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Freeing the Mind : Eben Moglen
by Vimal Joseph 07 Jun '07

07 Jun '07

Audio recording of the talk "Freeing the Mind" by Prof. Eben Moglen @ Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala , 05-06-07 3:00PM http://web.space-kerala.org/freeing.html ~vimal

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Innovativeness in Property Relations
by Sasi Kumar 07 Jun '07

07 Jun '07

Here is a rather sketchy write-up on the seminar on Free Software and Free Culture held at Mascot Hotel at Thiruvananthapuram. The Seminar started at 5:30 and the hall was almost full. Mr. Jyothilal, Secretary of the IT Department, welcomed the gathering. The first talk was by Prof. Prabhat Patnaik on Innovativeness in Property Relations. He spoke very briefly, but demolished the idea that innovation cannot happen without exclusion. He quoted Schumpeter, a great supporter of capitalism, to show that the concept of private property in ideas goes totally against capitalism. Taking the example of two companies, he showed that the best course for each company will always be to innovate. This is true even without the s-called "Intellectual Property Rights". These rights are in addition to the financial benefits they get from innovation. Prof. Eben Moglen spoke next. His talk was called Freeing the Mind: Free Software and the Death of Proprietary Culture. But he seems to have departed much from what he normally speaks about when he speaks on this topic. He started where Prof. Patnaik left. He said that this was the first time that he has had the government people on his side! His arguments were from the practical point of view which, in a sense, complemented Prof. Patnaik's theoretical analysis. He said that monopoly rights for the innovator is not an essential pre-requisite for innovation to happen. As an example, he pointed to Free Software itself. He said that we have created software that is better than proprietary ones by any technological criteria. And this happened without any monopoly rights for anyone. He said that the company that has accumulated the highest amount of money has innovated very little. Its word processor, he said, was incapable of producing any good-looking document. He narrated an instance where he was asked by an advocate in the US what he used for creating legal documents for submission to courts. When he replied that he used a software called LaTeX, the other advocate wanted to learn LaTeX. Microsoft did not innovate, they purchased. The application called Word was purchased from the Palo Alto Research Centre of Rank Xerox. The company itself came to prominence because IBM did not want their own software to go into the PC they designed and manufactured. He said that it is not possible to delve deeply into justifications for capitalism without encountering contradictions. In his opinion, it was not capitalism that brought wealth to the US, but initiatives that were more socialist than capitalist. Like the free university education given to retired military personnel at public institutes. Another was the high spending in research during to the cold war. He said that steps like these had led to a lot of infrastructure development. Once the cold war ended, and the government started to reduce funding for research, things started changing. Developments in technology, he said, were not cutting at the roots of the structure that crated them. The copyright and patent laws that were supposedly meant to promote innovation were, in fact, slowing them down. Any innovation now involved negotiations with several people who held the rights. Information Technology now makes it possible to make infinite copies of different kinds of software -- programs, music, video, text, and so on -- and this is posing a threat to the companies that were making money from these things. This kind of a situation had been predicted by Marx and Engels, he said, though such technologies could not have been thought of in those days. Prof. Moglen said that all patent laws, including the ones in the US are archaic. A cost-benefit analysis is done on everything the government does. But no such analysis is done to see whether a patent would do more harm than benefit to society before the patent is granted. In other words, innovation is given infinite weightage. The prevention of software patents would give enormous benefits to society, he said. The human species learned to manipulate the world, to control nature for its own benefit. All this happened because of the large brain and hands that were freed when homo sapiens became bipeds. There is the question of which came first. Modern research shows that man became a biped first and it was later that the brain enlarged. Surprisingly Frederick Engels had stated this two centuries ago. He had said that it was the use of hands for manipulating the external world and experimenting with it that led to the increase in brain size. Prof. Moglen said that computer networking had brought about a big change in the way we live. If we switch off the net now, deny the Internet to everyone, a lot of people will find it very difficult to lead a normal life. When a young woman decided to quit myspace, a new community was created to encourage her to come back to the site because she used to be the custodian of all their photographs. The network has changed even the job market. The market is the central point of focus in economics and it decides how resources are allocated under scarcity. You have the demand curve and the supply curve and things like that to determine what shall be the price of a commodity. You have the fixed cost and the marginal cost and things like that. So you sell a loaf of bread for the marginal cost. But suppose there are people who cannot afford to buy the bread at the marginal cost, it leads to injustice. Suppose you have a machine which requires only one loaf of bread to begin with and you can generate thousands of loaves by just pressing a button. Then the marginal cost becomes zero, and it is unfair to charge for each loaf. The network has made possible Free Software, which is frictionless at the network. Here, the fixed cost is covered because human beings love to create. The marginal cost is virtually zero. The economist, homunculus economicus, does not see human nature. The reductionist economist went on reducing until he reduced everything, including himself. This economic dwarfconsiders human beings as individuals. John Donne had said, "No man is." We are not islands. The guy who made Free Software did not do so because he had a monopoly. He did so because he could not have done anything else. This is what makes meaning in, and meaning of, life. People simply enjoy doing things, and one of the best examples for this is Wikipedia. He said that one aspect of Wikipedia is sufficient to demonstrate this -- the breaking news. He said that the breaking news in Wikipedia is better than any other media because people the world over are seeing/hearing news and putting it in Wikipedia. Prof. Moglen said that his blog is often behind Wikipedia when it comes to matters about himself. This is proof of the fact that a proof-of-concept + running code + community leads to production without property. He also mentioned his Correlative Corollary to Faraday's Law. He said that, like in Faraday's Law, take the community, wind the net around it and spin the world, and you get information flowing through the network. We take from people according to their ability and give to people according to their need. There were a few questions related to the topic, which were mostly kind of clarifying his statements. The meeting ended around 8 pm. -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please see: http://swatantryam.blogspot.com/

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'Software ought to be free, free, free' (http://infotech.indiatimes.com/)
by Frederick Noronha [फ्र ेडरिक नोरो न्या] 06 Jun '07

06 Jun '07

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Tech_News/News/Software/Software_ought_to_be… 'Software ought to be free, free, free' IANS[WEDNESDAY, JUNE 06, 2007 01:15:17 PM] 'Software ought to be free, free, free' IANS[ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 06, 2007 01:15:17 PM] NEW DELHI: Eben Moglen, an architect of the GNU General Public License and one of the greatest legal minds in the world of free software, is currently touring India on a mission to promote his message: "anything that is worth copying is worth sharing". Hacker-turned-law-professor Moglen has argued that free software is a fundamental requirement for a free society over-dependent on technical devices. Moglen, professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, served pro bono as general counsel for the Free Software Foundation. He is also the chairman of Software Freedom Law Center. New Delhi-based lawyer Mishi Choudhary has been working to build an India branch of the Software Freedom Law Center. Called the 'legal guardian of the Free Software movement', Moglen now oversees the crafting of the crucial General Public License, version 3. Free software is at the other extreme away from proprietorial software. Legal protection for creating and sharing free software is seen as having become more important at times when dominant market player Microsoft has alleged patent violations by the free software camp. The GNU General Public License is a widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. Moglen is the legal brain behind strengthening the GPL and making sure it works. GPL allows users of a free software computer programme the rights for it to be used, studied and modified without restriction, and be copied and redistributed in a way that ensure that further recipients also have these freedoms. Version 3 of the GPL (GPLv3) is being written by Richard Stallman, with legal counsel from Eben Moglen and his Software Freedom Law Center. Moglen was in India last year too, when he revved up activities for a Software Freedom Law Centre in New Delhi. In India this time, Moglen spends two weeks till mid-June, meeting policy makers, lawyers and software professionals. India is itself seen as a fast-rising battleground, where the growing army of software programmers will crucially help decide the software future of the planet, whether it turns proprietorial or "free". Others like free software movement founder Stallman and Microsoft founder Bill Gates have also been making repeated trips to India in recent years. Free software enthusiasts term proprietorial software "unfree" and the political influence of this technology movement is visible from the logo of the Free Software Foundation-India, which has a computer-age CD shaped in the form of a spinning-wheel charkha (the symbol of Indian independence) and a motto which says "weave your own code". Moglen holds a discussion on 'The Death of Proprietary Culture' at Thiruvananthapuram (June 6) and holds an address again on software patents in New Delhi (June 9). On June 11, he moves to Hyderabad, to address the legal fraternity at the Andhra Pradesh High Court and give a talk at the NALSAR University of Law. "One of the purposes of his visit is setting up (of the Software Freedom Law Centre in New Delhi)," said Free Software Foundation-India campaigner Arun M. In Thiruvananthapuram there will also be a symposium on June 6 on "Patents, Copyrights and Knowledge Commons" organised by Kerala State Planning Board, Kerala State IT Mission and Free Software Foundation of India, organisers of the event announced. While speaking in New Delhi, during his August 2006 visit, Moglen had remarked: "Anything that is worth copying is worth sharing." He also argued: "The more we give away, the richer we become." He argues that the idea of proprietary software is as ludicrous as having "proprietary mathematics" or "proprietary geometry". This would convert the subjects from "something you can learn" into "something you must buy". Moglen has criticised what he calls the "reification of selfishness". He has said: "A world full of computers which you can't understand, can't fix and can't use (because it is controlled by inaccessible proprietary software) is a world controlled by machines." He also disapproves of trends that result in "excluding people from knowledge", and has called for a "sensible respect for both the creators and users" of the software code. See also: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1117006446&filter=0 -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST) Skype: fredericknoronha Yahoochat: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com Email fred at bytesforall.org Res: 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India

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[Fwd]: gnuschool
by Mahesh T. Pai 06 Jun '07

06 Jun '07

----- Forwarded message from Peter Rios <prios978(a)yahoo.com> ----- > Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 09:20:30 -0700 (PDT) > From: Peter Rios <prios978(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: gnuschool > To: info-gnu(a)gnu.org > Message-ID: <765030.41695.qm(a)web50501.mail.re2.yahoo.com> > > Hi, > > gnuschool is a new program that helps teachers assess students. > It also lets schools keep track of student attendance. > Correcting paper tests/quizzes takes lots of time, which means few assessments. > With gnuschool, teachers can test/quiz students regularly on homework etc. > My students liked seeing the test corrected right away. > gnuschool helps children learn. > I encourage you to assist me with this program. > > gnuschool can be found at http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuschool/ and ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuschool/ > > Best regards, > Peter Rios > > > > > --------------------------------- > Got a little couch potato? > Check out fun summer activities for kids. > _______________________________________________ > GNU Announcement mailing list <info-gnu(a)gnu.org> > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-gnu ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.blogspot.com/ It's not the software that's free; it's you.

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Re: cad/cam softwares
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 05 Jun '07

05 Jun '07

> Can anybody recommend some good software in the area of cad/cam? I have > tried qcad but it is not so impressive. Look for BRL-CAD (http://www.brlcad.org/), and Varkon (http://www.tech.oru.se/cad/varkon/). The former is used by the US military, while the latter is used by Saab. Cheers, Debarshi -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

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cad/cam softwares
by Kussh Singh 04 Jun '07

04 Jun '07

Can anybody recommend some good software in the area of cad/cam? I have tried qcad but it is not so impressive. Kussh

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Election news....
by Frederick Noronha [फ्र ेडरिक नोरो न्या] 04 Jun '07

04 Jun '07

Very interesting! Look what I ran into: http://www.eci.gov.in/DevForum/DevForum.asp FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open-Source Software) We encourage use of Free/Open Source solutions. Though at ECI and State level, databases are consolidated in Oracle, we encourage smaller databases at the levels of ERO/DEO to be in MySQL, Postgres etc. We are big supporters of OpenOffice.Org. Election Machinery across the country is also encouraged to use freeware like IrfanView for Imaging, GRASS, MapServer, Google Maps API etc. for GIS etc. Our databases are mostly XMLised now, and in this section also, we have released most of the databases in XML format rather than any proprietary format. -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST) Skype: fredericknoronha Yahoochat: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com Email fred at bytesforall.org Res: 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India

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Colloquium on FREE SOFTWARE AND SCIENCE
by Nagarjuna G. 04 Jun '07

04 Jun '07

Colloquium on FREE SOFTWARE AND SCIENCE by Georg Greve, President, Free Software Foundation Europe On Thursday June 7, 2007 at 3:30 pm Venue: V G Kulkarni Auditorium, HBCSE ABOUT THE TALK FREE SOFTWARE AND SCIENCE Free Software and science share common roots, and benefit society in several similar ways. In his talk, Mr Greve will explain the concept of Free Software and how it relates to maintaining our scientific basis as a society. As a practical example of this collaboration, the talk will give a brief introduction of the Science, Education and Learning in Freedom project, in which the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research plays a crucial role. The talk will close with an overview of how all of this relates to the global political trends of knowledge monopolisation, and the Access to Knowledge initiative. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Georg C.F. Greve President, Free Software Foundation Europe In early 2001, Georg Greve initiated the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE, FSF Europe), the first Free Software Foundation outside the United States of America and the largest transnational Free Software Foundation so far. Construction and coordination of FSFE as European non-governmental organisation, as well as its integration and coordination in global context was the focus of his work in the past years. Georg writes in the "Brave GNU World," a monthly column on free software published on the Internet in as many as 10 languages, and in international magazines including the German Linux-Magazin. The range of Georg's activities spanned areas like technology, politics, society, and economy as well as classical management. Among other things, Georg Greve was invited as an expert to the "Commission on Intellectual Property Rights" of the UK government or represented the coordination circle of German Civil Society during the first phase of the United Nations (UN) World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as part of the German governmental delegation; he also furthered networking the Civil Society working groups on European level as well as for the thematic working group on Patents, Copyrights, Trademarks (PCT) and Free Software. All are welcome. How to reach the venue and contact details are available from: http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/Data/ObjectType/c/contact/viewObjectType Nagarjuna G. -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/ http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/Data/Objects/n/nagarjun/viewObject

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Eben Moglen @ Technopark, Trivandrum.
by james mathew 03 Jun '07

03 Jun '07

Eben Moglen, Founding Director of the Software Freedom Law Center, is ranked among the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT, according to a study recently conducted by eWeek. Ranked #92, Moglen is cited as an "expert in open source law and one of the guiding lights of GPL 3." In his talk Moglen will touch up on Software patents, copyrights and free software movement. Talk will be particularly for software companies interested in Free and Open Source Software. Venue: Travencore Hall, Technopark Time : 3:00 pm Date : 05/06/07 About Prof Eben Moglen: ------------------------------- Eben Moglen is a professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center, whose client list includes numerous pro bono clients, such as the Free Software Foundation. Moglen is closely involved with the Free Software Foundation, serving as general counsel since 1994 and board member from 2000 to 2007. As counsel, Moglen was charged with enforcing the GNU General Public License on behalf of the FSF, and later became heavily involved with drafting version 3 of the GPL. -- HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!

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[News]: Prof. Eben Moglen
by Roshan 03 Jun '07

03 Jun '07

This is an interesting video of 1 min 13 seconds where Prof. Eben Moglen speaks about "How to change the world". I guess, we can look it from a perspective of how to change, how we use / develop software. http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/05/15/2259258 -- FSF of India Associate Fellow - http://www.gnu.org.in S K Somaiya College of ASC- http://www.somaiya.edu/sksasc ubunturos @ freenode Did you know? You can CHAT without downloading messenger. Click here http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php

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Georg Greve in Kolkata?
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 03 Jun '07

03 Jun '07

Since it seems that we may not be able to have Eben Moglen in the eastern part of the country from the itenary Mishi Chaudhury mentioned, is there any possibility of having Georg Greve in Kolkata? Regards, Debarshi -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

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Eben's travel details
by Kushal Das 03 Jun '07

03 Jun '07

Hi, Can anyone please mail me the complete travel details (including all dates and where ) of Eben ? Kushal -- Fedora Ambassador, India http://kushaldas.in

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Eben Moglen talks in India
by Krishna Pagadala 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

All, Please record Eben's talks. Even audio is good enough. But please record them all and post the talks on the web in ogg format. Regards Krishna ===================================== Misinterpreting Copyright by Richard Stallman http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html "Die Gedanken Sind Frei": Free Software and the Struggle for Free Thought by Eben Moglen http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/berlin-keynote.html . ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Eben schedule
by Krishna Pagadala 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Mishi/All, Who is coordinating the events at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh? I have not seen a final confirmation of data/time/place. Regards Krishna --- Krishna Pagadala <krishnaact(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > All, > Please put up Eben's schedule in up in some wiki. > And please add all the relevant details. > Date/time/place topic, directions etc... > > Regards, > Krishna > > --- Mishi Choudhary <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > Eben Moglen, Professor of Law in Columbia Law > School > > and Founding > > Director, Software Freedom Law Center is in india > > foe two weeks starting from 02-06-2007- 15-06-2007 > > to meet policy makers, Software professionals and > > all others who are interested/ associated with > FOSS. > > His Schedule is as follows > > > > 03-06-2007 > > A talk at St Joseph's college, bangalore- Software > > Patents > > > > 06-06-2007 > > A discussion and talk in Trivandrum- Free > Software: > > The Death oF proprietary Culture > > > > 09-06-2007 > > He will be speaking on Software Patents at the IIC > > Annexe Conference Room 3, New Delhi on 9th June > 2007 > > at 10:30 am. Eben was recently chosen as one of > the > > 100 most influential personalities in the world by > > eWeek magazine. > > > > > > Eben's talk is organised by the Delhi Science > Forum, > > Software Freedom > > Law Center, India, Free Software Foundation India, > > Sarai (CSDS), Indian > > Linux Users Group, Delhi, and others. > > > > > > 11-06-2007 > > Eben will be addressing the legal fraternity at > > the High court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad > > > > 12-06-2007 > > A talk At NALSAR > > > > These meetings/Talks are open to all so feel free > to > > forward this invite to yourfriends who may be > > interested in this subject. > > > > More info about Eben is at: > > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen > > > > Warm Regards > > Mishi Choudhary > > _______________________________________________ > > Fsf-friends mailing list > > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > > > > > ===================================== > Misinterpreting Copyright by Richard Stallman > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html > "Die Gedanken Sind Frei": Free Software and the > Struggle for Free Thought by Eben Moglen > http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/berlin-keynote.html > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > . > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers > from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it > out. > http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545469 > ===================================== Misinterpreting Copyright by Richard Stallman http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html "Die Gedanken Sind Frei": Free Software and the Struggle for Free Thought by Eben Moglen http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/berlin-keynote.html . ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a PS3 game guru. Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Yahoo! Games. http://videogames.yahoo.com/platform?platform=120121

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Eben Moglen's visit schedule at Bangalore
by Praveen A 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

1 Jun 2007 06:09:01 -0000, Mishi Choudhary <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com>: > 03-06-2007 > A talk at St Joseph's college, bangalore- Software Patents 11am "Free and Open Source Software: GPLv3 and beyond" at Indian Institute of Science 3.30pm "Freeing the mind: Free Software and End of Proprietary culture" at Post graduate research center, St Joseph College Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Eben Moglen @ Hotel Mascot, Trivandrum
by james mathew 02 Jun '07

02 Jun '07

Symposium on "Patents, Copyrights and Knowledge Commons" organised by Kerala State Planning Board, Kerala State IT Mission and Free Software Foundation of India. Venue: Mascot Hotel, Trivandrum Time: 5:30 PM Date: 6 June 07 Meeting will be open to public. Programme: 1. "Innovativeness in Property Relations" - Prof Prabhat Patnaik, Vice Chairman, Kerala State Planning Board. 2. "Freeing the Mind : Free Software and the Death of Proprietary Culture" - Prof Eben Moglen, Columbia University. 3. Q & A About Speakers: Prof Eben Moglen -------------------------- Eben Moglen is a professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center, whose client list includes numerous pro bono clients, such as the Free Software Foundation. Moglen says that free software is a fundamental requirement for a democratic and free society in which we are surrounded by and dependent upon technical devices. Only if controlling these devices is open to all via free software, can we balance power equally. Prof Prabhat Patnaik ------------------------------ Prof Prabhat Patnaik is a professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He has written for several journals, such as Monthly Review and Political Affairs. He is the author of several books on economics, imperialism, Marxism and India. He is currently Vice-chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board. -- HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!

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A meet next week
by Nagarjuna G. 01 Jun '07

01 Jun '07

My collaborator in the SELF project, and President of FSF Europe, Georg Greve, will be visiting HBCSE, TIFR next week, from monday to thursday. He is in India from 3rd June till 15th June. He leads the free software movement in Europe. He was to come for the SELF Conference during February, but due to problems with planning he could not make it. Please let me know which day should we have a meeting in Mumbai. And friends in other locations, let me know if you like to invite him for an event, we can explore a possibility. more about him at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_C._F._Greve SELF Project http://selfproject.eu -- Nagarjuna G.

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RGF-Sarai CSDS programme for short-term FLOSS fellowships
by Frederick Noronha 31 May '07

31 May '07

Gora Mohanty gora at sarai.net Fri May 25 13:34:49 CEST 2007 Hello all, Below is an invitation for proposals for the RGF-Sarai CSDS programme for short-term FLOSS fellowships. Please feel to circulate this far and wide. The deadline for submission of proposals is the 25th of June. Please feel free to address any queries with regards to this to floss at sarai.net. Regards, Gora -------------------------------------------------------------- Call for proposals: RGF-Sarai, CSDS, short-term FLOSS fellowships 1 Introduction The Sarai programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi (http://www.sarai. net) is pleased to announce fellowships for projects related to Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) activities. This year, we have partnered with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) who are providing support for work in the specific area of computing, and localisation in five Indian languages, namely, Assamese, Hindi, Kashmiri, Oriya, and Urdu. We also invite proposals from projects in other FLOSS areas, especially ones that are relevant to educational, social, and community needs. Any project that meets the criteria given below is eligible for the fellowships, but we are particularly interested in: o Indian language computing, including work on fonts, rendering, locales, input methods, spell-checking, etc., as well as in advanced technologies like OCR, handwriting recognition, and speech-to-text. o Localisation into Indian languages of user interfaces, and translation of help documents for FLOSS applications. o In the interest of sustained development, we would like to see the enhancement of, and extensions for projects funded as part of past Sarai FLOSS fellowships. In particular, we draw attention to NewsRack (http://newsrack.in), Hindawi (http://www.indicybers.com), and ApnaOpus (http://apnaopus.var.cc). o Documentation for users of FLOSS tools, particularly in the area of Indian language computing. The production of video tutorials would be welcome. o Development of graphics, multimedia, and publishing tools. This would include applications for audio/video editing, animation, and desktop publishing. Enhancement of existing FLOSS tools is especially encouraged. o Putting together, distributing, and supporting a complete Indian language distribution, using FLOSS operating systems, and tools. o Collaboration software, and groupware solutions. o Writing Linux device drivers, and front-ends for common hardware, such as wireless cards, graphics cards, scanners, and printers. The other significant difference from past practice is that we will be asking for more of a collaborative approach from the fellows, both among one another, and with people at Sarai. The collaboration need not be in the actual development, but can consist of an ongoing conversation about one's work, its direction, and current status. While this has been an implicit expectation in the past, this time we are making the requirement explicit. The exact details of these will be worked out with the selected fellows, but will include things like discussions over IRC, email, and postings on the Sarai Project Resource Centre (PRC) mailing list. Fellows will also be asked to prepare a timeline for the projects, with intermediate milestones, and will be expected to adhere to them. 2 Applying for the fellowships We invite students, developers, researchers, and practitioners interested in the FLOSS arena to apply for the fellowships. While there is no prescribed format for the applications, we expect them to be in sufficient detail for a reviewer to sensibly evaluate them. Attention to details, such as a plan of work that addresses what is possible to accomplish within the limited project period, a projection of how the work might be continued after that, and a discussion of the possible impact of the project, is strongly recommended. In particular, we will look favourably on projects aimed at eventual deployment, rather than development per se. Please mail your application, along with a resume, to floss at sarai.net , with the subject line of "RGF-Sarai FLOSS fellowships". As this information is intended to be public, also subscribe to the PRC mailing list at https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc, and post a copy there, failing which your final proposal will be forwarded there by one of us. Enquiries are invited at floss at sarai.net , and on the PRC list, including questions on how to frame proposals. The last date of submission is midnight IST on Sun., June 25th, 2007. The projects will run for a total of about six months, with a final workshop to be held at Sarai, CSDS, Delhi, where the fellows will be expected to present a summary of their work. Besides this, as part of our engagement with the RGF, we will be holding workshops in regional locations, and the FLOSS fellows will be asked to be present at events local to them. The total amount of the fellowship will be Rs. 70, 000. 3 Conditions Applicants should have a valid bank account in any bank operating in India. These are support grants, and the fellows are free to pursue their primary occupations in parallel, as long as they keep working on proposed projects. The fellows must be willing to make a release of their final work under any open-source licence approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). Please see under http://www.opensource.org/licenses for a complete list. Proposals from teams, partnerships, collectives, and faculty on the behalf of a group of students are welcome, so long as the grant amount is administered by a single individual, and the funds are deposited in a single bank account in the name of an individual. -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST) Skype: fredericknoronha Yahoochat: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com Email fred at bytesforall.org Res: 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 49, Issue 20
by Mishi Choudhary 31 May '07

31 May '07

Dear Friends, Eben Moglen, Professor of Law in Columbia Law School and Founding Director, Software Freedom Law Center will be speaking on Software Patents at the IIC Annexe Conference Room 3 on 9th June 2007 at 10:30 am. Eben is a brilliant speaker and was recently chosen as one of the 100 most influential personalities in the world by eWeek magazine. This meeting is open to all so feel free to forward this invite to your friends who may be interested in this subject. Eben's talk is organised by the Delhi Science Forum, Software Freedom Law Center, India, Free Software Foundation India, Sarai (CSDS), Indian Linux Users Group, Delhi, and others. More info about Eben is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen Regards, Venky Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Eben Moglen in Bangalore
by Vikram Vincent 31 May '07

31 May '07

Dear All, Eben Moglen, the architect of the GPLv3 is in Bangalore on the 3rd and he will be speaking at St. Joseph's college at 4pm. For details on the speaker please check out the links. Please forward this to all and definitely do attend. Mr. EBEN MOGLEN emoglen.law.columbia.edu/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Moglen TOPIC: * "Freeing the Mind:* *Free Software and the end of proprietary culture"* Venue: Xavier's Auditorium, St. Joseph College, Lalbagh Road, Near Richmond Circle, Bangalore – 1. Time : 4.00 P.M on 03.06.2007, Sunday. Contact: Mr. Viju Krishnan, M: 94496 12237, Mr. Jaykumar.H.S M: 94481 63453 -- Regards Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore_alive/ http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_to_promote_free_software_in_karnataka

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Fwd: [eGovINDIA] One year of OSS implementation in ELCOT - the score card
by Ramanraj K 28 May '07

28 May '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Umashankar C <umashankarc(a)yahoo.com> Date: May 27, 2007 11:17 PM Subject: [eGovINDIA] One year of OSS implementation in ELCOT - the score card To: eGovINDIA(a)yahoogroups.com Dear friends, On the 26th May 2007, ELCOT completed one year of OSS implementation in its day to day activities. Currently the migration to OSS is close to 126 out of 130 desktop machines (97%) and 25 out of 26 rack servers (96%). Barring four desktops which use a popular windows based accounting software, the entire ELCOT's head office moved into Suse linux. A lone user has been using Fedora core. We have asked for the linux version of the accounting software from the vendor. He had agreed. ELCOT is also in the process of migrating to an open source based ERP shortly and so the four desktops also would be migrated to Suse linux shortly. ELCOT had also rolled out a powerful application software for administering family cards. Currently the contractors who do the data entry for the family cards have been using it. Government have given approval for decentralising the family card printing operations at the district level, thanks to the web based software developed by ELCOT using OSS. The family card software has a powerful local language interface which is built on Java script technology. It is absolutely platform independent and the user need not install any fonts. So far so good. ELCOT has been show casing its success in the migration to OSS to all Government departments. A few of them were thoroughly impressed and have decided to fully migrate to OSS. It is still too early. Yet, the way in which the people accept OSS after a hands on experience in ELCOT gives room for optimism. ELCOT's staff generously share their experience when Government users visit ELCOT's office. They also get to see the linux ATM and also ELCOT's 28 seater software development centre which uses only OSS. ELCOT has an 80 licence anti virus software which had become redundant. The officer in charge of the licence had asked my permission to sell it outside! Concurrence given. Anti virus software has no role in ELCOT. The latest success is the use of crossover and wine software to run application software that had already been developed in Microsoft client - server environment. ELCOT's team is shortly descending on Salem to provide on site support to a large co-operative bank (150 desktops) to migrate to Suse linux without any migration of the existing Ms application software (using Wine/Cross over) Regards. Umashankar C.Umashankar IAS., (TamilNadu Cadre) e-governance expert. & Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of TamilNadu Limited(ELCOT) (A Government of TamilNadu Undertaking) Co-Moderator: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eGovINDIA Mankind deserves open standards and open source software. Only the chosen ones get its taste. Others just hear the taste. Chennai: Ph: 91-44-42054443 ------------------------------

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Free Advice for the Litigious...
by Praveen A 25 May '07

25 May '07

Free Advice for the Litigious... "All of which is to say - no amount of fear can stop the rise of free media, or free software (they are the same, after all). The community is vastly more innovative and powerful than a single company. And you will never turn back the clock on elementary school students and developing economies and aid agencies and fledgling universities - or the Fortune 500 - that have found value in the wisdom of the open source community. Open standards and open source software are literally changing the face of the planet - creating opportunity wherever the network can reach." Jonathan Schwartz, CEO, Sun Microsystems http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/what_we_did Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Study: Developers Do Not Want GPL 3 to Police Patents
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 23 May '07

23 May '07

----- Mahesh M <maheshmukundan(a)gmail.com> wrote: > *News: Study: Developers Do Not Want GPL 3 to Police > Patents*<http://ct.enews.eweek.com/rd/cts?d=186-6473-8-85-153172-711179-0-0-0-1> > A new Microsoft-funded study has found that open-source developers do > not > believe licenses like the upcoming GNU GPL 3 should enforce software > patents > or prevent deals like the Microsoft-Novell patent agreement. > > Read More on > this....<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2134788,00.asp?kc=EWKNLLIN052207FEA1> > -- > Mahesh > Did you say a Microsoft funded study :-D -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA -------------------------------- http://www.bbsbec.ac.in http://www.ajaypal.com -------------------------------- ajaypal[at]bbsbec.org, ajaypal[at]acm.org

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Study: Developers Do Not Want GPL 3 to Police Patents
by Mahesh M 23 May '07

23 May '07

*News: Study: Developers Do Not Want GPL 3 to Police Patents*<http://ct.enews.eweek.com/rd/cts?d=186-6473-8-85-153172-711179-0-0-0-1> A new Microsoft-funded study has found that open-source developers do not believe licenses like the upcoming GNU GPL 3 should enforce software patents or prevent deals like the Microsoft-Novell patent agreement. Read More on this....<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2134788,00.asp?kc=EWKNLLIN052207FEA1> -- Mahesh It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, But it doesnt take any to sit there with a dumb look on your face... http://maheshmukundan.blogspot.com/

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The Market Function of Piracy
by Praveen A 22 May '07

22 May '07

The Market Function of Piracy By Jerry Kirkpatrick "One study found that users of pirated software sufficiently influenced — by word-of-mouth communication — eighty percent of the software's prospects to buy the legal product and another described several scenarios in which piracy can help increase the sales of legal products. The pirated product functions as a free sample that the innovator does not have to fund." Full story http://mises.org/story/2590 -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Re :Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 49, Issue 17
by Mishi Choudhary 22 May '07

22 May '07

Dear AllSometime back i had seen a proposal about a meeting in bangalore in continuation to the lase session on GPLV3 , as Prof moglen shall be inindia in the first half of june this year , Mr Praveen A. however there has not been a follow up of the same.kindly direct me the person in charge of organising the same since time is running out.On fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in wrote Send Fsf-friends mailing list submissions to fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends or, via email, send a message with subject or body \'help\' to fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in You can reach the person managing the list at fsf-friends-owner(a)mm.gnu.org.in When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than \"Re: Contents of Fsf-friends digest...\" Today\'s Topics: 1. free software for film editing/subtitling, animation etc (Kussh Singh) 2. free software for better and cheaper diagnostics (Kussh Singh) 3. Re: free software for film editing/subtitling, animation etc (Ramanraj K) 4. Re: free software for film editing/subtitling, animation etc (Kussh Singh) 5. Re: free software for better and cheaper diagnostics (Raman.P) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 02:11:54 +0530 From: \"Kussh Singh\" Subject: [Fsf-friends] free software for film editing/subtitling, animation etc To: \"Principal Support List of FSF-India\" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Is there anybody in India working on free software for film editing/ film subtitling etc etc? There are a lot of ngos wanting to convey messages thru the medium of small documentary films but the studio costs are beyond their meagre capacities since all studios use imported/propreitary hardware/software which is very costly . Does anybody know of ways to reduce costs of film production --specially post production costs (studio, ad films, clips etc) Thanks and regards, Kussh ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 02:15:46 +0530 From: \"Kussh Singh\" Subject: [Fsf-friends] free software for better and cheaper diagnostics To: \"Principal Support List of FSF-India\" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Does anybody know of free software solutions in the field of MRI/cat/radiology scanning/diagnostics? Most of India\'s hospitals use imported hardware/software to do this medical diagnostic work and most of the time the machines and technologies used are really outdated and unnecessarily monopolised due to the licence raj of the govt which pushes up costs to the consumer. Thanks Kussh ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 06:10:20 +0530 From: \"Ramanraj K\" Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] free software for film editing/subtitling, animation etc To: \"Principal Support List of FSF-India\" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed On 5/21/07, Kussh Singh wrote: > Is there anybody in India working on free software for film editing/ film > subtitling etc etc? There are a lot of ngos wanting to convey messages thru > the medium of small documentary films but the studio costs are beyond their > meagre capacities since all studios use imported/propreitary > hardware/software which is very costly . Does anybody know of ways to reduce > costs of film production --specially post production costs (studio, ad > films, clips etc) http://ubuntustudio.org/ - I have not tried it though - do write if you give it a try. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuStudio/PackageList gives the packages that go into it. ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 07:17:18 +0530 From: \"Kussh Singh\" Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] free software for film editing/subtitling, animation etc To: \"Principal Support List of FSF-India\" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Thanks for the info. Much obliged. Kussh On 5/21/07, Ramanraj K wrote: > > On 5/21/07, Kussh Singh wrote: > > > Is there anybody in India working on free software for film editing/ > film > > subtitling etc etc? There are a lot of ngos wanting to convey messages > thru > > the medium of small documentary films but the studio costs are beyond > their > > meagre capacities since all studios use imported/propreitary > > hardware/software which is very costly . Does anybody know of ways to > reduce > > costs of film production --specially post production costs (studio, ad > > films, clips etc) > > http://ubuntustudio.org/ - I have not tried it though - do write if > you give it a try. > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuStudio/PackageList gives the packages > that go into it. > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > -- Kussh 2639-9119 ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 05:22:48 +0100 (BST) From: \"Raman.P\" Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] free software for better and cheaper diagnostics To: Principal Support List of FSF-India Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 --- Kussh Singh wrote: > Does anybody know of free software solutions in the field of > MRI/cat/radiology scanning/diagnostics? Most of India\'s hospitals > use > imported hardware/software to do this medical diagnostic work and > most of > the time the machines and technologies used are really outdated and > unnecessarily monopolised due to the licence raj of the govt which > pushes up Free Software requires a special thrust on medical informatics. We need lot of catching up todo. Surprisingly the most of the medical informatics revolves round two well documented standards dicom and hl7. Still free software presence is not much. Following links may through some light a.For dicom image viewers and related http://www.sph.sc.edu/comd/rorden/dicom.html#links b.debian med project at debian.org c.general link to medical related projects http://www.minoru-development.com/en/healthlinks.html There is huge potential in developing software which interface the medical equipments like auto-analysers used in clinical testing. On a related note one of the member of ILUG, Chennai has started a project called gmedcon at sourceforege(http://gmedcon.sf.net). This aims to improve existing dicom viewer xmedcon to gtk2 with features a cardiologist will require.He needs help in coding. Raman.P __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends End of Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 49, Issue 17 ******************************************* Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Crushed by the Wheels of Industry
by Praveen A 21 May '07

21 May '07

Crushed by the Wheels of Industry By Jeremy Allison, Special to ZDNet Being the geek in the family can get you in trouble. I was sat at a social function with my wife's friends, all happily chattering away in Mandarin. I can barely count to ten in the language so meaningful conversation is a little difficult unless it's about arithmetic. I got bored, which is always a dangerous thing. "My daughter has a new computer, would you help set it up ?" asked one of my wife's friends. "I'd love to," I replied. Finally, something to do that I would enjoy! Full Story http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6183476.html Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Fwd: [bms-lug] Minutes of the discussion on "Understanding GPL version 3"
by Praveen A 21 May '07

21 May '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Shashank Bharadwaj Date: २००७ मई २० १४:०४ Subject: [bms-lug] Minutes of the discussion on "Understanding GPL version 3" The minutes are posted on the wiki: http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Bangalore/BMSCE/Understanding_GPL_version_3#Minut… If you are lazy to click the link I'll give the information here: First up, of the 18 members registered on the wiki , only 9 turned up!! Well these were some of the things that were discussed, if I have missed something please feel free to add it. Why a third version of GPL is needed. How the GPLv3 will enable us (The Free Software Community) to stop deals like the Novell-Microsoft ones. Saw a video of Eben Moglen speaking on the Microsoft-Novell deal. The importance of GPLv3 in Embedded Systems and in stoping DRM. Briefly talked about the Campaign to promote free software in Karnataka , going to our schools and persuading them to switch to Free Software. Decided that the BMSLUG has done enough of talking and that we'll do some projects on GNU in our holidays in mid-July. -- Regards Shashank --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "bms-lug" group. To post to this group, send email to bms-lug(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to bms-lug-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bms-lug?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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free software for better and cheaper diagnostics
by Kussh Singh 21 May '07

21 May '07

Does anybody know of free software solutions in the field of MRI/cat/radiology scanning/diagnostics? Most of India's hospitals use imported hardware/software to do this medical diagnostic work and most of the time the machines and technologies used are really outdated and unnecessarily monopolised due to the licence raj of the govt which pushes up costs to the consumer. Thanks Kussh

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free software for film editing/subtitling, animation etc
by Kussh Singh 21 May '07

21 May '07

Is there anybody in India working on free software for film editing/ film subtitling etc etc? There are a lot of ngos wanting to convey messages thru the medium of small documentary films but the studio costs are beyond their meagre capacities since all studios use imported/propreitary hardware/software which is very costly . Does anybody know of ways to reduce costs of film production --specially post production costs (studio, ad films, clips etc) Thanks and regards, Kussh

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Free Software portal on the Wikipedia
by Frederick Noronha 19 May '07

19 May '07

Free Software portal on the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Free_software -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST) Skype: fredericknoronha Yahoochat: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com Email fred at bytesforall.org Res: 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India

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Civilised world does not have "software patents"
by Ramanraj K 18 May '07

18 May '07

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1527 has reported the views of free software developers in Africa: It reports: <quote> "This is a local American issue - a storm in an American tea cup," according to De Wet who believes that there will be growing pressure to end software patents there. "The civilised world, that is Europe, Africa and most of Asia, does not have software patents," he added snidely. </quote> That apart, they said "software patents" are stifling innovation in the US. Richard Stallman recently did a song on the guantanamero injustice at: http://www.stallman.org/guantanamero.html that has the following lines; When they injure my body They say they are not torturing me. They cause me grave wounds Such as never heal. (recording at: http://www.stallman.org/guantanamero.ogg ) "Software patents" are a device used by the empire to inflict injury on its own best citizens - the software developers who work to make life a little easier for everyone elxe. Ramanraj K

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[Fwd: [BadVista Advocate] Help PlayOgg.org]
by Anivar Aravind 18 May '07

18 May '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 - -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [BadVista Advocate] Help PlayOgg.org Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 18:03:10 -0400 From: John Sullivan <johns(a)fsf.org> Reply-To: BadVista.org Advocacy <advocate(a)badvista.org> To: advocate(a)badvista.org Now that the record labels are starting to drop DRM, major retailers like Amazon are announcing their plans to start distributing music unencumbered by DRM. This is a huge victory against Microsoft's efforts, and it shows that Vista-like restrictions are not what people want. MP3 and AACS are currently the favored formats for music distribution. Microsoft is also pushing its own proprietary formats. But in the USA they are all encumbered by software patents. Since it is the music fan who ends up paying the costs of these patents---now is the time to encourage retailers to switch to the Ogg format. Ogg is ethically, legally and technically superior to MP3 and AACS. PlayOgg.org is a campaign just launched by the FSF to encourage users and retailers to switch to the Ogg format. Help raise the profile of music file formats unencumbered by software patents - Digg this! http://digg.com/tech_news/PlayOgg_Now_that_the_music_is_being_set_free_from… -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGTWdGF+jWtLmEaycRAkxmAJ4zRrj9YptxPY5fP664VJ0C0z/y5gCgilab SrlYbdYc7tg9DlGF4OmigVo= =tK6N -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Campaign to promote free software in Karnataka - planning meeting
by Praveen A 17 May '07

17 May '07

Hi, We are meeting this Saturday to finalise some short term plans for the campaign. Sign up here http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_to_promote_free_software_in_Karnataka/Me… If you would like to join the meeting. Date: 19th May 2007 Time: 3pm Venue: Cubbon park (Enter through the Victoria Statue at St Marks Cathedral circle on MG Road, Walk straight in) - some one who came for our earlier meetings please give a clearer picture. Agenda * Which schools to contact (take up/assign coordinators for schools) * Time line for coming up with content - possibility leveraging from earlier experiences (IT@School in Kerala and Summer Camp 07) * Forming of small follow up teams for each school (add here anything you like to discuss) - please add it in the wiki itself Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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News: CNN: Microsoft takes on the free world
by Praveen A 17 May '07

17 May '07

Microsoft claims that free software like Linux, which runs a big chunk of corporate America, violates 235 of its patents. It wants royalties from distributors and users. Users like you, maybe. Fortune's Roger Parloff reports. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/ Great to see CNN talking about Free Software and not Open Source. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Reminder: Understanding GPL version 3, a discussion on 10am, 20th May at BMS College of Engineering
by Praveen A 16 May '07

16 May '07

Hi, Just a reminder. If you have not signed up, you can do it now. A discussion on GPL version 3 and its implications in the Free and Open Source community. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Bangalore/BMSCE/Understanding_GPL_version_3 Sub Topics * Internationalization - new terms propagate and convey * Increased license compatibility * Incompatibility with GPLv2 * Tivoisation/DRM * Patents (Novell-Microsoft deal) Related links http://gplv3.fsf.org/gpl-draft-2007-03-28.html http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/04/gplv3_linux_and.html See you there. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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(no subject)
by Mishi Choudhary 15 May '07

15 May '07

Dear all please check the following link to know whats instore for us! http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867… Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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GPLv3, Clarity and Simplicity
by Ramanraj K 14 May '07

14 May '07

Allison Randal has written on the GPLv3 draft: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/05/gplv3_clarity_a.html Very interesting. Ramanraj K

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Patent show down?
by Ramanraj K 14 May '07

14 May '07

"Software patents" are a gross lie. Computer programs are not patentable, under TRIPs, and in several jurisdictions including India, UK, several Latin American nations, this is made very clear under their municipal laws. US is a signatory to TRIPs and Computer programs could be protected only as literary works, But in the US, those with vested interests have continued to abuse patent law to make ridiculous, illegal and unlawful claims. Finally, the time to call the bluff of the "Software patent" crowd may be very near: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867…

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Vista incapable
by Ramanraj K 14 May '07

14 May '07

We are generally aware that Microsoft is incapable of respecting software freedom and it has bad vista. The billion dollar question of the year is whether it is "Vista capable" or incapable: http://www.itweek.co.uk/vnunet/news/2187159/microsoft-sued-vista-specs

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Free legal resources
by Ramanraj K 13 May '07

13 May '07

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post to this list about the "Free the Law" movement at austlii: http://gnowledge.org/pipermail/fsf-friends/2004-June/002093.html I recently visited and found the following at austlii.edu: Indian Legislation: http://www.commonlii.org/in/legis/num_act/ Supreme Court of India cases: http://www.worldlii.org/in/cases/INSC/ Madras High Court cases: http://www.austlii.edu.au/~andrew/CommonLII/INHCM/ The content is based on Judis and info available at NIC servers, but the information is more neatly cited, indexed and presented. Ramanraj K

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fablab
by Ramanraj K 13 May '07

13 May '07

There is a fablab near Pune, run using free software with help from MIT, where one can fabricate almost anything: http://www.vigyanashram.com/ This is 3 years old now but not very widely known. Ramanraj K

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Reminder: the single greatest technical library on earth -- available to you Free of cost
by Praveen A 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hi, Recently in a ilugc discussion thread John Leuner (Debian developer from Pretoria, SA, now working in India) suggested "Freeing the Mind : Free Software and the Death of Proprietary Culture" as a topic for Eben when he visits Chennai. http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/maine-speech.html That once is a beautiful and elegant speech indeed, my favorite now as well. He answers most of the frequently asked questions about Free Software in a simple and elegant way which anyone could understand and relate. Some quotes from that speech, "Free software is the single greatest technical library on earth. I say that because free software is the only field where a person can go from naiveté, to the state of the art, in everything that a particular field contains, solely by reading material that is universally available at no cost everywhere the network exists. That is the single, greatest intellectual capital development program in the world." Every single line is so beautiful and precise like this, ....to all forms of useful knowledge and information. The model is: ``Here; I think you need this: take it.'' It is one such gem of a talk which you want to book mark, print, by heart and keep coming back when in doubt. Still amused at each single line of it. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 49, Issue 8
by Mishi Choudhary 11 May '07

11 May '07

Eben Moglen Named to eWEEK's "Top 100 Most Influential People in IT" List Eben Moglen, Founding Director of the Software Freedom Law Center, has been ranked among the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT. Ranked #92, Moglen is cited as an "expert in open source law and one of the guiding lights of GPL 3." The list was published online between March 15 and March 26, and published in print in the April 23 issue of eWEEK. A committee of veteran writers and editors from Baseline, CIO Insight, and eWEEK nominated individuals based on the following criteria: The person's tangible track record of information technology success. The scope of influence the person has beyond his or her own organization. The ability of the individual to effect change. The level of engagement the person has in developing today's emerging technologies. The list is available online at http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2104992,00.asp. Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Debian Kannada l10n mailing list
by Vikram Vincent 10 May '07

10 May '07

Hello All, We are happy to announce the creation of http://lists.debian.org/debian-l10n-kannada/ for Debian Kannada l10n Localisation (Swatantra Kannada localisation). Please do join and help further the Swatantra Kannada localisation. -- Regards Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore_alive/ http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_to_promote_free_software_in_karnataka

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Fwd: Announce: DebianArt.org
by Praveen A 10 May '07

10 May '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: André Luiz Rodrigues Ferreira Date: २००७ मई १० ०२:१८ Subject: Announce: DebianArt.org To: debian-desktop Hi all, After some comments in debian-desktop list[1], the DebianArtwork Team[2] prepared the DebianArt.org site[3]. DebianArt.org is a place for high quality artwork and themes for the Debian Desktop[4]. The idea is use the website for contests, creating an archive of user contributed artwork that can be freely used and included in upcoming Debian releases. The artwork should be pleasant, yet unintrusive. Ideally, it should work well with the default user interface of the three major desktops: GNOME, KDE and Xfce; but there's also room for more generic Debian related artwork like t-shirts, labels and system sounds. For example, the Debian Desktop team can create contests for create packages of popular files. The user can put the follows categories: - Wallpaper - Splash screen - Icon - System sound - Logo - Usplash - T-shirt - Screenshot - Generic What do you think? We think this is one of the available ways for a best desktop.... Can you test? Please register and put your artworking :D Thanks to Valessio Brito and Gustavo Franco by their precious help !!! Links: [1] - http://lists.debian.org/debian-desktop/2007/04/msg00045.html [2] - http://wiki.debian.org/DebianDesktopArtwork [3] - http://www.debianart.org [4] - http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-desktop/ -- Andre Luiz Rodrigues Ferreira (si0ux) <andrelrf(a)gmail.com> ******************************************************************* Orlandia - SP - Brazil "Unix is user friendly... It's just selective about who its friends are." -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Which license should I use?
by Manilal K M 09 May '07

09 May '07

Hello all, I wish to start a FOSS based project for enterprise use. The project is developed in LAMP(GNU/Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) suite and also uses third party libraries like Smarty(http://smarty.php.net) , Xajax(http://xajaxproject.org) and ADOdb (http://adodb.sourceforge.net/). All these libraries are licensed under LGPL. Can I use GNU GPL(v2) for the above software? Kindly provide some guidance. regards Manilal K M.

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Check this
by Mahesh M 06 May '07

06 May '07

Check out :-) http://www.sourceforge.net/powerbar/msft/ -- Mahesh Its sure to be dark if you close your eyes. http://maheshmukundan.blogspot.com/

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Action: Sign on "A Letter to Warner Chairman Edgar Bronfman"
by Praveen A 03 May '07

03 May '07

During Monday's "Wake Up Warner" call-in action, Warner Chairman Edgar Bronfman's assistant suggested we send him a letter - that she would make sure he would see. We know how that worked out with Steve Jobs and Apple, so here it is, a letter to Edgar Bronfman, Jr. asking him to reconsider his current opposition to Digital Music free of Digital Restrictions. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/actions/open_letter/warner_music Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Fwd: installer for hurd.
by Praveen A 03 May '07

03 May '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: kiran chand <kiranchand.k(a)hotmail.com> Date: २००७ मई ३ ०६:२४ Subject: installer for hurd. To: debian-hurd(a)lists.debian.org hi ... We have created the custom installer for the hurd....now the installation finishes with login prompt[[<<native-install>> procedure is automated]]....Now the Hurd get detected in the grub too....we will upload the image soon after finishng touches....Our sincere thanks to Philip,Thomas,Prf.CK Raju,Raghesh.We are planning to release the L1 version of hurd.<<first ever GNU release from kerala(India??)>>. cheers Kiran chand k 03/05/2007 -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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