- Fsf-friends - lists.fsci.in

urgent: help promote freed.in on your blog and site with buttons and banners
by Linux Lingam 02 Aug '07

02 Aug '07

dear all, <quote> Help us promote freed.in We'd appreciate any assistance in promoting freed.in. To make things easier, we have created a bunch of buttons and banners. Please feel free to use any of these to spread the good word. http://freed.in/index.php/promote </quote> thanks, and please forward this to other FOSS mailing lists across the sub-continent. :-) niyam

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Revenue from IT
by Bharathi Subramanian 02 Aug '07

02 Aug '07

Dear All, Recently I gone thru the NASCOMM Site. They mentioned the last year revenue from IT* Business. Actually my doubt is, whatever amount mentioned in the site, 1. Is it the income(Tax) to our Govt? :) 2. Or is the collective income/profit of all companies? 3. Or ??? Anyone know, How much money is our Govt spending to purchase the softwares/year? I just want to compare both. Bye :) -- Bharathi S

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PHP GTK
by ANOOP KRISHNAN 02 Aug '07

02 Aug '07

hai if any one have php-gtk for debian etch then please send it to me Anoop Krishnan _________________________________________________________________ Slidestory, audio slideshows http://www.Slidestory.com

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RIS Dairy - Journal
by Mani A 01 Aug '07

01 Aug '07

From the RIS website (lots of conspiracies of course): -------------------------------------------------------------------- RIS Diary http://www.ris.org.in/ris_diary.htm Publisher: Research and Information System for Developing Countries RIS is an autonomous research institution established with the financial support of the Government of India. It is India¹s contribution to the fulfilment of the long-felt need of the developing world for creating a ŒThink-Tank¹ on global issues in the field of international economic relations and development cooperation. RIS has also been envisioned as a forum for fostering effective intellectual dialogue among developing countries. RIS is also mandated to function as an advisory body to the Government of India on matters pertaining to multilateral economic and social issues, including regional and sub-regional cooperation arrangements, as may be referred to it from time to time. RIS functions in close association with various governmental bodies, research institutions, academicians, policy-makers, business and industry circles in India and abroad. RIS has a consultative status with UNCTAD, NAM and WTO has conducted policy research and other activities in collaboration with other agencies, including UN-ESCAP, UNCTAD, UNU, Group of 77, SAARC Secretariat, Asian Development Bank (ADB), The World Bank, and the South Centre. RIS publication programme covers books, research monographs, discussion papers and policy briefs. It also publishes journals entitled, South Asia Economic Journal, Asian Biotechnology and Development Review, and RIS Diary. Managing Editor: Tish Kumar Malhotra Core IV-B, Fourth Floor, India Habitat Centre Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110 003 India. Ph. 91-11-24682177-80 Fax: 91-11-24682173-74 Email: dgoffice(a)ris.org.in Content freely accessible in PDF format. Current Issue: April 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Moglen and Web-2.0
by Mani A 31 Jul '07

31 Jul '07

"Moglen : And, in fact, it's data that stands as O'Reilly's second "open source doesn't matter" Web 2.0 pitch. We should care more about controlling our information than code. You want to move away from Google? Fine. Google should let you take your information with you." http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/07/26/oreilly_moglen_oscon/ Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Beryl can improve usability and work-flow
by Mani A 30 Jul '07

30 Jul '07

Beryl is not just eye candy... "If you have Beryl installed, you can select windows for grouping by pressing [super]+s (the [super] key is usually the "windows" key) or by holding down the [super] key and using the left mouse button to draw a box around the window(s) you want to select. Once selected, you group them press [super]+g to group them. Once you've got your group, press [super]+t to tab them together. You've then got a handy group of windows that are tidy, and easily selectable. To change windows, just hover your mouse over the title bar, or use [super]+left or [super]+right to cycle through the windows. scale plugin and the four desktop corners Because the four corners of the desktop are the easiest parts to hit with your mouse, it makes sense to try and put some form of useful action in each of the four corners. The scale plugin has a number of options as to which windows get included in the when activated. You can activate all windows on all sides of the cube, or just the windows on the current cube face, or just the windows associated with the current application. It is this last option that can be useful for tasks that involve a whole bunch of windows from one application - like the gimp, or kopete. You can set the actions for each corner of the desktop in Beryl settings manager. Under the general page, you'll find an icon for shortcuts in the left panel, and under that, a tab for screen edges." Read more at http://liquidweather.net/howto/index.php?id=92 Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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why, still proprietary software @ higher secondary syllabus.
by Sarath Lakshman 29 Jul '07

29 Jul '07

Hi friends, I have been here with the issue of using non-free and non-standards compilers in higher secondary computer science syllabus. It was really appreciative to introduce purely free softwares at high schools and the feedbacks from students are awesome. Only problem I heard about it was about driver supports and low monitor frequency problems. I found a nice FAQ for solving that at space-kerala's support website. During the time Govt decided to implement free sofware at high schools, i read in the news item that they would be implementing FS at higher secondary on the following year. But I'm sad to see nothing pleasing in progress. By last march I passed out from +2 and I really couldn't see FS supporting syllabus till now. Being a free software enthusiast, I had been using GCC and MYSQL myself at school at a desktop installed with SLYNUX Gnu/Linux distro at my own risk saying my teacher that I won't use non-free software. I used the same box installed with gcc and mysql for my practical examination too. I had tried my best to spread the need of freedom at computing to my companions and teacher. I could only hear a yess boss reply from most of them and they weren't ready to use gnu tools or gnu/linux since they weren't in syllabus. My teacher smiled reading http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html and nothing more positive. <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html> By now, students passing out from 10th standard are trained on free software platform. The students who choose Com SC at higher secondary will be taken into the worst environment of proprietary software at plus one and plus two. I feel its bad for a transition from free software to Proprietary software. This is the condition prevails now. What Iam still repeating here is : HSS CS syllabus is so easy to migrate to GNU/Linux platform The tools they currently use are: 1) M$ Windows platform 2) Turbo C++ IDE 3) Oracle SQL What we really require for migration is: 1) GNU/Linux 2) VI editor 3) MySQL or other GPLed ones <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html> You can see some posts about this issue two yeas back here at fsf-friends [ http://gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2005-August/ ] Hope we could do some practical move on this issue. With regards, Sarath. http://sarathlakshman.info

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OpenOffice 2.x Marathi User Guide Launched!!!
by Anand Kulkarni 27 Jul '07

27 Jul '07

Dear All, We are very glad to publish the OpenOffice 2.x Marathi User Guide. There are 3 PDF files you can download: 1) Word_Processor_2_x_Marathi_Guide_2_0.pdf (For OpenOffice Writer) 2) Spreadsheet_2_x_Marathi_Guide_2_0.pdf (For OpenOffice Calc) 3) Presentation_2_x_Marathi_Guide_2_0.pdf (For OpenOffice Impress) We had released OpenOffice 1.x Marathi User Guide around 1 year back. Now we have upgraded to OpenOffice 2.x. You can download the guides from http://svs.org.in/Downloads.html The credit goes to: 1) Mr. Amit Kadu 2) Mrs. Anagha Bapat 3) Mr. Anand Kulkarni 4) Mrs. Dhanashri Kulkarni 5) Mrs. Jyoti Bochgire 6) Mr. Pankaj Thakre 7) Mrs. Yashaswini Godse For any query, feel free to revert back. Thanks. Warm Regards, Anand Kulkarni Sarvangin Vikas Sanstha Pune http://svs.org.in ____________________________________________________________________________________ Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet in your pocket: mail, news, photos & more. http://mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC

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Software Freedom Day -- register your teams now
by Praveen A 27 Jul '07

27 Jul '07

Hi, If you have not yet registered for Software Freedom Day you can register here http://softwarefreedomday.org/cgi/register.html To see the teams already registered from India see http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/asiaandmiddleeast/india If you register before July 31 you will be getting T-shirts and CDs. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Switching to GNU/Linux -- for newbies
by Praveen A 27 Jul '07

27 Jul '07

Switch to Linux! GNU/Linux, or simply Linux, is an alternative to Microsoft Windows. It is easy to use and gives more freedom to users. Anyone can install it: Linux is free as in freedom, and often available free of charge. http://www.getgnulinux.org/ Can point to newbies to GNU/Linux. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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A Patent Is Worth Having, Right? Well, Maybe Not
by Praveen A 26 Jul '07

26 Jul '07

A Patent Is Worth Having, Right? Well, Maybe Not PATENTS are supposed to give inventors an incentive to create things that spur economic growth. For some companies, especially in the pharmaceutical business, patents do just that by allowing them to pull in billions in profits from brand-name, blockbuster drugs. But for most public companies, patents don't pay off, say a couple of researchers who have crunched the numbers. Read full story http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/business/yourmoney/15proto.html?ex=134215… -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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SugarCRM goes GPLv3
by Praveen A 26 Jul '07

26 Jul '07

"We are proud to adopt the GPL V3 with our next major Sugar Community Edition release," said John Roberts, CEO and co-founder of SugarCRM Open Source Project. "We would like to thank the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for leading such an important effort to deliver the most modern FOSS license. The FSF undertook a very difficult process and incorporated many diverse developer and user needs and combined them into a fair and just representation of what FOSS means to our communities." http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/about/press-releases/20070725-GPLv3-FOSS.html -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Release of LX installer for Debian GNU/Hurd & Seminar on "Political Ethics in Information Society"
by Praveen A 26 Jul '07

26 Jul '07

A student team in MES Engineering College Kuttippuram, Kerala Successfully finished the New Installer for Debian GNU/Hurd, The complete GNU Operating System. This Installer is named as LX since it is a sucesser of Debian Hurd K series installer & it directly boot into X. The Team members of the Installer Project are available at http://www.projecthurd.tk The Release Function & its demonstration is planned at Hotel Renaissance, Kozhikode on 27th July 10.AM Onwards. It will be followeb by a Seminar on "Political Ethics in Information Society" at 1.00PM onwards Speakers (incomplete): 1) Jaiprakash Raghaviah, Centre for Excellence, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode 2) P Madhu, Department of MBA, MES College of Engineering, Kuttippuram 3) Civic Chandran, Activist 4) Anivar Aravind, Moving Republic, Thrissur All are welcome. About Debian GNU/Hurd: The Hurd is a set of servers running on top of the GNU Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). Together they build the base for the GNU operating system.Debian GNU/Hurd is a distribution of GNU Operating system Under Development for developer, server and desktop platforms. -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Linux Disktool License
by Mani A 24 Jul '07

24 Jul '07

This is an application (http://freshmeat.net/projects/disktool/) whose source code is freely available only on request by email. It is not available for public download. It is described as 'freeware'. Which is the most suitable License for the application ? Note that there are some 'open source packages' that require a compulsory registration before download. This does not really differ from those. Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Fwd: Debian Edu Release 3.0r0 is ready
by Praveen A 24 Jul '07

24 Jul '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Petter Reinholdtsen <pere(a)hungry.com> Date: २००७ जुलाई २२ १७:५५ Subject: Release 3.0r0 is ready To: debian-edu(a)lists.debian.org The final release of Debian Edu/Etch (aka 3.0r0 or Terra) is ready. The images are in place on ftp.skolelinux.no/skolelinux-cd/. I will not do any big announcement this time, but leave that to the press team to avoid too many dupliated messages. This is just to let you all know. Now we celebrate, and start working on 3.0r1 and the Lenny based version. Happy hacking, -- Petter Reinholdtsen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-edu-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Xen Virtualization
by Mani A 24 Jul '07

24 Jul '07

I uploaded the article on Xen Virtualization by JPM at http://www.ilug-cal.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=102&Item… (it is in the projects section) Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Shahid Akthar ... and his emails
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 23 Jul '07

23 Jul '07

[I knew Shahid Akthar and many of those mentioned below in their work situations, and am really grateful for his prompt initiatives in promoting Free/Libre and Open Source Software in the Asia-Pacific through his many initiatives, and extreme openness to learn from the FLOSS campaign and its ideas here. An unusual official from the UN network, for sure. --FN] Shahid Akthar ... and his emails A farewell note by Chanuka Wattegama chanuka(a)gmail.com Shahid Akthar ended his long and illustrious career in the field of development when he left his office in UNDP on June 30, 2007. In his 37 years of development work, he has become perhaps the leading regional specialist about the ICT for development (ICT4D) initiatives in Asia Pacific. No matter whether it was e-Government, telecentres, Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) or telemedicine, from Iran to Cook Islands and from Mongolia to Timor Leste, none could tell what exactly was going on in some obscure corner in nearly 40 countries, better than him. That was his job and what he was good at. He was the walking version of the Digital Review of Asia Pacific, the two yearly publication that records the ICT trends in every Asia Pacific economy, which Shahid himself was instrumental in publishing. Sometimes he was far more updated than the print version and certainly had more links to information sources. Until his retirement, he was my boss, although I hate to use that word. Shahid was more a guide and a friend, with the type of characteristics we South Asians fondly coalesce to a single word -- a Guru. Initially, when I went for international workshops, I introduced myself by saying I work for UNDP-APDIP. Later, I learnt to say, "I work for Shahid Akthar." I realised that the latter was a quicker way to make others treat me as a friend. Such was the respect Shahid had. His network of ICT practitioners in the region was amazing. It was only rarely that he did not get an invitation for any regional or most of the national ICT events. People ran after him for keynotes. Everybody and his uncle in ICT4D knew what he did from the small UNDP-APDIP office in Bangkok. A writer can pay tribute in only one way -- that is what I am trying to do now, although I have to admit, it is no easy task. Shahid had been a phenomenon. One can write a book about him, said my friend and ex-colleague, Gopi Pradhan. Gopi should know. All of us who work in ICTs are weird. Shahid was even a bit more exceptional. Shahid has his own ways of doing things. According to my colleague Sunil Abraham, Shahid assigned him the first job without even having talked with Sunil. "He was just there at the workshop I did some presentations and in the break he came to me and gave me his card without uttering a word. Later he e-mailed me saying if I like to take there is a six month?s assignment on FOSS." So Sunil joined to APDIP team to build the largest FOSS network in Asia Pacific, ISON and stayed for several years. Shahid did not use a mobile. The story goes that during the incident leading to the change of government in Thailand, the UN security people were perplexed on why there was no mobile number available in front of the name of the person who was in charge of ICTs. They thought it was a mistake. James, a colleague of mine had the difficult task of explaining just because one is ICT savvy one does not necessarily have to be an ICT consumer. Shahid was a pioneer who promoted use of mobile phones, in all sort of remote places, Bangladesh, Fiji and Laos, but he never saw the need for one in Bangkok. The security guys were not happy. "Yes, but how can one contact him in an emergency?" Those who know Shahid, knows the answer. By e-mail. You can send an email on 7 pm on a Saturday and can expect the reply in 15 minutes. That was Shahid. Prior to joining Shahid?s team, my friend Joy Daniel, then ICT specialist at Sri Lanka UNDP Country Office told me two things about Shahid -- one good, the other one a bit scary. "As far as giving due credit, none can be a better boss than Shahid. You do a good policy paper, and Shahid will take it everywhere and let everybody knows you did it. But the negative side is if he sends an e-mail on a Sunday morning, he expects action before the first thing in the morning next day." My flirting with Internet started long before meeting Shahid, so checking email on a Sunday morning was no issue to me. So I joined UNDP-APDIP. Joy could not be more correct. Shahid not only became one of the best bosses I ever had in my career, but also convinced me what a strong communication medium e-mail is, specially when they are written in all lower case. Why Shahid wrote his e-mails completely in lower case is a mystery. My colleagues have different theories on this. One said that without having mastered the touch system (like many in his generation) it was difficult for Shahid to use the Shift keys, simultaneously. Another said he did not want to look as if he is giving an order, even when it was what he exactly did! I do not know the answer. May be both. According to James, Shahid himself when confronted on this issue has slyly avoided the topic by saying that credible research has indicated that in the long run, you actually save a substantial amount of time if you type completely in lower case and refer to everyone by initials and signoff with an initial too. Shahid's use of e-mails was legendary. For two years, I reported to Shahid (in Bangkok) from the UNDP Regional Centre in Colombo. I initially thought I would be going to get a phone call from him every hour. For those two years, he contacted me by phone only once, that too for something unavoidable. Instead I was bombarded with a load of e-mails, staring from a minimum of 20-25 everyday. (I should say he was considerate because he reduced that a bit on weekends.) This practice never changed. Once both of us were at adjacent seats in a cyber café in New Delhi and Shahid thought the best way to instruct me do some minor task is by email, as if he were writing from some other planet. These were all official mails. As a true professional, Shahid was not somebody who outwardly or openly discussed about personal matters during office hours (or out of office hours for that matter!). The only occasion I remember him getting personal was to instruct me and my colleague James to take care when there was a bomb blast at the Colombo Airport. It is not that he was not concerned about us. The well being of each and everyone who worked for him was always on the top of his priorities list but he saw no reason to be outwardly pretentious in demonstrating it. I know of many occasions where he has stood up in defence of his staff when the need arose without being asked. One more reason why I am so glad to have worked with a boss like him. Shahid was a workaholic. He often made me remind the motto of my Alma Mater -- Kam mere Pooja (Work is worship). Call it old fashioned, but he was a part of a generation that worked not for rewards, but for the sheer pleasure of doing it. Joy put it nicely, "Shahid is the type of person who knowing that you worked till 12 midnight yesterday in organising a workshop, but still expects you to arrive at work 8.00 am today. Slightly exaggerated perhaps, but not too far from truth. The good news was Shahid did it in such a great manner, that one never realised one works that much. It was all fun and fulfilling. Shahid?s five years of work in UNDP alone speaks volumes about him. Over 50 ICT4D knowledge products (both in print and electronic format) makes UNDP-APDIP the lead agency that has potentially contributed most in the area of cutting-edge ICT4D research and literature in the region. As for capacity building, perhaps its not too bold to state that no other agency has trained so many individuals in the region in such diversified topics from FOSS to e-Government. The small grant scheme that Shahid pioneered alongside a few development partners, has funded 56 innovative and sustainable pilot projects. I am particularly happy to note that one such project -- the e-village based on the Mesh Networking concept -- is being selected to be replicated at so many other locations, by the government of Sri Lanka. I have often been asked whether Shahid would enjoy his retirement, after leading such a hectic working life. Knowing him, I find it difficult to answer this question. Frankly I am not sure. Shahid was a person who loved his work and I cannot imagine him being happy without checking his e-mail at 7 pm on Saturdays. In one of the Sherlock Holmes' adventures, (another character - though fictitious - who immensely enjoyed his work), Holmes tells Watson that the best thing for rest is changing the line of work. I hope Shahid will take a hint from that. I join the rest of my colleagues to wish him a happy retirement and happy and productive long life. -- Frederick Noronha Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org E: fred(a)bytesforall.org or fredericknoronha(a)gmail.com P: +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402 Yahoo: fredericknoronha Skype: fredericknoronha GTalk: fredericknoronha 784, Sonarbhat, Near Lourdes Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India

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[CrossPosted] Groklaw - What Linspire Agreed To
by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay 23 Jul '07

23 Jul '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2007072014373817 It's worse than Novell's, actually. It's worse than Tivo, in my book. I know some say that Tivo doesn't interfere with you modifying, as long as you give up using the modified software on Tivo hardware. To me, that is a penalty not contemplated by GPLv2, because if you buy a Tivo, it's because you wanted to use the software with the Tivo hardware, but with Linspire's agreement, you have to give up pretty much all your GPL freedoms, as far as I can make out, and more. And what do you get in return for giving up everything? True Type fonts, Windows Media 10, DVD playback, patent coverage... - -- You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGpCb/XQZpNTcrCzMRAj4nAJ9ayrwK1IWINgB9kLgJjnF4/xIl4wCdExxN xdWLzFmfBiVyRbXJpywNwjg= =VtJ8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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FLOSS in Indian Judiciary
by Mani A 22 Jul '07

22 Jul '07

All of them have Laptops running Linux with many FLOSS applications. A NEW CHAPTER IN JUDICIARY AND INFORMATION TECHNLOGY (Text of speech delivered by justice Yatindra Singh on 9.7.2007 on the occasion of inauguration of the Allahabad High Court Website and launching of E-court project) ......... "About fifteen thousand laptops are being distributed throughout the country and out of these, seventeen hundred are for our State. These laptops have linux—an open source software—as operating system. It is not that open source does not have IPR problems but they are less than the proprietary software."......... For the remainder see http://kvtrust.blogspot.com/2007/07/new-chapter-in-judiciary-and.html Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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[JOB] Building Open Source weather visualization tools
by Prabhu Ramachandran 22 Jul '07

22 Jul '07

Hello, [Apologies for the cross-posting!] Project positions are open at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay for the visualization of weather data using open source tools. The project will involve creating tools for the visualization of atmospheric weather data using MayaVi. MayaVi is an open source, interactive, 3D visualization tool written in Python. More information on MayaVi is available from http://mayavi.sourceforge.net. In addition to directly working with MayaVi and its core development team, the project will require working with and contributing to several important open source projects like VTK (http://www.vtk.org), Python (http://www.python.org), Traits and the Envisage application framework (http://code.enthought.com). We are looking for people with the following skills: * knowledge of C and object oriented programming with C++. * passion for 3D graphics, visualization, software engineering and technology. * passion for open source software. * knowledge of Python is a plus. Qualifications: Basic BE/B.Tech./BSc/BCA degree Duration of project: 2007 to 2009. More details are available here: http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu/Projects Regards, -- Prabhu Ramachandran http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu

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Digg It: ODF vsOOXML: Proprietizing Standards-Updates from India
by Anivar Aravind 20 Jul '07

20 Jul '07

Digg It Campaign against OOXML in india is featured on groklaw http://digg.com/linux_unix/ODF_vsOOXML_Proprietizing_Standards_Updates_from… http://www.fsdaily.com/Legal/Groklaw_-ODF_vs_OOXML_Proprietizing_Standards-… -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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See Groklaw article : Proprietizing Standards
by Anivar Aravind 20 Jul '07

20 Jul '07

Updates From PJ of Groklaw http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070720073215943 While we wait, there is more on that front, this time from India, where the technical committee there is still considering Ecma-376 issues. Earlier, we mentioned to you some questions that Dr. G. Nagarjuna, Chairman FSF India, submitted to the Working Committee, Board of Indian Standards on Wordprocessing. In this Issue Sheet [PDF], we find answers from Microsoft's Vijay Kapur, followed by a response from Dr. Nagarjuna. For example, here's one such exchange: Backward compatibility for all vendors: Can any third party regardless of business model, without access to additional information and without the cooperation of Microsoft implement full backward compatibility and conversion of such legacy documents into MS-OOXML comparable to what Microsoft can offer? Mr V. Kapur: Implementing backward compatibility is an application function not a file format specification requirement. The ECMA 376 specification is capable of faithfully representing information in the legacy binary file formats. This point was treated in detail in the response to the question raised by Dr. Nagarjuna. Microsoft can offer? Availability of Binary File Formats -- It is to be noted that Microsoft has made the .doc, .xls, and .ppt binary file format specifications available under a royalty-free covenant not to sue to anyone who wishes to implement all or part of these specifications in their products. Anyone can get access to the specification now, using the method described in the following Knowledgebase article at the link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/840817 - How to extract information from Office files by using Office file formats and schemas (relevant extract below)With both format specifications being available for a developer, a converter can be written in such a way that a DOC or XLS document can be converted into an Open XML document with content and representation intact. This point should be treated as closed as there is no contradiction. Dr. Nagarjuna: Availability of the specification of binary formats does not solve the problem of another vendor's ability to implement. What is required is a mapping between the existing proprietary formats and OOXML if the stated objective of OOXML, namely, to faithfully represent legacy formats in XML is to be met. The link provided by MS is not an article. It is misleading to say so. MS did not publish the specification of proprietary documents at any accessible place. They are promising to provide to those who sign an MOU with the company. This is unacceptable since, implementing this standard mandates the need for private understandings. That is not the purpose for which standards are specified. They are specified precisely to eliminate such a requirement. The question asked was a very serious and a CORE issue: the answer given is not satisfactory. A satisfactory answer to this consists in publishing the mapping between OOXML and proprietary documents. Since this is not the case, the issue is open, and forms a sufficient reason to vote against OOXML. I strongly urge any of you interested in OOXML to read the other exchanges most carefully. You will find them illluminating. Today is the last day to write to Massachusetts, I believe, for those who wish to. The address is standards at state.ma.us . Here are two other documents from the process in India, also PDFs: * Issue Sheet of July 11th * Clarification of MS on MathML Read More http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070720073215943 -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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South Africa TC Rejects OOXML 13 to 4
by Anivar Aravind 19 Jul '07

19 Jul '07

The question that was put to vote was whether or not Microsoft's OOXML document format should be accepted as a standard by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS). ...the votes amounted to 2 votes of yes, with comments; 2 votes of yes, without comments; and 13 votes of no, with comments.... http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1641 -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Microsoft to set up university in (Bangalore)city
by ஆமாச்சு 18 Jul '07

18 Jul '07

On Monday 16 July 2007 22:11:52 ஆமாச்சு wrote: > On Monday 16 July 2007 18:01:58 Anivar Aravind wrote: > Nagarjuna G. wrote: > I agree that these are not going to be effective enough, but these are > part of the campaign. Besides this will help us to get all our > arguments together. This will help each of our colleagues to use them > whenever they speak. we have to take the first steps some where. > > If you have another way of conducting a campaign please let me know. > > Press Release is an important starting point. It is a position statement > on Problem. lets do it. I am also suggesting about drafting a signature > campaign that focuses on Why we are opposing the It and what we. Free > Software Community is suggesting for Schooling. > these are destructive way of opposing. some one should do this.. no doubt... the ideal solution would be to start thinking in line of a free software university.. i named one as "gnu"kulam.. ;-) in line of our traditional gurukulam system ;-) which will be more constructive... gnukulam - copyleft - amachu 2007 ;-) -- அன்புடன், ஆமாச்சு. http://amachu.net வாழிய செந்தமிழ்! வாழ்கநற் றமிழர்! வாழிய பாரத மணித்திரு நாடு!

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Smolt
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 18 Jul '07

18 Jul '07

http://rahulsundaram.livejournal.com/11995.html "Smolt is the opt-in hardware profiler for Fedora and while the initial focus was on Fedora, Smolt is derived from RHN client tools and is based on HAL and has always been portable to other Linux distributions and possibly other operating systems which HAL has been ported to like FreeBSD or Solaris. The idea as Max Spevack has hinted before is to have a neutral central website to gather metrics on Linux usage. There are many other advantages. We could understand some patterns and gain insight into how Linux systems are being used and prioritize testing and focus development. We could talk to hardware vendors and gain more support. A shared and coordinated effort between Linux distributions and other operating systems would have enormous benefits for both developers and end users." Cheers, Debarshi -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

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No Plans for MS University
by Pramode C.E. 18 Jul '07

18 Jul '07

Check out: http://www.abhishekkant.net/2007/07/microsoft-computer-varsity-at-bangalore… Pramode ------------ Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/

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Fwd: The Inquirer: Microsoft twists and turns over ODF
by Nagarjuna G. 18 Jul '07

18 Jul '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> Date: Jul 17, 2007 9:46 PM Subject: Fwd: The Inquirer: Microsoft twists and turns over ODF To: Jaijit Bhattacharya <Jaijit.Bhattacharya(a)sun.com>, Venkatesh Hariharan <venky(a)redhat.com>, Ashish Gautam <agautam(a)in.ibm.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org> Date: Jul 17, 2007 12:27 PM Subject: The Inquirer: Microsoft twists and turns over ODF To: greve(a)fsfeurope.org FYI. The Inquirer picked up on the Conversion Hoax. My reaction to this is online at http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/the_inquirer_on_ms_ooxml_and… [ http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41055 ] Microsoft twists and turns over ODF Comment Claims ODF is a monopoly By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 17 July 2007, 15:49 VOLE WATCHERS might be curious about the clever backflips the creature has been performing over the last few weeks over the OpenDocument Format. In its latest manoeuvre, it has offered the claw of friendship saying that it would back ratification of its own Open XML format along with (ODF) as ISO standards. However, the policy document penned by Volish general managers Tom Robertson and Jean Paoli said Microsoft will only give its blessing if ODF promotes choice among the world's consumers. Yep, Vole is claiming it is a poor struggling company being stomped on by these nasty open saucers who hold a monopoly and are trying to squeeze it out of the market. Microsoft knows a lot about playing monopoly and realises it is more than just getting a hotel on Park Lane that wins you the game. But you need to have some serious psychological projection problems to think that the ODF could kill off Vole's lucrative Office product. By casting itself as 'open' and the 'opensource ODF format' turns the tables on its own image. The question is that it has about as much chance of pulling of a stunt like that as Boris "computer games rot your brains" Johnson has of getting through the London Mayoral elections without putting his foot in his mouth at least twice. Robertson and Paoli say that ODF's design is attractive to those users that are interested in a "particular level" of functionality. However the Volish "Open XML may be more attractive to those who want richer functionality, the ability to integrate business data into their documents by defining their own document schema, or a format that was designed to be backwards compatible with existing documents." Although this sounds like our Voles are claiming that Open XML is better but you need a bid of trash out there to show how good it is, they deny this. They say it just that the two products meet different needs. Just in case you were confused, they tell us it is how some people wanting to travel will drive and others will fly. It does not say which they think is the format which is crawling in traffic and which does the soaring, but we think we can guess. This month Microsoft has been trying to show how friendly it is to the ODF by instructing its new Linux chums Novell, Xandros, Linspire and Turbolinuxto come up with some conversion software between OpenXML and the ODF. The problem is that if Robertson and Paoli's early claim is correct would be theoretically impossible to convert a plane into a car? If Open XML is so complex it would be a bugger to convert into something as simple as ODF. Unless they have got it all wrong of course. More here. http://fsfeurope.org/documents/msooxml-questions -- Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org> Free Software Foundation Europe (http://fsfeurope.org) Join the Fellowship and protect your freedom! (http://www.fsfe.org) What everyone should know about DRM (http://DRM.info) -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/ http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/Data/Objects/n/nagarjun/viewObject -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/ http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/Data/Objects/n/nagarjun/viewObject

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The MS-OOXML converter hoax
by Anivar Aravind 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

The converter hoax Instead Microsoft focusses on MS-OOXML, which it promotes on the grounds of technical superiority and wider range of features. But if Microsoft's claims to technical superiority of MS-OOXML over ODF are true, how could one ever be converted perfectly into the other? Microsoft maintains that while it would have been easy to support the Open Document Format (ODF) natively, it had to move to MS-OOXML because this was the only way for them to offer the full features of its office suite. But if Microsoft itself is not able to represent its internal data structures in the Open Document Format (ODF) in its Microsoft Office suite, how could an external conversion program from MS-OOXML accomplish this task? The answer to both questions is that it is not possible because two things cannot be the same and different at the same time. Read More At http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/92735 -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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Higher Education(was:Microsoft to set up university in (Bangalore)city)
by Vikram Vincent 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Hello, I thought that I'd put forward some of the important points I've been going through on the issue. The Kothari commission of 1964 correctly elucidates the basic objectives and functions of universities and their role in national life: "A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people... Their principal object is to deepen man's understanding of the universe and himself - in body mind and spirit, to disseminate this understanding throughout society and to apply it in the service of mankind... They are the dwelling places of ideas and idealism, and expect high standards of conduct and integrity from all the members.. Theirs is the pursuit of truth and excellence in all its diversity" ----- The Dr. S Radhakrishnan Commission suggested that the Govt. spending on education (Immediately after Independence) should be as follows: 6% of GDP, 10% of Central budget. Additional we need around 30% of State budget. ----- "The public spending - Central and State - on higher education has indeed been low, amounting to less than half a per cent of GDP over the last two decades, even though the Govt. itself targets a spending rate of 1.5% of GDP." "Normally, obtaining and adopting the nomenclature "university" in India has its regulatory implications. Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956, defines a University to mean an institution established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act. Going by this section, for an institution to identify itself as a university in India, it would have to be set up by a Central or provincial legislative Act." "There is one other route to university status. based on the recommendations of the Radhakrishna Commission a provision was included under section 3 in the UGC Act that institutions which have a distinct character of their own could be deemed to be a university and enjoy the concomitant privileges without losing their distinctive character." ...... "While foreign providers can use these routes to obtain university status, there are two implications they would have to take into account. First, since a university has either to be established by an Act or be deemed to be an university by th University Grants Commission, they would be subject to the regulatory system for formal "universities" as it evolves through the interventions by the executive and the judiciary. There cannot be a framework that applies to foreign universities which is any less regulatory or more open than what applies to domestic private universities." "This environment may undermine the fundamental objective driving foreign entry... In their search for profit and repatriation, they are bound to make a case under the ongoing GATS negotiation... " --C.P . Chandrashekar,"A foreign hand" ----- Socio-cultural implications The report of the 'Policy Perspective Seminar On Internationalisation Of Higher Education And Operation Of Foreign Universities In India' states: "Though this idea sounds well and high, but in practice it might as well result in selected flow of information/knowledge and skills from one set of countries to another set of countries in one direction whether in single or multi-disciplines subjects. If this happens then it might as well result in draining of resources of receiving country as well as strong cultural and political influences by one set of countries on other set of countries." ----- There is a bit on conditions for entry and functioning but more on that later. Regards Vincent

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symposium on copyleft revolution in a conference on critical geography
by Nagarjuna G. 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Dear friends, I proposed a symposium on copyleft revolution to this conference to be held in Mumbai at TISS from 3rd till 7th of Dec 2007. http://www.5thiccg.org/ Those of you want to speak in the symposium, please submit your proposals before the end of 20th August 2007. The shape of the session will be confirmed by 3rd of September 2007. The symposium will accommodate about five speakers on the panel, and the total duration including at least half-an-hour discussion will be about 2 hours. Copyleft Revolution In the last thirty years the role and significance of Information and Communication Technology have grown significantly, reconfiguring the spatial logic of modern society. However, it has not remained an equally accessed base and gone under the control of a few global corporations that are investing billions of dollars for its modernisation, impacting the process of knowledge construction and dissemination for a small section of the society and thereby transforming other fields of human creativity. As a response to the above hegemonistic framework, a parallel cultural and political movement is under way that is growing at an unprecedented pace and influencing the way how science, software and other kinds of symbolic forms are created, published and distributed. Popularly known as the Copyleft culture, it is essentially a Free Software Movement that took off by an innovative use of the existing copyright and by publishing software under a copyleft license. This license is meant to give four fundamental rights to the user of the software published under the copyleft license: to use it for any purpose, to understand how it works, to make modifications, and to distribute the modifications. One of the major outcomes of this revolution is the GNU/Linux operating system (popularly known by its misnomer, Linux). The copyleft movement is currently transforming other fields of human creativity as well---science, poetry, music, cinema and other symbolic forms. Of these, the most popular success story is Wikipedia.org, the largest multilingual encyclopedia of the world. There are other, not yet fully fructified, movements such as public library of science, open access, creative commons, open music, etc. The proposed session aims at generating awareness about the Copyleft movement in general, and discussing its relation to science and education in particular. While challenging the patent and other similar systems, it also intends to deliberate on a new model of development of ICT, centered around collaboration and sharing among different communities. Contact address : Nagarjuna G, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Mumbai, India, nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org -- Nagarjuna G.

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Microsoft to set up university in (Bangalore)city
by Vikram Vincent 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Hello, Is this a sign that the Free Software Movement is growing in Bangalore??? I think that we need to seriously reassess our Movement and work to build it further and faster. Bangalore has a *huge* potential to build the Movement and it only needs us to put in our 2 drops of sweat. "BANGALORE: Microsoft Corporation has chosen Bangalore for its first-ever exclusive and independent educational venture in the world. The company will set up a university in the city to impart high-end computer education. The university may well be India's first run by a multinational company." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2196363.cms Continuing I have some observations on the issue. With education becoming a multi-billion dollar industry and India occupying a huge part of that pie the proposed entry of a "University of Microsoft" assumes a huge significance particularly since the effects of rampant commercialisation of education is becoming more and more obvious. So how is this argument significant on a Free Software list? Well, while the Supreme Court declared that the 112 private universities set up under the Chattisgarh Private Universities Act were illegal, this was only on technical grounds. It was on the grounds that the UGC was not consulted, nor were the guidelines to set up a Pvt University followed. However, we are witnessing efforts by the Govt. to remove these hurdles and allow FDI(foreign direct investment) in education. Now personally I have experienced the effects of commercialisation of education with my college where I started my Engineering studies being forced to close shop due to the lack of basic facilities. While a "University of Microsoft" may provide ideal conditions for "education" it will set a precedent for other fly-by-night operators to come here and set shop. The Kothari commission of 1964 correctly elucidates the basic objectives and functions of universities and their role in national life: "A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people... Their principal object is to deepen man's understanding of the universe and himself - in body mind and spirit, to disseminate this understanding throughout society and to apply it in the service of mankind... They are the dwelling places of ideas and idealism, and expect high standards of conduct and integrity from all the members.. Theirs is the pursuit of truth and excellence in all its diversity" Now IMHO this captures the essence of the "University of Free Software". The FSF needs to act immediately and come out a detailed stand on the issue. Perhaps the FSF-I leadership could throw more light on the issue. -- Regards Vikram Vincent +919448810822 Project Engineer, NRCFOSS, AU-KBC http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore_alive/ http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_to_promote_free_software_in_karnataka

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OOXML Fails to Gain Approval in US
by Santhosh Thottingal 16 Jul '07

16 Jul '07

Read http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/07/ooxml-fails-to-gain-approval-in-us.html -Santhosh

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FOSSAG
by Mani A 15 Jul '07

15 Jul '07

FYI FOSS4G http://www.foss4g2007.org/ The annual Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) conference brings together the people who create, use, and support open spatial software. No other event brings together members of the open source development, open data creation, and open standards promotion communities like FOSS4G. Find out more <http://www.foss4g2007.org/about_foss4g/> about FOSS4G. Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Touchpad response very slow
by ashish ranjan 15 Jul '07

15 Jul '07

I installed Debian version: 4.0 Etch on a Dell inspiron 6000 laptop. The touch pad response is very slow and it is almost impossible to work with the touch pad. USB mouse works fine. Can someone help? thanks, ashish -- Last ball. 3 runs to win. What a shot! They are running... One...four! India!! oneforindia.org

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Fwd: Conference Announcement, FLOPS
by Mani A 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Ninth International Symposium on Functional and Logic Programming (FLOPS 2008) April 14-16, 2008 Ise, Japan Submission deadline: October 10, 2007 http://www.math.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~garrigue/FLOPS2008/ FLOPS is a forum for research on all issues concerning declarative programming, including functional programming and logic programming, and aims to promote cross-fertilization and integration between the two paradigms. Previous FLOPS meetings were held in Fuji Susono (1995), Shonan Village (1996), Kyoto (1998), Tsukuba (1999), Tokyo (2001), Aizu (2002), Nara (2004), and Fuji Susono (2006). TOPICS FLOPS solicits original papers in all areas of functional and logic programming, including (but not limited to): Declarative Pearls: new and excellent declarative programs with illustrative applications; Language issues: language design and constructs, programming methodology, integration of paradigms, interfacing with other languages, type systems, constraints, concurrency and distributed computing; Foundations: logic and semantics, rewrite systems and narrowing, type theory, proof systems; Implementation issues: compilation techniques, memory management, program analysis and transformation, partial evaluation, parallelism; Applications: case studies, real-world applications, graphical user interfaces, Internet applications, XML, databases, formal methods and model checking. The proceedings are expected to be published as an LNCS volume. The proceedings of the previous meeting (FLOPS2006) were published as LNCS 3945. INVITED SPEAKERS To be announced PC CO-CHAIRS Jacques Garrigue (Nagoya, Japan) Manuel Hermenegildo (Madrid, Spain and New Mexico, US) PC MEMBERS Maria Alpuente (Valencia, Spain) Sergio Antoy (Portland, OR, USA) Matthias Blume (TTI, Chicago, USA) Tyng-Ruey Chuang (Academia Sinica, Taiwan) Zhenjiang Hu (Tokyo, Japan) Oleg Kiselyov (FNMOC, Monterey, USA) Herbert Kuchen (Muenster, Germany) Dale Miller (INRIA, Palaiseau, France) Atsushi Ohori (Tohoku, Japan) Enrico Pontelli (New Mexico, USA) Kristoffer Rose (IBM Watson, USA) Kazunori Ueda (Waseda, Japan) Peter Van Roy (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) Benjamin Werner (INRIA, Palaiseau, France) LOCAL CHAIR Shoji Yuen, Nagoya University SUBMISSION Submissions must be unpublished and not submitted for publication elsewhere. Work that already appeared in unpublished or informally published workshops proceedings may be submitted. Submissions should fall into one of the following categories: Regular research papers: they should describe new results and will be judged on originality, correctness, and significance. System descriptions: they should contain a link to a working system and will be judged on originality, usefulness, and design. All submissions must be written in English and can be up to 15 proceedings pages long. Authors are strongly encouraged to use LaTeX2e and the Springer llncs class file, available at http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html Regular research papers should be supported by proofs and/or experimental results. In case of lack of space, this supporting information should be made accessible otherwise (e.g. a link to a web page, or an appendix). Submission is Web-based. Please visit the conference site. IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: October 10, 2007 Author notification: December 21, 2007 Camera-ready copy: January 21, 2008 Conference: April 14-16, 2008 PLACE Ise, Japan Previous FLOPS: FLOPS 2006, Fuji Susono: http://hagi.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/FLOPS2006/ FLOPS 2004, Nara: http://logic.cs.tsukuba.ac.jp/FLOPS2004/ FLOPS 2002, Aizu: http://www.ipl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/FLOPS2002/ FLOPS 2001, Tokyo: http://www.ueda.info.waseda.ac.jp/flops2001/ SPONSOR Japan Society for Software Science and Technology (JSSST) SIG-PPL IN COOPERATION with Asian Association for Foundation of Software (AAFS) (pending) Association for Logic Programming (ALP) INQUIRIES to Jacques Garrigue (garrigue at math.nagoya-u.ac.jp) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Open Solaris to have a package management system
by Mani A 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Yes that is planned for the next release in spring 2008. http://www.devxnews.com/article.php/3688576 Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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FROM PAKISTAN: ipgrab ... A verbose packet sniffer that displays a great amount of detail on each packet it reads, including application layer fields.
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Project Admins: farooq-i-azam, mborella Operating System: All BSD Platforms (FreeBSD/NetBSD/OpenBSD/Apple Mac OS X), All POSIX (Linux/BSD/UNIX-like OSes), FreeBSD, Linux License: GNU General Public License (GPL) Category: Monitoring * * * * * From: "Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam" <i80x86(a)gmail.com> Subject: [LinuxPakistan] [SPAM] Ipgrab 0.9.10 Released To: general(a)linuxpakistan.net Message-ID: <2424a8660707110400o784ac9e4sdd6acecec5a9884a(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful and the Most Beneficent Dear All Assalam-o-Alaikum! We have released new version of Ipgrab which is 0.9.10. Ipgrab is a packet sniffer distributed with Debian and other Linuxes. In particular, we have added a DEVELOPER-HOWTO with this release which is to facilitate new developers. If you are interested to participate, please do read the document available with the download. This new release fixes many bugs and errors, and ipgrab is now lot more stable. You may see ChangeLog for more details of the changes which were applied. Also, this release is now in synchronization with CVS repository. You can visit the project page here: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/ipgrab And you can download it from the following link: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4340 Other information provided by the Sourceforge release announcement is as under: Project: IPgrab (ipgrab) Package: ipgrab Date : 2007-07-10 20:47 Project "IPgrab" ('ipgrab') has released the new version of package 'ipgrab'. You can download it from SourceForge.net by following this link: <https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4340&release_id=5222…> or browse Release Notes and ChangeLog by visiting this link: <https://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=522209> -- Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam http://www.esecurity.com.pk/ http://www.chase.org.pk/ -- FN: Frederick Noronha http://wikiwikiweb.de/MyContacts Phone 0091-832-2409490 Cell: 091-9822122436 or 9970157402 (after 1 pm) A film on copyright! GOOD COPY BAD COPY: a documentary about the current state of copyright and culture. http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net/

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1st Asian Nation to Adopt Open Software Standards
by Raj Mathur 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

This may be some help in the battle against OOXML: 1st Asian Nation to Adopt Open Software Standards "Japan has adopted a policy under which government ministries and agencies will solicit bids from software vendors whose products support internationally recognized open standards and thus becomes the first country in Asia to embrace the open software Standards, The OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance) says in a press release (PDF). Full story at: http://www.linuxlookup.com/2007/jul/13/1st_asian_nation_to_adopt_open_softw… -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves

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Sify joins hands with Microsoft
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

Sify joins hands with Microsoft to bridge Digital Divide http://in.news.yahoo.com/070712/43/6hze0.html this time the promise is of free office software with free training. -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal

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Re: [Fsf-friends] M$ Gaming
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

----- Mani A <a.mani.cms(a)gmail.com> wrote: > M$ has been doing well in the gaming OS sector and with XBOX too. So > they have this nice closed source marketing strategy : > http://www.physorg.com/news103199030.html > > Best > > A. Mani Here is the conspiracy theory MS Sells one xbox 360, the xbox goes down and returned for warranty, a replacement xbox 360 is sent, it also goes down another replacement and the cycle continues... But the point is, for every one xbox 360 sold, MS can multiply its actual sales figures by 3, maybe 4 may be more. And can claim to dominate/ rule the console market. Whereas the rest will stay the one sale per person, no massive multipliers for them. Whatever... -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal

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Linus Torvalds Speaks: Have You Something To Ask?
by Anivar Aravind 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Linus Torvalds Speaks: Have You Something To Ask? http://efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnewsxml.asp?edid=20212 So, here is a chance for you to submit your questions. The two broad topics that we would like to discuss with Linus are: 1. The technology road map of Linux (especially the kernel) 2. The role Indian techies can play in developing Linux and open source So, if you have questions for Linus, feel free to ask.... The detailed interview will be published in LFY and subsequently released as a 'creative commons' document, since it will be a true community-driven initiative. The deadline to submit questions is 13 July 2007. -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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Say No to ECMA OOXML at BIS
by Anivar Aravind 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Dear Nagarjuna, I sent both links to PJ of groklaw. Some Interesting Observations of Rob on the MS Response is online now <http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20070709231317298&title…> Minutes of Meeting held on May 07, 2007, with comments <http://www.odfalliance.in/files/2007-07-05%20Minutes%20with%20comments%20by…> Two beautiful points in MS response: * OOXML does not have a large number of features but is "feature rich". "The statement was not that the size is due to the large number of features but “feature rich”. The size of the document is also due to the fact that it is a fully defined specification." (note, OOXML is incomplete, inconsistent, and lacks semantic, ie, it is a street directory without a map) * 6000+4000 pages of OOXML specifications are needed because MS couldn't be bothered to ask Oasis to define spreadsheet formula's "As an example, which was cited in the meeting but has not been captured in the minutes, is the specification for implementing formulas in Spreadsheets which is not present in ODF. In this case what would spreadsheet formula specifications be considered as if not a point of standardization." * In the Response to the Question by Dr. Nagarjuna, MS throws in another "Covenant not to sue", now with regard to the old binary office formats. Instead of giving a clear license to use the specifications, you are now still not allowed to use them. However, MS now promises not to sue you under some conditions, or maybe they will sue you under some other conditions. Just like OOXML. "It is to be noted that Microsoft has made the .doc, .xls, and .ppt binary file format specifications available under a royalty-free covenant not to sue to anyone who wishes to implement all or part of these specifications in their products." ~ Regards Anivar -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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Say No to ECMA OOXML at BIS
by Anivar Aravind 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Dear Nagarjuna, I sent both links to PJ of groklaw. Some Interesting Observations on the MS Response is online now <http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20070709231317298&title…> Minutes of Meeting held on May 07, 2007, with comments <http://www.odfalliance.in/files/2007-07-05%20Minutes%20with%20comments%20by…> Two beautiful points in MS response: * OOXML does not have a large number of features but is "feature rich". "The statement was not that the size is due to the large number of features but “feature rich”. The size of the document is also due to the fact that it is a fully defined specification." (note, OOXML is incomplete, inconsistent, and lacks semantic, ie, it is a street directory without a map) * 6000+4000 pages of OOXML specifications are needed because MS couldn't be bothered to ask Oasis to define spreadsheet formula's "As an example, which was cited in the meeting but has not been captured in the minutes, is the specification for implementing formulas in Spreadsheets which is not present in ODF. In this case what would spreadsheet formula specifications be considered as if not a point of standardization." * In the Response to the Question by Dr. Nagarjuna, MS throws in another "Covenant not to sue", now with regard to the old binary office formats. Instead of giving a clear license to use the specifications, you are now still not allowed to use them. However, MS now promises not to sue you under some conditions, or maybe they will sue you under some other conditions. Just like OOXML. "It is to be noted that Microsoft has made the .doc, .xls, and .ppt binary file format specifications available under a royalty-free covenant not to sue to anyone who wishes to implement all or part of these specifications in their products." ~ Regards Anivar -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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GPL2 - GPL3
by Mani A 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

Suppose a package XX has a version-A under GPL-V2 and a forthcoming version-B. Suppose also that version -B is a severe modification of version-A. Now if version-B is to be released under GPL-V3 and suppose the earlier version is also to be maintained for some time, then I believe that the code from version-A would not be usable in version-B. Or how is this migration handled ? Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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M$ Gaming
by Mani A 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

M$ has been doing well in the gaming OS sector and with XBOX too. So they have this nice closed source marketing strategy : http://www.physorg.com/news103199030.html Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Comments on the GPLv3
by Raj Mathur 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

Great article on the major changes in and features of GPLv3 with explanations in plain English. Apologies for the cross-post. http://lawandlifesiliconvalley.blogspot.com/ Regards, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves

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Fwd: Please Read: Need help in replacing music in Fedora package
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tom spot Callaway <tcallawa(a)redhat.com> Date: 10-Jul-2007 02:33 Subject: Please Read: Need help in replacing music in Fedora package To: fedora-devel-list(a)redhat.com Cc: lwn(a)lwn.net, fedora-list(a)redhat.com, fedora-ambassadors-list(a)redhat.com Hello interweb. I need help. (This is going out to a few places, as to hopefully have it picked up) One of my Fedora packages (rocksndiamonds) has a slight problem. Turns out that some of its audio files are straight copies of music which was used without permission. Full details are here: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=245435 Rather than pull the game out of Fedora entirely, (it is pretty fun, and the music is the only real blocker) I'd like to replace the music with freely distributable music. So, this could be your big chance! Are you a musician? Is someone you know a musician? Would you be willing to give us some music under a Creative Commons license (Attribution or Attribution-ShareAlike only)? The music we need replacement for is: "Alchemy" by Ian Boddy, from "Drive" (emailed Ian) "Czardasz" by Robert Pieculewicz, from "Czardasz" (emailed Robert, now known as "Steve Allen") "The Chase" by Propaganda, from "A Secret Wish" (could not find contact info for Propaganda) "Twilight Painter" by Tangerine Dream, from "Heartbreakers" (emailed Eastgate Music & Media LTD, Management for Tangerine Dream) "21st Century Common Man" by Tangerine Dream, from "Tyger" (emailed Eastgate Music & Media LTD, Management for Tangerine Dream) "Voyager" by The Alan Parsons Project, from "Pyramid" (emailed permissions(a)the-alan-parsons-project.com) "Network 23" by Tangerine Dream, from "Exit" (emailed Eastgate Music & Media LTD, Management for Tangerine Dream) I've emailed the contact points for the artists (when I could find them), but I do not expect that they will be willing to permit the sound sample use. We don't need whole songs, just short sound samples that will endlessly loop while the game plays. The clips do not need to be long, the longest one in the above list is 14 seconds. The format needed is .wav. If you're willing to help, please email me (tcallawa(a)redhat.com). Without replacing this music, we'll have to remove this game from the Fedora package collection. Thanks in advance, ~spot -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list(a)redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

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GNU Sather
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

http://www.gnu.org/software/sather/ GNU Sather is an object-oriented programming language designed to be simple, efficient and safe. It aims to be appropriate for use in teaching, research, and industry. It was originally based on Eiffel but now incorporates ideas and approaches from several languages. One way of placing it in the "space of languages" is to say that it attempts to be as efficient as C, C++, or Fortran, as elegant and safe as Eiffel or CLU, and to support higher-order functions as well as Common Lisp or Scheme. GNU Sather is an object-oriented language with garbage collection, statically-checked strong typing, multiple inheritance, separate implementation and type inheritance, parameterized classes, dynamic dispatch, iteration abstraction, higher-order routines and iterators, exception handling, assertions, preconditions, postconditions, and class invariants. Code can be compiled into C code and can link with C object files. Cheers, Debarshi -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Does Microsoft have nowhere to run?
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

----- Praveen A <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> wrote: > http://www.fsdaily.com/Adoption/Does_Microsoft_have_nowhere_to_run/ > Interesting but some deja-vu The free culture of a la-MIT-BSD/ Academia -> Commercial *nix/ and wind0Z too GNU GPLv2 -> TiVo and many others But thanks to GNU GPLv3 this wont be a one way sloppy relationship anymore. So the blank wall: hey MS can go for the xbox 360 vista, and then later upgrade it to xbox 360 aero FX or something, and then we install GNU/ Linux on it :-D -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal ----------------------- ajaypal[at]acm.org

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The Real Meaning of GNU GPLv3
by Praveen A 06 Jul '07

06 Jul '07

"In part that interest has been stoked by the manner in which the licence revision has been carried out. Whereas the first version of the GNU GPL was essentially the product of one man – Richard Stallman – and even the second involved only him and a few close collaborators, the drafting of version 3 has been opened out in an exemplary fashion to allow as wide a participation as possible. Given Stallman's close control of his GNU project and all that pertains to it, this new style of transparent, collaborative and inclusive working is a significant development for the future." http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000246 -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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