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SITEWATCH: Perl-mongers ... from South Africa
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 04 Jun '03

04 Jun '03

This initiative welcomes involvement from India and elsewhere. Thanks to Nico Coetzee for the link. FN URL : http://za.pm.org za.pm.org - perl mongers of south africa Contents [1]home [2]about za.pm.org [3]mailing list Perl Links [4]Perl.org [5]CPAN - search page [6]Google's Perl Groups Perl Mongers [7]pm.org 2003-06-01 Ok, it's the start of a new month, and I think we have reached the point where we can actually start to do things :) At this stage I want to propose the following: we decide on certain focus areas, and based on a 'call for papers' style of working, we get some volunteer articles on a subject matter, and then publish the papers on this site, for discussion on the mailing list - together with any other usual questions you might have, of course. I see it go something like this: we decide which topics should be focused on in the medium term ( next 3 to 4 months or so ). Who ever feels they want to, can then write a short 'article' or tech-paper on the topic, and mail it directly to me. I will publish it on this site, and post a general announcement to the list. The list members then read the paper/article, and we discuss it on the list. After a couple of months/weeks I will archive those discussions separately from the main archive. In that way we build up a resource that even newbies can start to use. Please join us on the mailing list, and give your opinions on this idea. 2003-05-17 WOW ! The marketing paid off this week, and we are now 40 odd members strong. This is a bit more than I expected - but who's complaining :) From 20 May to 27 May 2003 I will be away for a [8]Open Source Seminar in Helsinki. Subscribers and new members - behave! 2003-05-11 I have started some PR, at this stage mainly on the GLUG Mailing list. I reckon there should be sufficient Perl interest in the local Linux community to boost our numbers. We have up to now only 7 subscribed users. Please people - help me get the word out! 2003-03-23 It seems there is life here afterall :) Anyway, still not much new around here. At this stage we have the mailing list ready and the basic site structure, so we can start to market this site now. Please familiarize yourself with our [9]aim, goals and objectives before you subscribe to our mailing list, or before you recommend us to a friend. Well, that's all for now. The updates on this site will be slow and low volume as most will happen on this mailing list. I am looking forward to see you there ! 2003-03-10 This site will shortly evolve in a comprehensive Perl resource for south africans. in the mean time you may join our mailing list here: [10]http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/za-pm see you around... Copyright � 2003. All rights reserved. [11]za.pm.org nico coetzee [ nico at itfirms dot co dot za ] References 1. http://za.pm.org/index.html 2. http://za.pm.org/about.html 3. http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/za-pm 4. http://www.perl.org/ 5. http://search.cpan.org/ 6. http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Programming/Languages/Perl/?tc=1 7. http://www.pm.org/ 8. http://www.itfirms.co.za/research.html 9. http://za.pm.org/about.html 10. http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/za-pm 11. http://za.pm.org/index.html

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Imporving Indic Support for Debian GNU/Linux
by Kanti Jadia 04 Jun '03

04 Jun '03

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Improved Indian Support for Debian. Jaldhar Vyas [26]wondered if there is any interest in a sub-project for increasing the support for Indian languages within Debian. Both GNOME and KDE contain viable support already. His goals would be to package Indian support software or write it as necessary, help with i18n and l10n for existing software and advocate the use of Debian in the Indian community. 26. http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-0305/msg01859.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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KDE improves Indic language support...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

_______________________________________________ KDE improves Indic language support The forthcoming KDE 3.2 desktop will have improved support for Indic languages, with Devanagari, Bengali and Tamil already tested. Syriac, Tibetan, Khmer and others are also expected to work, but the KDE project needs people who understand these languages to help the translation and localisation teams by providing feedback. If we'll soon have KDE in Tibetan, will there be any human languages that free software doesn't support? http://dot.kde.org/1053201681/ _______________________________________________ Please send your news snippets to daniel(a)linuxuser.co.uk _______________________________________________ LinuxUser mailing list LinuxUser(a)www.linux.org.uk http://www.linux.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/linuxuser

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ECONOMIC TIMES: Is Linux really happening in India, or is it just hype? (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

URL : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=383 Is Linux really happening in India, or is it just hype? SOBHA MENON TIMES NEWS NETWORK [spacer.gif] [ SUNDAY, JUNE 01, 2003 01:35:28 AM ] It's being billed as the solution that will deliver the masses from computer illiteracy. And so it was hardly surprising when a recent MAIT-organised seminar on "Open Source Software: A New Direction for India?" drew a larger-than-expected audience that stayed on till the very end. The seminar did throw up some very pertinent questions on open source software (OSS) and helped quite a bit in clearing the myth that the immediate adoption of Linux may be the solution to India's problems. As V Chandrashekhar, global head of s-governance practice, TCS, explains: "Linux use has increased as a result of the economic downturn and the decrease in perceived difficulty in using it. Linux is the de facto standard in embedded systems and in areas of high-end computing -- but it will be some time before it gets popular at the desktop level. " The low cost Linux advantage is what may make it acceptable to small and medium size businesses (SMEs) for accessing web servers, mail servers, and other technologies. Open source code, besides makes it more acceptable in high-end computing areas such as software development, genome unravelling, etc, and in areas where security is paramount -- say, the IT operations of the defence forces. But the common view that anyone who hasn't been exposed to any operating system, for instance Windows, may be a potential user of Linux may not be true as of now. D S Pandit, who heads the information systems at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is an example. "I got a free CD at a conference in Goa on Linux software for desktops. It took my IT department 10 days to download it and even after that I didn't find it easy to use." For instance, the fact that files created on Star Office sometimes cannot be read on Windows is a disadvantage. "This is an issue that only Microsoft can deal with," says Sandeep Menon, Linux Business Manager, IBM Asean/SA. And it's unlikely that Microsoft will deal with it in a hurry. Sanjeev Mathur, who heads marketing at Microsoft India, explains that the eco-system that Microsoft had created around its products include pre- and post-sales services and academic institutions to develop skills around Microsoft products. "It's an eco-system that Linux can't match," Mathur says. And there's no reason why Microsoft should include competing Linux software in that eco-system. A Nasscom report too which talks about the "silent Linux movement" in India admits that "while Linux is gaining stature, it is a fact that currently, the OS is an add-on to existing platforms within user organisations. Analysts also point out that Linux is still largely at the departmental and file or print server stage rather than at the mission critical database server level." The report also points out that Linux deployments are confined predominantly to the server end with less action at the desktop level and that "this factor too will impede Linux's rapid fire expansion in the Indian market." However, speaker after speaker at the conference spoke about a revolution of sorts. "It's like the flower power movement of the Seventies," said Menon, who exhorted the government to "define open standards in public sector procurement as a matter of policy". Menon would also like government departments to encourage their staff to experiment with Linux, and evaluate Linux as part of the national IT, R&D and economic development strategies. But it might be some time before that happens. The Nasscom report talks about e-governance projects on the anvil in many states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. But the fact is that most of these are just pilot projects. According to Chandrashekhar, TCS has about 10 e-governance projects in various states, but he says only 20 per cent of the solutions used would be Linux-based. Linux has its drawbacks, he says. "There is a lack of accountability because there are many bunches of developers with all kinds of offers. Also there is a reduced set of supporting hardware and business applications, a lack of guidelines, limitations regarding some high end operations, and limitations of user competence." The common refrain at the seminar was that Linux gave one the opportunity to work with open source code, until one government official piped up: "Why would I need open source code? What do I do with it when I don't have the skills to modify it?" Open source code does have its uses -- in high security environments where you can customise security requirements. For software developers and in areas of high-end computing too, there's a lot of advantage in having open source software because it ensures flexibility in using the software. So doesn't Linux have much prospects in India? It sure does, but only if its introduced at the school level so that future generations can grow up working on Linux, a government official felt. Worldwide, there are many governments that have adopted a policy of using Linux. Germany, Taiwan, China and many other countries in the Asia Pacific region are encouraging the use of Linux and have announced many initiatives based on open source software. In India, it's seen as a slower movement that will grow in size gradually. "A host of companies in India have extended support to Linux, in line with global strategies and initiatives undertaken by them in the open source space," says Nasscom. Already leading IT vendors such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Wipro, Integra Microsystems and Veritas have developed products for the Linux platform. According to Nasscom, many of India's 450,000 to 600,000 software developers who create solutions for the export market are getting onto the Linux bandwagon. All these companies have a separate set of Linux strategies for the Indian market. Red Hat's also working overtime to increase Linux's reach in India by working closely with government agencies such as NIC, ERDCI, IITs, NCST, MIT, etc , to develop applications on Linux. It's also put in place a network of training partners and is now offering courses in over 100 centres in India. And though government officials are still sceptical and look at it as a "hype created by a group of MNCs", it may be just a matter of time before the movement picks up. ______________________________________________________________________

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www.stallman.org switched from FreeBSD to GNU/Linux
by Kanti Jadia 02 Jun '03

02 Jun '03

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2003/05/05/richard_stallman_adopts_gpl_op… ------------------------------------------------------------------- In the late 90s, I kept some personal information in http://www.gnu.org/people/rms.html. It would have been improper for me to post my other political opinions there. Eventually we found that maintaining substantial amounts of text in that directory for GNU contributors was too much of a burden for the GNU webmasters. So we decided not to use it that way any more. I therefore wanted to set up a personal web site for my personal material. I decided for ethical reasons that the site had to be running a free software operating system, and that it must not put any ads onto my pages. I was prepared to pay for the service, but preferred to avoid the expense if possible. A friend was in a position to sponsor my usage of the site that his company used. That site runs FreeBSD, which is a free system. So I chose that site. In 2003 my friend was no longer able to sponsor the site, so I looked for new hosting. Once again, I considered only machines running free operating systems. I received several acceptable offers; the best one is a site running GNU/Linux. Any free operating system is acceptable, but I prefer to use a version of the GNU system. A couple of other points. * There is no "GNU Project License"; "GNU GPL" is short for the GNU General Public License. * It is not really accurate to say that GNU/Linux is a GPL-covered system and *BSD is not. GNU/Linux contains free software such as TeX and X11 and Apache that have other licenses, while *BSD systems contain GPL-covered programs such as GCC. What is true is that the developers of the *BSD systems do not use the GNU GPL for their own code. Posted by: Richard Stallman on May 16, 2003 11:49 AM ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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TCS to set up Linux lab in Delhi
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 02 Jun '03

02 Jun '03

TCS to set up Linux lab in Delhi PTI[ SUNDAY, JUNE 01, 2003 11:02:30 AM ] NEW DELHI: Software major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is planning to set up a centre of excellence Linux Laboratory in its Delhi facility where it will showcase Linux-installed machines to demonstrate the capability of open source software. IBM and Computer Associates are already on board for the lab and it will be operational in July this year, Gautam Shroff, head, architecture and technology practice, TCS, said while adding the company is in talks with other companies as well. The laboratory will have Linux installed on a number of non-high-end machines but of reasonable calibre that has everything required to run an IT organisation in terms of management software, the middleware and desktops end-to-end, he said. TCS will be investing in the lab in terms of manpower, the partners will be investing in deploying the software. There will be no dedicated team for the lab but there will be one such team of management and TCS will rotate its people through the lab and at any point of time 10 people will be working in the lab, Shroff said. The lab itself does not have a revenue target and the goal of the lab is to provide a set-up where we can bring in our customers to show the extent to which open source could be pushed, he said. The lab will also have TCS's own solutions that it has built for government and the banking sector and has IPRS for them besides demonstrating customers those projects on open source, Shroff added. ====================================================== Posted by N.S. Soundara Rajan, Freelance IT Correspondent, Mysore, India

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[Fsf-friends] Is Linux really happening in India, or is it just hype?
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 02 Jun '03

02 Jun '03

Is Linux really happening in India, or is it just hype? SOBHA MENON TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, JUNE 01, 2003 01:35:28 AM ] It’s being billed as the solution that will deliver the masses from computer illiteracy. And so it was hardly surprising when a recent MAIT-organised seminar on “Open Source Software: A New Direction for India?” drew a larger-than-expected audience that stayed on till the very end. The seminar did throw up some very pertinent questions on open source software (OSS) and helped quite a bit in clearing the myth that the immediate adoption of Linux may be the solution to India’s problems. As V Chandrashekhar, global head of s-governance practice, TCS, explains: “Linux use has increased as a result of the economic downturn and the decrease in perceived difficulty in using it. Linux is the de facto standard in embedded systems and in areas of high-end computing -- but it will be some time before it gets popular at the desktop level. ” The low cost Linux advantage is what may make it acceptable to small and medium size businesses (SMEs) for accessing web servers, mail servers, and other technologies. Open source code, besides makes it more acceptable in high-end computing areas such as software development, genome unravelling, etc, and in areas where security is paramount -- say, the IT operations of the defence forces. But the common view that anyone who hasn’t been exposed to any operating system, for instance Windows, may be a potential user of Linux may not be true as of now. D S Pandit, who heads the information systems at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is an example. “I got a free CD at a conference in Goa on Linux software for desktops. It took my IT department 10 days to download it and even after that I didn’t find it easy to use.” For instance, the fact that files created on Star Office sometimes cannot be read on Windows is a disadvantage. “This is an issue that only Microsoft can deal with,” says Sandeep Menon, Linux Business Manager, IBM Asean/SA. And it’s unlikely that Microsoft will deal with it in a hurry. Sanjeev Mathur, who heads marketing at Microsoft India, explains that the eco-system that Microsoft had created around its products include pre- and post-sales services and academic institutions to develop skills around Microsoft products. “It’s an eco-system that Linux can’t match,” Mathur says. And there’s no reason why Microsoft should include competing Linux software in that eco-system. A Nasscom report too which talks about the “silent Linux movement” in India admits that “while Linux is gaining stature, it is a fact that currently, the OS is an add-on to existing platforms within user organisations. Analysts also point out that Linux is still largely at the departmental and file or print server stage rather than at the mission critical database server level.” The report also points out that Linux deployments are confined predominantly to the server end with less action at the desktop level and that “this factor too will impede Linux’s rapid fire expansion in the Indian market.” However, speaker after speaker at the conference spoke about a revolution of sorts. “It’s like the flower power movement of the Seventies,” said Menon, who exhorted the government to “define open standards in public sector procurement as a matter of policy”. Menon would also like government departments to encourage their staff to experiment with Linux, and evaluate Linux as part of the national IT, R&D and economic development strategies. But it might be some time before that happens. The Nasscom report talks about e-governance projects on the anvil in many states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. But the fact is that most of these are just pilot projects. According to Chandrashekhar, TCS has about 10 e-governance projects in various states, but he says only 20 per cent of the solutions used would be Linux-based. Linux has its drawbacks, he says. “There is a lack of accountability because there are many bunches of developers with all kinds of offers. Also there is a reduced set of supporting hardware and business applications, a lack of guidelines, limitations regarding some high end operations, and limitations of user competence.” The common refrain at the seminar was that Linux gave one the opportunity to work with open source code, until one government official piped up: “Why would I need open source code? What do I do with it when I don’t have the skills to modify it?” Open source code does have its uses -- in high security environments where you can customise security requirements. For software developers and in areas of high-end computing too, there’s a lot of advantage in having open source software because it ensures flexibility in using the software. So doesn’t Linux have much prospects in India? It sure does, but only if its introduced at the school level so that future generations can grow up working on Linux, a government official felt. Worldwide, there are many governments that have adopted a policy of using Linux. Germany, Taiwan, China and many other countries in the Asia Pacific region are encouraging the use of Linux and have announced many initiatives based on open source software. In India, it’s seen as a slower movement that will grow in size gradually. “A host of companies in India have extended support to Linux, in line with global strategies and initiatives undertaken by them in the open source space,” says Nasscom. Already leading IT vendors such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Wipro, Integra Microsystems and Veritas have developed products for the Linux platform. According to Nasscom, many of India’s 450,000 to 600,000 software developers who create solutions for the export market are getting onto the Linux bandwagon. All these companies have a separate set of Linux strategies for the Indian market. Red Hat’s also working overtime to increase Linux’s reach in India by working closely with government agencies such as NIC, ERDCI, IITs, NCST, MIT, etc , to develop applications on Linux. It’s also put in place a network of training partners and is now offering courses in over 100 centres in India. And though government officials are still sceptical and look at it as a “hype created by a group of MNCs”, it may be just a matter of time before the movement picks up. ====================================================== Posted by N.S. Soundara Rajan, Freelance IT Correspondent, Mysore, India

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volunteers login
by Sam 01 Jun '03

01 Jun '03

hi, i have been trying to login to volunteer's page for last 2 weeks, but it doesn't seem to be up yet! when will it be online again? Sameer

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Re: Linux users stats for India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 May '03

30 May '03

Would anyone have suggestions for my journalist colleague? FN On Fri, 30 May 2003, Keya Acharya wrote: > Hi Fred, > I'm doing a story for Panos on the usage of opensource and proprietory software, and was wanting to know what percentage of computer-users in India use Linux right now. Safe to say 2% ? Any numbers you can give me ? > Thanks a lot, Keya > Ms. Keya Acharya > Journalist > B 122 Century Park > 48 Richmond Road > Bangalore 560 035 > India. > > Ph: +91 80 5594597 > Fax: +91 80 559 9745 > email: keyaa(a)vsnl.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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INTERVIEW: Free software carnival... LatinAm FLOSS
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 May '03

30 May '03

FREE SOFTWARE CARNIVAL: Latin America takes to FLOSS in a big way... Latin America seems like a world away. But Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) there is growing much like in South Asia, and arguably, better. Recently, a study of FLOSS in that part of the word pointed to the contribution of GNOME (started in 1997 by Mexican devloper Miguel de Icaza), Brazil's Sorceforge-like Codigolivre.org.br portal site, the simple UTUTO distro from Argentina, and the widely-popular PHP-Nuke content management system from Francisco Burzi of Venezuela. This distant continent has also challenged the role of proprietorial software and Microsoft (as done by Peru), and come up with interesting university-based software solutions (see www.univates.br) from Brazil. For instance, the Brazilian UNIVATES says it has saved more than R$500,000 (about US$ 130,000) by *not* acquiring copies of proprietary software for servers and desktops. It saves R$200,000 (US$70,000) each year on software upgrades and maintenance. This is enough to pay the salaries of the development group. Meaning, Univates can effectively produce technology for its own use (and which others can also make use of) at virtually no cost! To understand the larger canvas of the Free Software scene in Latin America, FREDERICK NORONHA <fred at bytesforall.org> spoke to Cesar Brod (39). Brod <cesar at brod.com.br> is vice-president of the Brazilian free software cooperative SOLIS (Cooperativa de Solucoes Livres). More importantly, he coordinated the Latin American leg of a recent Finland-conducted study on the significance of Free/Libre and Open Source Software for the developing countries. After studying Physics at the University of Sao Paulo and the Federal University of Rio Grande de Sul, he dropped out of college to enter the exciting world of software at a young age. "I abandoned university because I was travelling too much," he recalls. Getting involved with computers at the age of 20, he started work with multinationals, and shifted from being a hardware analyst to being a software programmer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To start with Cesar, could you give us an overview of what's happening on the Free Software front in Latin America? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think almost every country (in Latin America) offers a very good story on Free Software. They have very good projects, but the only thing that is actually missing is communication -- people talking with each other about what exactly they have. For instance, you have in Peru, a very good start-up project, which is an ERP for rural agriculture and the environment. This is some kind of thing that is exactly needed all over Latin America, and probably for every Third World country. But the people just dont know about it. In the meantime, this software is very localised. So, the way it is, it won't serve other countries. But with very little effort, and probably very little financing too, it could be adapted to fit a lot of other geographies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can you give us some other examples of interesting projects you came across in the course of your recent study on FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) in Latin America? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the most interesting ones was the FreeMed Project from Cuba. Its a very simple project. It just aims to establish a network connection between doctors in several different hospitals, in order to share information and diagnostics about people and diseases. Another good one is the Free Education Network that was put together by the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. It's using Free Software to teach young people how to use computers, how to do their Math, and actually to use Free Software as a learning aid for all their first grade disciplines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Which countries, in your view, are the best off in this field in Latin America? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of Free Software production, Brazil. In terms of software projects allying with the GNU project, it would be Mexico, with Chile getting very close. In terms of a user community, Uruguay has a lot to teach us. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you see some Latin American countries lagging behind? Why? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The truth is I don't know if they are really lacking, or they are simply not communicating enough. For instance, in the first version of my report, I have nothing about Chile. And when the people in Chile got to know what I was doing, they collaborated with a wonderful report, and they actually have a lot of things going on which I was not aware of. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of revving up the FLOSS engine for take off, what is it that is actually required on the ground in any Latin American country? Is it a good technical base, access to the Internet, the ability of keeping in touch with the outside world, or what? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thats a very good question. I think if you just give computers to the people and just some base training -- very little basic training -- you'll be amazed by the kind of progress that can be made. I'm basing my reply on one experiment done in Uruguay, by MIT professor Etienne Delacroix. He has his programming-and-art workshop, where he introduces people to computers in a very artistic way. For instance, he asks people how can you be sure that this motherboard will work once we know how a hair-drier works... and he compares the small streams of energy that goes into the mother-board with the electric plug of the hair-drier. And he asks people to identify where the big rivers of energy inside those small streams of the motherboard are located. By doing that, he makes people peep into a motherboard, and get it working... and just by doing that he gets people together with technology. People who even lacked access to that kind of technology before. And after a couple of weeks, those people would be programming in C language. So, what's missing is (the means) to re-connect people with technology. The Third World is a technology consumer; once you reconnect people with technology youll see a lot of good things happening. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are the three best things that Free Software can give to Latin America that proprietorial software cannot? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technology independence, regional development. (After some thought) its knowledge-freedom actually.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What would you see as the main roadblocks that stop FLOSS from getting ahead in Latin America? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proprietorial software lobbying, meaning actually Microsoft lobbying. There's also fear of the perception of the unknown technology. You can't say the technology is unknown (but that's the perception created). And, still, the lack of support. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What does Latin America have to give to the rest of the Free/Libre and Open Source Software world? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think we have already given a lot of good examples (laughs). Just to give one, the Gnome platform. Then, there's the PHP Nuke project. And a lot of KDE-standard tools that are coming out from Chile and Brazil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- While studying the contribution of Latin America, what did you learn? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- That we have been reinventing the wheel in so manycountries that we have been researching. We should communicate a lot more. Actually for a community that lives on the Internet, it's amazing that we still dont know enough about each other's projects. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do tell us about UNIVATES and yourself? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNIVATES is a very small university centre in the south of Brazil, and I work for them as the technical consultant. Probably because they are so little and don't have any money, it's a community-owned university. That means we have to be very creative in terms of technology adoption. That's why, in 1999, I have started for them the Free Software Project that ended up in several products to be used inside the university. That became quite popular, initially all over Brazil and now, in the Mercosur (the Southern Cone countries). (See http://www.univates.br/freesoftware) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- And about yourself? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I got to know of Linux just by chance in 1993 -- the kernel and the GNU tools. At that time, I needed a Unix to run in my notebook as I was supporting a customer far from where I was living, and didn't want to travel that much. But a SCO/UNIX license was too expensive. Since then, I have been using Free Software and doing some consulting jobs on that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Has it made a difference to the way you work and think? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's interesting to think about that. I pretty much left the centre of the country, Sao Paulo and Rio, where you make the big bucks, and have moved back to the city where I was born. My life is a lot cheaper... and I have a lot more fun. I started using Free Software because I didn't want to travel; in the past year it took me to Finland and Sweden twice. (ENDS) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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