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Fund Raising for FSF-India
by Ramanraj K 15 Dec '03

15 Dec '03

__ Explicit Note: These are *MY* own views__ Recently, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay <gajo(a)softhome.net <mailto:gajo%40softhome.net?Subject=%5BFsf-friends%5D%20About%20the%20preliminary%20draft%20i%20had%20sent%20in&In-Reply-To=>> wrote about extending the reach of FSF-India. Directly connected with this, is the question of raising funds for FSF-India. The issue does stare upon our faces, and we ought not to skirt this issue. I putforth here, what strikes me as correct. Please do send in your suggestions. I am sure FSF-India, could deal with this issue in a better way, when this is done voluntarily by all of us. 1) Donations: This, the FSF-India invites through its web site. It should help if FSF-India also draws up and publishes a budget. Any donation from even a mere Rs. 10^0 to even > Rs.10^10 should help. We cannot underestimate the value of even 10^0, when the population of India is more than10^9, and if each Indian were to contribute just 10^0, FSF-India would have Rs. 100 Crores at its disposal. But, since that is flying too high, more pragmatically individuals may be comfortable with the idea of contributing anything from 10^2to6, and it would be nice if FSF-India, could give away CD's or a DVD of stable releases of top software from the Free Software Directory to donors. Corporates and governments who use and earn considerable profits from Free Software, could start at 10^5 and share whatever they could to promote FSF-India. We have about two dozen states, and if each could send as little as anything from 10^6to9, that should build a solid corpus. Please always remember that, when we part with our wealth to FSF, all of us end up becoming more wealthy! 2) Free Software CD's/DVD's: I have never seen a GNU/Linux box in Chennai. I have to place orders to shops in Bangalore if I want a GNU/Linux box. FSF-India could package and distribute Free Software CD's/DVD's along with printed documentation, through major book stores. This could generate revenue. For all that I know, FSF-India may be the distribution point for the whole of Asia. Now, that could also earn foreign exchange for India. 3) Posters: Our friend Rakesh Ambati, suggested posters of the Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace by Perry John Barlow. We could have posters of GPL under the GNU head logo [I would frame one for my office], and may be of St. iGNUtius RMS with his famous lines: I bless your computer my child I'm saint iGNUtius of the church of Emacs. Emacs started out as a text editor but it became a way of life for many computer users and then a religion. infact there was an alt.religion.emacs newsgroup back around 1990. I don't know what it was used for because I never read net news. but so,emacs became a religion. we even have a great sism between two different versions of emacs. and now we have saints. fortunately no gods yet. To join the church of emacs you must repeat the confession of the faith three times. you must say, "There's no system other than the GNU. and Linux is one of its kernels." The church of Emacs has some advantages compared with some other churches because to be a saint in the church of Emacs does not require celibacy however it does require making a moral commitment to live a life of purity and then living by it. You must Exorcise the evil proprietary operating systems from all the computers you control. and then install a wholly free operating system instead. because wholly can be spelled in more than one ways. and then only install free software on top of that. if you make this commitments and live by it, then you too would be a saint and you too may eventually have a halo, if you can find one because we don't make them anymore Now sometimes people ask me "In the Church of Emacs, is it a sin to use vi?" The answer is that "Using a free version of vi is not a sin its a penance." and people sometimes ask me if my halo is really an old computer disk. this is no computer disk. this is my halo. But it was a computer disk in a previous life. so, 'happy hacking' every one! The ilugc has the full text of the above speech at: http://www.chennailug.org/rms-chennai.txt The first line, "I bless your computer my child", touched my heart because the blessing comes alive with a load of GNU free software. I have removed the [laughter] tags that you will find in the link above. More ideas for posters are welcome. There is scope for audio tapes and cd's too: including the free software song by RMS, and other free songs that can inspire and relax us. 3) T-Shirts, Shoes, Footballs and a whole range of sports gear: Arun proposed Khadi Kurtas. I particularly request Footballs. Whenever we see somebody kicking well, we could send them a FSF Football and write "Wow, you kick so well! I am impressed. Please kick well so that we can together reach the goal". Some will use Free Software but refuse to promote it. They get free kicks! We could have a special offer on a pair of Footballs, where the purchaser pays for two at a discount but is delivered only one, and the other is sent to the deserving candidate for free kicks. This special offer could be called "Share your kicks!". Our OpenSource friends may promote a whole range of events based on the FSF sports gear: International tournaments, open matches, etc - oh! what fun it will be! But since sports gear cannot be copied like software, these efforts will bring home wealth to FSF coffers to promote Free Software. With the FSF sports gear, regardless of the players, we can always reach and win the goal of sharing the true spirit. This is Christmas Season. We could send some Footballs to Santa Claus so that he could give away to children for free. But we should also watch out for entitites with the initials of Santa Claus who run after the balls they have given away for free all these years! 4) Free Computers Junction: Providing a junction for disposal of unwanted or discarded computer hardware and software that is still usable, could help people who need these for development efforts. This may be just a mailing list to start with. This is a kind of wealth, and could also be used by FSF-India, say in fairs for demo purposes. Now, please contribute something more and add to the above fund raising. <mailto:gajo%40softhome.net?Subject=%5BFsf-friends%5D%20About%20the%20preliminary%20draft%20i%20had%20sent%20in&In-Reply-To=>

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Help: Introducing students to OSS
by balachandran c 15 Dec '03

15 Dec '03

Hi friends, I have an opportunity to teach a few courses to computer science students at Engg. college tvm. I would like to know your opinions/ideas on introducing the students to OSS. Though I havent had much interaction with the students yet, i believe that most of the 2nd year guys are not familiar with Gnu/Linux. PS: Im new here Balachandran Chandrasekharan

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[Fwd: [LIG] FSF India opinion :: Dept of Information Technology, GoI]
by Rajkumar S 14 Dec '03

14 Dec '03

Saw this on LIG, may be of interest to subscribers here raj -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [LIG] FSF India opinion :: Dept of Information Technology, GoI Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 22:42:41 +0530 From: Raghavendra Bhat <ragu(a)asianetonline.net> Reply-To: linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net To: linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net Section 87 of Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers the Government to regulate the file formats and standards to be followed in submission and issue of electronic records and money transfers between the government and public. The Department of Information Technology had invited opinion on the rules proposed to be framed. The opinion sent by FSF India can be read by linking here http://gnu.org.in/philosophy/mitrules.html -- ragOO http://puggy.symonds.net/~fsug-kochi

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About Warranty For Free Sofware
by Fitzgerald Joy Sylvester 14 Dec '03

14 Dec '03

dear friends, Why free software has no warranty If there is warranty then we would get more support for our cause , what if free software is run on a life support system regards sylvester

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[Fsf-friends] A help needed to correct transcript of RMS speech delivered at MIT
by Ramanraj K 14 Dec '03

14 Dec '03

The Chennai ILUG http://www.chennailug.org has published transcripts from the speech delivered by Richard M Stallman, founder of the Free Software Movement, at MIT, Chennai, on 13th, March, 2002 at : http://www.chennailug.org/rms-chennai.txt RMS recently had an occasion to view a part of it and suggested a few corrections to it as follows: <quote> but so,emacs became a religion. we even have a great sism between It's spelled "schism". You must Exorcise the evil proprietary operating systems from all the computers you control. and then install a wholly free operating system instead. I suggest writing "holy (= wholly)" here. if you make this commitments and live by it, then you too would be a Commitment, singular. </quote> It would be nice if all the typos and errors in the transcript are fixed. Is there anybody who attended the speech of RMS on 13th, March, 2002 at MIT and prepared to edit and correct the transcript?

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Local GNU ftp Mirror
by Ramanraj K 14 Dec '03

14 Dec '03

The address of GNU ftp mirror at IMTECH, Chandigarh is: ftp://www.imtech.res.in/pub/mirror_sites/gnuftp/

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[Fsf-friends] Promoting Free Software: Local RedHat/Debian/GNU Mirror
by Ramanraj K 13 Dec '03

13 Dec '03

I just noted that the IIT Madras has a mirror for RedHat and Debian . There is also a GNU mirror at Chandigarh. Please visit: http://www.chennailug.org/mirror.php

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hi all
by Fitzgerald Joy Sylvester 13 Dec '03

13 Dec '03

Merry Christmas season

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WSIS and Free Software
by Anivar Aravind 13 Dec '03

13 Dec '03

Some Interesting Links about The UNs World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva 1.The WSIS: whose freedom, whose information? Solana Larsen The UNs World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva is intended to create ways of bridging the global digital divide. But will its political tensions and complex agenda make it less of an internet-Kyoto and more of an arid talk shop? link: http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-8-10-1630.jsp 2.World Summit on the Information Society: Brazil gets it right Brazil's official contribution to the summit affirms the importance of free software and the sharing of knowledge. link: http://www.for-the-people.org/blog/entries/entry.2003-12-11.5514 3.Wipe Out WIPO! Link: http://de.indymedia.org/2003/12/69764.shtml 4.Official Web of WSIS Link: http://www.itu.int/wsis/ 5.Wording on software and IPR reflects tough battle Geneva conference features heated debate By John Blau, IDG News Service Link: http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/12/11/HNConferencedebate_1.html 6. Ablog on WSIS Link: http://www.dailysummit.net/ regards Anivar Aravind -- _______________________________________________ Get your free email from http://www.hackermail.com Powered by Outblaze

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[Fsf-friends] Looking for an alternative Knowledge Base Software....
by Rishi Gangoly 13 Dec '03

13 Dec '03

Hi This is a proprietory Knowledge Base tool we use at our office. http://www.softwarepoetry.com/kbnow/ I'm looking for 'Free' (as in Freedom) alternatives. Tried to find something on Freshmeat, but no joy. Anyone knows what something like this would cost to make and where to post such a request? Prefereably it should work on PHP/MySQL. I'd be happy to pay for it, license is GPL and upload it to a site for the rest of the world to enjoy it. Regards Rishi -- Expect the worst, it's the least you can do.

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