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Fwd: FW: Query on ICT tools for the blind
by Frederick Noronha 27 Mar '07

27 Mar '07

Can someone help pls? FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: sajan venniyoor <s.venniyoor(a)unesco.org> Date: 27-Mar-2007 17:57 Subject: FW: Query on ICT tools for the blind To: frederick.noronha(a)gmail.com Dear Rico, Dipendra Manocha of the National Association for the Blind has raised an important query concerning ICT tools for the blind (see below). Since you have a considerable knowledge of the kind of ICT tools that Manocha is referring to, could you kindly respond to his query? I would really appreciate an early reply. Warm regards, Sajan Sajan Venniyoor Resource Person and Moderator ICT for Development Community UN Solution Exchange UNESCO House B-5/29, Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi - 110 029 Ph: 91-11-26713000 Extn: 207 Query: ICT tools for Visually Impaired Persons-Examples.Reply by 2 April 2007 Dear Members, Information Technology has the potential to revolutionize the way blind people read and write, and make them totally independent for all their reading and writing needs. ICT is a revolution for persons with vision impairment. A computer becomes a basic reading and writing tool for the blind or persons with low vision; thus it means much more to them than it does for persons without vision impairment. For example, a computer can become a printed text reader for them if we combine the scanner, OCR (optical character recognition) and TTS (text-to-speech) engine technology. Unfortunately, all this is currently available only in English and other European languages. The TTS being made for Indian languages does not follow standards such as SAPI (Speech Application Programming Interface), which means these cannot be used "out of the box" with any existing applications. Until these technologies are available for Indian languages, persons with blindness in India will remain on the dark side of the digital divide and will be forced to remain dependent on others for basic tasks like writing and reading a letter, reading books or writing examinations. Most of the access technology tools built for people with blindness and limited vision are built on the two basic building blocks of OCR software and TTS engines, and any information on these would be invaluable for people with vision impairment. · Is the community aware of any good OCR software available for Indian languages? · Does anyone have information about text to speech engines for any Indian language which is fully SAPI compliant? I would be grateful if members of the ICTD community could provide examples of such software. Dipendra Manocha National Association for the Blind - Delhi State Branch New Delhi -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please) http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com What bloggers are saying about Goa: http://planet.goa-india.org/

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Mumbai cyber cafe license requirement makes Microsoft OS mandatory
by Frederick Noronha 27 Mar '07

27 Mar '07

Have just learnt that under the recently announced licensing scheme for the cyber cafes in Mumbai, the Mumbai police under its list of requirement vide point no 14 insists on a copy of Microsoft Open License. This license fee is apparently prohibitive and apparently still unclear on the licensing term for public use, and, restrains cyber cafe operators from choosing any other alternative operating systems. I would like to hear from others who have more details. Specially someone in Mumbai. --FN -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please) http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com What bloggers are saying about Goa: http://planet.goa-india.org/

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never knew about so many voip programs
by Kussh 26 Mar '07

26 Mar '07

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_VoIP_software

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Malayalam & Google Summer of Code: Student Reminder!
by Anivar Aravind 24 Mar '07

24 Mar '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 With the usual apologies of X-posting Just a friendly reminder that the Google Summer of Code deadline for student proposals is extended to March 26th — that's Monday of this week. And remember the time zone difference. Up until now, we , Swathnthra Malayalam Computing have received 17 proposals, and it is crucial that you get it touch with us using the SMC-discuss Mailing list <http://groups.google.com/group/smc-discuss>, so we know that you are applying, and can guide you in your proposal writing. We have 5 mentors to help you, and we'll do our best to make your project a successful one. Know of anybody that is a part-time or full-time student and would like to earn $4500 this summer by participating in Google's sponsorship program, and make Malayalam Computing better? Tell them about this! :) Full details can be found in the original Summer of Code 2007 announcement: http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SMC/SoC/2007 Thanks, and good luck! Anivar - -- Anivar Aravind Global Alternate Information Applications(GAIA) Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-680018 India Ph. +91 9446545336 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGBX+YF+jWtLmEaycRAlq7AKCEXBz05BvVdDCei0gWS0ADa2ffFwCdFHoI iRsnWbDhJdO6t9Y38fiXO3Q= =1AsK -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [Fsf-friends] The game may well be over...
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 23 Mar '07

23 Mar '07

----- Amol Hatwar <amol(a)hatwar.org> wrote: -- snip snip --- > We have Free Software, what about Free Hardware (Simputer ishtyle) or > > even a Free Network. Now thats thinking too far isn't it :o) Free networks are already there, don't forget the community wireless networks there are so many (though none in India), just make a search for it on any search engine. -- 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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Re: [Fsf-friends] The game may well be over...
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 23 Mar '07

23 Mar '07

----- Amol Hatwar <amol(a)hatwar.org> wrote: -- snip snip --- > We have Free Software, what about Free Hardware (Simputer ishtyle) or > > even a Free Network. Now thats thinking too far isn't it :o) No it is not, dont forget the community wireless networks there are so many, just make a search for it on any search engine. -- 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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Re: [Fsf-friends] The game may well be over...
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 23 Mar '07

23 Mar '07

----- CK Raju, Thrissur <ck.thrissur(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Anything now would only be an activity to pass time - if this is > confirmed. Was just going through eci.gov.in See this URL http://eci.gov.in/DevForum/DevForum.asp and read the para at the end of page Posting from eci website here for your convenience: --------------quote------------ 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. --------------quote------------ > > I lose interest and my heart. But I wont. Bravo ECI and the people behind it. Keep the good work on. -- 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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US politics to FOSS!!
by Tinku Sampath 21 Mar '07

21 Mar '07

Even though Google is widely recognized as an organization which is showing commitment to FOSS promotion (primarily for their business expansion), the same time company act as an agency for applying US politics to the FOSS which is open to all in this world regardless of the bounds of country, language, and culture. ( http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=60280&topic=10730 ) """ * Who's not eligible to participate as a student in Google Summer of Code? * Google employees, interns, contractors, family members, or citizens of Iran, Syria, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea and Myanmar (Burma), with whom we are prohibited by U.S. law from engaging in commerce, are ineligible to participate. Mentoring organizations that are taking part in *Google Summer of Code* may add additional stipulations regarding which students may participate in the program under their auspices. """ We are fighting against the unhealthy policies put forwarded by Organizations and Governments (eg: DRM) which are against freedom. At the same pace, we have to protest against this anti social behaviour... --- Tinku Sampath

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MS Offering Kickbacks for using Live Search and IE7
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 20 Mar '07

20 Mar '07

Microsoft is offering big co's incentives for using IE7 and Windows live search in terms of monetary discounts on MS software and services. Lets see who falls for the kickbacks. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=329 http://battellemedia.com/archives/003447.php -- 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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Synopsys 07
by sujith h 20 Mar '07

20 Mar '07

Synopsys is a program that is to be launched in GEC Calicut(Kerala). They require people to talk on Free Software. The program is on 11,12 and 13 of April. The one to be contacted is Anoop. ANOOPKRISHNAN(a)v3mail.com Sujith Haridasan -- സുജിത് ഹരിദാസ൯ http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign Bangalore

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root file system out of memory
by ANOOP KRISHNAN 20 Mar '07

20 Mar '07

<DIV style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size:10pt;">My root file system is out of memory although there is memory but when i give # df then i get 100% use Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/hda1               255912    204623         0 100%    / tmpfs                   110948         0    110948   0%    /dev/shm /dev/hda9             29467056  24383080   3587124   88%  /home /dev/hda8               369000      8267    341073   3% /tmp /dev/hda5              4807056   4012516    550356  88% /usr /dev/hda6              2885780    328016   2411176  12% /var tmpfs                   110948       112    110836   1% /dev   <HR>Slidestory, audio slideshows http://www.Slidestory.com </DIV>

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whylinuxisbetter.net
by Kussh 19 Mar '07

19 Mar '07

http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/items/other_countries/index.php looks really good. Perhaps there should be mirrors of the site in case it goes down. Advocacy becomes so much faster and easier. Kussh

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Swathanthra Malayalam Computing in Google Summer of Code
by Praveen A 19 Mar '07

19 Mar '07

Hi, Students want to contribute to Free Software and earn some money during this summer can apply for Google Summer or Code with Swathanthra Malayalam Computing. Students can apply for working on one of these ideas (Especially adding more Indian languages to Dhvani text to speech engine). http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SMC/SoC/2007 Regards Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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GNOWSYS project in google summer of code
by Nagarjuna G. 19 Mar '07

19 Mar '07

Students willing to join google's summer of code may want to consider contributing to GNOWSYS or other GNU projects listed at http://www.gnu.org/software/soc-projects/ideas.html. Those students who are selected for the project will be compensated by Google of which a small amount will also be contributed to FSF. Those of you who wish to spend your holiday time for learning, earning and contributing to free software, you can use this opportunity. Nagarjuna

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Google Summer of Code http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html
by Frederick Noronha 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html Google Summer of Code Google Summer of Code 2007 is on! We are now accepting student applications. We've also published some additional web app documentation for mentors and organization administrators. All the information for participants in Google Summer of Code 2007, including student abstracts and other information provided by them, is available by visiting the individual mentoring organization pages below. Mentoring Organizations Participating in Google Summer of Code 2007 AbiSource (ideas) Adium (ideas) Aqsis Team (ideas) Ardour (ideas) ArgoUML (ideas) Audacious Media Player (ideas) Bazaar (ideas) BBC Research (ideas) Beagle (ideas) Blender Foundation (ideas) Boost C++ (ideas) BZFlag (ideas) Casetta (ideas) Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS), University of Michigan (ideas) CLAM ( at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (ideas) Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (ideas) Coppermine Photo Gallery (ideas) coresystems GmbH (ideas) Creative Commons (ideas) Crystal Space (ideas) Debian (ideas) Detached Solutions (ideas) Dojo Foundation (ideas) Drupal (ideas) DSpace (ideas) Eclipse (ideas) Etherboot Project (ideas) eXist (ideas) FANN - The Fast Artificial Neural Network Library (ideas) FFmpeg (ideas) Fityk (ideas) FreeBSD (ideas) Freenet Project Inc (ideas) Freevo (ideas) Gaim (ideas) Gallery (ideas) GCC (ideas) Geeklog (ideas) GenMAPP (ideas) Gentoo Foundation (ideas) Git Development Community (ideas) GNOME (ideas) GNU Project (ideas) GnuCash (ideas) GNUstep (ideas) Google (ideas) Haiku (ideas) Handhelds.org (ideas) Haskell.org (ideas) hugin / panotools (ideas) IEM - Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, Graz (ideas) ikiwiki (ideas) Inkscape (ideas) Internet2 (ideas) Jikes RVM (ideas) Joomla! (ideas) K-3D (ideas) KDE (ideas) Lanka Software Foundation (ideas) Liblime (ideas) LispNYC.org (ideas) LLVM Compiler Infrastructure (ideas) MacPorts (ideas) maemo (ideas) MetaBrainz Foundation (ideas) Mixxx (ideas) MoinMoin Wiki Project (ideas) Mono Project (ideas) Moodle (ideas) Mozilla Foundation (ideas) MySQL AB (ideas) National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), Phyloinformatics Group (ideas) Nmap Security Scanner (ideas) OGRE (ideas) Open Security Foundation (OSVDB) (ideas) Open Source Applications Foundation (ideas) OpenICC (ideas) OpenMoko (ideas) OpenMRS (ideas) OpenOffice.org (ideas) OpenSolaris (ideas) Oregon State University Open Source Lab (OSU OSL) (ideas) OSCAR (ideas) OSGeo (ideas) PHP (ideas) Plan 9 from Bell Labs (ideas) PlanetMath (ideas) Plone Foundation (ideas) Portland State University (ideas) PostgreSQL project (ideas) Python Software Foundation (ideas) Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (ideas) Rockbox (ideas) Ruby Central, Inc. (ideas) Samba (ideas) SCons Foundation: Next-Generation Build Tool (ideas) Scribus Development Team (ideas) ScummVM (ideas) SilverStripe Limited (ideas) SIP Communicator (ideas) Sparse (ideas) Squeak (ideas) SquirrelMail (ideas) Subversion (ideas) Swarm Development Group (ideas) Swathanthra Malayalam Computing (ideas) Taste (ideas) The Apache Software Foundation (ideas) The Codehaus (ideas) The Electronic Frontier Foundation (ideas) The Fedora Project (ideas) The Free Software Initiative of Japan (ideas) The gEDA Project (ideas) The GGI Project (ideas) The NetBSD Project (ideas) The Space Telescope Science Institute (ideas) Thousand Parsec (ideas) Ubuntu (ideas) Umit Project (ideas) VideoLAN (ideas) Vim (ideas) Wikimedia Foundation (ideas) WinLibre (ideas) WordPress (ideas) wxPython (ideas) wxWidgets (ideas) X.Org (ideas) Xiph.org Foundation (ideas) XMMS2 (ideas) XMPP Standards Foundation (ideas) XWiki (ideas) Zope Foundation, Inc (ideas) We are no longer accepting applications from open source organizations. If you're feeling nostalgic, you can still access the Google Summer of Code 2005 and Google Summer of Code 2006 pages. We've also created a map (requires Google Earth) of all 2006 mentors and student participants for your perusal. Questions? Please peruse our FAQ and Terms of Service for more information about the program. If you still have questions, email us for support -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please) http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com What bloggers are saying about Goa: http://planet.goa-india.org/

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GEC Calicut
by ANOOP KRISHNAN 16 Mar '07

16 Mar '07

Our College (GEC CALICUT) is going to hoist a program on free software , any one know any person who can take classes on LINUX ,FREE SOFTWARE, COMPUTER NETWORKS , HACKING , SECURITY , QT etc then please mail me Anoop Krishnan G _________________________________________________________________ Slidestory, audio slideshows http://www.Slidestory.com

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Two articles about DRM, lets discuss
by Praveen A 14 Mar '07

14 Mar '07

Hi, Two more articles about DRM is added to Anti-DRM-Campaign page. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign#Articles 1) Who Controls Your Television? http://www.eff.org/IP/DVB/dvb_briefing_paper.php 2) EU Commissioner criticizes iPod-iTunes tie-in http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070311-eu-commissioner-criticizes-ip… Check out those and you will get an idea of the issues about DRM. Lets discuss any points which are not clear. It is very important that we understand the issues about DRM so that we can tell our friends about the issues and also fight for our rights. We should not be lazy thinking that it is just in Europe or US, it is only a matter of time they will be here too unless we are watchful. Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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The game may well be over...
by CK Raju, Thrissur 14 Mar '07

14 Mar '07

VSNL, India's flagship internet bandwidth provider for ISPs is now a sleeping-ally of Microsoft. Strategic alliances have been forged on many fronts (the latest for messaging services, yesterday). Reliance, which controls FLAG, has stakes in VSNL - its chief is the former chief of VSNL - also is a strategic partner of Microsoft for testing/deploying of Microsoft based internet services. The major Indian internet bandwith gateways are now within the operational command of Microsoft. Whatever information now originates for an outside world, or is received here from an outside world, is at the mercy of this corporate. What a smooth takeover... with UPA in power at centre, supported by Left (mauled, only when there is a dispute over which territory should have university). We can continue our discussion on Free Software in markets, Free software in schools, Free software in e-governance etc in peace, because the game, I presume, is already over. CK Raju, Thrissur

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An Ethical Question.
by cvr3＠river-valley.org 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

A specific question which many Linux solution providers keep asking me. The question relates to the client side applications NOT the server. When Linux business solution providers go to Govt. organisations they are confronted with the bleak scenario of all the systems being under M$. Since their solutions are "standalone" and built with Linux libraries such as GTK, QT etc. they need invariably Linux OS. Since the organisations are reluctant to change their existing M$ platform just to accommodate their solutions (even though they liked it) they are loosing that business. What I am asking is that under these circumstances is it ethically and morally correct for them to create M$ binaries of their solution using windows versions of GTK and QT libraries and install them on the M$ platform, and there by getting the business order. Already FSF is releasing all their libraries such as gcc, gtk etc for M$ too. Please think as if you are a business man providing free software solutions to make money to run a free software business. -- Rajagopal CV

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Top three most important events in the history of Free Software
by Krishna Pagadala 13 Mar '07

13 Mar '07

Hi All, Here are the three most important events in the history of Free Software. 1. FSF is founded in 1984 2. Linux released in 1991 3. OpenOffice released in 2000 Whats on your list of top 3 historical events? 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 . ____________________________________________________________________________________ Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/newmail_tools.html

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minix --the father of linux
by Kussh 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

came to know about minix3 http://www.minix3.org/ from one of google's ads kussh

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[Fwd: [A2k] $250, 000 Open Architecture Prize prize for developing world.]
by Anivar Aravind 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [A2k] $250,000 Open Architecture Prize prize for developing world. Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 07:33:16 -0400 From: James Love <james.love(a)cptech.org> To: Ip-health <ip-health(a)lists.essential.org>, a2k discuss list <a2k(a)lists.essential.org> Begin forwarded message: From: Architecture for Humanity <cameron(a)architectureforhumanity.org> Date: March 12, 2007 7:35:02 AM EDT To: "James Love" <love(a)cptech.org> Subject: $250,000 Open Architecture Prize announced. http://www.icebase.com/go.shtml?20070312033411655773&m29930&http:// www.icebase.com/r.pl? AMD and Architecture for Humanity establish the Open Architecture Prize $250,000 prize to develop technology center in developing world. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Architecture for Humanity has announced the first ever Open Architecture Prize. $250,000 will be awarded to the winning design of an open competition to develop technology centers in the developing world. The competition is set to launch later this year. The first great challenge for the prize will be the design of a sustainable technology facility and community center which incorporates a centralized building equipped with internet connectivity solutions designed to enable an entire community to access the transformative power of the Internet. The competition will be developed with a local community partner for a specific site and community. Once a design is selected, the prize money will be used to implement the winning scheme. Designs will also be made available through the Open Architecture Network. "The Open Architecture Prize delivers on Architecture for Humanity's vision of encouraging collaboration and challenging designers to reach beyond the traditional bounds of architecture to develop innovative solutions that improve global living conditions," said Dan Shine, director of the 50x15 Initiative, AMD. "The creative designs developed in this competition will contribute to the 50x15 Initiative's ambitious goal of connecting 50 percent of the world's population to the Internet by 2015." The network was unveiled at TED 2007 by Architecture for Humanity and a number of its technology partners, including AMD, Creative Commons, Hot Studio, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. "For far too long many great award-winning designs have gone undeveloped," said Cameron Sinclair, executive director and co- founder, Architecture for Humanity. "Through the Open Architecture Network we unveiled yesterday and the Open Architecture Prize we are announcing today, we are not only challenging the creative world to design innovative structures, we are going one step further and implementing the winning solution to positively affect thousands of lives." In addition to technology expertise and a diverse portfolio of innovative connectivity solutions, the 50x15 Initiative brings significant experience in assessing regional technology problems and deploying relevant solutions to the winning project. This expertise is essential in developing the competition criteria, as well as determining which design will empower a community to the greatest extent possible. Most importantly you HAVE to be an Open Architecture Network member to participate. So, SIGN UP and you will be the first to receive information on the competition and brief. News Humanitarian goals, tech-savvy solutions International Herald Tribune, March 12th 2007 AMD sponsors Open Architecture Prize USA Today, March 11th 2007 Big News My Heart's in Accra, March 10th 2007 Win a Prize: Build A Tech Lab Wired News, March 9th 2007 Framing Open Source Architecture Wired News, March 8th 2007 _______________________________________________ A2k mailing list A2k(a)lists.essential.org http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Global Alternate Information Applications(GAIA) Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-680018 Kerala Ph. +91 9446545336

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[Fsf-friends] Summary of GNU Grazing March10, Cubbon Park, Bangalore
by Vikram Vincent| ವಿಕ್ ರಂ ವ ಿನ್ವ ೆಂಟ್ 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

Hello All, The summary of the meeting has been put up on the wiki page. Please do update it if necessary. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Bangalore/GNUs_Grazing -- Regards Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore_alive/ http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=19591248

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Hall of Shame
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

----- Sandip Bhattacharya <sandip(a)lug-delhi.org> wrote: > > You misunderstand the Hall of Shame "rhetoric". It is not about which > site uses what technology to provider services. HoS is about not > discriminating against users of these services. Critical websites > like > governments should be accessible by all, including users of FOSS > software. That is all about our "limited" mission. Thanks for clarifying. Got it now. > > Whether a government site should proprietary technology or FOSS > software > is a different debate, and is not related to the Hall of shame > effort. Agreed. > > BTW, I personally believe that FOSS software is not everything. You > need > to have FOSS content also. So even if we have FOSS software which is > good, but not FOSS education material, what good would the software > be > to an education drive? Look around the education area, you would be a > huge amount of teaching material already in place for these > proprietary > software. I don't blame the education drive too much right now for > their > decision. They can't help their students *now* by deploying FOSS and > waiting for years for the teaching material to appear. The good thing > is > that there are many localized drives in India who are developing good > teaching material. I believe Kerala was a pioneer in it, but I don't > have any references to it right now. Once we have a worth 10+2 > content > in place, it would be difficult for any government to justify ignoring > it. So what exactly would/ should be taught as per the available study material 1) Word Processing or MS Word 2) Presentations or Powerpoint 3) Spreadsheets or Excel 4) ANSI C/ C++ or Visual C++ (usually Turbo C++) 5) Object Oriented Programming or MS .NET 6) SQL or MS SQL Server there is a difference. For each there is a free alternative. And good study material is aplenty. Generic concepts are already in place. I do blame the Govt Deptt. for lapse in their duties. -- 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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kaffeine & codeine crashes
by ANOOP KRISHNAN 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

my kaffeine and codeine player allways crashes. I am using Debian etch and 2.6.16 & 2.6.15 kernel . any one please answer me. KRISHNA (Anoop krishnan G) _________________________________________________________________ Slidestory, audio slideshows http://www.Slidestory.com

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Fwd: [ATPS] Re: Fwd: [Fsf-friends] BSNL should find a place in "Hall of Shame"
by Anilkumar K V 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

--------- Forwarded message ---------- From: thomas joseph <thomasatps(a)gmail.com> Date: 08-Mar-2007 09:44 Subject: [ATPS] Re: Fwd: [Fsf-friends] BSNL should find a place in "Hall of Shame" To: ATPS(a)googlegroups.com Dear all, It is not BSNL as a whole to be blamed. It is the socio-economic-cultural attitude of our peope in general that is to be blamed. How about most of other Govt Departments, Undertakings and enterprises. Of course those in authority in BSNL who go for ms products are not only to be blamed but shall be condemned. But not BSNL as a whole. Why ? Here is an example of an open tender floated by the same BSNL, from Ernakulam SSA. Extracts...... QUOTE """"" 16. SOFTWARE 1.The operating system should be GNU/LINUX 2.The RDBMS should be PostgreSQL 3.The web server should be Apache. 4.The vendor must provide Source code of all applications with all passwords, operating system and development tools and the application software package all of which shall be transferred under General Public License providing for total technology transfer. ''''''''' UNQUOTE Is not an example to be emulated by others. Joseph Thomas

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Hall of Shame
by CK Raju, Thrissur 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

http://www.lug-delhi.org/wiki/HallOfShame/Websites I just wanted our friends to know that some time back FSF-India really had promoted this idea to alert about the first-time breaches of freedoms. Most of them were minor sways and hence the term "Shame". For the hardened betrayers, we don't give them an honour of Shame, we treat or handle them differently. http://www.lug-delhi.org/wiki/HallOfShame/ISP lists BSNL but for a different reason. All I wanted was to re-list it again with a new reason. It just happened that Mr Srinivas responded, which means that , even a mere threat of including in the Hall of Shame works!! If public agencies abuse their position and think themselves to be autonomous, to go ahead and create their own *choices* when actually they don't have any, we need to show them their place. We are not crying at mail servers of private players. If its a public agency - beware, if there is a breach, we will induct them to appropriate places. CV's contribution to TeX and ATPS's contribution to Financial services are in public memory domain. [I don't have any - and don't feel sorry about it.] Cheers, CK Raju

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Hall of Shame
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

Did someone forgot to mention Election Commission of India running on Windows Server using ASP.NET On 9th March 2007 Election Commission of India Fixed (disabled parts of) their website to avoid XSS and SQL injection vulnerabilities after intervention of CERT-IN. The vulnerabilities were reported on 2nd of March to ECI and on 4th March to CERT-IN, for the following URL: http://search.eci.gov.in/maps/eci_se2007/detailResult.asp Still a bit of usually harmless data insertion is possible. The above script is used to display detailed results of a given constituency. It may have been running unprotected for maybe few months. Had the ECI made the code GPLed, the vulnerabilities would have been detected much earlier. Even if these acts are shameful, I still do not support the "Hall of Shame" rhetoric, but if the Govt Departments are working for Public they must open their code using General Public License. Real Hall of shame is when Punjab Govt. spends lakhs on purchase of MS software for use in education at 10+1 and 10+2 level, where FLOSS would have been equally good (and same also for Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan). ----- CK Raju <ckraju68(a)yahoo.co.in> wrote: > http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/fsug-kochi-discuss/2003-August/000712.ht… > "Sanghamitra ?!" > CK Raju > > Anilkumar K V <achu.kulangara(a)gmail.com> wrote: On 11/03/07, CK Raju, > Thrissur wrote: > > > > ATPS's contribution to Financial services are > > in public memory domain. > > > > [I don't have any - and don't feel sorry about it.] > > > Raju, > > It is not clear what you are trying to convey. Can you please > elaborate, > > - Anil -- 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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go-db
by Kussh 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

The website http://www.go-db.com just appeared as a link at gmail. Has anybody here tried it as a development platform? Its not free software but is supposedly free for non commercial use. Updates after one year may have to be paid for(according to the FAQ) Kush

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Re: BSNL should find a place in "Hall of Shame"
by CK Raju, Thrissur 09 Mar '07

09 Mar '07

Dear Sir, I had been monitoring the changeover plans of sancharnet email services to bsnl.in ever since it was announced publicly by your MD. From this request, it appears that your department is not fully aware of the implications for national security that such a migration poses. I had an initial debate when I had announced on the FSF-Friends mailing lists that bsnl.in mail server is on Microsoft platform with some learned professors arguing that my methodology to arrive at the conclusion were not technically correct. It was then I got a copy of your presentation, which clarified the issues to members in the Free Software Foundation's mailing list. I hope you would appreciate that the President of India had earlier said that "Its unfortunate that we Indians believe in proprietary solutions. A small shift in business solutions to proprietary can have devastating effects on our society.." A large number of newspapers had carried the story. One such article is here http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=477… If you watch carefully, the article continues "..He said that during a discussion with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates at the Rashtrapati Bhavan a few months ago, he had discussed the issue of software security and the need to look for open source codes. 'Our discussions became difficult since our views were different,' Kalam said. ..". This is precisely our sore point - that a public sector undertaking has been given a different view about "security" by Microsoft and that you are (innocently, I should now say) executing the project, which goes against "national security" - going by President's own words. A service is never secure, unless the freedom to *examine* or *amend* the code is with us (in this case, with BSNL). You would also appreciate that as per IT Act 2000, there cannot be public systems that have malignant code inside - which means every public system will qualify only if this certification is there. IT Act says that such systems should not cause leakage of sensitive information relating to "privileges of parliament, trade, or other sensitive information" - which can only be ensured if public systems are *only* on Free Software. By taking what is legally now considered as a retrograde step, BSNL is now qualifying to be prosecuted under the aforementioned act. Its my sincere hope that you would do your best to redo the damage that will be caused to the nation by (1) taking its premier email services away from Microsoft and have it commissioned on Free Software platforms, (2) initiating an audit in every operational department under your control to ensure that proprietary solutions are phased out, and (3) thus, showing the world that BSNL cares for the concerns of the citizens. Should you have any difficulty in technical aspects, we have a great bunch of techies here who would be at your call to render service which are ethical and just. Regards and best wishes, CK Raju On 3/9/07, G Srinivas <gsrinivas(a)bsnl.co.in> wrote: > > Dear Raju, > > Can u please throw more light on your statement. > > > > Regards, > > G. SRINIVAS > > DGM(Dotsoft&Comp) > > HYDERABAD, BSNL > > 040 -23236153(O) > ------------------------------ > > *From:* anilankv(a)gmail.com [mailto:anilankv@gmail.com] *On Behalf Of *Anilkumar > K V > *Sent:* 06 March 2007 17:49 > *To:* gsrinivas(a)bsnl.co.in > *Subject:* BSNL should find a place in "Hall of Shame" > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: *CK Raju, Thrissur* <ck.thrissur(a)gmail.com> > > Friends, > > The mail server at http://mail.bsnl.in has now been confirmed to be on M$ > platform. Here's the link. > > http://egovstandards.gov.in/states_repositories/andhra-pradesh/brainstromin… > > BSNL should find a prominent place now in our "Hall of Shame". > > And the person associate with this *project* is > G Srinivas ITS, DGM(Dotsoft & Computers), BSNL AP > Email : gsrinivas(a)bsnl.co.in > > What a terrible shame ??? > > CK Raju >

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[Fsf-friends] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/actions/open_letter/steve_jobs
by CK Raju 08 Mar '07

08 Mar '07

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/actions/open_letter/steve_jobs Canvassing on for anti DRM campaign. Pls go through and sign. CK Raju --------------------------------- Heres a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers

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GNUs Grazing at Cubbon Park, Bangalore - March 10, Saturday 3pm
by Praveen A 07 Mar '07

07 Mar '07

Hi, Gnus in Bangalore will be Grazing at Cubbon Park, you can also join :-) http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Bangalore/GNUs_Grazing Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Passion for Electronics, Compassion for Community
by Praveen A 07 Mar '07

07 Mar '07

Be an Electro, Make a Difference Electros.in is home to passionate Indian students, professionals, and researchers in the fields of Electrical, Electronics and Communication Engineering. http://www.electros.in/ Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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BSNL should find a place in "Hall of Shame"
by CK Raju, Thrissur 06 Mar '07

06 Mar '07

Friends, The mail server at http://mail.bsnl.in has now been confirmed to be on M$ platform. Here's the link. http://egovstandards.gov.in/states_repositories/andhra-pradesh/brainstromin… BSNL should find a prominent place now in our "Hall of Shame". And the person associate with this *project* is G Srinivas ITS, DGM(Dotsoft & Computers), BSNL AP Email : gsrinivas(a)bsnl.co.in What a terrible shame ??? CK Raju

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(no subject)
by ANOOP KRISHNAN 05 Mar '07

05 Mar '07

We r going to hoist a program on free software on the first week of next month so please give us some guidance.................................. krishna Govt Engineering College Calicut _________________________________________________________________ Slidestory, audio slideshows http://www.Slidestory.com

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Fwd: Web-wala workshop
by Anurag 04 Mar '07

04 Mar '07

The Attached PDF file is kept here: http://db.ilug-bom.org.in/WorkShops/webwala-workshop.pdf Anurag ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Web-wala workshop Date: Wednesday 28 February 2007 00:25 From: "Chandita Mukherjee" <chandita.mukherjee(a)gmail.com> To: Dear Friend Please have a look at the invitation attached. Web-wala is a very exciting workshop developed by us through several rounds. It opens various doors to the world of information communication technologies: open source software,open knowledge resources and the ways to use the internet to enhance opportunities for the communities you work with. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that the invitation in the attachment was developed by the participants of the last round of Web-wala. Please come or send a participant and forward to interested friends. You can call me at 98205 09179 if you have any questions and if you want a more detailed schedule. Chandita Mukherjee ------------------------------------------------------- -- __ __ gnu /noo/ n. Ox like antelope; (abbr.) /gnoo/ n. (recursive acronym) Gnu's Not Unix.

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Zotero for Firefox
by Shekhar Krishnan 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use web browser extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It has been developed by the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University http://chnm.gmu.edu and is now in use by thousands of historians, anthropologists, journalists, lawyers and other researchers. Zotero is an open source alternative to citation tools like Endnote, and lives inside of your browser, allowing you to automatically capture and manage sources and citations in online catalogues, archives, and other repositories, as well as taking notes, tagging these materials, and exporting bibliographies in various formats. For more information and to download and install Zotero, go to http://www.zotero.org Zotero requires use of Firefox 2.0, the latest version of the popular open source web browser from the Mozilla Corporation. If you don't already use Firefox or haven't yet upgraded to the new version 2.0, go to http://www.getfirefox.com to download it. Once you've installed it or upgraded your earlier version, go to the Zotero site to download and install the extension for Firefox 2.0. Best, S.K. -- Shekhar Krishnan 400, West 119th Street, Apt.10D New York, NY 10027 U.S.A. http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar http://www.heptanesia.net http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar

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Clarification by British PM's Office that "Software patents" are not enforceable in UK
by Ramanraj K 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page11077.asp <quote> We [The Prime Minister's Office, UK] received a petition asking: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make software patents clearly unenforcible." ... ... The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software. Although certain jurisdictions, such as the US, allow more liberal patenting of software-based inventions, these patents cannot be enforced in the UK. ... ... </quote>

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Re: 'F' for Fedora; 'F' for Free (Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay)
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

> Which part is funny ? Michael being President of OSI or Michael as a Red > Hat Executive backing Fedora ? a. Nice to see a Red Hat (for that matter any company) executive talking and embracing 'Free Software' and not 'Open Source'. b. Funny to see the OSI president leaning towards the FSF's stance on software freedom and using the FSF backed terminology, and away from the OSI's. c. It is not about hatred. I could not help smiling at this at a time when the 'FSF is evil', 'RMS is a dictator', and 'non-free kernel modules make a good desktop distribution'. 'Funny' was the most decent word I could come up with at 04:30am. :-P Cheerio, Debarshi

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 46, Issue 15
by Mishi Choudhary 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

hi i've been trying to get in touch with kiran in regard to the convention on 3rd and 4th . Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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'F' for Fedora; 'F' for Free
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

http://rahulsundaram.livejournal.com/ Fedora is on the verge of becoming the first mainstream GNU/Linux distribution to meet the FSF's standards of a 'free operating system'. Here is the current status: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FreeSoftwareAnalysis https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2006-April/msg00181.h… Funnily this move is backed by Michael Tiemann (Vice-President of Red Hat and President of OSI). Before signing off something to feed my pride: http://joey.ubuntu-rocks.org/blog/2006/12/28/q-what-should-end-user-graphic… Cheers, Debarshi -- husband v. use sparingly; conserve; save husbandry n. frugality; thrift; agriculture

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Hurd.in meetup during FOSS Meet @ NITC 07
by Praveen A 26 Feb '07

26 Feb '07

Hi, Hurd.in team will be meeting up during FOSS Meet @ NITC 07 to discuss future plans for Hurd.in community. Be there. More details. http://hurd.in/bin/view/Hurd/FOSS_Meet_At_NITC_07 Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Free Software Convention in Hydrabad
by Arun M 25 Feb '07

25 Feb '07

Dear friends, Free software activist in Andhra Pradesh is organising a convention on free software on 3rd and 4th of March. Event is supported by FSF India. We welcome all the Free Software activists to the event. For more information see the link below. http://nationalconvention.swecha.org/WordPress/ regards arun

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[Article Link] Coming up: a planetary web
by Praveen A 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

"People say information is power. I believe that sharing of information is power. Open access to the world's information is what one should look at," says Cerf who is the Vice-President & Chief Internet Evangelist of Google. Read the Deccan Herald article http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb212007/index158322007221.asp -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Fwd: When is a standard not a standard (sub-titled Microsoft and BIS)?
by Arun M 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gora Mohanty <gora(a)sarai.net> Date: Feb 23, 2007 6:55 PM Subject: When is a standard not a standard (sub-titled Microsoft and BIS)? (This message is being sent primarily to the ILUG-Delhi and Sarai PRC mailing lists, but is also copied to people that Venkatesh Hariharan had sent the original message to. Please note that henceforth, I will only be following up on the ILUG-Delhi list. You have to join the list to post there (see <http://www.linux-delhi.org/cgi-bin/anCMS/mailingList.cgi?action=mailingLists> ), but the archives are available publicly at http://frodo.hserus.net/pipermail/ilugd/ and http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi/ ) Hello, I had the (mis-)fortune of attending a seminar on Information Technology Standardization [sic] organised for the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), by MAIT. The ostensible reason for the meeting was to identify requirements of the IT industry in order "to formulate effective, meaningful and implementable standards". The background for this is an effort by Microsoft to push through a 6000-page document on Office Open XML (OOXML), presumably as a counter-standard to Open Document Format (ODF). Details on this are available on Venky's blog at http://www.osindia.blogspot.com/ Due to other commitments, I had time to attend only the inaugural session, which had a keynote address by Craig Mundie, the chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft Corporation. Incidentally, Microsoft was the only company represented on the panel, and allowed to give a formal presentation, though representatives from open-source companies, and the community were also present. Questions on the talks were also not entertained. What was frankly disgusting was the attitude of BIS officers, even those of senior ones, towards Microsoft; going beyond courtesy, and even obsequiousness, to border on servility. The HP laptop being used for the presentation prominently displayed the Microsoft Vista logo. Mr. Mundie's presentation was, in my opinion, a masterpiece of double- speak, and fascinated me so much that I made sure to make a transcript of his slides. Apparently, having solved issues with security, privacy, and reliability, Microsoft has been focusing on inter-operability over the last 1.5 years. While this might seem like great news, Mr. Mundie was diligent in avoiding any specific commitments, such as the simple one of guaranteeing that any Microsoft application will be able to export to an openly-published, patent-unencumbered, standard format, without loss of information. While the presentation went ahead to extol the virtues of meta-data, and the use of XML data formats, Mr. Mundie somehow omitted to mention that XML does not automatically imply openness, or freedom from patent restrictions. Finally, it seems to be the opinion of Mr. Mundie that industry standards are needed to keep a check on "unconstrained innovation", which leaves me wondering how Microsoft knows about innovation, unconstrained or otherwise. Fun and games aside, I think that it is worthwhile for the open-source community in India at large to formulate a coherent position on the use of openly documented, and patent-free standards for any government data, and to publicise the same to both government organisations, and the media. It is our data, so we should have an absolute guarantee of freedom in using it. I believe that Venky is drafting such a document, that we can put up on a Wiki, and use as a basis for a formal policy paper. Regards, Gora

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New release of the deepOfix Mail Server (version 3.1) is available for download now...
by Abhas Abhinav 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

Dear Friends, DeepRoot Linux is pleased to announce a new release of the deepOfix Mail Server! Version 3.1 of the deepOfix Mail Server is a major release encompassing a large number of fixes, enhancements and additions. Please do give the new deepOfix Mail Server a try. We are confident that it can meet the server requirements of anyone wanting to use GNU/Linux and Free Software. About the deepOfix Mail Server ------------------------------ The deepOfix Mail Server makes it possible for organisations with minimal technical expertise to have robust server infrastructure. The mail server effortlessly delivers the freedom, reliability and excellence of GNU/Linux to you and is available as Free / Open Source Software itself. It offers unprecented ease of use, doesn't require prior GNU/Linux experience and is backed by a full-time development and support team. As always, we will eagerly await any feedback, criticism, bug reports, wisdom or advice that you might have for us. Cheers, Abhas. Links ----- * Download the deepOfix Mail Server Install CD (version 3.1) http://sourceforge.net/projects/deepofix * deepOfix Mail Server - Version 3.1 - What's new? http://deeproot.in/deepofix/version-3.1 * Development websites deepOfix Installer and OS - http://code.deeproot.in/deepofix EasyPush Server Manager - http://code.deeproot.in/easypush http://deepofix.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/deepofix/ * Subscribing to deepOfix-related mailing lists http://deeproot.in/deepofix/mailing-lists -- i-take-charge at DeepRoot Linux http://www.deeproot.in / +91 (80) 4112 4784 / 85 Getting GNU/Linux to work for you. Faster. Better. Today. Every way.

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X.org officially supports GNU Hurd now!
by Praveen A 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

Hi, Interesting news http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/PressReleases/X11R72Released Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Cuba Embraces Open-Source Software
by Frederick Noronha 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20070216/D8NB1EK05.html Cuba Embraces Open-Source Software Email this Story Feb 16, 3:42 PM (ET) By JOHN RICE (AP) Richard Stallman, President and founder of the Free Software Foundation, speaks during the... Full Image HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's communist government is trying to shake off the yoke of at least one capitalist empire - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) - by joining with socialist Venezuela in converting its computers to open-source software. Both governments say they are trying to wean state agencies from Microsoft's proprietary Windows to the open-source Linux operating system, which is developed by a global community of programmers who freely share their code. "It's basically a problem of technological sovereignty, a problem of ideology," said Hector Rodriguez, who oversees a Cuban university department of 1,000 students dedicated to developing open-source programs. Other countries have tried similar moves. China, Brazil and Norway have encouraged the development of Linux for a variety of reasons: Microsoft's near-monopoly over operating systems, the high cost of proprietary software and security problems. Cuban officials, ever focused on U.S. threats, also see it as a matter of national security. Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes, an old comrade-in-arms of President Fidel Castro, raised suspicions about Microsoft's cooperation with U.S. military and intelligence agencies as he opened a technology conference this week. He called the world's information systems a "battlefield" where Cuba is fighting against imperialism. He also noted that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates once described copyright reformers - including people who want to do away with proprietary software - as "some new modern-day sort of communists" - which is a badge of honor from the Cuban perspective. Microsoft did not return calls seeking comment. Cuba imports many computer preloaded with Windows and also purchases software in third countries such as China, Mexico or Panama. Valdes is a hard-liner who favors uniforms and military haircuts, but the biggest splash at the conference was made by a paunchy, wild-haired man in a T-shirt: Richard Stallman, whose Free Software Foundation created the license used by many open-source programs, including Linux. Middle-aged communist bureaucrats and ponytailed young Cuban programmers applauded as the computer scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology insisted that copyright laws violate basic morality; he compared them to laws that would threaten people with jail for sharing or modifying kitchen recipes. Stallman also warned that proprietary software is a security threat because without being able to examine the code, users can't know what it's doing or what "backdoor" holes developers might have left open for future entry. "A private program is never trustworthy," he said. Cuba also has trouble keeping proprietary software current. Its sluggish satellite link to the outside world makes downloads of updates agonizingly slow. And U.S. companies, apparently worried about American laws restricting trade with Cuba, are increasingly blocking downloads to the island. Cubans try to get around the problem by putting software updates on a server located on the island. But many computers wind up unpatched and vulnerable. Cuba's Cabinet also has urged a shift from proprietary software. The customs service has gone to Linux and the ministries of culture, higher education and communications are planning to do so, Rodriguez said. And students in his own department are cooking up a version of Linux called Nova, based on Gentoo distribution of the operating system. The ministry of higher education is developing its own. Rodriguez's department accounts for 1,000 of the 10,000 students within the University of Information Sciences, a five-year-old school that tries to combine software development with education. Cuba is also training tens of thousands of other software and hardware engineers across the country, though few have computers at home. Most Cubans have to depend on the slow links at government internet cafes or schools. Rodriguez shied away from saying how long it would take for Cuba to get most of its systems on Linux: "It would be tough for me to say that we would migrate half the public administration in three years." But he said Linux use was growing rapidly. "Two years ago, the Cuban free-software community did not number more than 600 people ... In the last two years, that number has gone well beyond 3,000 users of free software and its a figure that is growing exponentially." Even so, most of the computers at this week's technology conference showed the red, green, blue and yellow Windows start button in the bottom left-hand corner of their screens. And the start of the open-source sessions was delayed as organizers fiddled with the computer running their projector. The conference room screen had been displaying the words "Windows XP." -- FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please) http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com

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Key expiry breaks most D-I Etch RC1 images
by Debarshi Ray 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

http://times.debian.net/1073 "The expiration of the Debian archive's signing key for 2006 has broken most of the installation media from etch RC1." Cheers, Debarshi -- After the game the king and the pawn go into the same box. -- Italian proverb

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The Government of West Bengal speaks out in favor of FOSS
by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay 11 Feb '07

11 Feb '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 An article in Anandabazaar Patrika (a leading Bengali daily) dated 11th February 2007 - From the article এ বার মুক্ত সফটওয়্যার ব্যবহারের পক্ষে রাজ্য [Bengali] রাজ্যের তথ্যপ্রযুক্তি মন্ত্রী দেবেশ দাস বলেন "ফ্রী অ্যান্ড ওপেন সোর্স সফটওয়্যার (ফস) এর ব্যাপকতর ব্যবহার এই সম্যসার সম্ভাব্য সমাধান" । [...] আরও অনেক বেশি সংখ্যক লোকের কাছে কম্পিউটার শিক্ষার সুযোগ পৌঁছে দেওয়ার জন্য লিনাক্স এর মত মুক্ত সফটওয়্যার বড় ভূমিকা নিতে পারে বলে তাঁর দাবি [/Bengali] ie the Minister of Information Technology for the state of West Bengal Debesh Das said (in the context of not having enough developer/software engineering skills in the state) that "the wider usage of Free and Open Source software would be a possible solution to the problem". He also stated that FOSS software like Linux have the potential to reach out to a wider audience for the training of Computer. The article also quotes him as saying "In the present times, most of the computers come with a preloaded OS that have a high royalty tag associated with them, using FOSS can change that situation. With the reduction in the prices of the computer hardware the usage and penetration would increase in schools, colleges and administrative offices. An increase in the skilled manpower base would also be observed. - -- 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 v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Fedora - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFFzonbXQZpNTcrCzMRAvZiAKC3Igq2wMqWl+z4l1tX9e7aYbWTDACfWLDR gRLSNnW7PHqabXeXMn/FNrg= =rqFb -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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