a hurry now:) also Vote it here;-) *http://www.fsdaily.com/Community/IEEE_wants_its_students_to_be_slaves*** thanks Shyam K

14 years, 8 months

Microsoft is Paid for Ubuntu-based Dell PCs

by Praveen A

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14 years, 8 months

PM, Please file your claim for share from M$, before going out.

by CK Raju, Thrissur

Rank Site Organisation First Seen Webserver OS - www.pmgsyonline.nic.in unknown August 2006 Microsoft-IIS/6.0 Windows Server 2003 - www.pmindia.nic.in unknown March 2000 Microsoft-IIS/6.0 Windows Server 2003 2007100 www.presidentofindia.nic.in unknown December 2002 Microsoft-IIS/6.0 Windows Server 2003 - www.sagar.nic.in unknown November 2002 Microsoft-IIS/6.0 Windows Server 2003 =============== All this and more from http://toolbar.netcraft.com/netblock?q=NICNET,164.100.0.0,164.100.255.255&p… and http://toolbar.netcraft.com/netblock?q=NICNET,164.100.0.0,164.100.255.255 ========== What a spectacular government ! CK Raju, Thrissur

14 years, 8 months

Fwd: [foss.in] KDE.in Monsoon Hackathon!

by Praveen A

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pradeepto Bhattacharya <pradeeptob(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/7/6 Subject: [foss.in] KDE.in Monsoon Hackathon! To: foss-in(a)yahoogroups.com Hi, Foss.in and Geodesic would be sponsoring a KDE Hackathon [ Bangalore, 11-13th July ]. Some details here[1]. We plan to hack on our favorite projects during the event. Thought that I should inform the list as well. Thanks, team(a)foss.in. [1]http://pradeepto.livejournal.com/15827.html Cheers! Pradeepto -- The KDE Project : http://www.kde.org KDE India : http://in.kde.org Mailing List : http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-india ------------------------------------ -- The List Rules : http://foss.in/list-rules The Event Site : http://foss.in The Event Planet : http://planet.foss.in The Event Channel : #foss.in on irc.freenode.net The Event List : http://foss.in/list Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foss-in/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foss-in/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:foss-in-digest@yahoogroups.com mailto:foss-in-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: foss-in-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- 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

14 years, 8 months

Fwd: [School-GNU-Linux] OpenOffice Circular

by Praveen A

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Vimal Joseph <vimaljoseph(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/7/4 Subject: [School-GNU-Linux] OpenOffice Circular To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, schoolgnu(a)freelists.org Hi all, Here is an interesting circular issued by Department of IT on using 'Open Office' Software . <quote> All the Heads of Departments are requested not to put up proposal for purchase of any Office Suite software in future. We are enclosing a 'Open Office' CD and department can further copies as per requirement as it is free to use license software. </quote> regards, ~vimal -- HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE! -- Free Software, Free Society സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര്‍, സ്വതന്ത്ര സമൂഹം <http://fsfs.hipatia.net> -- 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

14 years, 8 months

individual glyphs of a fonts can be copyrighted

by shirish

Hi all, I was browsing the web and came across this link http://www.quantenblog.net/free-software/liberation-fonts What caught my eye was this " the individual glyphs of a fonts can be copyrighted " >From what I know/understand (FWIK) if the individual glyphs are under a free license then there is possibility of having more fonts, isn't it? Has this point being raised by FSF anywhere or any writings on the same, anyone highlighting this issue. Any additions, comments welcome for the same. -- Regards, Shirish Agarwal This email is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ 065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17

14 years, 8 months

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Fsf-friends July 2008