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Indian, Pakistan... parallel thinking on GNU/Linux
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 15 Jun '03

15 Jun '03

URL : http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/20030601.shtml#39263 Pakistan Putting Money Into Linux [map-pakistan.jpg] Our Pakistani correspondent, [49]Tariq Mustafa, writes to say that the new Pakistani national budget has $2.5 million in it for Linux. It's all part of a $54 million (Rs 3.25 billion) proposal covering 120 different projects in Information Technology and sciences for the coming year, according to the [50]Daily Times of Pakistan. Linux even gets its own line-item in the IT budget, according to the Daily Times story. You may remember a few weeks ago that I wrote about how India's President faced down Bill Gates over the issue, saying that his country needed to control its own computing destiny and that software controlled by an outsider (i.e. Windows) could not provide that. The big news here is that Pakistan agrees. Now perhaps they might settle their other differences. (I know, Tariq -- it's not that simple. But just [51]Imagine...) [52]Dana Blankenhorn 49. http://pakistan.blogspot.com/ 50. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-6-2003_pg7_41 51. http://www.merseyworld.com/imagine/lyrics/imagine.htm 52. http://www.a-clue.com/ -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Anti social
by CK Raju 14 Jun '03

14 Jun '03

>From President's point of view : If 'believing in proprietary solutions' is unfortunate then 'using one' would be wrong, and 'propagating or advocating proprietary solutions' would be a crime. If the outcome has 'devastating effects on society', then prescribing it would be definitely anti social. Which means some 'projects' here in Kerala, are using 'anti social and criminal' means to take things to certain 'ends'. Is it wrong if we exposed 'them' this way ? CK Raju

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[UNDP Consultation] ICT Working Group Calls for Promotion of Free and Open Source Software (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 14 Jun '03

14 Jun '03

This was put out on Irfan Khan's s-asia-it(a)apnic.net mailing list. FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- [with thanks to DigitalOpportunity.org for the lead] UNDP Consultation on ICT4D and Media Partnerships ICT Working Group Calls for Promotion of Free and Open Source Software New Delhi, 31 May [2003]: Free and Open Source Software should be promoted as the new mantra in the area of using Information and Communication technology (ICT) for Human Development. This was the key message of the discussions during the second day of the Consultation on ICTs for Development and Cross- Media Partnerships, organised jointly by the United Nations Development Programme, the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. Describing Open Source Software as an area of far-reaching relevance for rural development and community-based initiatives, Mr. R. Chandrashekhar, the Joint Secretary for E-Governance, Ministry of Information Technology, said that a number of fora within the Government were actively promoting and advocating for non-proprietary software. We have to keep in mind a discerning consumer who wants quality and value delivered at an affordable price, and Open Source Software meets this requirement well, he said. Speaking at the Consultation, Dr. S Ramakrishnan, the head of Software Development in the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, made a strong case for the promotion of Free and Open Source Software. He called for greater localisation of Open Source Software and vendor support for user groups. Dr. Ramakrishnan also said that in the last few months there has been increasing debate and discussion within the Government about promoting Open Source Software. He said that the Government recognises a tremendous scope for public-private partnerships and is considering pilot initiatives and supporting the NGOs working the field. He said the need of the hour is to spread the word and encourage people to look at Open Source Software as an efficient alternative. He said workshops like these helped demystify Open Source Software and break the prevailing myths. The Consultation highlighted successful case studies in the use of Open Source Software in various areas. Mr. Sanjay Jaju, District Collector of the West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh and pioneer of the much-acclaimed e-governance initiative Saukaryam, discussed how the use of Open Source Software has enhanced the administration work in his district. Mr. Kishore Bhargava of Link Axis Technologies talked about the potential of Open Source Software in the field of education and explained how its low cost, flexibility and easy adaptability could prove to be the key to expanding education opportunities in the country. Mr. Venkatesh Hariharan of IndLinux made a compelling case for promoting Open Source Software in the area of Indian language computing. He said that India was in a condition of Digital Brahminism where the English-educated and computer literate minority enjoyed a position of privilege. He called for the development of localised software for the 900 million-strong non-English speaking population of the country. He quoted the example of China where the law mandates every computer in the country to be equipped with a Chinese language interface, and said it was disappointing that we do not have an interface for Hindi, which is the fourth largest spoken language in the world. The recommendations of the Consultation emphasized that Open Source Software has implications for human development, and thus the issue of technology should be considered not in isolation but in the context of development. Discussions during the Consultation yielded a consensus about Open Source Software being the way forward, and the need for developing support mechanisms for bringing about an open source software revolution. source: http://www.undp.org.in/NEWS/PRESS/press262.htm _______________________________________________ s-asia-it mailing list s-asia-it(a)lists.apnic.net http://mailman.apnic.net/mailman/listinfo/s-asia-it

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SUGGESTION: Buidling a network...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 14 Jun '03

14 Jun '03

Hi, Over the last couple of years, the momentum for building a network of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) across India seems to have slackened. Correct me if I'm wrong... When we in Goa were planning to set up a G/LUG, we got a whole lot of support from friends in Mumbai. They offered to send us CDs, gave us tips on how to go about things, and lent moral support in many ways. Can we think of some initiative to continue with such a trend, maybe on a more organised basis? For a country of one thousand million, we have an estimated 40-60 known LUGs/GLUGs/FSUGs. Some of these are very active, some barely so. Anyway, this means that there exists a group for a population of nearly 20 million! This is clearly insufficient to spread awareness about FLOSS. LinuxForYou's listing of Indian Linux User Groups puts down contacts for some 54 groups. But this needs updating and corrections (for instance, under 'Goa' you find the Margao group, while the Panjim group gets listed under a separate head and the third free software group, at the Farmaguddi engineering college, doesn't seem to get mentioned). Anyway, this is one starting point... Linux-magazine.com lists some 21 FLOSS groups across India (Bangalore, 2 groups; Calcutta, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Jabalpur, Kanpur, Madurai, Mangalore, Meerut, Mysore, Nasik, North India, Pandalam, Patna, Pune, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam). Maybe what we should aim for is: o Build a LUG/FSUG/GLUG in every district o Encourage smaller LUGs to be built up in different parts of larger cities, provided there is no overlap in activities or unhealthy rivalry o Scout around for those willing to launch GLUGs/LUGs/FSUGs in places where none exist. Perhaps the most useful help one could offer to a new group would be o Moral support o Sharing CDs to build up a local 'CD repository' o Tips on how to sustain activities o Posting to their lists to help build up critical mass o Volunteering speakers who are willing to travel and talk in their region (Trevor Warren and team from Mumbai have done a good job in helping Belgaum and Hubli recently). o Build a network to keep monitoring where the building up of such groups would be possible. After meeting in Bangalore last December (LB2002), Sukrit of Pondicherry and a few others set up a small network called the Little League. See little_league(a)yahoogroups.com It's goal is to encourage new LUGs to grow and share resources. Maybe some of the new groups could join that network. Please send in your suggestions, brickbats and criticism to the suggestions above. Whichever way we do it, it would be important to take on this task at some stage. FN -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Can't read SRNS's postings on digest version
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 14 Jun '03

14 Jun '03

Is there some problem with Soundara Rajan's postings? Don't seem to be getting through. Is this because these are multipart and include gifs? FN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 05:49:52 -0700 > From: "Soundara Rajan N.S." <searchlight(a)sancharnet.in> > Subject: [Fsf-friends] 'Linux hasn't cut into our Indian market' > To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > Message-ID: <00e001c33017$f450e870$dd84013d@soundar> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > Skipped content of type multipart/alternative

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PIL Seeks Window Out Of Microsoft
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 12 Jun '03

12 Jun '03

PIL Seeks Window Out Of Microsoft Sudarshan Kumar New Delhi, June 11: Even as Microsoft wages war against rival open source operating system Linux around the world, a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Jharkhand High Court could add fuel to the open source versus proprietary software debate, particularly in the e-governance space. The Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is ubiquitous through its popular Windows operating systems which run most of the world’s desktop computers. The petition filed by a high court lawyer in Ranchi pleads for a directive to the Indian government and the state of Jharkhand to implement cheaper open source (read, Linux) software instead of expensive proprietary products. There has been a renewed thrust within governments, both in the states and at the Centre, to evaluate alternatives on Linux. Linux is an open source code operating system developed by software programmer Linus Torvalds to offer an alternative to the Unix system, variants of which are offered by leading vendors in their proprietary versions. The Linux source code is free to everyone under a general public licence. The term ‘Linux’ was derived from ‘Unix’ and ‘Linus’. The petitioner-lawyer, Manish Kumar, did not wish to go on the record or share details of the petition. However, sources familiar with the process said point of admission hearing has been fixed for June 12. The petition says that proprietary software is available at a high price and its source code cannot be modified except with the approval of its owner. The code for open source software is, however, freely available and can be modified according to the user’s requirements. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company could not comment on the PIL “as it is sub-judice”. However, sources close to the company said Linux was often used by government officials as an “arm-twisting” tool during negotiations. On the open source debate, Microsoft India head of marketing Sanjiv Mathur said: “Both commercial and open source software play important roles in the broader IT ecosystem - and in supporting IT-related development. The commercial software model has effectively demonstrated development-related advantages, including cost-effectiveness, opportunities for growth, long-term sustainability, and affordable access. These advantages will largely be lost if developing nations, like India, adopt biases against commercial software or enact policies that inhibit the growth of a domestic commercial software industry.” Microsoft had recently invited Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda to a ‘government leadership summit’ in Redmond. Mr Munda, however, did not attend the mid-May meet. The company has been persistent in its evangelising efforts to woo governments and corporates alike across the world to implement its proprietary products and solutions. Critics say these licensing deals lock customers into heavy initial investments and regular payments for ‘upgrades’ to improved versions that are launched periodically. The software maker last month lost a key battle against Linux in Munich, Germany, where the city council decided to switch its 14,000-computer network to the open source operating system. Linux itself came under attack recently, albeit indirectly, with Unix code owner SCO Group (formerly Santa Cruz Operations) suing IBM (International Business Machines) for an alleged breach of contract. SCO says IBM handed over pieces of its proprietary Unix code to Linux developers. While IBM has denied any wrongdoing, Microsoft expressed tacit support for SCO by licensing its Unix technology. URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=36075

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SCO says to act against IBM if no deal by Friday
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 12 Jun '03

12 Jun '03

SCO says to act against IBM if no deal by Friday Reuters, 06.11.03, 7:01 PM ET By Reed Stevenson SEATTLE (Reuters) - SCO Group Inc., which claims International Business Machines Corp. illegally used parts of its Unix software in other programs, said Wednesday that it could revoke its license to the world's largest computer company unless they settled this week. Lindon, Utah-based SCO is suing IBM for more than $1 billion and warned 1,500 other companies last month that they may be violating SCO's intellectual property rights because parts of its Unix software code are being used in Linux. Unix is a widely-used operating system for networked computers that was first developed by AT&T Corp. Various versions of Unix are now used to run corporate and government computer systems for serving up Web pages, accounting, manufacturing and storing information. Linux, unlike proprietary versions of Unix and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows programs, is a version of Unix that can be copied and modified freely. IBM, which had licensed Unix code in order to develop its own Unix-based system called AIX, is also one of the biggest champions of Linux, which it supports in order to sell its hardware and services to corporations. SCO claims that IBM transferred some AIX code over to Linux. "If we don't have a resolution by midnight on Friday the 13th, the AIX world will be a different place," SCO President and Chief Executive Darl McBride told Reuters. "We've basically mapped out what we will do. People will be running AIX without a valid license," said McBride, who offered no specific details on what action SCO would take. IBM declined to say whether it was in negotiations with SCO to meet Friday's deadline. "IBM believes that our contract with regard to AIX is irrevocable and perpetual and there is nothing further to discuss," said IBM spokeswoman Trink Guarino. SLEEPING GIANT Some industry experts see SCO's campaign as an attempt to gain a windfall settlement, most likely by selling itself to IBM or another industry heavyweight. SCO, formerly known as Caldera Systems Inc., owns the intellectual property rights to Unix but also makes versions of Unix that run on Intel Corp.'s microprocessors, which also serves as the main platform for Windows and Linux. Intel-based computers are generally considered cheaper than other high-end systems offered by IBM or Sun Microsystems Inc. and have been gaining ground in corporations. SCO posted a profit of $3.8 million during the first half of its current fiscal year, compared to a loss of $17.6 million a year earlier, due in part to increased income from its Unix assets. McBride said SCO's Unix intellectual property had been previously under-utilized by the company: "We've spent the last couple of quarters waking the sleeping giant." So far, that initiative has reaped rewards for McBride, SCO's 340 employees and shareholders. SCO's shares have skyrocketed in the past year to $8.65, its latest close on Wednesday from a 52-week low of 60 cents. SCO also won a license from Microsoft, which agreed to pay SCO to ensure that it would not violate intellectual property rights when developing software that works with Unix. But Microsoft's move was widely seen as an attempt to lend weight to SCO's attack on Linux, which Microsoft views as a threat to its Windows franchise. McBride also said it had resolved most of its differences with another software maker, Novell Inc. which had previously owned the rights to Unix. Novell acquired the rights to Unix in 1992 and later sold those rights to SCO in 1995. SCO developed the first commercial version of Unix for Intel chips and was IBM's partner in developing AIX. But with the growth of Microsoft's Windows software and the advent of Linux as a popular alternative to Unix, SCO struggled. Microsoft even owned a portion of the company, but sold it in 2000. Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service Source: www.forbes.com

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'Linux hasn't cut into our Indian market'
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 11 Jun '03

11 Jun '03

'Linux hasn't cut into our Indian market' THE RAJIV KAUL INTERVIEW / PRAGATI VERMA & SANJEEV SHARMA TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2003 12:40:29 AM ] Rajiv Kaul, managing director, Microsoft India, is working out how to invest the Rs 2,000 crore-booty that Bill Gates has earmarked for India. This is Microsoft’s largest investment outside the US. Mr Kaul also has to take on Linux and the open source software movement that’s spreading fast across India. He talks about the Microsoft agenda to Pragati Verma and Sanjeev Sharma. Excerpts related to Linux:.. How do you assess the impact of Linux in India? Hardly any. Even if you look at IDC figures, our marektshare has not fallen. We have maintained a marketshare of 60% for the last two years on the Windows server. On the desktop, we’ve seen a negligible impact. You would have to struggle to figure out any big Linux customer on the desktop. It has taken years and decades for Windows to make its own space on desktop. It takes a lot of effort and investment from the entire ecosystem. Even if you forget about industry issues — latest versions, standard codes, licensing issues — it’s our ecosystems of partners that count. On the server side, Linux today is used primarily in two scenarios — high volume but low value like web pages. And second is low volume but high value like scientific applications. We have extended our line of offerings to offer solutions in both these areas. Primary use of Linux is still seen only at academic and research level. So, Linux has not dented Microsoft’s business in India in any way? It is a competitive market but we haven’t seen a significant impact till now. Various governments are evaluating technologies but the official policy of the government of India is to be neutral and not play a role in choosing one platform or another. Initially, there was some hype and hoopla over the so-called ‘free’ software, but users are fast realising the total cost of owing a Windows system could be far lower. And there are enough research studies available vouching for that. When you buy Microsoft, you know what you buy is what you get and there are no hidden costs. In fact, users like central depository system (CDS) and Moser Baer, who had earlier opted for Linux, are moving back to Microsoft. We are already seeing the first stages of discontent among Linux users.

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Dear Steve: Time for Microsoft Linux?
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 10 Jun '03

10 Jun '03

Dear Steve: Time for Microsoft Linux? David Coursey, Executive Editor, AnchorDesk Monday, June 9, 2003 Dear Steve Ballmer: Concerning Linux and your memo/exhortation of June 4, I'm pleased to see you've finally recognized--publicly, at least--the threat posed to Microsoft by Linux. Some in the Linux community must imagine you with a sort of "deer in the headlights" look, not quite sure of your fate but certain it can't be good. They could see your memo as a legitimization of Linux, an admission by Goliath that David has a point after all. The Linux hardcore must be hooting and hollering and marking June 4 as a future national day of liberation from the evil empire. I THINK they have it backwards. I think Linux proponents are the ones who should be afraid. Why? Because Microsoft has been in this situation before and, once the battleship was turned, fought and won. Your company also ended up being declared a monopoly, making a deal with the feds, and spending large millions on legal fees. But what's that to Microsoft's multibillion-dollar war chest? You remember the fall of 1995? Back then, people thought Microsoft was hopelessly late in acknowledging the existence of something called the Internet. Competitors were popping up, the industry was abuzz, and Microsoft was nowhere to be found. As I remember, Microsoft had some important projects to finish the previous summer, in particular a little something called Windows 95. But by December, once that had shipped and people had a chance to rest and regroup, Bill invited the media up to Microsoft for a talk about the Internet. That turned out to be one of the most fateful days in personal computing history. Bill told several hundred reporters that Microsoft wouldn't be building Internet products. Instead, it would be putting the Internet into all Microsoft products. Every future Microsoft product would have Internet capabilities built-in. NOW, I'M NOT SURE your June 4 memo is the same war cry I heard nearly eight years ago. But if I were Linux and faced with the prospect of Microsoft throwing everything it could at me, I'd find some way to get out of your path. Here's my suggestion for how Microsoft should deal with Linux: Don't beat 'em, join 'em. Do a release of MS Linux. Create Office for Linux. Improve Linux support in your development tools. Do such a good job of embracing and extending Linux that the world won't care when you essentially annex it for your own. A more cynical person than myself might add: Then you can kill it. I won't, because I believe Linux deserves to live. I think this is the only way Microsoft can both give its customers what they want and manage the threat Linux poses on something approaching your own terms. The first question people will immediately ask is: How can Microsoft participate in an open operating system? Two ways: First, by making it as robust an OS as possible. Second, by creating a collection of services and applications that run atop Linux that only Microsoft controls. The goal here is to shift the competition away from commodity operating systems running on commodity computers. Instead, you should compete on services that sit atop the OS, tools to build applications for it, and integration between the OS and other servers and desktops in the Microsoft world. The second inevitable question: What about Linux on the desktop? While Apple has proven with OS X that a really great desktop can be built atop Unix, I'm not sure how far Microsoft wants to go down this road. There should probably be an Office for MS Linux, because some people will want to run Office on Linux desktops. But I'd probably stop there. BY ADOPTING Linux as its own, Microsoft can respond to what I see as its chief attraction: It's a free operating system for inexpensive servers. Yes, I know there is more to it than that. But a free Microsoft OS that supports other Microsoft technologies would seem to be attractive. And if what we are really doing is raising the level of competition, it might make sense to build middleware and apps for other Linux releases as well. Would Microsoft find itself competing with other vendor's Linux software? Absolutely. But has that stopped Microsoft before? Think of Linux as just another world in need of Microsoft domination and you'll be fine. More broadly, perhaps it is time to offer customers a choice of underlying technologies, as Sun seems to be doing by offering the same stack of middleware for both Solaris and Linux running on Intel-based hardware. Linux (and Unix more generally) could also solve some of Microsoft's security problems and give customers a less expensive and more "open" (whatever that really means) alternative to MS operating systems, while remaining within the Microsoft fold. You could position Linux as the solution for less critical applications, while targeting proprietary MS operating systems at higher performance apps. I can't possibly get into all the issues surrounding a Microsoft-branded Linux here--I can think of a zillion complications. But it's an idea I'd like to see you explore. I have no doubt that if Microsoft decided to participate in the Linux market, the world would be a different place. After all, I've seen what you did with the Internet. Late to the party isn't the same as missing it. Sincerely, David

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SCO says clause bolsters Linux claim
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 09 Jun '03

09 Jun '03

SCO says clause bolsters Linux claim By Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com 9/6/2003 URL: http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/systems/0,39001153,39135666,00.htm SCO Group last week discovered a clause in a contract that could bolster its potential legal claims against Linux users. The company said it has uncovered a 1996 amendment to the contract under which Novell sold many of its Unix assets--which appears to give SCO claim to at least some Unix copyrights. The amendment seems to reverse a provision in the original 1995 asset transfer agreement under which Novell sold much of the Unix business to SCO's predecessor, the Santa Cruz Operation. That sale specifically excluded copyrights from the transfer. The amendment modifies this exclusion, so that SCO seems to receive at least some Unix copyrights. "Our interpretation of this is that we have the copyrights for Unix and UnixWare technologies," said SCO spokesman Blake Stowell. The amendment, dated Oct. 16, 1996, was signed about a year after the original transfer agreement. Even SCO challenger Novell seems to concur, in part, with SCO's interpretation, though Novell said it doesn't have a copy of the amendment in its files and still takes issue with SCO's actions against Linux users. The amendment "that came to Novell's attention today appears to bear a valid Novell signature, and the language, though convoluted, seems to support SCO's claim that ownership of some copyrights for Unix did transfer to SCO," Novell said in a statement issued Thursday. "The amendment does not address ownership of patents, however, which clearly remain with Novell." The amendment was part of a larger financial transaction between the Santa Cruz Operation and Novell, but Stowell didn't have details of that broader agreement. Novell also reiterated its demand that SCO substantiate its claims that proprietary Unix code has been copied into Linux, an open-source operating system modeled after Unix, but whose underlying source code is public. The copying claim, which grew out of SCO's U$1 billion lawsuit against IBM, spurred SCO to send letters to 1,500 large companies warning that using Linux could expose them to legal liability. At least one independent observer agreed that the amendment appears to give SCO copyrights. "They do have the copyrights," said John Ferrell, an intellectual property attorney with Carr and Ferrell, after reviewing the contract amendment. However, for SCO to bring copyright-based lawsuits against Linux users, SCO would have to show that the copyright transfers have been registered at the U.S. Copyright Office, Ferrell said. Signing a contract that transfers the copyrights but not registering that transfer "is akin to buying the Hearst Castle and not recording the deed with the county recorder," Ferrell said. The amendment changes the intellectual property that wasn't sold to the Santa Cruz Operation. It was modified to exclude from transfer "all copyrights and trademarks, except for the copyrights and trademarks owned by Novell as of the date of the agreement, required for SCO to exercise its rights with respect to the acquisition of Unix and UnixWare technologies." A SCO paralegal found the amendment Thursday in a filing cabinet, Stowell said. It's titled "Amendment No. 2"; Amendment No. 1 is "completely immaterial" to the issue of copyrights and trademarks, said Stowell, who said he believes there are no other amendments. SCO plans to detail the amended filing and its implications in a news conference Friday.

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