Fsf-friends September 2008

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

26 participants
60 discussions

Fwd: [smc-discuss] Fwd: [Vivara] Re: [ilug-tvm] Re: [Vivara] Re: [smc-discuss] Re: Fwd: [ATPS] Website inaugurated
by Anivar Aravind 29 Sep '08

29 Sep '08

In the light of discussions in FSF Friends, I am forwarding this thread , happing in Kerala mailing lists Anivar Forwarded conversation Subject: [smc-discuss] Fwd: [ATPS] Website inaugurated ------------------------ From: *JOBY JOHN* <jobyatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/23 To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, Keralites(a)yahoogroups.com, ossworkgroup(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com, vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com Web site for the National Free Software Convention, 15, 16 November has bee inaugurated Here is the link http://nfm2008.atps.in/ -- JOBY JOHN jobyatps(a)gmail.com eiids(a)yahoo.com 91-9446549598 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ സ്വതന്ത്ര മലയാളം കമ്പ്യൂട്ടിങ്ങ് - എന്റെ കമ്പ്യൂട്ടറിനു് എന്റെ ഭാഷ സംരംഭം: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/smc വെബ്‌സൈറ്റ് : http://smc.org.in IRC ചാനല്‍ : #smc-project @ freenode പിരിഞ്ഞു പോകാന്‍: smc-discuss-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- ---------- From: *Anivar Aravind* <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 11:44 AM To: smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com Cc: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, Keralites(a)yahoogroups.com, ossworkgroup(a)googlegroups.com, vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com 2008/9/23 JOBY JOHN <jobyatps(a)gmail.com>: Some mistakes in About page It says RMS participated in Hyderabad conference. As far as i remember RMS was not part of Hyderabad Conference. RMS was not in india at that time. See news on Hyderabd Convention (From my Del.icio.us memmory :-)) http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/05/stories/2007030516130500.htm http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/04/stories/2007030411510400.htm Anivar -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown FOSS industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds. ---------- From: *JOBY JOHN* <jobyatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/24 To: smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com Cc: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, Keralites(a)yahoogroups.com, ossworkgroup(a)googlegroups.com, vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com mistake will be corrected 2008/9/24 Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> -- ---------- From: *JOBY JOHN* <jobyatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/25 To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com, ossworkgroup(a)googlegroups.com Cc: vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com please see this comment Dear All, This comment is with respect to the observation that those who didnot contribute anything to Free software movement are the organisers of the conference. In fact, the term organising committee for the Kochi conference doesnot mean to say that they are the organisers of the movement. They are organisers of the event. With this hosting of the event they too become part of the movement. This is a process of enlisting the support of wider sections of the people. So Long as our itntention is to enlist the support of everybody that is interested in FREEDOM of software and knowledge, why should we blame those who come forward to host the conference, for the reason that they have not contributed so far? No body can highjack the movement to wrong tracks. The movement is so strong by virtue of the ideals over which it is founded and the credit will always remain with the FSF. The factual errors pointed out are being corrected. Thomas They got it wrong for the simple reason that these 'so called > organizers' were not even in the picture when the first conference was > conducted. Never thought people could become this shameless. > > James > > > -- > > > HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE! > > > ---------- From: *Praveen A* <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 12:00 PM To: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> I thought he was questioning FSF India :-( (and I was kind of shocked). So luckily I added my doubt at the end... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: James Mathew <james(a)gnu.org.in> Date: 2008/9/25 Subject: [ilug-tvm] Re: [Vivara] Re: [ilug-tvm] Re: [Vivara] Re: [smc-discuss] Re: Fwd: [ATPS] Website inaugurated To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com Free Software movement has come this far only because of the selfless efforts of communities and individual users. New groups and organizations coming up in support of this movement is always a welcome sign. The question here is an ethical one. The organizers have every right to hold a conf on FS. But tell me how are they morally justified in calling this the 2nd National Conf on FS? The 1st National Conf was conducted by FSF India, Swecha and Dept. of History University of Hyderabad. If they really wanted to conduct a sequel to the 1st conf, they could have done so in consultation with the initial organizers. The least they can do at this point is to admit their mistake and rename their conf. to something else. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ "Freedom is the only law". "Freedom Unplugged" http://www.ilug-tvm.org You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ilug-tvm" group. To post to this group, send email to ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to ilug-tvm-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For details visit the website: www.ilug-tvm.org or the google group page: http://groups.google.com/group/ilug-tvm?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- -- 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 ---------- From: *Anivar Aravind* <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 12:05 PM To: Praveen A <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> I understood his point. It is a valid one Anivar -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. ---------- From: *JOBY JOHN* <jobyatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/26 To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: thomas joseph <thomasatps(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:35 AM Subject: [ATPS] Re: Fwd: [ilug-tvm] Re: [Vivara] Re: [ilug-tvm] Re: [Vivara] Re: [smc-discuss] Re: Fwd: [ATPS] Website inaugurated To: James Mathew <james(a)gnu.org.in>, atps <ATPS(a)googlegroups.com> The confusion is very clear now. The example quoted is that of a political party, the CPI(M). It should be with the blessings of that party that the Coimbatore party organisation hosted and organised the congress. But here it is not the FSF annual that we are holding in Kochi. It is a conference on Free Software. We are trying to get the participation of activits from across the country, with experts putting their views before them, so that the movement spreads across the country, which is not the activity undertaken by FSF. This was done in Hyderabad too. Hence this is second edition of that. This is not replication of institution or activities of FSF India. There is no conflict with FSF activities or ideals. On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 6:14 AM, James Mathew <james(a)gnu.org.in> wrote: > > > > As per Arun of FSF India himself, > > > > Free software activists in AP has organised the convention at Hyderabad. > > FSF india only supported it and welcomed all the Free software activists > to > > the event. > > > > Then why free software activists in Kochi cant host and organise the next > > conference. It too will have to be supported by FSF India. > > > > The 19th Party Congress (CPM) was held in Coimbtore this year. It was > organized by the Cadres of that place, with the blessings of CPM. > > Do you think that it is possible for some over-exited cadres in Kochi > to announce a 20th Congress on their own next year? I don't want to > elaborate on this. Hope you get the point. -- Joseph Thomas thomasatps(a)gmail.com, 9447738369. ---------- From: *Praveen A* <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/27 To: vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com Cc: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com 2008/9/26 JOBY JOHN <jobyatps(a)gmail.com>: Does that mean, a political party, CPI(M), organization is more important than a civil society organisation? Does that mean only a party organization needs to be respected? That is the exact problem we are talking about. When some one (who was not associated with the first edition) say it is the second edition of an event conducted by FSF India (along with other organizations), people believe it would be similar to the earlier event. But you have now stated it is not the same. If the event is not same as the first edition, how can you call it the second edition? Wow!! That was a good judgment of what the FSF has been doing all these years !!! You want us to believe that? A statement from someone who does not even know who organized the first edition in Hyderabad. But taking over the legacy of first national conference from FSF. If you believe taking over the ownership of second edition of an event organized by FSF India without discussing with them is not conflict, then I will have to agree with you. We are not contesting the fact that the event is going to promote Free Software. What we have a problem with is hijacking the legacy and name of first national conference on Free Software __WITHOUT__ discussing with the organisers of the first nationa conference. This has led people to believe there is something else is going on behind the scenes and we are asking for clarity. If it was announced as First National Conference organised by 'so and so' organisations at Kochi, it would not have been a problem. So I would suggest you to discuss with the organisers of the first national conference and ask them if they are ok with using their legacy. Or remove the "second" part from the name and have it as your first conference. -- ---------- From: *JOBY JOHN* <jobyatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/28 To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com, vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com James Mathew asked : What made you think that the 1st national conference was not an annual event of FSF India? thomas joseph <thomasatps(a)gmail.com> says : I am not undermining and under estimating the great FSF organisation by assuming that it was inactive during the period from 2000 to 2007 to the extend to hold its annual in Hyderabad in 2007. James Mathew said : "..which is not the activity undertaken by FSF." Again how did you know? Did you ask somebody from FSF India? thomas joseph <thomasatps(a)gmail.com> says : What is done by Hyderabad organisers has not been done earlier by FSF, mobilising activists from all over India. For knowing that one need not ask somebody at FSF India. All are watching and understanding what is FSF India. James Mathew said : Please refer to this link. http://web.archive.org/web/20071216052848/http://nationalconvention.swecha.… The organizers are clearly listed. I think this is to be given more weight than a quick mail from Arun. The point i'm trying to stress is that you didn't show the courtesy to contact/consult any of the initial organizers. Had that been done, we could have all worked together for spreading this philosophy of FS, avoiding all this confusion. thomas joseph <thomasatps(a)gmail.com> says ; The website of swecha website lists FSF India as one of the organisers or even the main organiser. Yes, they may have their own assessment of the assistance obtained from FSF or the role played by it. Can you please quote any FSF India document to show that it held its first or any subsequent annual in Hyderabad during March .2007. Again, the question of ethics and rights are being raised. Why FSF India should have this sort of Identity crisis ? By such questions and mails from those in FSF India confusion is created among the supporters and activists. Better FSF India shed its over emphasis on its rights. The emphasis on its right, in effect, mean the right to contain, restrict and prevent advancement of the Free Software movement. FSF is a respectable organisation and its name and fame shall not be destroyed by such stand taken by FSF India, please. On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:41 AM, James Mathew <james(a)gnu.org.in> wrote: > To: thomas joseph <thomasatps(a)gmail.com> > What made you think that the 1st national conference was not an annual > event of FSF India?"..which is not the activity undertaken by FSF." Again > how did you > know? Did you ask somebody from FSF India?Please refer to this link. > > http://web.archive.org/web/20071216052848/http://nationalconvention.swecha.… > > The organizers are clearly listed. I think this is to be given more > weight than a quick mail from Arun. > > The point i'm trying to stress is that you didn't show the courtesy to > contact/consult any of the initial organizers. Had that been done, we > could have all worked together for spreading this philosophy of FS, > avoiding all this confusion. ---------- From: *JOBY JOHN* <jobyatps(a)gmail.com> Date: Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 4:18 PM To: vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com Cc: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com vivaravicharam said : praveen said : Vivaravicharam says : The above words doesnot give any such idea that political party is more important than a civil society organisation. The point raised in that respect is that coimbatore conference of CPI(M) was its annual, which can only further be followed up by that party alone. But the Hyderabad conference is not the annual of FSF India, it is an event conducted by the Hyderabad activists, efforts being made to enlist the participation of activists from all over the country. Had it been the annual of FSF, what we are doing now in Kochi, ie . Naming it as 2nd conference is absolutely wrong. But to us the Hyderabad even was not the annual of FSF. vivaravicharam said : praveen said : Vivaravicharam says : Holding conference in series doesnot mean to repeat what is done earlier. The subsequent events will be much advanced with more participation and more results. The content discussed also will vary. Again, the point is Hyderabad event is, in praveens own term, organised by civil society. FSF is only one of the organisation representing a section of civil society. No organisation can claim to be whole and sole representative of civil society. Kochi conference also is being organised by representative of civil society, without any tall claim of representing all, but in any case representing vast majority. vivaravicharam said : praveen said : The comment made by vivaravicharam earlier is justified by the fact that FSF has not organised any such event other than may be in Trivandrum all through he period of 2000 (Year of institution of FSF India) and 2007, the year of Hyderabad conference. This is why it is commented that FSF India has not been organising conferences in different parts of India with the aim of expanding the movement. They in FSF support, serve, offer consultancy and what ever they do to those who approach them. The vast majority of Indians are still unaware of the very issue of Software Freedom. FSF India, instead of disputing the rights of others to organise a conference or do something for the expansion of the movement, shall support all such activities going on in the country, as it has done to Hyderabad community. vivaravicharam said : praveen said : Vivaravicharam says : We both hold the same point. Either of us is correct. To me Hyderabad event is conducted by Free Software Activits of Hyderabad (AP) with the support of FSF India. It was not initiated, called for, or organised at the initiative of FSF India. On the contrary it was initiated, called for, support of FSF India sought for and organised by Hyderabad Activists including FSF members. Can any body show any of the FSF India document (I dont mean the site and documents of Hyderabad event ) to show that FSF India organised the Hyderabad event ? vivaravicharam said : praveen said : Vivaravicharam says : Is Praveen arguing that Hyderabad event was the first national conference of FSF India ? Just reconsider it. We have no claims. We only do what we felt correct. The questions, doubts, confusion etc were created by others who questions the right to hold the conference and name it the 2nd. We are not claiming the legacy of any body. We have only named our conference 2nd to that of Hyderabad conference only, because that was the first conference that was organised by activists of any city with earnest effort to organise participation from all over the country, irrespective of the success/failure aspect. Efforts were made. They were successful to a great extend despite the limitations of being the first one. vivaravicharam said : praveen said : Vivaravicharam says : So far, all are arguing for FSF India and contesting the right of Kochi organisers to name it as 2nd conference. No body talks on behalf of Hyderabad University, SWECHA and the FREEDOM activits of Hyderabad who is not connected with FSF activities and even Free Software Activities. Organisers of Kochi conference are not claiming the owner ship of even this Kochi conference, leave alone Hyderabad one. Software freedom activists shall, at aleast, know the difference between ownership and right to ownership. Here, we don't claim any right to ownership. No claim of owner ship even. We are only serving the cause of FSF. But FSF India is annoyed, worried and agrieved of their right to ownership (!). We give the ownership right of Kochi conference to the civil society, which belongs to FSF as well. But we shall not surrender our right to our duty, the duty to work for FREEDOM of every body, not only that of software, but knowledge and civil in general. Let FSF claim the right of ownership (!) of this conference as well (!) by supporting it as they have done (?) in Hyderabad. Why creating confusion among the activits ? for whom ? And For what ? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ ---------- From: *Praveen A* <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/29 To: vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com Cc: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com 2008/9/28 JOBY JOHN <jobyatps(a)gmail.com>: The annual was just an example. It does not mean that only annuals conducted by an organization needs to be respected by others trying to conduct sequels. It is just a strawman argument http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawman_argument That is the problem here. Everyone who participated in the first event will think it is similar to the first event. Also people will associate the event to the ideas and policies of the first event. Now when some other party claims it is the second edition, we can only hope it would have the same policy, especially when the first organizers are not involved? I did not say this. What I said was "Does that mean, a political "Civil society" and "a civil society organisation" is not the same. ഇതു് ആടും ആട്ടിന്‍കാട്ടവും ഒന്നാണെന്നു് പറയുന്നതു് പോലെയാണു്. another strawman argument I could give just a few names of the conferences that FSF has done like * http://gplv3.gnu.org.in/ International conference on GPLv3 (now don't tell me international conferences don't count :-) ) * http://fsfs.hipatia.net/ Free Software, Free Society conference (again international) I'm amazed at the enthusiasm you are showing to judge the activities of FSF India when you don't even seem to be aware of the event happened in Thiruvananthapuram 3 years back. I don't have to continue batting for FSF India, since the community knows how much it has contributed to promoting Free Software in India. This is news to me !! Thanks to enlightening me. I agree with this whole heartedly. But the way to do is not by undermining the existing community by hijacking their legacy but by joining hands with them. As far as I know the event is initiated and organised by one of the members of board of director of FSF India (he is also part of Swetcha). Wouldn't the active participation and leadership of Kiran Chandra won't count as FSF India participation? I answered it already. We did not contest the right to hold a conference, on the contrary we are welcoming it. We are only contesting the name in a positive spirit to remove any confusions arriving from the naming. This is seriously an insult to the many active members of the Free Software community who work tirelessly to promote the idea of Software Freedom from a person who is arrogant to acknowledge the contributions of the community and want to take credit for others work. There is many conferences happening all over India at every time of the year organised by different Free Software communities. FOSS.IN, Freed, GNUnify, FOSS Meet@NITC, Mukt.in to name a few. We have not gone and contested with them for credits or asked them to change names. With the due respect for your duty to promote the Freedom only, we are asking you to correct a wrong step. Rights also comes with responsibility. We are not asking you to give ownership to FSF here, but to release the ownership of the first conference you have assumed without consulting with FSF India. These are the questions I have to ask. Why was FSF India not contacted when FSF India was the organiser of the the first conference? Why are you discrediting the contributions of the Free Software community by claiming there is only one conference have happened till now? -- ---------- From: *JOBY JOHN* <jobyatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/29 To: smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com, ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Anilkumar KV <anilankv(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 8:47 AM Subject: [Vivara] Re: [ilug-tvm] Re: [Vivara] Re: [smc-discuss] Re: Fwd: [ATPS] Website inaugurated To: vivaravicharam(a)googlegroups.com Praveen, James and all, The first conference was organised by a group of free software activists in Andra. They wanted FSF-India be a part of it. The FSF-India does not shown any interest in that event. However after finalising the program, the secretary of FSF-India put an email informing FSF-friends that some free software activists in Andra is conducting such an event, and FSF-India supports it. No other official initiatives were known to be taken by FSF-India for conducting Hyderabad event. If I miss anything as such please point it out. Yes here question is ethical one. How can FSF-India claimed to be organisers of an a event for which they just extended its support. The organisers of Kochi event, have started their effort after consulting with the real organisers of Hyderabad event. In fact the name of the event itself was suggested by them and not decided by Kochi organisers by themselves. Hence in here the legacy is a natural right and not just a claim. Before the reception committee formation, the organisers of Kochi event has asked support from FSF-India secretary, However the response was not in favour. Even now, it is not late for FSF-India to extend the support for this event. And I feel the Kochi organisers are even ready to accept FSF-India as organisers of the second conference The FSF-India directors and secretary are aware of these discussions going on here. Let them respond. - Anil ---------- From: *Praveen A* <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/9/29 To: സ്വതന്ത്ര മലയാളം കമ്പ്യൂട്ടിങ്ങ് <smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com>, ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com forwarding reply to an earlier discussion. Anil, Kiran Chandra's active role in organising the event will not count? Or are you claiming Kiran Chandra did not take leadership in organising the event? As pointed above, I'm asking about the role of Kiran Chandra in organising the event. Again repeat. As far as I know Kiran Chandra was actively involved in the organising of the event. I'm amazed at the tone of the organizers of this event in discredit the FSF India's role of supporting the Free Software community for such a long time and also discrediting the role played by many individuals in the Free Software community by claiming the only effort to promote Free Software happened was last year in Hyderabad. Now the concerns are getting even beiiger about the motives of the organisers about this event. Why would they not consult with the community? Why would they discredit Free Software community's efforts for such a long time? Why would they be blind to so many of the Free Software conferences that has happened and happening all over the country? I would like to know who suggested not to involve the orginal organisers and who suggested the name? This is the whole problem. Free Software community does not work this way. This is like telling Linus Torvalds that he can join hacking the Linux kernel by a newbie without any clue about the Linux kernel. I'm expressing the concerns of the Free Software community in a manner that is common in the community. We always raise our objections in public mailing lists. -- -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.

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GNU/Linux primer
by shirish 28 Sep '08

28 Sep '08

Hi all, I made an attempt at making a GNU/Linux primer at http://flossexperiences.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/gnulinux-primer/ To put it simply, just something which tells newbies what it is all about without getting technical. What do you guys think? Do you think I may have missed something? Do you think something could have been put up in a better way? Or you think it plain sucks. Feedback and flames all are encouraged :) -- 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

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Ban Closed Source Software and Hardware
by Mani A 27 Sep '08

27 Sep '08

Research on brain tapping and variants are usually conducted in secrecy by different military agencies and almost certainly by large corporates. The former includes the CIA, FBI, certain units of the Indian military and many others. In the US, a few judicial cases relating to such activities have actually gone against the state. Such research and the equipments developed are never reported to the public and academic bodies. Exceptions include relatively lighter CIA games like the MK-ULTRA (1952-62 : officially) that was disclosed in 1975. Apart from these the few disclosures that have happened have been subjected to much counter propaganda and counter actions. With the severe advancement in the management of vague and imprecise information since the seventies, the increase in computing power, AI, neurobiology and advances in 'brain tapping' technologies, we have a lot of reasons to feel all the more insecure. This insecurity has more to do with the essential nature of closed source software and hardware than anything else. It is too difficult even for skilled reverse engineers to pronounce completely on what they seem to see. Already we have good many applications available. It is so EASY to misuse them. Some links are: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/03/the_us_military.html http://faculty.uca.edu/~ronmc/INFO3321/Spring_2006/Presentations/ET1/Group 5/BrainGate.doc http://www.ladlass.com/intel/archives/cat_cia.html Some interesting open source stuff too: http://openeeg.sourceforge.net http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface http://science.howstuffworks.com/brainport.htm http://www.bariumblues.com/ Some controversial stuff: http://barbarahartwell.blogspot.com/2006/12/ken-adachi-educate-yourself-pro… Interesting things about the CIA here: http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/mindnet/mn195.htm http://www.whale.to/b/nsa7.html http://www.thehiddenevil.com Who knows what the CIA and other agencies have hidden in the M$Windows to start with? When a group of wild buffaloes is charging at you, then you must not wait for the stampede! These are important reasons for a total ban on closed source software and hardware. Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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"Avoiding Ruinous Compromises" by Richard Stallman
by Anivar Aravind 26 Sep '08

26 Sep '08

<quote> If you want to help the community stay on the road to freedom, one important way is to publicly uphold citizen values. When people are discussing what is good or bad, or what to do, cite the values of freedom and community and argue from them. It's no use going faster by taking the wrong road. Compromise is essential to achieve a large goal, but beware of compromises that lead away from the goal. </quote> http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/compromise.html rms writes: "Twenty-five years ago on September 27, 1983, I announced a plan to create a completely free operating system called GNU -- for 'GNU is not Unix'. As part of the 25th anniversary of the GNU system, I have written this article on how our community can avoid ruinous compromises."

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Microsoft wants to liberate Panchayati Raj System
by Indranil Das Gupta 26 Sep '08

26 Sep '08

Hi, > Here's the key person that IT secretary informs has the details. > Subhra Chakraborty Mob:09331042119 E-mail: subhrackh at gmail Thanks to Arun for attracting my attention to this thread. I must say that I find Raju's posting is interesting. I happen to have met with Mr. Subhra Chakraborty a couple of times due to professional engagements. Its true that Mr. Chakraborty *is* indeed the key person in the CSC (common services centers - NeGP G2C kiosks) program which are among the principal consumers of the GPMS and the IFMAS software. The fact is Mr. Chakraborty is a Project Co-ordinator / IT Officer with the Panchayat & Rural Development (P&RD) Dept, Govt of WB. He in turn reports to Mr. Maity who is the Deputy Secy (iirc) and finally at the top of the P&RD admin hierarchy is Mr. M N Roy. IAS (Principal Secy, P&RD) So, has Mr. Chakraborty been empowered as spokesperson from P&RD? Its interesting that the IT Secy Mr. Siddharth would be giving Mr. Chakraborty's name as the contact person. just wondering -indra

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Swatantra Free Culture Showcase
by Vikram Vincent 26 Sep '08

26 Sep '08

Swatantra Free Culture Showcase This idea has been inspired by the UbuntuFreeCultureShowcase<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFreeCultureShowcase> Our team wants to address various social, cultural, political and technologically relevant issues and we want to shake things up a little bit. At the heart of Swatantra's ethos is a belief in showcasing free software<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>and free culture <http://freeculture.org/>, and we think it would be an excellent opportunity to show off some free culture artists by utilising their media in various global campaigns. Although the time restrictions are tight, we think this is too good an opportunity to miss. So, we present the Swatantra Free Culture Showcase. http://swatantra.org/wiki/index.php?title=SwatantraFreeCultureShowcase How it works is pretty simple: Your submission must be no larger than 1Minute for the audio and 3Minutes for the video. Upload your submission somewhere online (there are lots of free hosting solutions available such as archive.org). Do not email any of the organisers or judges with your submissions. When the deadline for submissions closes, our panel of judges(*Mrs. Shobana Mathews, Mr. Sunil Chandy, Mr. Anil Pinto*) will pick a shortlist, and will then pick the final winners from the shortlist. The deadline for submissions is *20th November 2008* -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/

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IT sector
by Mani A 25 Sep '08

25 Sep '08

Here is an interesting estimate: http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2516/stories/20080815251604100 But OSS related estimates are not included... and moreover the bodies like NASSCOM that provide data are basically agencies of foreign capital and have little to do with Open source. Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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[Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] China takes lead in [GNU] Linux education]
by V. Sasi Kumar 25 Sep '08

25 Sep '08

Sorry for cross posting. Sasi -------- 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] China takes lead in [GNU] Linux education Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:39:45 +0530 China takes lead in Linux education Since the Chinese government began supporting domestic open source communities in 2005, hundreds of thousands of young people in the world's most populous country have become a part of the open source world. With the help of the government-supported Leadership of Open Source University Promotion Alliance (LUPA), Zhejiang Technology Institute of Economy (ZJTIE) founded its Linux Training and Examination Centre in 2006. The centre started out offering a simple 48-hour course; upon completion, students received a Linux operator certificate or a Linux network administrator certificate or both. According to ZJTIE, 1,500 students in the last two years have passed the examination. However, those students who wanted to learn more had to learn by themselves. Now, however, LUPA offers nine Linux certificates, including certificates for software engineers, 'C' programming language engineers, and LAMP system engineers. In response to a requirement from China's Ministry of Education, LUPA published 11 new Linux textbooks in July. The ministry hopes that these textbooks will help Chinese students learn more advanced Linux technologies. Some Chinese schools believe that Linux education has helped students gain employment. According to ZJTIE, 90 per cent of the students in its Economic Information Department received the LUPA certificates in 2006; as a result, employment rose to the highest the school has seen. This may be a result of the booming open source market in China. According to CCID Consulting, the sale of Chinese open source software increased 17.1 per cent, while sales of Linux increased 20.2 per cent in 2007. As Linux accounts for 66.5 per cent of China's open source market (according to a 2007 survey from CCID Consulting), open source education has been focused mostly on Linux. However, its success has encouraged ZJTIE to expand its teaching and certification. In March 2008, ZJTIE worked with LUPA to expand its education system from Linux to the whole open source industry. According to LUPA, more than 300 Chinese universities and colleges have joined its system. Open source technology has become a required course in many of these schools. Although the total number of students who have been trained for open source technologies is not available yet, Zhang Jianhua, chairman of LUPA, estimates that LUPA will train 100,000 students in Linux per year. Besides developing open source courses, government-supported communities also regularly hold activities such as open source conferences, speeches, contests, festivals, and campus marches to attract students to learn more about the culture, history, ideas, and technologies of the open source industry. At the same time, open source communities without government support have brought many young Chinese to the open source world by offering free open source information, translation of open source articles from other countries, and forums for open source technologies communication. Thanks in part to promotion by these communities, open source has become a powerful idea among Chinese programmers. In a survey by PHPChina in June 2007, 32.6 per cent of PHP professionals said that they chose PHP mostly because it's open source, and 64.8 per cent of interviewees who would start to learn PHP believed that "open source is the strong point of PHP." The same survey also showed that more than three quarters of Chinese PHP professionals learned something from or received information through domestic PHP communities. The rapid growth of China's open source expertise has yet to result in a significant contribution to the development of the global open source industry. This may be because young Chinese people are still novices in the open source industry, or it may be due to the fact that they have to work more than 60 hours a week to fight for their new jobs and have no time to work on open source projects for the time being. However, as the open source education system improves and as more young people become open source veterans, the global open source community will benefit from China's presence. Author: Chen Nanyang Originally published at www.linux.com; reprinted with the author's permission. -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org Blog: http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com Tech links from South Asia: http://twitter.com/fn M: +91-9822122436 P: +91-832-2409490 __._,_.___ 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 17 New Members Visit Your Group Yahoo! Finance It's Now Personal Guides, news, advice & more. Need traffic? Drive customers With search ads on Yahoo! All-Bran 10 Day Challenge Join the club and feel the benefits. . __,_._,___ -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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TOI believes - Flickr is for flicking
by shirish 25 Sep '08

25 Sep '08

Hi all, Its an interesting blog post. http://blog.twilightfairy.in/2008/09/01/toi-believes-flickr-is-for-flicking/ It would be nice if the ALF or some other forum would like to take this fight :) -- 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

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Firefox 3 branding in Ubuntu 8.10
by shirish 25 Sep '08

25 Sep '08

Hi all, An interesting development I would say. I don't know whether its just the Ubuntu community who's responsible for this or are other distributions also taking note of that. There has been a new package included which is called firefox-3.0-branding. I've been running Ubuntu 8.10 for few months now (right from after the tool-chain got put up on the server) A very interesting conversation on the bug-report first . https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/269656 Then few mockups on the same http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2008/09/17/mock-ups-available-for-notices-pr… Then finally the firefox-3.0-branding package http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/firefox-3.0-branding What this does is basically the first time you fire up the browser after you have installed the branding package it gives a short link (like one for addons or updates just below the tab bar) with saying "Know your rights" Linking on that takes you to about:rights which gives you the following info. :- About: Your Rights Mozilla Firefox is free and open source software, built by a community of thousands from all over the world. There are a few things you should know: * Firefox is made available to you under the terms of the Mozilla Public License. This means you may use, copy and distribute Firefox to others. You are also welcome to modify the source code of Firefox as you want to meet your needs. The Mozilla Public License also gives you the right to distribute your modified versions. * Mozilla does not grant you any rights to the Mozilla and Firefox trademarks or logos. Additional information on Trademarks may be found here. * Mozilla's privacy policy for Firefox may be found here. * Firefox also uses web site information services, such as the SafeBrowsing service; however, we cannot guarantee they are 100% accurate or error-free. More details, including information on how to disable the services, can be found in the service terms. Mozilla Firefox Web Site Services (this one is usually hidden) Mozilla Firefox uses web site information services ("Services"), such as the SafeBrowsing service, that are available for your use with this binary version of Firefox as described below. If you do not want to use the Services or the terms below are unacceptable, you may disable the SafeBrowsing service by clicking Edit -> Preferences -> Security and uncheck the options for "Tell me if the site I'm visiting is a suspected attack site" and "Tell me if the site I'm visiting is a suspected forgery." 1. Mozilla and its contributors, licensors and partners work to provide the most accurate and up-to-date phishing and malware information. However, they cannot guarantee that this information is comprehensive and error-free: some risky sites may not be identified and some safe sites may be identified in error 2. Mozilla may discontinue or change the Services at its discretion. 3. You are welcome to use these Services with the accompanying version of Firefox, and you have all the rights necessary to do so. Mozilla and its licensors reserve all other rights in the Services. These terms are not intended to limit any rights granted under open source licenses applicable to Firefox and to corresponding source code versions of Firefox. 4. The Services are provided "as-is." Mozilla, its contributors, licensors, and distributors, disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied, including without limitation, warranties that the Services are merchantable and fit for your particular purposes. You bear the entire risk as to selecting the Services for your purposes and as to the quality and performance of the Services. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so this disclaimer may not apply to you. 5. Except as required by law, Mozilla, its contributors, licensors, and distributors will not be liable for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages arising out of or in any way relating to the use of Firefox and the Services. The collective liability under these terms will not exceed $500 (five hundred dollars). Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so this exclusion and limitation may not apply to you. 6. Mozilla may update these terms as necessary from time to time. These terms may not be modified or cancelled without Mozilla's written agreement. 7. These terms are governed by the laws of the state of California, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions. If any portion of these terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. In the event of a conflict between a translated version of these terms and the English language version, the English language version shall control. While I'm no great lover or hater of FF I think this is a nice way of doing stuff without being obnoxious and obtrusive. One more thing the 4th and 5th point were in BOLD . It would be interesting to have some discussion on what people think of 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

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Fsf-friends September 2008