Fsf-friends September 2010

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

14 participants
21 discussions

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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Electronic Voting Machines and Free Software (Was Re: Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan)
by Praveen A 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

2010/9/28 Satish Babu <sb(a)inapp.com>: > This is not about the petition, but I'm wondering if there is a link > between Free Software and EVMs. > > If I remember right, the original debate was if EVMs could be > demonstrated to be tamper-proof. > > EVMs are some kind of computers, and consist of hardware and software > (in this case, firmware). The question of establishing if an EVM is > tamper-proof *can* be resolved if the community has access to the > source code of the firmware. After all, if the community has > sufficient skills to contribute to the Linux kernel, we surely have > the competencies to audit/inspect the source code of the EVM. > > As a community, shouldn't we be therefore calling for public scrutiny > of the source code of the EVM? How do you make sure every EVM actually has the binary compiled from the source code you inspected? How do you know if the storage card is not replaced? There are much more issues than just source code. The biggest concern, is there is no back up, and you cannot verify it independently unlike a paper ballet. -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ You have to keep reminding your government that you don't get your rights from them; you give them permission to rule, only so long as they follow the rules: laws and constitution.

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Fwd: [hipatia] video of Lalitha Prasad uploaded
by Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

-- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gutta cavat lapidem --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hipatia.net - http://aty.hipatia.net - http://guri.c-o-d-e-x.net marroncito.hipatia.info Italia - tel: +39 3929657778 - India - +91 8129860036 - Uruguay +598 099 945009 jabber: jucar(a)hipatia.net email: jucar at hipatia.net , jucar at roar.music.columbia.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fingerprint: 7464 DDDE 9D5D 3B6C CBF9 7699 A021 CE74 EA7A D95A Public key 0xEA7AD95A at http://pgp.mit.edu

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LibreOffice
by ck raju 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

If true, LibreOffice would be a nice name, a pretty good hack, a soft answer to corporates who think they can control Free Software and a fine piece of art at work. -- CK Raju

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Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan
by V. Sasi Kumar 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

I have just read and signed the online petition: "Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan" hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/CJI/ I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. Please take a look, and consider signing yourself. Best Sasi -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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rms video of Kozhikode
by Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

Finished uploading the v0 of the RMS video in Kozhikode conference. you can find it at: http://streaming.hipatia.net:8000/video/confedu/rms_v0.ogv you will find also coming the following days all the conferences there as well as other material in http://streaming.hipatia.net best juan -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gutta cavat lapidem --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hipatia.net - http://aty.hipatia.net - http://guri.c-o-d-e-x.net marroncito.hipatia.info Italia - tel: +39 3929657778 - India - +91 8129860036 - Uruguay +598 099 945009 jabber: jucar(a)hipatia.net email: jucar at hipatia.net , jucar at roar.music.columbia.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fingerprint: 7464 DDDE 9D5D 3B6C CBF9 7699 A021 CE74 EA7A D95A Public key 0xEA7AD95A at http://pgp.mit.edu

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Sign an Open Letter to the CJI in Support of Prashant Bhushan
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

On Tuesday 28 Sep 2010, Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez wrote: > [ot] linux-dheli ? do you have a group for the kernel stuff or is a > gnu-linux group? No, it's not kernel only, it deals with the Linux Operating System. And no, it's not a GNU/Linux user group either. We choose to call the OS Linux, and we don't stop people from calling it GNU/Linux on the list or at meetings and events, if they so choose. To clarify in advance, I'm not interested in participating in a discussion on the relative merits/demerits of OS names -- I've already said what I wanted to say on that topic many years ago on this list. Anyway, I have to get back to composing my next e-mail to this list on some issue that I feel strongly about. How does "Indian Free Software Activist Needs Cash to Buy Car to Popularise Software Freedom" sound? I feel really strongly about that one, and I'm sure I can find some friends on this list who would support me (specially the ones who live nearby and hope to hitch rides). Regards, -- Raj -- 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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Give money to Free Software Supporter
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

Raj Mathur is a well-known supporter of software freedom in India. His old Cross pen has reached EOL, and since he's too lazy to go to the authorised Cross repair shop ad get it fixed/replaced, he needs to buy a new one. Cost of a new Cross pen is in the vicinity of Rs 3000. Please donate generously to the cause of Raj Mathur's Cross, with which he will be able to sign more commercial contracts for producing GPL software, thereby increasing the amount of free software in the world and, more specifically, in India. Donations may be made by MO to Raj Mathur. LIMITED TIME OFFER! All donators will receive, ABSOLUTELY FREE OF COST, a GPG-signed thank- you e-mail from RAJ MATHUR HIMSELF! HURRY AND DONATE NOW! OFFER OPEN FOR ONLY A FEW DAYS! -- 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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DocumentFoundation , LibreOffice
by Narendra Sisodiya 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

penOffice.org Community announces The Document Foundation The community of volunteers developing and promoting OpenOffice.org sets up an independent Foundation to drive the further growth of the project The Internet, September 28, 2010 - The community of volunteers who develop and promote OpenOffice.org, the leading free office software, announce a major change in the projectâs structure. After ten yearsâ successful growth with Sun Microsystems as founding and principle sponsor, the project launches an independent foundation called "The Document Foundation", to fulfil the promise of independence written in the original charter. read more... http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/announce/msg00000.html -- ┌─────────────────────────┐ │ Narendra Sisodiya │ http://narendrasisodiya.com └─────────────────────────┘

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Patents and Innovation Density !!
by ck raju 28 Sep '10

28 Sep '10

"...Patents are the conventional measure of innovation. Despite their various weaknesses, patents represent a systematic, quantitative measure of innovation and are used by economists as the single dominant measure of innovation. But, as with other measures, economists tend to measure them on a per capita basis. *Innovation Density: *Our measure of innovation density is patents per square kilometer. The map below shows the density of innovation based on this measure. The median density of innovation is .008 patents per square kilometer. The densest metros have more than .4 patents per square kilometer, while the least dense have fewer than .001...." http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/the-density-of-innovati… ----------------------- Wonder whether the results would have been any different if the investigator had looked at Patents and European-closet density !! -- CK Raju

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[ANN][X-Post] SciPy 2010 Call for Papers & Participation
by Kadambari Devarajan 23 Sep '10

23 Sep '10

========================================== SciPy 2010 Call for Papers & Participation ========================================== The second SciPy India Conference <http://scipy.in> will be held from December 13th to 18th, 2010 at IIIT-Hyderabad <http://www.iiit.ac.in/>. At this conference, novel applications and breakthroughs made in the pursuit of science using Python are presented. Attended by leading figures from both academia and industry, it is an excellent opportunity to experience the cutting edge of scientific software development. The conference is followed by two days of tutorials and a code sprint, during which community experts provide training on several scientific Python packages. We invite you to take part by submitting a talk abstract or register as a participant on the conference website at: http://scipy.in Talk/Paper Submission ===================== We solicit talks and accompanying papers (either formal academic or magazine-style articles) that discuss topics regarding scientific computing using Python, including applications, teaching, development and research. Papers are included in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings, published online. Please note that submissions primarily aimed at the promotion of a commercial product or service will not be considered. Important Dates =============== Monday, Oct. 11: Abstracts Due Saturday, Oct. 30: Schedule announced Tuesday, Nov. 30: Proceedings paper submission due Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 13-14: Conference Wednesday-Friday, Dec. 15-17: Tutorials/Sprints Saturday, Dec. 18: Sprints Organizers ========== * Jarrod Millman, Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, USA (Conference Co-Chair) * Prabhu Ramachandran, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay, India (Conference Co-Chair) * FOSSEE Team

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Mozilla's Learning Freedom and the Web Festival, Barcelona
by Nagarjuna G 22 Sep '10

22 Sep '10

The internet is revolutionizing how we learn. It's exciting. And it's only the beginning. Mozilla's Learning, Freedom and the Web Festival will gather teachers, learners and technologists from around the world who are at the heart of this revolution. http://www.drumbeat.org/festival Taking place Barcelona from November 3-5, we're planning three days of making, teaching, hacking, inventing and shaping the future of education and the web. We want you to be a part of it: http://www.drumbeat.org/festival/register Whether your a teacher or a technologist, this is your chance to help shape the future of learning *and* the web. We hope to see you in Barcelona. Forward this email to a friend: http://us1.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=603ab0aa30ca5d93fe51300d4&id=55d… -- GN

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Declaration adopted at Kozhikode conference
by V. Sasi Kumar 21 Sep '10

21 Sep '10

The declaration adopted at the National Conference on Free Software and Education in Kozhikode during September 10-12 is available at http://wiki.hipatia.net/index.php/DeclarationEduconf2010 for anyone to read and sign. If you wish to sign the declaration, you need to login there. This is made so to prevent spamming. You can login with the username fsedu and the password freeme and click on the Edit tab to add your name. Best Sasi -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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clarifications regarding new conditions for cyber-cafes
by shirish शिरीष 18 Sep '10

18 Sep '10

Resp. Sir/Madame, I have been using the services of 'Prism net cafe' for the past six months or so. Since my desktop broke down. On 16th September, 2010 Pune Newsline carried a news item detailing how many unlicensed cybercafes are running in the city. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/police-chief-talks-tough-heat-on-unlicens… . Yesterday evening i.e. the 17th of September, 2010 i went to the above-mentioned cybercafe. They asked to have a scan of the identity proof. While I gave the relevant details and they were duly scanned. While I do understand and appreciate the work being done by the Pune Cyber Cell targeting terrorist/anti-social elements at large I am also concerned with the possibility of misuse of such information by unscrupulous individuals working in and around Cybercafes. I am sure you are aware of how common individuals/people's names and cell numbers are harvested routinely and sold for spamming/cold calling etc. While most of these are a nuisance rather than anything else, getting access to scanned identity information could have more issues. Possibility of cases of identity theft (couple or more which have already happened in India) may see a rise. how does Pune Police hope to secure the common public from such issues? While I have played out the State's predicament as well in my blog post http://wp.me/po8ay-1Y alongwith a copy of this letter I would appreciate a reply on the same. I have few poignant questions on the matter mentioned above as well :- 1. What if any new conditions are being made by Pune police for identity proof ? I looked for answers on the Pune Police website http://www.punepolice.gov.in/message_com.html and was none the wiser. 2. If a scanned picture of an individual along with relevant details are taken how is the police going to stop/save us from any possible misuse of our identity/information ? 3. If instructions have been issued/given to scan pictures for id proof, aren't they supposed to display those instructions on the display board. The above mentioned cybercafe is located off J.M.Road near Mamta Sweets. My cell number is 091-976-333-0874 . If people want to forward the mail to other socially relevant groups, please do so minus my contact no. A concerned citizen -- Regards, Shirish Agarwal शिरीष अग्रवाल My quotes in this email licensed under CC 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ http://flossexperiences.wordpress.com 065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17

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RMS's message for software freedom day
by Nagarjuna G 16 Sep '10

16 Sep '10

http://www.softwarefreedom.com.au/resources/stallman-software-freedom-day.o…

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draft declaration at Kozhikode
by Nagarjuna G 12 Sep '10

12 Sep '10

==This is a Draft Declaration== We request all those who read this to suggest any changes before Monday 13th September 2010, so that the declaration can be released sooner than later. ==The Role of ICT and Education in Social Inclusion== Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the most powerful technologies ever developed by humankind. It has drastically changed the way we do things, the way we communicate and even the way we think. Education is one of the spheres of human activity that is being strongly influenced by ICT. While the teaching of ICT has been incorporated at the school-level, ICT itself is being used in the classroom and outside for teaching and learning more effectively. However, access to ICT is not universal due to various reasons, including obscurity and the high cost of proprietary software. Education is a basic requirement for a comfortable life in today's society. In view of this, some countries, including India, have made it a fundamental right. This is certainly a move in the right direction. Education in ICT and ICT-enabled education are also becoming wide-spread. Part of the reason for this is the rapid decline in the cost of hardware. At the same time, the high cost of software is acting as a hurdle for further progress. Another factor that prevents more wide-spread use of ICT is the fact that the interface is not available in many languages, which bothers a lot of people. Obscurity stops people and especially students to learn how things work, software in particular. The right to use, know, change and share technical knowledge about modern artefacts is an essential human right in knowledge societies. ==Why Software Freedom is essential?== Proprietary software does not allow community participation in shaping the ICT to be used for education, and is not suitable for education since their solutions treat students as consumers. Free software community (sometimes called free and open source software community) on the other hand produced GNU/Linux operating system and a comprehensive stack of collaborative workspaces that enable students during the last 25 years. Most of the free software workspaces are made accessible for speakers of all languages of the world, including physically challenged students. The software freedom granted to the people (1. to use the software for any purpose; 2. to study how it works; 3. to modify it and 4. to distribute the modified software) is unquestionably the core source of the free software revolution that is being witnessed. Any software that grants these four freedoms is called Free Software. These freedoms are essential for students to learn how things work, and to share their experience, knowledge and collaborate with others without legal encumbrances. The software freedom makes it eminently suitable for any purpose, especially for education. The software used in education has to be freely available and accessible to all because education has to be universal. Moreover, the software has to be available in the language used by the community in that part of the world, however small the community may be. This is normally not possible with proprietary software because some communities could be too small to satisfy the commercial interests of the company. But the situation is different with Free Software. Since the source code is available for study and modification by anyone, students of computer science and software engineering are able to see code written by master programmers and learn from them, just as students of literature learn from works of great writers, or students of art or cinema learn from the works of great artists and movie makers. This is obviously not possible with proprietary software. Any community that has people with reasonable software skills can customise the interface to show the menu and other items in their own language. They can also create fonts for the language if they are not available. And they can localise applications to suit their culture and environment. Finally, the students who have computers in their homes can use the same software they use in their educational institutions without either breaking the law and using illegal software, or spending a lot of money to buy the same software. Thus, Free Software is undeniably the most ideal for use in all educational institutions at all levels; for primary, secondary or higher education. Proprietary software keeps people divided and helpless, while Free Software empowers them. Free software nurtures the much needed creativity by encouraging us to critical thinking and reasoning while proprietary software forces us to consume what they package. It is important for the graduating students to become entrepreneurs or join the various agencies for employment. Considering this requirement it is essential that the syllabus in educational institutions focuses on skills and not include any specific branded applications produced by a commercial company. Therefore, the syllabus should be neutral and not mention any particular brand. Just as the software requires to be free, it is essential that learning and teaching resources including documentation, books, journals, and other media should be released with a license (such as Creative Commons by Share Alike) which grands similar freedoms for other resources. All these resources must also be encoded in an open standard so that the exchanged documents are decodable in all platforms ensuring interoperability. ==Therefore== considering all the reasons mentioned above, we, the undersigned, call on all educational institutions, policy makers, students, teachers in all corners of the world to discard all proprietary software and use exclusively Free Software.

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Fwd: [fosscomm] Obituary to Our Friend & FOSS Activist Shyam Karanat
by Nagarjuna G 04 Sep '10

04 Sep '10

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> Date: Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 11:56 AM Subject: [fosscomm] Obituary to Our Friend & FOSS Activist Shyam Karanat To: Fosscom Network <network(a)fosscom.in> Dear All, Our Friend, and member of This List Shyam Karanatt ended his life himself yesterday afternoon. Still most of his friends are still shocked and not recovered from the pain of this news. Shyam was a very active Free Software advocate and Activist. I like to recall his major contributions to Free Software Movement in India He was known to me initially through Google Summer of Code candiate for Swathanthra Malayalam Computing , for building the prototype for Malayalam Speech Recognition system. and he started that with a project named sharika based on CMU-SPINX library. He become an active volunteer of Swathanthra Malayalam Computing and part of various other LUGS like Swathanthra Software Users Group Malappuram, Foss Group in MES, FSUG- Thrissur etc. He become the project admin for Translating GNU.ORG webpages to Malayalam, and made a lot of progress with that work . He involved with Organising Various FOSS programmes in his college and varouos cities in Kerala . Shyam initiated the Syllabus Review page in FCI Wikia http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Syllabus_Review and compiled most of the data, in association with Venkiy . Which become a major intervention too later. He took a major role on realising the idea of GNU labs and implimenting the first functioning GNU lab in MES kuttippuram http://gnulabs.org/ Shyam was a good speaker in various FOSS conferences like FOSS.IN , Mukth.in etc and associate with Various FOSS Groups like IndLinux, SMC, FSUG-Thrissur, FSUG-Calicut, SSUG Malappurm etc His funeral is at Ramapuram, Pala, Kottayam District today Shyam's Photo From Niyam's collection http://www.flickr.com/photos/niyam/2399712870/ ~ in the memory of a good friend Anivar -- "[It is not] possible to distinguish between 'numerical' and 'nonnumerical' algorithms, as if numbers were somehow different from other kinds of precise information." - Donald Knuth _______________________________________________ network mailing list network(a)lists.fosscom.in http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in

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RMS at ISI Delhi
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 01 Sep '10

01 Sep '10

Hi, RMS gave a short, unplanned talk on software freedom at the Indian Statistical Institute today (2010-09-01) just before lunch. Students and some faculty were present. Photos at: http://images.kandalaya.org/gallery2/v/raju/rms-isid-20100901/ Regards, -- Raj -- 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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Stallman speaking in Kozhikode
by V. Sasi Kumar 01 Sep '10

01 Sep '10

Richard Stallman will be speaking in the inaugural session of the National Conference on Free Software and Education in Kozhikode on September 10, 2010. Giving the keynote address, he will speak on "Free Software: Computing in Freedom". The conference will have speakers from India like Prof. Nagarjuna and Prof. Kannan Moudgalya. There will also be speakers from abroad like Marco Ciurcina (Professor of Law in Italy) and Diego Saravia (Professor, UNSa-CONICET. Argentina) who will speak through video conferencing. Those who desire to participate, please register quickly. Travel support available to a limited number of participants. Conference site: http://c11.space-kerala.org/fsinedu Best -- Dr. V. Sasi Kumar Society for the Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment C-11, Elankom Gardens, Vellayambalam, Thiruvananthapuram 695010, Kerala Ph: 0471 2318997

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[OT] [X-Post] Delhi-Mumbai courier for RMS
by Raj Mathur (राज माथुर) 01 Sep '10

01 Sep '10

Hi, Richard Stallman (RMS) has left a small package weighing about 10KG at my place that needs to be taken to Mumbai. Request you to contact me if you're going Delhi-Mumbai in the next few days and can carry it with you. Thanks, -- Raj -- 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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Fsf-friends September 2010