Fsf-friends October 2009

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

11 participants
15 discussions

An Appeal: Flood Relief Fund
by Vikram Vincent 12 Oct '09

12 Oct '09

Free Software Movement - Karnataka An Appeal: Flood Relief Fund Dear friends, Karnataka has been reeling under floods of an unprecedented nature leading to large-scale death and destruction. This is a situation which was unforeseen and many districts of North Karnataka are totally submerged and lakhs of people are marooned without food or relief. About 15 districts have been submerged and more than 6 lakhs people have become homeless. Estimated damages are to the tune of Rs. 25,000 crore. The Government machinery is doing its bit, but the sheer magnitude of the calamity makes it almost impossible for it to be handled by the Government alone. There is no assessment of the actual loss of lives and property as many areas are still inaccessible. The threat of epidemics is also something that looms large in such circumstances. It becomes the duty of all patriotic citizens to rise to the occasion and assist in such relief efforts. Free Software Movement-Karnataka is organizing collection of relief for the flood victims in an effort to provide succour to the suffering. A Relief Team will leave to North Karnataka in the Third week of October and along with the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti disburse relief in the affected areas. We request you to contribute generously in this endeavor so that we can share their suffering and mitigate it to some extent. Our volunteers will be approaching you individually for your contributions and also seek your support to meet concerned officials in your establishment to make it a meaningful effort. Any such donations through DD/cheque, in the name of 'Free Software Movement Karnataka' may please be sent to us. FSMK issues receipts for the same. In anticipation of your support and cooperation, Thanking You, Sd/- Senthil, Convenor, FSM-Karnataka. M:9900262828, 9448810822, 9448163453 http://fsmk.org

1 0

Fwd: Petition to Cancel Proprietary Tender by NIC given to CJI and DG NIC
by Vikram Vincent 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

--------- Forwarded message ---------- From: kiranchandra <kiran(a)swecha.net> Date: Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 8:35 PM Subject: Petition to Cancel Proprietary Tender by NIC given to CJI and DG NIC For Publication Eminent personalities including Justice V R Krisha Iyer (former Supreme court judge) and Dr. Pushpa M Bhargava (former Vice Chairman National Knowledge Commission) have called upon the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to cancel its tender (Ref. No: NIC/TPS/2009/18) form purchase of laptops with preloaded software for the Supreme Court of India. They were part of those who have signed an online petition, which was launched on 24-09-09, opposing this proprietary tender. Justice V R Krisha Iyer in his comment termed this tender reactionary and has pleaded with the Prime Minister to intervene in the name of access to Freedom of Information and Free and Open Source Software. Sixteen organisations (http://www.swecha.org/wiki/index.php?title=Petition) and 370 individuals (http://swecha.org/node/23/signatures) have signed the petition. The petition has also been sent to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Shri K G Balakrishnan and the Direcetor General of NIC Dr. B K Gairola. There is confirmation from the respective offices that the petition has been received. The tender relates to purchase of proprietary brands of laptops (Apple laptops) and the software installed (Windows XP) in it. Any fair tendering practice should allow competition and only give system specifications. In this tender, the only brand name given is Apple and only operating system given is Windows XP from Microsoft. This makes the tender a single source tender and is clearly anti-competitive since there is wide choice of hardware, software and operating systems in the market. Therefore, this is not a single vendor situation and no exception should be considered on this count. Moreover, the above mentioned tender is for laptops to be used by the Supreme Court of India. As the supreme judicial body of the country, the Court must set a proper precedent and not allow such unfair tendering practice. The tender also goes against stated government policy of encouraging free and open source softeware, and open standards. The National Knowledge Commission in its report on e-governance submitted to the Prime Minister stated, “Because of the enormous size and scope of the E-governance effort in India and because of the availability of globally recognized software talent of Indians,we must actively encourage open source software implementations and open standards wherever possible.” The Department of Information Technology, in its Elevent Five Year Plan (2007-2012) has remarked that, “If computer adoption has to reach from current 1% of population to say 5% in next five years, we have to seriously pursue some other route, viz., that of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS).” The current tender’s preference for proprietary suppliers will encourage vendor lock-in as their data and files can be read by only their software. Such a step by the Supreme Court would set the clock back in the country, where increasingly Government organisations and others are turning to Free and Open Source Software. In this context, it might be noted that Allahabad High Court has already successfully converted to FOSS and Open Standards (http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/faq.htm) Institutions like NIC under the Ministry of Information and Technology have to ensure the adoption of software that complies with open standards. It was therefore demanded that the current tender should be scrapped forthwith and a new tendering process be initiated without naming any brands and incorporating Free and Open Source Software. Organisations & Important Persons endorsing the petition (Web link : http://www.swecha.org/wiki/index.php?title=Petition ) * Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer's comments "The present move by NIC is reactionary. I feel there is much substance in the points made in the petition and plead with the Prime Minister to intervene in the name of access to Freedom of Information and Free and Open Source Software". * Former Vice Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission Pushpa M Bhargava's comments "I am all in for free and open source software" * Swecha (http://swecha.org/) * Democratic Alliance for Knowledge Freedom (DAKF) * Appropriate Technology Promotion Society (ATPS), Kochi (http://www.atps.in/) * Free Software Industries Association (FSIA), Kerala (http://www.fsia.in/) * Open Software Solutions Industrial Co-operative Society (OSSICS), Kochi (http://www.ossics.com/) * Free Software Foundation, Tamil Nadu (FSFTN) * IT for Change, Bangalore * Knowledge Commons, New Delhi * Free Software Movement Karnataka (http://fsmk.org/) * Linux User Group @ IIT Delhi (http://www.lug-iitd.org/) * Centre for Internet and Society (http://www.cis-india.org/) * Free Software Foundation of India (http://www.gnu.org.in/) * IIT Madras Linux Users Group (http://iitmlug.a.wiki-site.com/) * Linux Campus Club SJCE Mysore (http://www.lccsjce.org/) * [Free Software Movement West Bengal] * Linux Users' Group, NITK Surathkal Yours Sincerely Y.Kiran Chandra Chairman (Swecha) (On behalf of the endorsing individuals and organisations)

1 0

[ANN][X-Post] SciPy India conference in Dec. 2009
by Kadambari Devarajan 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

Greetings, The first "Scientific Computing with Python" conference in India ( http://scipy.in) will be held from December 12th to 17th, 2009 at the Technopark in Trivandrum, Kerala, India (http://www.technopark.org/). The theme of the conference will be "Scientific Python in Action" with respect to application and teaching. We are pleased to have Travis Oliphant, the creator and lead developer of numpy (http://numpy.scipy.org) as the keynote speaker. Here is a rough schedule of the conference: Sat. Dec. 12 (conference) Sun. Dec. 13 (conference) Mon. Dec. 14 (tutorials) Tues. Dec. 15 (tutorials) Wed. Dec. 16 (sprint) Thu. Dec. 17 (sprint) The tutorial sessions will have two tracks, one specifically for teachers and one for the general public. There are no registration fees. Please register at: http://scipy.in The call for papers will be announced soon. This conference is organized by the FOSSEE project (http://fossee.in) funded by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development's National Mission on Education (NME) through Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT) jointly with SPACE-Kerala (http://www.space-kerala.org). Regards, Kadambari Devarajan. -- Check out my blog at http://kadambarid.livejournal.com

1 0

Tender to Setup a State Data Center And Some Questions [x-posting]
by Sebin Jacob 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

Is it that, implementations of technology are reserved for mega corporates? The Govt. of Kerala's tender notice to setup a data center facilitating e-governance has raised some eyebrows. Here is Kenney Jacob's apprehensions on it. Tender to Setup a State Data Center And Some Questions<http://www.kenneyjacob.com/2009/10/03/tender-to-setup-a-state-data-center-a…>regards, Sebin -- Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth

1 0

US Visa application not possible if you use free software!
by Nagarjuna G. 02 Oct '09

02 Oct '09

US Visa application not possible if you use free software! Read my protest, and letter to the US ambassador. http://gnowgi.org/ -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Fsf-friends October 2009