Dear All,
The political support for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
continues to increase.
The CPI(M) manifesto released on the 16th of March calls for the
promotion of FOSS. The manifesto can be accessed at
http://www.cpim.org/manifesto.pdf
Following are some of the highlights of the policy -
• Promoting free software and other such new technologies, which are
free from monopoly ownership through copyrights or patents;
• Scrapping the Public Funded R&D Bill, that seeks to allow patenting
of products that are developed through public funded laboratories
• Revamping the functioning of the Patent offices to ensure strict
adherence to the Indian Patent Act; Stop training and orientation of
Indian Patent office personnel by the US and European Patent offices
With key parties from both the left and the right end of the political
spectrum endorsing FOSS, the Congress is left as the only major
national party which is yet to formally take a position on FOSS. One
hopes that the Congress too will soon extend its support for free
software when it releases its own manifesto next week, and explicitly
acknowledge the significant political, socio-cultural and economic
advantages of FOSS over proprietary software platforms. During last
UPA govt some initiatives to adopt Free Software and Open standards
are already happened such as Knowledge Commission report supporting
FOSS in Governance & Education, 11th 5 year plan endorsing FOSS to
counter digital divide & National Draft Policy on Open standards for
E-Governance. Also the threat of Software patents came up during last
UPA regime. Hope Congress will continue the support to Free software
and Open standards by clearly stating it on their election manifesto.
Also the stand on software patents is also getting important . (See
http://public-software.in/FOSS-manifesto for a call from the Network
of the FOSS Community in India (http://fosscom.in ) to the political
parties, to recognise the advantages of FOSS in their election
manifestos).
Thanks,
Anivar Aravind
--
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.
Posting on behalf of Karthikeyan Shanmugam iamsjkk AT gmail DOT com.
"Open access to scientific and technological knowledge is critically
important to developing nations. The information technology sector and
the free software movement have shown that new technologies and
methodologies can be developed by cooperative communities without
monopoly ownership – either through copyrights or patents. There is a
need to develop similar ways of promoting “science/knowledge commons”,
across many different scientific and technological disciplines, like
biotechnology and drug discovery.
The above is excerpt from XIX Congress Political Resolution of CPIM in
2008 Part II NATIONAL SITUATION Under 'Science & Technology'
CPI(M) supports Free Software for a long time. If CPI(M) makes promise
people can trust. It's NOT true with BJP,one of election agendas of
BJP in 1998 is 'Swadeshi' BUT immediately after it came to power in
April 1998, it follows the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank.BJP came
into power with slogan of 'swadeshi'. Immediately after assuming power
it announced the ExIm(Export Import) policy which shifts 340 items to
the list of Open General Licence (OGL) imports which led to liberal
imports.
Today BJP may say it supports Free Software after come into power it
will kick the Free Software and dine with M$.
As Yashwant Sinha wrote 'Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer: My
Years as Finance Minister' some IT minister of BJP may write
'Confessions of Free Software supporter : My Years as IT Minister'.
I do NOT want to discuss in depth politics here if you are interested
please send me a mail, I'll send you a document what BJP did between
1998 and 2004."
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: vinay ವಿನಯ್ <vinay(a)itforchange.net>
Date: 2009/3/18
Subject: [ilugd] CPI(M) manifesto calls for promotion of Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS)
To: ilugd(a)lists.linux-delhi.org, ilug-cal-discuss(a)list.ilug-cal.org
Dear All,
The political support for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
continues to increase.
The CPI(M) manifesto released on the 16th of March calls for the
promotion of FOSS. The manifesto can be accessed at
http://www.cpim.org/manifesto.pdf
Following are some of the highlights of the policy -
- Promoting FOSS and other such new technologies, which are free from
monopoly ownership through copyrights or patents;
- Revamping the functioning of the Patent offices to ensure strict
adherence to the Indian Patent Act; Stop training and orientation of
Indian Patent office personnel by the US and European Patent offices
These above measures are critical to support the public education
system, local economy and the knowledge commons and counter
neo-liberal pressures that aim to privatize the public
information/knowledge domain.
The CPI(M) has been a traditional supporter of free software, the
comprehensive IT programs in Kerala, including in the public school
system (http://itschool.gov.in/otherprograms.php#6) is based on FOSS.
With key parties from both the left and the right end of the political
spectrum endorsing FOSS, the Congress is left as the only major
national party which is yet to formally take a position on FOSS. One
hopes that the Congress too will soon extend its support for free
software when it releases its own manifesto next week, and explicitly
acknowledge the significant political, socio-cultural and economic
advantages of FOSS over proprietary software platforms (see
http://public-software.in/FOSS-manifesto for a call from the Network
of the FOSS Community in India to the political parties, to recognise
the advantages of FOSS in their election manifestos).
Thanks,
Vinay.
_______________________________________________
ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd(a)lists.linux-delhi.org
http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd
Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhihttp://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
Posting on behalf of Karthikeyan Shanmugam iamsjkk AT gmail DOT com.
"Open access to scientific and technological knowledge is critically
important to developing nations. The information technology sector and
the free software movement have shown that new technologies and
methodologies can be developed by cooperative communities without
monopoly ownership – either through copyrights or patents. There is a
need to develop similar ways of promoting “science/knowledge commons”,
across many different scientific and technological disciplines, like
biotechnology and drug discovery.
The above is excerpt from XIX Congress Political Resolution of CPIM in
2008 Part II NATIONAL SITUATION Under 'Science & Technology'
CPI(M) supports Free Software for a long time. If CPI(M) makes promise
people can trust. It's NOT true with BJP,one of election agendas of
BJP in 1998 is 'Swadeshi' BUT immediately after it came to power in
April 1998, it follows the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank.BJP came
into power with slogan of 'swadeshi'. Immediately after assuming power
it announced the ExIm(Export Import) policy which shifts 340 items to
the list of Open General Licence (OGL) imports which led to liberal
imports.
Today BJP may say it supports Free Software after come into power it
will kick the Free Software and dine with M$.
As Yashwant Sinha wrote 'Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer: My
Years as Finance Minister' some IT minister of BJP may write
'Confessions of Free Software supporter : My Years as IT Minister'.
I do NOT want to discuss in depth politics here if you are interested
please send me a mail, I'll send you a document what BJP did between
1998 and 2004."
I have been following the fsf-friends for the past two or three months.
I just need a small clarification.
If CPM is supporting FSF then it is "HIJACKING" of FSF .
If BJP is supporting FSF then it is acceptance of FSF.
Great work.
--- On Sun, 15/3/09, fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in <fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in> wrote:
From: fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in <fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
Subject: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 18, Issue 7
To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in
Date: Sunday, 15 March, 2009, 12:00 PM
Send Fsf-friends mailing list submissions to
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Fsf-friends digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Fwd: [fosscom] BJP accepts key sections of the FOSS Manifesto
(Anivar Aravind)
2. RMS article in todays Hindu (Senthil Sundaram (sensunda))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:02:40 +0530
From: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com>
Subject: [Fsf-friends] Fwd: [fosscom] BJP accepts key sections of the
FOSS Manifesto
To: Greenyouth <greenyouth(a)googlegroups.com>, Principal Support List
of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com
Message-ID:
<35f96d470903140332t60cc998dvfc7ae6203ddf17ed(a)mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Venkatesh Hariharan <venkyh(a)gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Subject: [fosscom] BJP accepts key sections of the FOSS Manifesto
To: network(a)lists.fosscom.in
Dear Friends,
Key sections of the FOSS manifesto (Point # 1 on FOSS in education, #
4 on open standards, #5 on encouraging freely shareable, FOSS based
knowledge repositories like Wikipedia in Indian languages), have been
strongly articulated in the BJP's IT vision document that was unveiled
today by BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Shri LK Advani. The 40
page vision document is at:
http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/images/stories/it-vision.pdf
The press release is at:
http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/content/view/799/281/
I am also enclosing my blog on this subject:
Venky
=====
http://osindia.blogspot.com/2009/03/bjps-it-vision-supports-open-source-and…
Saturday, March 14, 2009
BJP's IT Vision supports open source and open standards
The BJP, the largest opposition ?in India has released an IT Vision
document that endorses open source and open standards. Many of the
points mentioned in the FOSS Manifesto for India that we put up online
last week have been incorporated in this document.
This document was unveiled by none other than Shri. LK Advani, the
BJP's candidate for Prime Minister. I did a quick read of the 40 page
document and am impressed with how thorough and comprehensive it is.
As a long time supporter of free and open source software, I am
delighted to see a major Indian political party endorse it. However, I
am even more delighted to see that this endorsement is rooted in a
comprehensive vision for India's development. A big chunk of the
credit for this document should go to Shri. Sudheendra Kulkarni (an
alumnus of IIT Bombay) and Shri Prodyut Bora (an alumnus of IIM
Ahmedabad). Shri Kulkarni was advisor to Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee
when Vajpayee was prime Minister of India and Shri Bora is Head of the
IT Cell of the BJP.
I was happy to see that the Digital Colonization theme that my friend,
Jaijit Bhattacharya of Sun talks about has been incorporated in this
document. Apart from the FOSS Manifesto, some of my key passions on
open standards (that we don't pay for standards like weights and
measures in the physical world, so why should we pay for standards in
the digital world?) have been reflected. Also, as a co-founder of
IndLinux.org which we started in 2000 in an attempt to bridge the
digital divide, I am happy to see that the BJP has promised to create
a National Mission for Indian Language Computing.
The CPI(M), another national party in India has always been a strong
supporter of our stand on open source, open standards and our fight
against software patents. We are hopeful that other political parties
will also take cognizance of the FOSS Manifesto and incorporate the
same into their IT plans for India.
With the country scheduled to go to polls next month, we now have a
broad consensus emerging around the use of open source and open
standards. This is great news for all of us who believe in free and
open source software!
_______________________________________________
Network mailing list
Network(a)lists.fosscom.in
http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
--
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.
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:56:00 +0530
From: "Senthil Sundaram (sensunda)" <sensunda(a)cisco.com>
Subject: [Fsf-friends] RMS article in todays Hindu
To: "Free Software Users Group - Bangalore"
<fsug-bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in>, "Principal Support List of FSF-India"
<fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>
Message-ID:
<C1F024B2AFA0CE4CB8E93810BD9CAA540869A37D(a)xmb-blr-414.apac.cisco.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
hi,
The interview taken by the Hindu during RMS Bangalore visit in todays
Hindu
"IBM's recently-released Microsoft-Free Desktop, regarded as significant
in non-proprietary circles, he says is "interesting" but questions IBM's
skirting the ethical issue of freedom. "
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/03/15/stories/2009031550070200.htm
-S
hi,
The interview taken by the Hindu during RMS Bangalore visit in todays
Hindu
"IBM's recently-released Microsoft-Free Desktop, regarded as significant
in non-proprietary circles, he says is "interesting" but questions IBM's
skirting the ethical issue of freedom. "
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/03/15/stories/2009031550070200.htm
-S
Free Software Cell, Government Engineering College, Barton
Hill,Thiruvananthapuram is Organising a One Day National Seminar on
“Embedded Design With GNU/Linux” On March21, 2009, Saturday at the
Campus in association with Visiting Faculty Scheme, Directorate of Technical
Education , Govt. of Kerala and Kerala State Council for Science
Technology and Environment.
Free Software continues to conquer more space with extensive applications in
the field of Engineering and Technology, in general and electronics in
particular. More and more
microcontroller & microprocessor simulators, open hardware and embedded
systems have come up with GNU/Linux as the core. Despite the farreaching
functionality of these embedded systems, few educational institutions have
harnessed the power of these free technologies that are in fact more
powerful than their proprietary counterparts.
This seminar on ‘Embedded Design With GNU/Linux” aims to bridge the gap
between the knowledge accumulation process and its practical applications,
thereby Enlightening the participants about various facets of embedded
systems. Participants will be able to feel the synergy that Free software
systems share with the learning process.
This seminar brings forth an avenue for intensive interaction with experts
like
* Dr. V.Sasikumar, Rtd Sr.Scientist , CESS & Member, Free Software
Foundation, India
* Mr.Shakti Kannan, Sr. Engineer, Qvental, Hyderabad .
* Mr.Pramode C.E. , Fosstronics, Thrissur and
* Mr.David John, Tata Elexsi , Technopark , Trivandrum.
The daylong seminar is planned on 21st March, 2009. With an expected
participation of over hundred Engineering Students and Teachers spanning
the nation, the event will open up a new window of opportunities and share
new schools of thought.
Registration for the Seminar can be done at http://fsc.gecbh.ac.in and is
free of cost. Last date for registration is 17th March 2009.
For More details contact :
Ranjith. S. Kumar ( 9447295213 )
ranjith_s_kumar(a)yahoo.com,
Anoop. S ( 9495986238 )
anooptvm(a)gmail.com
--
S. Anoop
www.sanoop.eugameonbuzz.blogspot.com
"To CaTcH Me yOu gotTa bE FaSt, To finD Me yOu gOtTa bE SmarT,bUt to Be mE…
DaMn yOu mUsT Be kIdDiNg !! :P "
250 installtions gnu-linux installations to happen at CMRIT . Committed
teachers make the difference .
-s
________________________________
From: fsug-bangalore-bounces(a)mm.gnu.org.in
[mailto:fsug-bangalore-bounces@mm.gnu.org.in] On Behalf Of jaykumar hs
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 6:00 PM
To: fsugbangalore
Subject: [FSUG-Bangalore] CMRIT is moving to GNU-Linux
Hi,
Today Karthik, Ravishankar and I met Prabhod, a faculty at CMRIT,
Bangalore. We were very happy to learn that the computer science dept.
in the Institution has moved to GNU-linux platform and also the
management has instructed all of its students ( which includes all the
streams) to use only GNU-linux on their laptops. Infact, all other
departments also have been convinced and are moving to GNU-linux.
Prabhod said the management would be very happy from this development as
it would save lot of money on licensing.
Earlier, about 3 months back, Suresh kodoor and Rakesh had visited CMRIT
and taken sessions on free software philosophy and installation session.
Prabhod and his HOD informed that installation session of GNU-linux
could be held for about 250 students on their laptops during the
technical fest. Hence, one day session covering free software
philosophy, installation, alternatives available for different streams
has been planned on 21.03.2009 at CMRIT. This is for about 250 students
of II semester of all the students.
Other college students may also join for the same.
The HOD has invited us to take one day workshop for their faculty as
well for which planning is being done.
-jk
_______________________________________________
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FSUG-Bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in
http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore