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Fwd: [fosscom] BJP accepts key sections of the FOSS Manifesto
by Anivar Aravind 10 Apr '09

10 Apr '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Venkatesh Hariharan <venkyh(a)gmail.com> Date: Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 3:38 PM Subject: [fosscom] BJP accepts key sections of the FOSS Manifesto To: network(a)lists.fosscom.in Dear Friends, Key sections of the FOSS manifesto (Point # 1 on FOSS in education, # 4 on open standards, #5 on encouraging freely shareable, FOSS based knowledge repositories like Wikipedia in Indian languages), have been strongly articulated in the BJP's IT vision document that was unveiled today by BJP's prime ministerial candidate, Shri LK Advani. The 40 page vision document is at: http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/images/stories/it-vision.pdf The press release is at: http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/content/view/799/281/ I am also enclosing my blog on this subject: Venky ===== http://osindia.blogspot.com/2009/03/bjps-it-vision-supports-open-source-and… Saturday, March 14, 2009 BJP's IT Vision supports open source and open standards The BJP, the largest opposition in India has released an IT Vision document that endorses open source and open standards. Many of the points mentioned in the FOSS Manifesto for India that we put up online last week have been incorporated in this document. This document was unveiled by none other than Shri. LK Advani, the BJP's candidate for Prime Minister. I did a quick read of the 40 page document and am impressed with how thorough and comprehensive it is. As a long time supporter of free and open source software, I am delighted to see a major Indian political party endorse it. However, I am even more delighted to see that this endorsement is rooted in a comprehensive vision for India's development. A big chunk of the credit for this document should go to Shri. Sudheendra Kulkarni (an alumnus of IIT Bombay) and Shri Prodyut Bora (an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad). Shri Kulkarni was advisor to Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee when Vajpayee was prime Minister of India and Shri Bora is Head of the IT Cell of the BJP. I was happy to see that the Digital Colonization theme that my friend, Jaijit Bhattacharya of Sun talks about has been incorporated in this document. Apart from the FOSS Manifesto, some of my key passions on open standards (that we don't pay for standards like weights and measures in the physical world, so why should we pay for standards in the digital world?) have been reflected. Also, as a co-founder of IndLinux.org which we started in 2000 in an attempt to bridge the digital divide, I am happy to see that the BJP has promised to create a National Mission for Indian Language Computing. The CPI(M), another national party in India has always been a strong supporter of our stand on open source, open standards and our fight against software patents. We are hopeful that other political parties will also take cognizance of the FOSS Manifesto and incorporate the same into their IT plans for India. With the country scheduled to go to polls next month, we now have a broad consensus emerging around the use of open source and open standards. This is great news for all of us who believe in free and open source software! _______________________________________________ Network mailing list Network(a)lists.fosscom.in http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.

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[Announcement] Launch of Free Software Movement - Karnataka
by Anilkumar KV 07 Apr '09

07 Apr '09

Congratulations, Vikram and other firends in FSMK. It is really a good initiative. Regards, Anil

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[Announcement] Launch of Free Software Movement - Karnataka
by Vikram Vincent 07 Apr '09

07 Apr '09

We, the Free Software Movement Team having been consistently working to build the Free Software Movement in Karnataka, have decided to consolidate our efforts by forming an organisation. Our work has been built on the work of the pioneers of Free Software in the country. After much deliberation, we have decided to name our organisation the 'Free Software Movement - Karnataka' to symbolise the all inclusiveness of the Movement. What differentiates us from other groups, organisations or networks is our approach to building the Movement. Our scientific understanding is that only a 'mass movement' in the FOSS domain can bring about the various changes that we envision. To build such a mass movement, a democratic, transparent, representative and dynamic organisation is essential. We understand that to address the various challenges before the Free Software Movement it is essential to have broad based coordination among the various entities operating in the FOSS domain, in conformance with our principles. It should be noted that we are not affiliated to FSF-I or any other entity, at present. We represent the Free Software Movement. Prof Eben Moglen and RMS have been our inspiration. The Convener is Senthil S.(9900262828) <senthilsos(a)yahoo.com> and Jt. Convener is Vikram Vincent (9448810822) <vincentvikram(a)gmail.com> This core team is supported by a group of academicians, people from the industry and students from around Karnataka. We present the 'Free Software Movement - Karnataka (FSMK)' http://fsmk.org http://fsmk.in --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is a mass movement? Mass movement : is a word with comes from geology. It is the geomorphic process by which soil, regolith, and rock move down slope under the force of gravity. Mass movement can be over varying timescales from seconds to years. Mass movement may occur at a very slow rate, particularly in areas that are very dry or those areas that receive sufficient rainfall such that vegetation has stabilised the surface. It may also occur at very high speed, such as in rock slides or landslides. -------- We aim to be a MASS MOVEMENT in FREE SOFTWARE We would like be a group of hacktivists - who can be catalysts in reaching the idea of free software to a large number of people - including the people who don't have hardware - by giving them free hardware to start with. Whether the mass movement in free software in India is going to be rapid or slow - is going to depend on You Waking up to the philosophy of free software.

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Kerala syllabus includes Power Point
by V. Sasi Kumar 05 Apr '09

05 Apr '09

The recommended syllabus for Course 2 (Academic Writing and Presentation) among the Common Courses, as recommended by the Higer Education Council, contains Power Point. I think we should register our protest. The syllabus should not specify a particular company's software. It has to be generic. They should change it to Multimedia Presentation. Can we send a letter to the Higher Education Council and to the Education Minister on this issue? Best -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [FSUG-Bangalore] The Hindu Editorial calls for Free Software in Healthcare
by Anivar Aravind 03 Apr '09

03 Apr '09

On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 8:03 PM, Pranesh Prakash <pranesh(a)cis-india.org> wrote: > Would the people on this list be able to pinpoint the various > governmental organisations/departments that have a) taken upon > themselves a mandate to use FOSS, and b) are successfully using FOSS? > Links to press releases / newspaper articles about such use would also > be useful. If such a list already exists, could someone point me > towards that? There is no such specific list. But It would be good if someone can volunteering to collect it in FSUG-Bangalore wiki Anivar -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.

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The Hindu Editorial calls for Free Software in Healthcare
by Anivar Aravind 03 Apr '09

03 Apr '09

The solution to the problem of flexibility lies in free and open source software. India has already adopted open source approaches in administrative systems and education projects. This represents a good policy foundation on which to build a national eHealth system. It could, for a start, leverage the strengths of the large open source software community. The outcome would be a common electronic health platform covering clinical and administrative functions for government as well as private institutions, with full interoperability. What is more, the open source nature of the project is bound to attract software companies and communities of programmers to come up with innovative health applications. http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/03/stories/2009040355500800.htm -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.

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RTI Application on VTU -M$ deal
by Anivar Aravind 30 Mar '09

30 Mar '09

See the response to RTI application by CIS http://cis-india.org/advocacy/floss/blog/rti-application-on-microsoft-vtu-d… Great Work Pranesh Anivar -- Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free Software industry because it creates the basis for future jobs. Learning Windows is like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [FSUG-Bangalore] Fwd: [ilugd] AGBM, and elections to ILUG-Delhi: Sun., May 3rd, 2pm, SIT-JNU
by Vikram Vincent 26 Mar '09

26 Mar '09

2009/3/24 Harish Singh <kumar.harish.singh(a)googlemail.com>: > Uh. Where did you find that quote ? It sounds like you picked that one out When people make rash comments without investigating the facts we can evaluate the person and their opinions better. > of a hat. That quote is inaccurate on so many levels, I wouldn't know where > to start. The original quote is here http://www.allgreatquotes.com/politician_quotes.shtml "Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote. -- William E. Simon" > FYI Debian is not an example of democracy by their own admission. Before you > post something to a public forum you should check your notes. Do you follow the elections of the DPL? What about the intense discussions on matters of policy within Debian? I guess you are talking through your hat. Read http://www.debian.org/devel/constitution and follow the appropriate MLs. > If you want to see democracy and its ill effects on a project head on over > to > http://lwn.net/Articles/197383/ ( > > Re: Democracy: No silver bullet ) > http://lwn.net/Articles/197380/ ( > Managing Gentoo - a study in quotes ). There is nothing there in those links that contradicts what opinion I have expressed. The developers are expressing their individual opinions on the issues mentioned. If you feel that FSF-I need not follow transparency, democracy, dynamism, accountability then you and whoever else are free to keep that opinion. I can tell you quite confidently that if FSF-I follows such a path then it will not be long before the only people left with FSF-I are its office bearers. <off-topic> Currently, the majority of the votes cast across the country are by uneducated people. They vote for a particular party because they are given certain incentives. The people who claim to be educated ie., the urban and educated lot and others give a variety of reasons for not partaking in this important responsibility towards our country. And then they complain... So because you did not vote the corrupt come to power. Check out the Ads by Times on TV they really emphasise on the point. A popular band from Christ College 'Thermal and a Quarter' came out with a song called 'Shut up and Vote' Watch it on youtube. http://www.mid-day.com/poll2009/2009/mar/180309-Jaago-Re-One-Billion-Vote-C… And if you do not like any of the contestants then at least cancel your vote so that it is not misused. So shut up about the problems and vote. </off-topic> -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [FSUG-Bangalore] Fwd: [ilugd] AGBM, and elections to ILUG-Delhi: Sun., May 3rd, 2pm, SIT-JNU
by Vikram Vincent 25 Mar '09

25 Mar '09

2009/3/25 Harish Singh <kumar.harish.singh(a)googlemail.com>: > Hello! You are not reading what is the official statement at debian.org . > Essential it says > "Even though Debian isn't really a democracy, we use a democratic process to > elect our leaders and to approve general resolutions. These procedures are > defined by the Debian Constitution > <http://www.debian.org/devel/constitution>. " ><snip> The developers decided upon that process. That is democracy. >From your series of mails I understand that you are not for a democratic process. Whether India is truely democratic is debatable but not for this list. But as long as the Preamble of Indian Constitution http://www.iloveindia.com/constitution-of-india/preamble.html says that we are a democratic republic we shall work to ensure that it remains as such.

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Mani takes GIMP session for mount carmelites
by Senthil Sundaram (sensunda) 25 Mar '09

25 Mar '09

Hi, Yesterday (sunday), Mani had taken GIMP session Mount Carmel MBA students (Shivaji Nagar) & We Care group (a group working for handicapped children). There were 40 students from Mount Carmel & total around 70. The feedback was excellent and everyone praised Mani for his good english. I was not there and Mani briefed us about this. http://slumdweller.wikispaces.com/faq It is a very good effort from Mani and now he is growing confidence to take GIMP session to bigger crowd. He also told them briefly about the concept of Free Software. Thanks & Regards senthil for mani mani : is from a working class family [ son of a loading / unloading worker ] - got access to a old laptop few months back - learnt gimp himself - from screencasts given by a volunteer - need for FREE HARDWARE - FREEDOM HARDWARE - FREE AS IN FREE CHAI .

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