- Fsf-friends - lists.fsci.in

Indian students in SoC
by Praveen A 26 Apr '08

26 Apr '08

Hi, We know about 7 students from India who got selected for SoC this time. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SoC/2008 If you know of any student from India not listed there please update. Regards Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 1

Interview with Debian Devleoper from IITM Varun Hiremath
by Praveen A 22 Apr '08

22 Apr '08

Which project do you currently contribute to? I am a Debian Developer and I am currently maintaining about 135 packages in Debian. This is my Debian QA page where you will find the list of packages I am currently maintaining in Debian: http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=Varun+Hiremath Apart from Debian I have been contributing to many open source projects: 1) I am author of open source project python-gastables: python modules for compressible gas flow calculations: Homepage: code.google.com/p/python-gastables 2) I am also author of Krickscore - KDE applet for cricket scores. http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Environment/KDE/krickscore-25612.sht… Homepage: http://varun.travisbsd.org/krickscore.php 3) I have been contributing to Jajuk - Advanced Juke box project, where I am working as a Developer and Debian package maintainer. Homepage: http://jajuk.info/index.php/Main_Page 4) I am also currently maintaing pidgin-festival ( formerly knows as festival-gaim). I rewrote festival-gaim to make it work with the new pidgin API. Homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin-festival/ How does it feels to have two DDs from neighbouring rooms? (Kumar Appaiah stays next to my room) It is a big advantage having him next door because we get to learn a lot from each other. Usually there is a lot of activity going on in Debian, and it becomes very difficult to keep track of things; having another DD next door really helps a lot to catch up with action. Read More about Varun at http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Varun_Hiremath Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] a list discussing the ICT policy for education
by Raj Mathur 21 Apr '08

21 Apr '08

On Saturday 19 Apr 2008, Nagarjuna G. wrote: > Those of you who would like to take active role in shaping the ICT > policy of India, please join this group and voice your opinions. > This group has members from various organizations, and not > necessarily from free software community. > > http://groups.google.com/group/ict-education-india Why Google? It won't let me join the group unless I have a Google account, and it won't let non-Google-members view archives, etc. I presume increasing Google's market worth isn't one of the objectives of this discussion forum. Regards, -- Raju -- 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

2 1

Why Schools Must Embrace ODF and FOSS
by Praveen A 20 Apr '08

20 Apr '08

Schools are being prevented from enjoying a revolution in software provision, and self-sufficiency is being halted by the promotion of dependency, said Ian Lynch, spokesman for the Open Schools Alliance. "Innovation starts with teachers and pupils, but under BSF the school's IT strategy is taken out of its hands," he said. see more news at how Microsoft is trying to lock students at an early stage http://boycottnovell.com/2008/04/19/school-odf-koffice-nlnet/ We (those us us from Kerala) can be proud that we did not let our children to suffer, but be watchful, they are trying hard. See how Microsoft's playmate Infosys is selling our children and our countries future. http://groups.google.com/group/ilug-tvm/browse_thread/thread/5187fd263da0e0… -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

New debian project leader Steve McIntyre talks about his plans
by Praveen A 20 Apr '08

20 Apr '08

"I love the knowledge that I'm working on a complete operating system which covers my needs. If it breaks, I have a chance of fixing it, or I can find a friend who will be able to do it for me. If I want to do something new with the system, I'm confident that it will support me. The fact that millions of other people appreciate what I'm doing as well is icing on the cake!" Read the full interview at http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17716/1090/1/0/ -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] Futility of going after ISO
by CK Raju, Thrissur 19 Apr '08

19 Apr '08

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> wrote: > free software supporters , hackers community and several industries do > support free/open standards. This community is not small. ISO > demonstrated its inability already. We have to therefore make an attempt to > create an alternate body. May be an initiative to create an alternate body > may trigger ISO from restructuring itself and may become better than it is > now. ISO may have become too big and too large which may be preventing it to adapt effectively. But, as you rightly point out, it caters only to a section of society, for purposes that favours their businesses, with least concern for the marginalised - it can never be a government-sort-of-mechanism that way which takes into account the welfare of its poorest citizens. "ISO only launches the development of new standards for which there is clearly a market requirement..." [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/faqs/faqs_standards.htm]. It should be clear to us now, that as an organisation, ISO possesses a deep-rooted cognitive disorder, where negotiations or such efforts would induce little meaning. Its an apolitical organisation worthy enough to be disowned by our community which is a political one, having firm goals. > Of late, free software movement is mostly on the defensive. It will be a > good way to take up proactive steps rather than spend our limited energies > in defending the moves of MS and others. True, ROS team these days says "For every OS, there is an equal and opposite ReactOS." > Meanwhile, we should point out to the community that ISO standard does not > imply free/open standard. Their criteria are purely technical, and clearly > favors the interests of a section of the Industry. We should create a > portal that shows how many of the ISO standards do not clear as free/open > standards to make our point. We may even demand ISO and appeal to remove > 'open' from the OOXML, for that does mislead the users in a big way. Looking at the increasing interest and participation from premier research and educational organisations towards free-software activities, what is needed, could just be a "GPL" clone for standards, which can put the whole domain of standards into an evolutionary process. Please take the lead and do it, Nagarjuna. All the best. CK Raju

1 0

Futility of going after ISO
by CK Raju, Thrissur 19 Apr '08

19 Apr '08

Dear RMS, I think its futile to chase ISO anymore. We would only land up spending our own creative energy which we can't afford to at this pace. " * Market-driven ISO only develops standards for which there is a market requirement. The work is mainly carried out by experts from the industrial, technical and business sectors which have asked for the standards, and which subsequently put them to use." .. in their own words at http://www.iso.org/iso/about/discover-iso_the-iso-brand.htm Why should Free Software Foundation and other like minded organisations allow ISO to take over software standards and make it - only *market-driven* one ? Its not difficult to realise that the *very conditions* that necessitated a Standards Organisation to be promoted, are now prevalent and omnipresent. Why not create another organisation that develops standards for the common world citizens to communicate with freedom ? Shouldn't we ask ourselves now about this, and try to define the *framework* that would set in motion a new organisation which would be able to come out with Free/Open Standards after *defining* them in as unambigous terms as possible ? CK Raju, MES College of Engineering, Kuttippuram Kerala, India

5 6

Kumar Appaiah: 5th Debian Developer from India
by Praveen A 18 Apr '08

18 Apr '08

Kumar Appaiah (ILUGC Member and Final year Dual degree student, EEE Dept, IIT-Madras) is the 5th Debian Developer from India. Other 4 from India are Ganesan Rajagopal, Ramakrishnan Muthukrishnan in Bangalore. Kapil Hari Paranjape in Institute of Mathematical Sciences Taramani. Varun Hiremath, student of Aerospace Engg. at IIT Madras. Congratulations Kumar. It is a great boost for the Debian community in India. -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

photos ODF-liberate your documents -candle lamp vigil - 25th april 2008 Townhall bangalore
by renuka prasad 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

here are some of the snaps that were taken during candle lamp vigil --- liberate your documents --- use odf http://www.flickr.com/photos/25734428@N06/

1 0

Hindu story and pictures of the candle light vigil
by Praveen A 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041660721100.htm http://flickr.com/photos/kushaldas/sets/72157604562832040/ Regards Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Fwd: [FSUG-Bangalore] Groklaw picked up NITC Students Open Letter & Todays Hindu Report
by Praveen A 15 Apr '08

15 Apr '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> Date: 2008/4/15 Subject: [FSUG-Bangalore] Groklaw picked up NITC Students Open Letter & Todays Hindu Report To: Free Software Users Group - Bangalore <fsug-bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080414181840439 Anyway, the protests continue, for the simple reason that people are disgusted by what they saw, I gather, and they understand what's at stake. In India there was an Open Letter to Wipro, Infosys and TCS published recently by students at the National Institute of Technology. It begins like this: This letter is to express our deep disappointment over your open support to the OOXML format forced through ISO by Microsoft. Being the top IT giants and thus the representatives of the IT industry in the country, it is a great shock to us that you do not stand with academia of the country and its representatives like the IITs, IIMs and IISc in supporting the Open Document Format (ODF) which is a true Free and Open Standard already recognised as an ISO Standard. Of course, India voted against OOXML, but the students noticed the vote breakdown: 1. National Informatics Center - NO 2. Center for Development of Advanced Computing - NO 3. Computer Society of India - NO 4. Department of IT - NO 5. IBM - NO 6. Institute for Electronic Governance - Absent 7. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad - NO 8. Indian Institute of Science - NO 9. Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi - NO 10. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay - NO 11. Infosys - YES 12. Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkatta - NO 13. Manufacturers Association of IT - Abstain 14. Microsoft - YES 15. National Association of Software and Services Companies - YES 16. National Institute of Smart Governance - Absent 17. Reserve Bank of India - Absent 18. Red Hat - No 19. Standardization Testing and Quality Certification Directorate - NO 20. Sun - NO 21. Tata Computer Services - YES 22. Wipro - YES (for changing India's vote from NO to Abstain) The students noticed such fine details, and their letter was a request for an explanation. By the way, did you notice that Sun voted No? Just to put to rest the conspiracy theorists out there busily spinning some fables. Todays Hindu Report doesn't get all the details right, but they noticed the same thing the students did: The BIS, which represents India at ISO, had 19 members of which 13 voted against Microsoft's OOXML. Many academics and colleges (NIT-Calicut among others) have written open letters to TCS, Infosys, NASSCOM, Wipro (that voted to abstain) and Microsoft (voted in favour of OOXML). There is a rising fear among academics and advocates of free software standards that BIS will come under pressure in the absence of any national policy. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the only two States who have a policy in place. "Very big voices like NASSCOM and Infosys that have not participated in even one meeting have voted irresponsibly. We fear that if such lobbying continues, academics and individuals like us will be put on the defensive, unless there is a policy in place," said Nagarjuna G., professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who was part of the technical committee of BIS. This committee alone identified 200-odd technical flaws in OOXML's 7,000 page document — the Open Document Format is 600 pages — and more than 1,000 others were identified internationally. I see I am not alone in viewing OOXML as a move of aggression. Microsoft must be realizing by now by the outpouring of dismay all over the world that this isn't just a typical vendor fight, where winner takes all and everyone shakes hands and moves on. The public cares about ODF, because it realizes it will impact every one of us directly, and we see the obvious, that OOXML is a spoiler. This has nothing to do with market share. _______________________________________________ FSUG-Bangalore mailing list FSUG-Bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

The Hindu: Techies protest proprietary standards; seek policy
by Praveen A 15 Apr '08

15 Apr '08

Today's Hindu has a report on Candle Light Vigil and Campaign for Document Freedom. BANGALORE: Ever since the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) vote on April 2 adopted Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) as a document standard, techie blogs and websites have been inundated with posts and articles voicing their opposition to proprietary software and technical issues with the new standard. Organisations and online communities — such as the Free Software User Group and the Free and Open Source Software — are looking to raise the issue more aggressively in the public domain. "We call the OOXML format a "banana standard." Besides raising awareness, we want the Government to formulate a policy supporting Open Software and also appeal the ISO mandate," said Anivar Aravind, a software consultant who will participate in a rally in front of the Town Hall on Tuesday to raise awareness about Open Document formats and demand a national policy on standardisation and use of Open Software. In simple words, the problem is one of compatibility, an important issue in this digital world. For example, take the much hyped e-governance. If the Government maintains its land records in a certain digital format, and the documentation uses a proprietary format, then a user will have to keep upgrading his operating system to access the record. Proponents of Free Software argue that even with Microsoft's old document format (.doc), a file created seven to eight years ago may not be recognised by a modern operating systems such as XP. "This is like being sold a house without being given the key to it. We need public support to take it to the policy level," says Venkatesh Hariharan, who was part of a Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) committee. The BIS, which represents India at ISO, had 19 members of which 13 voted against Microsoft's OOXML. Many academics and colleges (NIT-Calicut among others) have written open letters to TCS, Infosys, NASSCOM, Wipro (that voted to abstain) and Microsoft (voted in favour of OOXML). There is a rising fear among academics and advocates of free software standards that BIS will come under pressure in the absence of any national policy. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the only two States who have a policy in place. "Very big voices like NASSCOM and Infosys that have not participated in even one meeting have voted irresponsibly. We fear that if such lobbying continues, academics and individuals like us will be put on the defensive, unless there is a policy in place," said Nagarjuna G., professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who was part of the technical committee of BIS. This committee alone identified 200-odd technical flaws in OOXML's 7,000 page document — the Open Document Format is 600 pages — and more than 1,000 others were identified internationally. The National Knowledge Commission Report 2006 and the Eleventh Five Year plan for Information Technology recommend Free Software. http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/15/stories/2008041554380500.htm -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Bangalore, 15th April: Candle light vigil for Document Freedom
by Praveen A 14 Apr '08

14 Apr '08

Dear Friends, Recently International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) is approved Microsoft's broken standard OOXML( with 1000s of Technical Flaws) also as a Document standard. India's Vote was No to this standard that creates vendor lock-in and prevents interoperability. Micro$oft played a lot of nasty games to get the approval from member countries. In this context we are Conducting a Candle Light Vigil for Document Freedom Demanding bureau of indian standard (BIS) to appeal ISO's Decision of approving the banana standard OOXML Venue : In Front of Townhall, Corporation Circle , Bangalore Date : 15th April 6.00pm The programme is planned as a starting point for various events & awareness campaigns on Document freedom . Please use following wiki page for organising the programme http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_for_Document_Freedom Also add your name on campaigners section Contact : Praveen A <pravi.a at gmail.com> +91 9986348565 Anivar Aravind <anivar at movingrepublic dot org> +91 9449009908/ +91 080 23435606 Why Document Freedom? We live in an age in which paper documents increasingly get replaced by electronic records. Document freedom is fundamental for your documents to outlive the application you are currently using and allows you to choose and change applications freely. Previous proprietary document formats have become difficult or impossible to read within little more than a decade. There is no reason to believe this trend will not continue if allowed so to do. Without open standards for our documents we are likely to inflict a 'digital dark-age' on our descendants when they discover that they are unable to read any of the sources for their history, such as Government records, acts of Parliament, property title deeds, scientific research papers, and family histories. They will not forgive us if we fail to act to protect them now, but instead allow another generation of poorly specified proprietary standards to become widely adopted. Document Freedom and Democracy Electronic records kept today include records of your government, such as tax and legal records or minutes of parliamentary proceedings. Making sure that such records remain in the control of the government is essential for a functioning democracy. The same is true for all interactions between citizens and their government, which should never depend on monopolies or on the proprietary product of a single company. How to achieve Document Freedom? Make a stand by saving your documents in ODF today. If your application does not support ODF, get one of the ODF supported applications like OpenOffice.org, Staroffice, NeoOffice, KOffice, AbiWord, Google Docs, IBM Lotus Symphony etc We request all users to 1. not send attachments in proprietary formats like .doc, .xls, .ppt 2. not pollute their friends computers and the internet with unethically encoded documents. 3. inform the users that they do not have right to decode the documents they themselves have written, if they use proprietary software 4. distribute open office cds, containing apps with source code for windows. 5. distribute live cds. Regards Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] [FSUG-Bangalore] Demonstration against approval of OOXML by ISO amid huge irregularities
by Vikram Vincent 11 Apr '08

11 Apr '08

On 11/04/2008, tb dinesh <dinesh(a)servelots.com> wrote: > > Maybe we can continue this at IIMB on 19/20 barcamp? > > Maybe also have a session on the OOXML - politics and technology. > Lots of possibilities. Anyone from IIM or IISc or anywhere else who can address the gathering on the 15th evening? -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://www.swatantra.org/ http://translate.swatantra.org/

1 0

An Open Letter to Wipro, Infosys and TCS
by Praveen A 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

http://www.fossmeet.in/node/128 6th April 2008 This letter is to express our deep disappointment over your open support to the OOXML format forced through ISO by Microsoft. Being the top IT giants and thus the representatives of the IT industry in the country, it is a great shock to us that you do not stand with academia of the country and its representatives like the IITs, IIMs and IISc in supporting the Open Document Format (ODF) which is a true Free and Open Standard already recognised as an ISO Standard. Considering that a major portion of your employees come from such institutions, it is a wonder to us that you have decided to go ahead with this decisions. We would like to hear your explanation with respect to these points :-(quoted from www.noooxml.org/petition) 1. There is already a standard ISO26300 named Open Document Format (ODF): a dual standard adds costs, uncertainty and confusion to industry, government and citizens; 2. There is no provable implementation of the OOXML specification: Microsoft Office 2007 produces a special version of OOXML, not a file format which complies with the OOXML specification; 3. There is information missing from the specification document, for example how to do a ´autoSpaceLikeWord95´ or ´useWord97LineBreakRules´; 4. More than 10% of the examples mentioned in the proposed standard do not validate as XML; 5. There is no guarantee that anybody can write software that fully or partially implements the OOXML specification without being liable to patent lawsuits or patent license fees by Microsoft; 6. This format conflicts with existing ISO standards, such as ISO 8601 (Representation of dates and times), ISO 639 (Codes for the Representation of Names and Languages) or ISO/IEC 10118-3 (cryptographic hash); 7. There is a bug in the spreadsheet file format which forbids any date before the year 1900: such bugs affect the OOXML specification as well as software applications like Microsoft Excel 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007. 8. This standard proposal was not created by bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties (such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators), but by Microsoft alone. With this decision, the impression you are making on your future employees in the academia is not a very pretty one. In fact, the development of OOXML receiving ISO´s approval has devalued our confidence in the standards setting process itself. We hope that you will put self-profit behind our country´s needs, change your decision, and stand with the rest of the country on this issue. PS: Please forward this to the groups you are in... -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

OOXML - what next? planning meet tomorrow 6.30 pm 10 April
by Praveen A 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Hi, Come to Cubbon Park (Victoria Statue entrance, circle at the end of MG Road) at 6.30 pm tomorrow to discuss plans about OOXML campaign. We should let the people know of those who sold the country out for some bucks and put pressure on BIS to go for a an appeal. See you there. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Report on FOSS@School
by Pramode C.E. 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Hello, There was a 2 day workshop for school kids called FOSS@School as part of the recently concluded FOSSMeet at NIT Calicut - please read the report here: http://pramode.net/2008/04/08/report-on-fossschool-fossmeetnitc-2008/ (Be sure that you check out the last photograph in the report) It would be great if Vimal puts up some details of the discussion he had with the school teachers. Regards, Pramode ----------- Get the freedom to save as many mails as you wish. To know how, go to http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html

1 0

GNU/Linux Installation festival in Bangalore
by Omshivaprakash 05 Apr '08

05 Apr '08

"No more *Virus,* No more *crashes* and no more *Blue screen of Death!*" A* GNU/Linux Installation* *festival* dubbed *GNU/Linux Habba* has been planned on *Saturday,* *April 26th, 2008.* *We will: * 1. Help you install GNU/Linux on your Laptop/Desktop. 2. We will show you how to type in Kannada and configure, optimise your system for Kannada. 3. If you bring an empty CD, we'll copy your favourite distribution on it for you*. (And this won't be piracy! You're also free to distribute those.) 4. We will answer all your questions related to Kannada on GNU/Linux to the best of our knowledge. *Venue*: *SERC, Indian Institute of Science. * More info at: http://dev.sampada.net/GNU_Linux_Install_Fest http://kannada.sampada.net/event/gnu-linux-habba-bengaluru http://sampada.net/event/GNU-Linux-Habba and few more articles are here: http://sampada.net/Bengaluru-Linux-habba/2 http://sampada.net/article/8005 *Online Registration:* Kannada: http://sampada.net/event/GNU-Linux-Habba English: http://kannada.sampada.net/event/gnu-linux-habba-bengaluru *Off-line Registrations:* Call or SMS: 9945270698 Hari Prasad Nadig 9902026518 Om Shiv Prakash 9740322699 Srinidhi N Iyengar *Lastly, who is organising this?* A bunch of human GNU/Linux enthusiasts and volunteers from Sampada Community. - Sampada Team -- http://sampadafoundation.org "ಹೊಸ ಚಿಗುರು ಹಳೆ ಬೇರು" -- -- "A well-directed imagination is the source of great deeds" -- With Best Regards, Omshivaprakash.H.L WebPage : http://platonic.techfiz.info Phone: 91- 9902026518 / 9343726518

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] any place on the internet where information on open source can be shared
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 03 Apr '08

03 Apr '08

Kussh, You're also wlecome to join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa Kindly see http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList FN On 04/04/2008, Kussh Singh <kussh.singh(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Frederick, > > Is there any unofficial site for open source/free software > hobbyists/nerds etc in India where information they have collected > with some effort could be shared. > > e.g. I have quite a few ebooks now on technology and management which > i am unable to share due to lack of webspace, lack of anonymity and > legal restrictions etc. Was thinking of a hackers meeting > joint/exclusive club --the mumbai LUG seems to be dead/irrelevant --it > seems we don't have the sharing/giving/meritocracy culture that is > found in the west--here its a dog eat dog world. > > Kush > ps: pls reply to kussh.singh(a)gmail.com > > -- > http://core.nic.in > http://directory.fsf.org http://ohloh.net > -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Ym/Gmailtalk: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | fred(a)bytesforall.org Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9970157402 ----------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] [ssug-malappuram] Bad news: OOXML won the vote for ISO standards approval!
by CK Raju, Thrissur 03 Apr '08

03 Apr '08

"ISO captured by vendor Microsoft Brussels, 2 April 2008 — ISO members failed to disapprove the Open XML format. Microsoft has compromised the International Standards Organisation (ISO) during the rush to get a stamp for their Office OpenXML (OOXML), using unfair practices such as committee stuffing in several countries and political interventions of ministers in the standardization process.." ..... "I see an anonymous comment suggest that ISO now stands for: I Sold Out" — Groklaw, What Really Happened at the BRM for OOXML & Who Attended Details at http://www.noooxml.org CK Raju On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 10:28 AM, Anivar Aravind <anivar(a)movingrepublic.org> wrote: > The long story of how ISO standardisation process fails > > Also read India's coments on ISO Ballot Resolution process on venky's Blog > http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/03/indias-comments-on-brm-to-iso.html > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [bytesforall_readers] OOXML won the vote for ISO standards > approval! > Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 14:13:46 -0400 > From: Satish Jha <satish.jha(a)gmail.com> > Reply-To: bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com > > > > While ISO isn't set to announce the official voting tally until > tomorrow, the OpenDoc Society > <http://www.opendocsociety.org/Press-information> has posted to a > mailing list what it claims are the final results indicating that > Microsoft will be granted ISO approval for its Office Open XML (OOXML) > document format. > > According to the alleged results page, OOXML received a 75 percent > "approve" total > <http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9907583-7.html?tag=nefd.top>. It > needed 66.66 percent to become an ISO standard. Here is the alleged ISO > ballot information on OOXML (zipped PDF file). > <http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/images/ooxml-vote-pdf.zip> > > ISO officials aren't commenting on the leaked ballot tally. Nor is > Microsoft. ISO officials said on March 31 that they planned to notify > privately the national bodies who participated in the standards vote > before publicizing the final results on April 2 > <http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1301>. > > *Update*: Microsoft is now confirming (in a rather long-winded way) that > OOXML won the vote for ISO standards approval > > <http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/apr08/04-01OpenXMLVotePR.mspx>. > From the company's April 1 press release: > > "While the final vote has not yet been announced formally, publicly > available information shows overwhelming support for Open XML. > According to documents available on the Internet, 86% of all > national body members support ISO/IEC standardization, well above > the 75% requirement for formal acceptance under ISO and IEC rules. > In addition, 75% of the Participating national body members (known > as P-members) support standardization, also well above the required > 66.67% requirement for this group. > > "Open XML, IS29500, now joins HTML, PDF and ODF as ISO- and > IEC-recognized open document format standards. > > "The ratification of Open XML is proof that the consensus-building > process worked." > > OOXML is currently an ECMA standard. Microsoft has been advocating for > OOXML to receive ISO standard status, as that is seen as more of a > "gold" standard by many governments when evaluating standards compliance > of new software. > > In a note sent to its mailing list recipients, OpenDoc Society Board > Member Michiel Leenaars portrayed the alleged OOXML victory as having > "minimal"impact on OOXML vs. Open Document Format (ODF) adoption. > Leenaars wrote: > > "OOXML which was submitted by Microsoft to ECMA, and by ECMA to ISO, > has literally crawled through the needles eye > > > <http://lists.opendocsociety.org/pipermail/members.announce/2008-April/00000…>. > After a year of discussion and repairs it still receives the very > minimum of support. The BRM convinced some yet unconvinced others, > and counter votes from large countries like China, India, Brazil, > Canada, South Africa and Iran speak volumes. This must be one of the > worst results ever for a standard to pass within ISO/JTC1 in years. > > "Appartently (sic) the chair from the Norwegian comitte(e) has filed > a protest against the national outcome. Although one vote would not > make much difference, others may follow." > > __._,_.___ > > Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional > Change settings via the Web > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaTg2YjF…> > (Yahoo! ID required) > Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest > <mailto:bytesforall_readers-digest@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email > Delivery: Digest> | Switch to Fully Featured > <mailto:bytesforall_readers-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change > Delivery Format: Fully Featured> > Visit Your Group > > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers;_ylc=X3oDMTJkYTFoZXJlBF9T…> > | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> | > Unsubscribe > > <mailto:bytesforall_readers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe> > > > __,_._,___ > Wiki: http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Malappuram > > >

1 0

Govt against curbing piracy with policy ...
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 28 Mar '08

28 Mar '08

http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?tab=r&autono=31800… Govt against curbing piracy with policy FICCI FRAMES 2008 BS Reporters / Mumbai March 26, 2008 In what is viewed as a setback for the film industry's efforts to stop piracy, the government today rejected the recommendations of the draft optical disk policy on grounds that it would lead to the creation of a regime of inspectors, and thus go against the grain of the liberalisation policy. For the past few months, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been examining the draft optical disc law to check film piracy. As the draft legislation, which included a code of regulations for content, is being prepared by FICCI and members of the film industry with the initiative of the government, a positive response is expected. However, addressing the FICCI-Frames 2008 convention here today, Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Secretary Asha Swarup made it clear that the government was not in favour of implementing the recommendations. Acknowledging that the menace of piracy in the entertainment and media industry was huge, she said the problem had to be tackled by closing the gaps in the supply. "A possible way," she said, "is to release films in 'C' and 'D' class towns in digital formats." Swarup expressed her content with Pakistani films being released in India and Indian films like Taare Zameen Par making an entry into Pakistan. She said she hoped that with a new democratic government in Pakistan, more Indian films would be screened there. The secretary also emphasised the need to develop content for TV, especially for children. Meanwhile, the FICCI-PricewaterhouseCoopers 2008 report, released today, estimates the industry at Rs 51,300 crore in 2007 - a growth of 17 per cent from Rs 43,800 crore in 2006. The Indian entertainment and media industry is projected to clock Rs 1,15,000 crore by 2011. In his address, Yash Chopra, chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee & Yash Raj Films, said that Indian cinema had transcended geographical boundaries. However, he added: "Piracy, IP protection in the animation segment and censorship are hurdles that the Indian media and entertainment industry have to overcome." Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP and president of FICCI, pointed out that the industry today had reached a point of critical mass. "I believe this industry is poised to achieve the scale and size required to have global value and presence," he said. The challenge for the industry over the next few years, he said, was to become globally relevant to the capital markets and investors; relevant to producers and consumers of entertainment all over the world. Kunal Dasgupta, co-chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee & CEO Sony Entertainment Television, said: "We are in talks with the Academy of Television Arts and Science in the US, which represents the popular Emmy Awards, and hopefully we will able to present an Indian version of the popular Emmy Awards by next year." Amit Khanna, chairman, Reliance Entertainment & FICCI Convergence Committee, said new digital technology would reshape the distribution and exhibition business. "On-demand entertainment will become a standard industry norm," he said. * * * FROM USIBC Piracy in India's Entertainment Industry Causes Huge Losses to Indian Economy March 27, 2008 Mumbai, India – The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) has released a new study showing huge job and revenue losses to the Indian economy as a result of piracy in India's burgeoning entertainment industry. The study– 'The Effects of Counterfeiting and Piracy on India's Entertainment Industry'– prepared for USIBC by Ernst &Young India, shows as much as Rs. 16,000 crores are lost each year due to piracy. As many as 800,000 direct jobs are also lost as a result of theft and piracy, afflicting India's entertainment industry. Speaking at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) FRAMES 'Business of Entertainment' Conference, USIBC President, Ron Somers, said, "This study estimates that the Indian entertainment industry loses some 820,000 jobs and about $4 billion each year to piracy. This is an enormous and unacceptable magnitude of loss – by any measure." The piracy study was commissioned as part of the USIBC-FICCI Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative. "This study covers film, music, television and video games and has been funded by the Global Intellectual Property Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which aims to highlight the value of intellectual property, as well as illuminate the adverse impact theft and piracy have on creativity and innovation. The Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative promotes the sustainable growth and convergence underway between the entertainment industries in both our countries." Presented with a copy of the study, FICCI Secretary General, Dr. Amit Mitra, said, "This study shows that the best way to make the boom in the Indian entertainment bigger is to stop the affliction of piracy. For the average Indian who wants to increase his or her chances for being employed in Bollywood and associated industries, fighting piracy is a place where all our collective efforts must start." Dr. Mitra went on to point out, "The Media and Entertainment industry in India is an industry of the future. India's entertainment industry already generates more than $11 billion annually for the country, growing at a combined annual rate of over 18%. If we can stop piracy, these industries will grow even faster and employ more Indian workers." Also present at the media briefing was Ramesh Sippy, famed producer and director of the all-time number-one blockbuster 'Sholay'. Sippy said, "I know first hand the importance of fighting piracy to support the growth of Bollywood. I commend the USIBC-FICCI Initiative for enlisting all elements of the entertainment industry against piracy." Farokh T. Balsara, National Sector Leader, Media and Entertainment for Ernst & Young-India, said, "Our Mumbai office collected data for this study from on the ground – via direct interviews with stakeholders from the Bollywood entertainment industry. We looked at the industry from every angle – films, music, TV, radio, and electronic games. The story was the same across the board: if we can slow or stop piracy, a direct correlation in the generation of wealth and employment will be the result." Commenting on the USIBC-FICCI Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative, USIBC President Ron Somers said, "This study is only the beginning. Now that we have documented the job and revenue losses to the Indian entertainment industry from piracy, we intend to continue fighting piracy across the board. We will strive to bring these findings to the attention of the average person in India. We will attempt to enlist more effectively the U.S. and Indian governments to cooperate in fighting the scourge of piracy in India, as well as in the U.S. and worldwide. We strongly support passage by India of optical disc legislation that will thwart piracy in this important industry. We are pleased to stand shoulder to shoulder with counterparts in India to help protect jobs and revenues that are now being needlessly lost to piracy." Also previewed at FICCI FRAMES as a part of the Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative was 'Illicit – The Dark Trade' – a special documentary that airs world-wide, produced by National Geographic for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center. This made-for-television documentary shows that the problem of piracy is an epidemic affecting many sectors of world-wide dimensions. The U.S.-India Business Council, formed in 1975 at the request of the Government of India and the U.S. Government to advance U.S.-India commercial ties, is hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region. The U.S.-India Business Council celebrates its 33rd Anniversary at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on June 12, 2008 in Washington, D.C. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Ym/Gmailtalk: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | fred(a)bytesforall.org Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9970157402 ----------------------------------------------------------

1 0

BIS disappoints Microsoft
by CK Raju, Thrissur 24 Mar '08

24 Mar '08

" NEW DELHI: Microsoft India today expressed disappointment over Bureau of Indian Standards voting against the software giant's Open XML, which is file format specification for electronic documents. However, the company said that it would continue to work with the Indian government to achieve its "stated goal of technology neutrality". Microsoft said that even though it is disappointed, the company is encouraged by the support of the of industry players Nasscom, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys, which voted in favour of Open XML. Nasscom and the three IT companies formed a part of BIS LITD committee. "While we are disappointed with the decision of the BIS LITD 15 committee, we are encouraged by the support of IT industry players like Nasscom, TCS, Wipro and Infosys who voted in favour of Open XML becoming an ISO standard," Microsoft India said in a statement..." Story at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Microsoft_disappointed… ----------- Is there anyway to get the details of these 15 member committee ? CK Raju Thrissur

2 3

Re: [Fsf-friends] [ILUG-BOM] BIS committee votes against ooxml
by Praveen A 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

2008/3/20, Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org>: > India's BIS votes against ooxml. out of 19 members, five of them did not > attend the meeting, one of them abstained, five voted in favor of ooxml, and > the rest voted against. Congratulations to all those who worked so hard for long hours, days together to bring this victory! For the rest of us, we should use this victory as a starting point and join campaigns to save our country from the lock-ins and lead to a knowledge society. In Rabindranath Tagore's words, Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action– into that heaven of freedom, my Father, Let my country awake. One such campaign which needs your support is SaveKarnataka campaign http://groups.google.com/group/savekarnataka?hl=en http://savekarnataka.wordpress.com/ Regards Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

[MAJOR X-POST] Re: BIS committee votes against ooxml
by Raj Mathur 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

On Thursday 20 Mar 2008, Nagarjuna G. wrote: > India's BIS votes against ooxml. out of 19 members, five of them did > not attend the meeting, one of them abstained, five voted in favor of > ooxml, and the rest voted against. Major win for the community, and I'd like to extend personal thanks to the 3 people who I know have been putting in long hours into this effort with no gain: - Nagarjuna - Venky (of Red Hat) - Prabir Purkayastha That isn't an exhaustive list by any means, and it'd be great if you guys could enumerate the other people who have contributed to this win. A request to the community: if you have the time and the inclination, please take a few minutes and send a personal mail thanking these front-line warriors. If we can come up with the list of organisations who voted against OOXML and a contact person, a mail to each of those organisations wouldn't go amiss either. I'm convinced that if Prabir, Venky, Nagarjuna and the others in the team hadn't worked like dogs for months on end, today we'd be seeing a proprietary standard for all our documents. Must feel good to see all that work pay off, huh? :) Regards, -- Raju -- 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

2 1

Re: [Fsf-friends] WORKSHOP by Moving Republic in vibgyor 2008
by shirish 20 Mar '08

20 Mar '08

On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 12:00 PM, <fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in> wrote: > Today's Topics: > > 1. WORKSHOP by Moving Republic in vibgyor 2008 (MOBIN M) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:59:39 +0530 > From: "MOBIN M" <mobstux(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Fsf-friends] WORKSHOP by Moving Republic in vibgyor 2008 > To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in, fsf-kerala(a)mm.gnu.org.in. > Message-ID: > <1f2cf8b50802130829oe636d86kb9bbfcd3c3527b0b(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > WORKSHOP BY MOVING REPUBLIC > http://movingrepublic.org/ > > > Date : February 14 and 15 > Event: Vibgyor 2008- short and documentary film festival > http://2008.vibgyorfilm.com/ > > > Schedule : > > Workshop1- Towards hactivist media culture; Introduction to > free software video production > > Date : February 14 > Time :10-12A.M > Place : Town Hall, Thrissur > > Workshop2- Towards hactivist media culture; Introduction to > free software audio production > > Date : February 15 > Time :10-12A.M > Place : Town Hall, Thrissur > > > Talkers: Anivar Aravind > Hiran Venugopal > Suresh P > Krishnanunni >

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] IT@School, Kerala in News
by Vimal Joseph 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 9:36 PM, Nagarjuna <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> wrote: > The video said nothing about the use of free software. Is it because > IT@School is not using free software exclusively, or it is reporter's > bias? the reporter deliberately avoided "Free Software" :( >From 2007-2008 educational year onwards, all schools that follows Kerala State syllabus (around 2832 highschools) migrated to Free Software. They use a debian based distribution called IT@School GNU/Linux (http://support.space-kerala.org/wiki/index.php/Download_IT%40School_GNU/Lin…) see these news clips also : http://www.education.kerala.gov.in/ITexam_help/images_itschool/ie_exam_feb_… http://www.education.kerala.gov.in/ITexam_help/images_itschool/hin_exam_feb… ~vimal

1 0

Fwd: IT@School, Kerala in News
by Vimal Joseph 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Senthil S <senthilsos(a)yahoo.com> Date: Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 10:31 AM Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] IT@School, Kerala in News Though i might sound like a conspiracy theorist.. the ndtv coverage doesnt talk about free software ..thought the students are using gnu/linux if u carefully see ;) cheers senthil

1 0

IT@School, Kerala in News
by Vimal Joseph 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

see the children learning with Free Software... http://youtube.com/watch?v=OGKL8MG_O_E ~vimal -- Free Software, Free Society സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര്‍, സ്വതന്ത്ര സമൂഹം <http://fsfs.hipatia.net>

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] Kerala schools to go completely FOSS
by shirish 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

> Message: 4 > Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 11:50:55 +0530 > From: "Vimal Joseph" <vimalekm(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] [X-POST] Kerala schools to go completely > FOSS > To: raju(a)linux-delhi.org > Cc: linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net, The Linux-Delhi mailing > list <ilugd(a)lists.linux-delhi.org>, fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > Message-ID: > <81428c130803052220p3e8b108bvb685ede2076e24d4(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 8:12 PM, Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> wrote: > > Congratulations to our friends in Kerala are in order, I think: > > > > Kerala shuts windows, schools to use only Linux > > > > http://www.indianexpress.com/story/280323.html > > > > I'd like to get my hands on a copy of the courseware... is it freely > > available? > > The latest books are not available online but you can send a request > to IT@School Project > > Executive Director > IT@School Project > SCERT Building > Poojappura > Thiruvananthapuram-12 > Kerala > Tel: 0471-2348274, 2343261 > Fax: 0471-2343261 Hi Vimal, First of all thank you for providing the info. Are u by any chance in Thiruvananthapuram? It would be nice if the Executive Director also had an e-mail address. I do understand its not a good idea to give somebody's e-mail address without his permission on an open mail list. (i.e. if he/she has one) . Either way it would be nice to see what these guys are serving as content/courseware. -- Regards, Shirish Agarwal This email is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ 065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17

1 0

Software logos issue?
by shirish 16 Mar '08

16 Mar '08

Hi all, I work with companies & non-profits who want to take up/use free & open source software within their institution as well as promote its usage in the world using outreach programs. For doing this I've been trying to compile a list of logos which could be used in banners as well as elsewhere for either letting people know these alternatives exist or/and to show which alternatives already exist. While compiling/downloading the logos I came across range of issues. Some of the issues are as under :- 1. The logos are all scattered over different places, couldn't there be a repository from where people could download these logos? 2. Most of the logos range from having no license information, having some restrictive license information to having some free content license. Having such a barrage of differing licenses, there are bound to some incompatible licenses, in such how does one use them in an outreach program? 3. An extension of the above, how do non-profits who generally have no skill-sets in understanding licensing as well as other issues supposed to cope with the matter? 4. Some of the logos are not clear or are or bad quality. Some don't have .svg filetype which could be used for printing either on paper, cloth, flex or whichever material & scales up easily. So can we as a community come up with some solution to the above issues & make it easier for people who want to show off some of the work done by the global community & feel to be part of the community? Feel free to comment, suggest and/or flame on the topic :) -- Regards, Shirish Agarwal This email is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ 065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17

1 0

Hot News : Hack into Windows : Boileau publishes his tool
by Omshiva prakash 08 Mar '08

08 Mar '08

A security consultant based in New Zealand has released a tool that can unlock Windows computers in seconds without the need for a password. Boileau, a consultant with Immunity Inc., said he did not release the tool publicly in 2006 because "Microsoft was a little cagey about exactly whether Firewire memory access was a real security issue or not and we didn't want to cause any real trouble". But now that a couple of years have passed and the issue has not resolved, Boileau decided to release the tool on his website. To use the tool, hackers must connect a Linux-based computer to a Firewire port on the target machine. The machine is then tricked into allowing the attacking computer to have read and write access to its memory. With full access to the memory, the tool can then modify Windows' password protection code, which is stored there, and render it ineffective. below is the link http://storm.net.nz/projects/16 -- -- "A well-directed imagination is the source of great deeds" -- With Best Regards, Omshivaprakash.H.L WebPage : http://platonic.techfiz.info Phone: 91- 9902026518 / 9343726518

2 1

Getting away with the booty...
by CK Raju, Thrissur 08 Mar '08

08 Mar '08

"06.03.2008 - This summer, after 30 years at the helm of Microsoft, Bill Gates (pictured) will finally take retirement. But can he let go and can Microsoft afford to let him go?........." Story at http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10457 ------------ The great Bill manages to run away with his share of the booty... CK Raju Thrissur

1 0

[X-POST] Kerala schools to go completely FOSS
by Raj Mathur 06 Mar '08

06 Mar '08

Congratulations to our friends in Kerala are in order, I think: Kerala shuts windows, schools to use only Linux http://www.indianexpress.com/story/280323.html I'd like to get my hands on a copy of the courseware... is it freely available? Regards, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ Freedom in Technology & Software || February 2008 || http://freed.in/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves

3 2

Kerala Schools and Free Software
by Vimal Joseph 05 Mar '08

05 Mar '08

Here are the news clips about the IT Practical Exams 2008. http://www.education.kerala.gov.in/ITexam_help/itschool_gov_in/newsindailie… -- Free Software, Free Society സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര്‍, സ്വതന്ത്ര സമൂഹം <http://fsfs.hipatia.net>

1 0

OOXML BRM
by Mani A 04 Mar '08

04 Mar '08

"The OOXML Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) in Geneva ended in tears. World XML expert Tim Bray (pictured) immediately recorded his thoughts on the meeting, and his verdict was withering: despite some good that perhaps came of it ("With a very few exceptions, everyone really tried hard to work together and make the document better," he writes), he described the BRM process as "complete, utter, unadulterated bullshit." "..... .... "In practice this means that the heavy politics starts Monday morning. National bodies that are smart will make their decision between 8:30 and 9:00 AM on March 3rd and immediately go on long vacations in Tasmania or Nunavut." Read the whole report at http://java.sys-con.com/read/509779.htm -------------------------------- Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

1 0

[X-POST] Microsoft lobbying the Government through ``friendly'' NGOs
by Raj Mathur 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

My my, hey hey, OOXML is here to stay (with apologies to Neil Young) And if you don't believe that then your friendly neighbourhood NGO is only to willing to try to convince your Government on behalf of one of its benefactors, MS. Now I'm beginning to think that $1.4B was too little :) http://wiki.linux-delhi.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/OpenStandards/MsNgoLobby Also made it to Groklaw somehow. Regards, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ Freedom in Technology & Software || February 2008 || http://freed.in/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves

1 0

Article on why India should adopt open document standards
by V. Sasi Kumar 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

Dear friends, Please see my article on why India should adopt open standards and a response from Microsoft at http://www.infochangeindia.org/analysis236.jsp Microsoft's respose is actually a big joke. For instance, they claim that "Microsoft software is completely interoperable.". And just yesterday Microsoft has been fined a record $1.35 billion precisely for not providing information to enable interoperability! A response to Microsoft is on my blog http://swatantryam.blogspot.com/ since Infochange was not willing to publish my response. Best -- Dr. V. Sasi Kumar Please visit http://keralachinthakal.blogspot.com/ -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

2 1

Google Summer of Code 2008
by CK Raju, Thrissur 26 Feb '08

26 Feb '08

Friends, thinkers, countrymen, "Google Summer of Code 2008 is on! Over the past three years, the program has brought together over 1500 students and 2000 mentors from 90 countries worldwide, all for the love of code. We look forward to welcoming more new contributors and projects this year. We'll begin accepting applications from mentoring organizations on Monday, March 3, 2008, and student applications on Monday, March 24th...." Link at http://code.google.com/soc/2008/ Nice news. Google is doing what most democratic governments are repeatedly failing to do ! CK Raju Thrissur

1 0

Community-based networks -answer to last mile broadband.
by shirish 23 Feb '08

23 Feb '08

Hi all, For a long long time I had been wondering that couldn't community based networks be the answer to last mile broadband. I knew I had read something about it sometime ago but the link was lost. Found it again, hence posting it so other people could take a lake at it as well & see if there is something that can be done about it.. If its a repeat, then sorry, its just the sort of thing which should be taken up. What do u guys think? http://emperor.canarie.ca/pipermail/news/2006/000281.html . If for some reason you're unable to reach the site use google's cache to retrieve them. Here's the gist of that mail. Bill St.Arnaud bill.st.arnaud at canarie.ca Wed Jun 7 10:08:29 EDT 2006 * Previous message: [CAnet - news] Looking for candidates to serve on ICANN board and related committees * Next message: [CAnet - news] The Changing Nature of Intellectual Authority * Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 4 Optical Internet program web site at http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/list.html ------------------------------------------- [In a recent trip to Sweden I was pleasantly surprised to discover a very successful community fiber project in Vasteras Sweden. The local electrical utility Malarenergi has developed a unique and very successful solution for deploying FTTH to over 50% of the homes with an amazing 53 take up rate. They have over 30,000 customers and this is in despite of stiff competition from both a local telephone and cable company. More amazingly they have only a staff of less tan 18 FTEs to operate and manage the network. The Malarenergi is also a good example of how banks can play an important role in financing customer owned last mile networks. The banks have the security of the home to loan against and provide low cost financing - and they are not in the business of running networks. In Amsterdam the ING bank is a major financier of the Amsterdam FTTH project. As well a Swedish home can reduce 650 USD from the infrastructure cost in a tax reduction, which is another significant incentive for homes to get connected with fiber. For single homes Malarenergi have two kinds of customers. 1) Those who are organized in a community or condominium. This community makes agreements regarding cable Tv etc 2) Those who are stand alone customers. In the former case the network is a LAN which is purchased and owned by the community in that area. The juridical person is the community who can take loans and rent the networks out to the different homes. Two banks provides financing. For the individual home the customers usually arranges their own financing for the fiber by loaning on their house. The typical cost for the fiber is $USD 2800. For both types the Malarenergi sales pitch is 1) Futureproof. Malarenergi does not start building unless 60% or more of the homes in that area sign up. Most people do not want to be left behind. The homes increases in value (ap/prox 6500 USD according to some firms. See the sign up page http://stadsnat.malarnetcity.se/villa/ 2) Freedom of choice of the services. This means competition and valuable services. See for example internet prices http://www.malarnetcity.se/services/services.php?category=Privatpersoner&kin d=Internet 100 Mbps for less than $40 a month and a choice of at least 20 ISPs including Telia - the local telephone incumbent 3) The cost for the new fiber infrastructure spread out over 10 years is about (20-25 USD/month) plus 10 mbps internet (22 USD/month)is cheaper than an equivalent ADSL service. The network technology is provided by a company called PacketFront - www.packetfront.com which uses web services to allow customers to do their own provisioning and selection of service providers. Thanks to Matt Wenger of PacketFront and Robert Kelljberg of Malarenergi for this information -- BSA] ------------------------------------- To SUBSCRIBE: send a blank e-mail message to news-join at canarie.ca To UNSUBSCRIBE: send a blank email message to news-leave at canarie.ca ------------------------------------- These news items and comments are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the CANARIE board or management. ----------- Bill.St.Arnaud at canarie.ca www.canarie.ca/~bstarn skype: pocketpro SkypeIn: +1 614 441-9603 http://www.fraserinstitute.org/ http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/customer/Last_Mile_Customer_Owned_Netw… :- If one isn't getting this link go to google's cache & read the same as html. http://www.frankston.com/ Engage, debate, say what u will , hoping for a better tomorrow :) -- Regards, Shirish Agarwal This email is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ 065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17

1 1

WORKSHOP by Moving Republic in vibgyor 2008
by MOBIN M 13 Feb '08

13 Feb '08

WORKSHOP BY MOVING REPUBLIC http://movingrepublic.org/ Date : February 14 and 15 Event: Vibgyor 2008- short and documentary film festival http://2008.vibgyorfilm.com/ Schedule : Workshop1- Towards hactivist media culture; Introduction to free software video production Date : February 14 Time :10-12A.M Place : Town Hall, Thrissur Workshop2- Towards hactivist media culture; Introduction to free software audio production Date : February 15 Time :10-12A.M Place : Town Hall, Thrissur Talkers: Anivar Aravind Hiran Venugopal Suresh P Krishnanunni

1 0

Microsoft is like the Matrix
by Praveen A 04 Feb '08

04 Feb '08

MORPHEUS We are trained in this world to accept only what is rational and logical. Have you ever wondered why? As children, we do not separate the possible from the impossible which is why the younger a mind is the easier it is to free, while a mind like yours can be very difficult. NEO Free from what? MORPHEUS From the Microsoft. Do you want to know what it is, Neo? It's that feeling you have had all your life. That feeling that something was wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad, driving you to me. But what is it? The Microsoft is everywhere, its products are all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. The computers use Microsoft products everywhere. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. NEO What truth? MORPHEUS That you are a slave, Neo. Read the full story http://siryes.blogspot.com/2008/01/microsoft-is-like-matrix.html Really superb. -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

2 2

OFFTOPIC: The house that social networking built
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 30 Jan '08

30 Jan '08

Kindly share with your architect friends too. FN The house that social networking built By Elsa Wenzel, News.com Published on ZDNet News: Jan 25, 2008 4:00:00 AM Tags: Elsa Wenzel, Digital media, Social Networking, Web, Network, Africa, Settlement, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Laptop Computer, Open Architecture Network, Sinclair, Now House, Web 2.0, Open Source, Internet Forget about showy "starchitecture" from the likes of Frank Gehry. Architect Cameron Sinclair sees the future of his field in the slums, where the United Nations projects that one-third of the world's population will dwell by 2030. Sinclair insists that nothing short of a design revolution is needed to construct innovative housing solutions from the ground up. The Open Architecture Network, a Web site he co-founded that applies the principles behind open-source software to the construction of the material world, is working toward that sweeping global goal. The project is an offshoot of Architecture for Humanity, founded in 1999 by Sinclair and his wife, Kate Stohr. The nonprofit has worked to provide affordable housing in the tsunami-trampled Indian Ocean region and post-Hurricane Katrina U.S. Gulf Coast, as well as HIV clinics and soccer fields in sub-Saharan Africa. Its call to arms serves as the title of Architecture for Humanity's 2006 book Design Like You Give a Damn. That cry reached influential ears in the tech world when, in 2006, Sinclair won the coveted TED Prize, from whose spoils Sinclair and others at Architecture for Humanity launched the Open Architecture Network last March. It enables designers anywhere to share blueprints under Creative Commons licenses. The network, which has more than 9,100 members, is currently hosting the AMD Open Architecture Challenge, a design contest for technology centers in remote parts of Ecuador, Kenya, and Nepal. Behind the contest is the overarching aim of AMD's 50x15 program to expand Internet access to half of the world's population. CNET News.com caught up with Sinclair at his San Francisco office last week before he headed to Davos, Switzerland, to speak at the World Economic Forum. Q: How have things changed since the TED Prize? Sinclair: What's interesting about the TED prize is, good and bad, that everyone thinks that you're now loaded. Bono got it. Clinton got it. It doesn't bring money, but what it does bring is incredible resources. For instance, Sun Microsystems donated not just their services and technology but also a team of engineers, super geeks, who built the back end of the Open Architecture Network. And also AMD provided us with hosting. Open Architecture Network With this new technology, open source, and the Creative Commons, it cleared the vision of what we were doing so we could explain to people why we used technology or what the role of the architect is. What are some highlights from recent trips you've made? How was Africa, what happened there? Sinclair: We do a lot of work here in the Gulf Coast and also on Native American reservations. Internationally, the big thing has been the Open Architecture Challenge. We have three sites on three different continents and I've recently been to all three. It's not just like you go in and look at land and then survey it. It's actually spending a lot of time with communities...We were in the slums of Kenya prior to the election when it was very tense. We went right to the heart of the Nakuru slum, which is fascinating because on paper it just looked like any other settlement. They'd had a huge influx of Somali refugees, a recent, strong Muslim community, and it was in the industrial area, so they were dealing with the effects of post-industrial land, problems with drinking water. What's possible with the Open Architecture Network that would not happen without the Internet? Sinclair: Architecture for Humanity would not have existed without the Internet. We've been very fortunate because our focus has been what the Internet is supposed to do, which is the exchange of ideas and information not for financial gain but for social gain. On my laptop were about 2,000 projects--cool, innovative stuff that could change the world--and they just sat on my laptop. Someone said, "Why don't you just put them on a server somewhere?" Originally, the network was going to be a repository of proven ideas. But as we began building it with the engineers, we realized here was an opportunity to create a project management system so that designers could implement projects on a really cost-effective basis. Our FedEx bills have dropped massively. We don't send anything; it's all on the network. Our overhead is less than 8 percent and the rest goes into the construction and design of the buildings. It's not just a bunch of gray-haired white guys in academic institutions. We're talking about architects on the network representing 104 nations, so if you're looking for an Afghan architect, chances are they're on the network. It enables localized innovation with a top-down approach. When you travel, how do you show people the site? Sinclair: I put it on my laptop, but the big question is connectivity. Only 20 percent of the world is online. In Africa and South America it's much, much less, 6 percent in South America and like 3 percent in Africa. There's 1.6 billion people living in areas that are going to be flooded as a result of global warming. Most of these are in unplanned settlements. That's a lot of work to be done. I keep telling people, most of the planet that's not online doesn't want to go to Facebook. They don't want to see the streaming Britney Spears court date or Steve Jobs live. Seriously, what they want to do is look at the tools that improve their lives. When you talk about tools people in the developing world have that we don't, "leapfrogging" technologies, what are some that look really cool? Sinclair: There are two in South Africa that I really love. One is the Hippo (water) roller (a barrel-shaped container designed to transport water in rural areas where water has traditionally had to be carried laboriously atop the head). The real genius, and it sounds kind of silly--as well as rolling it, it also flattens the road. The other one I actually used a couple of years ago when there was a blackout in New York City. I had a Freeplay wind-up radio. There was a crowd of 50 people around me listening to the news. I had my coffee and my radio cranked up, sitting on the street corner in New York, and people were like, "Where did you get that?" And I'm like, "Africa." In terms of housing, a lot of it is about using simple materials, bamboo and rice bale construction, an advancement of straw bale--using interesting materials such as hemp and also hybrid materials. What designs look really fresh to you? And how much of what the network deals with might be considered sustainable design? Sinclair: A couple are dealing with informal settlements, housing in the margins. How do you create dignified housing where there's no land? Someone's working on a $700 house. The Now House is a World War II retrofitted home that's carbon-neutral...There's a spinach-powered house, there's a grow-your-own clinic, a clinic you eat. All of these projects have to be sustainable. Let's talk about the geeks, the tech community. What kind of feedback do you get from them? Sinclair: What's been really great is that we have folks at Sun and AMD, engineers who are calling us and saying, "Hey, I want to work on this." The Open Architecture Network has been in beta right now for the last year. Over the next year we're looking to add a whole bunch of resources, materials, and libraries. Tech people are saying, "Hey, I'm looking to develop a carbon calculator." We're working with Autodesk Freewheel, the first Web application that allows you to see CAD drawings rendered live, working to integrate it within the next few months so you can run Web meetings and comment on the drawings live. What do you think about the Web 2.0 trend? Sinclair: It's a label. The people who make the most money will make the Web 2.0 apps that appeal to the most people--but on the fringes there are people that can actually do some amazing stuff of a collaborative nature. We're still waiting for Web 2.0 to catch up to the way we work on a day-to-day basis...We use all that stuff, Google Apps, Google Earth. What's nice is we actually e-mail the people who make Google Apps every time we see something wrong. So do the Google people get back to you? Sinclair: Yeah, really rapidly. It's amazing. For the 3D modeling and 2D conception drawings, we are their key constituency. If they had to go to a for-profit it would be very costly to develop their R&D. What does SketchUp or Autodesk look like in an emerging market? Well, we're doing it. We'd say, what is the computing power it takes to do this? We ask bizarre questions because most of the clients we have are using low-power thin clients, things like that. What do you think about efforts such as One Laptop Per Child? Sinclair: I want to hack it, I want to break it. I want to turn it into one laptop per innovation. If you gave me one, I'd take it to the streets of Kenya or India and I'd give them to the most innovative people working in the slums, the guy who's making flip-flops out of recycled plastic bottles. Then you just install some sort of CAD program on there and teach them how to use it so their innovations could be shared. What's the power of improving their living standards if you've got that going on? Maybe version 2.0 should have the tagline "It's not just for kids" or "One Laptop Per Adult." How will big environmental changes--in terms of global warming, ecological and manmade disasters, even the high price of energy--affect your work? Sinclair: Someone was joking that I'm the luckiest architect on the planet because there's no shortage of clients. There's 1.6 billion people living in areas that are going to be flooded as a result of global warming. Most of these are in unplanned settlements. That's a lot of work to be done. Can I make a $1,000 house? Can I make solar power affordable for someone in the slums of Angola? Is it feasible, and if it is, how can you make it aesthetically beautiful? It's convincing the heads of corporations who fund these initiatives but are saying, "Take the design out." We've kind of bucked that trend and proven you actually do have to design something that's beautiful. What's the bad side of an open-source community? Sinclair: The biggest challenge is that we're in the business of constructing things, so there's a health and safety aspect. If it's completely open source and someone takes a design and another design and doesn't follow the legal information included in the design, then what are the ramifications of doing that? Can you see this model working for other fields? Sinclair: Industrial design is an obvious one. And what if you had cancer researchers collaborating in an open-source manner and didn't have competitive studies? Instead of billions of dollars wasted, maybe you'll cure cancer...Or education, figuring out open-source curriculums so you're getting multipronged history. Do you ever talk with people in other fields who are interested in something like the Open Architecture Network? Sinclair: I've talked to a lot of doctors who do AIDS-related projects in Africa. It's their biggest challenge trying to share information with each other. When you say "open source," the people who make money from it get worried, so there's a lot riding against open principles. But Linux and Drupal can do it. That's the beauty of the world we live in. You don't need one big giant to control everything. Is the site still just in English? Sinclair: It's a big problem. We just need to find volunteer translators. Really important are Chinese, Hindi, Swahili--right there I've just named 3 billion people, half the planet. Do you run into resistance when you travel? Sinclair: We've had death threats, all sorts of things because we were shaking up the apple cart, trying to make people more self-sufficient. Death threats coming from...? Sinclair: All over the place. We've done some gender violence projects, whether it be pimps in Calcutta or bandits or people who are controlling corrupt officials, they're going to be upset. We're an easy target seen as protecting or giving empowerment to a community that has been disenfranchised for many years. We don't believe in making placards. It's a waste of wood. We'd rather build houses. (c)2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. CNET , CNET.com , and the CNET logo are registered trademarks of CNET Networks, Inc. Used by permission. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6227610.html -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 The Goa books blog: http://goabooks.wordpress.com Goa1556 (alt.publishing.goa): http://goa1556.goa-india.org

1 0

[OT] Made a blog
by shirish 28 Jan '08

28 Jan '08

Hi all, Made a blog about free software & what I like. Its a work in progress. I'm sure of something, not sure of others. Please go through the couple of posts I made at http://freesoftwareacademia.blogspot.com/ of course the name isn't about free software in academia but I also hope to write something about it as well in the coming days. Feel free to comment, flame & whatever u think is right. -- Regards, Shirish Agarwal This email is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ 065C 6D79 A68C E7EA 52B3 8D70 950D 53FB 729A 8B17

1 0

A Field Guide to Free Software Supporters
by Praveen A 26 Jan '08

26 Jan '08

A Field Guide to Free Software Supporters Hearing the terms "free software" or "open source," you might imagine that they referred to a single school of thought. Even "free and open source software" (FOSS) suggests only two different outlooks: Free software, which values political and philosophical freedom, and open source, whose main interest is enhanced software quality. Full story http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/12068_3723131_1 An interesting analysis of different schools of thought. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Linux @ Gun Shot
by Omshiva prakash 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

This is what came in my mind when I started training a new bunch of trainees in my company. They have started learning Linux now and we have plans to continue training people are new to Linux and have never worked on computer as geeks. Its a challenge which we have taken up to build the man power required for the company. Also adding newbies FOSS community. http://platonic.techfiz.info/2008/01/21/linux-gun-shot/ Its all about filling in confidence to explore a new world of possibilities. What can bring attention of a newbie to learn more about a technology? How we can make him/her hack into the in depth features of a technology to crack the master's test? At the end at least we want him/her to be a jack of the technology to let him/her face the challenges which he/she may encounter in future. Many people who peep into Open Source world know that its "hot" and many might not have got a chance to understand what is it all about. There are job opportunities, which demands little smartness from a newbie. I got a chance to spend some time with around 20 fresh college graduates who are looking forward to make a great carrier in Open Source and learning Linux from scratch. Many of them have not looked into any "Operating System" or "Personal Computer" as administrators and it has been just used it as a machine to accomplish some of their projects forced by the educational system of our country. Few others have used it as an entertainment box, for playing games, music, videos etc. There is another bunch which is forced by this era to use computers to type in the resumes to grab new job opportunities available in the IT industry. There have been lots of efforts put in to mold new techs in to better administrators from their user or power user status at work place. But always it lacked the zeal required to fill in the hackers attitude and passion for Open Source into their heart. This might be due to more theory which was poured into their mind instead of practical exposure which is a very essential part of a system administrator's training life cycle. We are working towards creating opportunities for those who are almost new to computers or at least new to Open Source. They need to be comfortable with the operating system and they must explore the "FREEDOM" of Free and Open Source software to gain the initial confidence and interest required to work as administrators. If a newbie finds the work as a monotonous process of remembering commands and repetitive, he/she might not think of sailing in this sea for quite a long time. Linux wants newbies to create their own shields against the Gun shots of upcoming challenges, attacks, vulnerabilities and growth of technologies. Hence you never find the work to be boring. Working with Linux has never been found to be monotonous and repetitive for me so far and its always an adventure. Bringing technology close to someone needs patience, self confidence on the technology, skills required to be one of those who are with us to learn it and little bit humor to fill in fun at the learning desk. Its always fun to explore what can be done with a gadget or a software, presenting what you feel about it to your audience will always be a challenge. A newbie finds it easy to explore the voyage during hands on training. Let him/her be free to try out new things and build a strong foundation with your guidance. Practice makes them perfect, show them how to climb to top. -- -- "A well-directed imagination is the source of great deeds" -- With Best Regards, Omshivaprakash.H.L WebPage : http://platonic.techfiz.info Phone: 91- 9902026518 / 9343726518

1 1

FOSSMeet@NITC 2008
by Kishore Asok 23 Jan '08

23 Jan '08

Hi, We are pleased to inform you that National Institute of Technology, Calicut will be hosting its annual free and open source software conference, namely FOSS Meet @ NITC 2008, on 21st, 22nd and 23rd of March 2008. This time the focus of the event is to get more students actively involved in FOSS. As usual, there will be talks, BOFs, workshops etc. - details of which will soon be put up on our website – http://www.fossmeet.in/nitc . In addition to that, this year, we are starting a contest called FOSSDev, to promote student participation in and contribution to FOSS. Basically, a team wishing to participate has to find a mentor who will help them contribute to a project of the participant's choice. FOSSDev is a year long event. There will be three "checkpoints" at which progress will be evaluated and prizes will be given accordingly. Total prize money is Rs. 23,500. You can read more about FOSSDev at http://fossmeet.in/nitc/fossdev . This meet is organized by the GNU/Linux Users Group Calicut(GLUGC) in association with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Student Branch NIT Calicut [IEEE], Computer Society of India, Calicut Chapter [CSI], Computer Science and Engineering Association [CSEA] and all the volunteers from various walks of life. See what these people have to say about their previous FOSS Meet@NITCexperiences - http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Calicut/NIT/FOSS_Meet/07 , http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Calicut/NIT/FOSS_Meet/06 and http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Calicut/NIT/FOSS_Meet/05 for some comments from previous participants. Looking forward to meeting you at FOSSMeet@NITC. Note: Please register yourself on the website as soon as possible. Regards, The Core Team FOSSMeet@NITC2008

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] [ifsa] The Free Software hardliner, the corporation, and the shotgun wedding
by Praveen A 22 Jan '08

22 Jan '08

2008/1/21, Ringo Kamens <2600denver(a)gmail.com>: > I don't think it's an issue of strategy or stages. Purely speaking, if > we sacrifice our ideals then we will accomplish our goals faster. For > instance, it would take much less effort for somebody who wants an > anarchist or socialist revolution to go in and kill every important > member of government. The problem is that they are sacrificing their > values. If somebody really wants equality, respect, etc. then they > can't go around doing violent acts. What happens after the government > collapses? The masses haven't learned from the past and the new > government will be just as bad as the previous one. If a revolution is > caused by mass participation, the end result lasts longer and is > better. This is the same with free software. If you say that closed > source software is exploitive, if you say that it is wrong, then don't > use it. Period. I say capitalism is wrong yet I buy some things. It's > an issue of survival, but that same argument can't really be applied > to your choice of software. > Comrade Ringo Kamens Excellent points Ringo. Thanks for sharing this. You can look at a glimpse of how we did it in Kerala what result we got here http://www.fsdaily.com/Beginner/Teachers_becoming_Free_Software_advocates_a… Teachers are now advocates of Free Software, they are ready for sacrifices for Freedom because they are taught to value Freedom over convenience. The case in point is about printer drivers, many of the commonly used printers (for example canon ip1000) does not have a Free driver but one teacher responded to it like this, "Of course there is some problems in Printer Driver but it can be solved in the new versions" If we want Freedom and software that works at the same time, you can't reach there by starting at non-free software. But if you insist on freedom you will get it. See what happened with java and flash for example. We said gratis is not enough, we need libre and now we have those. Instead if we wer content with non-free but gratis java and flash we would not have the Free tools now. Same can be said about the graphics drivers. When companies like Dell start offering Intel graphics card because they work out of the box with Free Software NVIDIA and ATI will feel the heat and would follow. ATI already released their specs for some graphics cards. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] [ifsa] The Free Software hardliner, the corporation, and the shotgun wedding
by Praveen A 22 Jan '08

22 Jan '08

2008/1/21, john saylor <js0000(a)gmail.com>: > i would definitely concur that freedom is important. and it's much > more easier to make a computer run than to convince someone of the > value of freedom [esp when it contravenes capitalism]. > > but shouldn't we support getting free[-ish] software in the middle > schools? maybe one of those students will take it further. it's not > perfect, it goes against a statement of st. ignucious, a good point. > free software is more than switching a computer from windows to > ubuntu. no doubt. > > is it better to take no steps? > The point RMS makes is people supporting the two stage approach never tries to do the stage 2. If everyone does only the stage 1, who will do the stage 2? "Well, this two stage solution might work well, if it were properly tried, but when people propose this, almost always they go and work on stage one. In fact, I've come to recognise that this two stage solution idea is really an excuse to work on stage one and ignore stage two." The problem is there are a lot of people and doing stage one where as not many people doing stage one. And hence there are so many of "linux" users out there who never come to know about GNU or Freedom and are not taught to appreciate the importance of Freedom. The result is, we get a weak community and it is so easy for them to lose the Freedom. When someone show them something is better they have no second thoughts about switching back. Free Software movement was started to protect user Freedom and teaching people how important it is to be able to collaborate. Free software never was a movement to overthrow Microsoft and put Adobe, Nvidia or ATI there. I know it is tough and I have also done stage one without stage two. But we need people like RMS to remind us why we started it and what will happen if we forget it. You know what when one student sent me a mail saying. ... i had said "We have had enough of philosophy, now we want more technical sessions".. That time i was not much bothered about the philosophy.. now i'm. I find this one user finding the value Freedom more worth than the hundreds of people who use "linux" because I gave then CDs or helped fix their problems. If we had listen to them and stopped at stage one, we would have never been able to build such a great community there. We need more people to do stage two because there are a great number of people who have crossed stage one but can never make it to stage two because they don't see anyone teaching them importance of Freedom. See http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Bangalore/BMSCE for more about what we have been doing there. -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Google Highly Open Participation Contest
by CK Raju, Thrissur 21 Jan '08

21 Jan '08

http://code.google.com/opensource/ghop/2007-8/ Limited projects, limited tasks, limited scope. However, Content Management Systems (Drupal, Joomla, Plone and Silverstripe) all allow localisation efforts in Indian languages. So also the case with Moodle - for education purposes. Students, please hurry... CK Raju

1 0

Re: [Fsf-friends] [ifsa] The Free Software hardliner, the corporation, and the shotgun wedding
by Praveen A 20 Jan '08

20 Jan '08

2008/1/20, Christian Einfeldt <einfeldt(a)gmail.com>: > IMHO, the fight for freedom is a numbers game. The higher the locked down > installbase, the more power goes to the dark side. > > At the public middle school that I am moving to Free Software, the teachers > just don't care about freedom. But they do care about educating children. > IMHO, we must be humble and serve the needs of the end users first. We need > to convince them that Free Software will do what THEY want it to do. So > now, all of the student-facing computers at this public school are Free > Software computers, unless you don't consider PClinuxOS or Ubuntu to be Free > Software. There are still some non-Free software components on those boxes, > but we are working steadily to get them off. Rome was not built in a day. > It will take patience and perseverance. > Lets see what RMS has to say about it. "Many people suggest a two stage solution. They say, first, let's teach people to use Free Software, and then, once they're using it, we'll teach people to appreciate the freedom. Well, this two stage solution might work well, if it were properly tried, but when people propose this, almost always they go and work on stage one. In fact, I've come to recognise that this two stage solution idea is really an excuse to work on stage one and ignore stage two. Stage two is what I work on. So if you really believe in a two stage solution, come join me and work on stage two because the problem is that so much of our community has focussed on stage one, and so much of our community has talked about practical benefits while ignoring freedom, that in fact, at this point, if you start using the GNU/Linux system, you may not hear anyone talk about freedom for years. In other words, our community has not just begun to forget about the goal of freedom, it has almost completely forgotten. With the result that now it is a struggle to teach people in our own community about the freedom which is the reason why we built this community. Of all the operating systems in history, all except one were developed for commercial reasons or technical reasons. GNU was developed for the sake of freedom. The users need to know this. And I would like to ask you to join in helping to teach them this. This is why I dedicate myself now to spreading these ideas of freedom. There are more than a million contributors to Free Software now. The community doesn't need me that much as a programmer, and besides, I'm getting older, I probably can't do it as well as I used to. But there are not a million people teaching the users to appreciate the value of freedom and the value of specifically the freedom to cooperate in a community. This is where we urgently need more people. " http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/rms-fs-2006-03-09.en.html#we-urgently-ne… Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Fsf-friends