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Microsoft and their Indian promoters can be sued...
by CK Raju, Thrissur 09 Feb '07

09 Feb '07

Information Technology Act provides stiff penal clauses through which proprietary software agencies like Microsoft and their (scrupulous) Indian promoters like IKM (in Kerala) can be sued. Here's the relevant paras ... "70. Protected system (1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that any computer, computer system or computer network to be a protected system. (2) The appropriate Government may, by order in writing, authorise the persons who are authorised to access protected systems notified under sub-section (1). (3) Any person who secures access or attempts to secure access to a protected system in contravention of the provision of this section shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine.72. Penalty for breach of confidentiality and privacySave as otherwise provide in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, any person who, in pursuance of any of the powers conferred under this Act, rules or regulation made thereunder, has secured assess to any electronic record, book, register, correspondence, information, document or other material without the consent of the person concerned discloses such material to any other person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with both." All we need to demonstrate is loss of data without the consent of the owner, here, the Government, for which only an internet connection to a protected system is needed. Microsoft, would pull out data without the requisite consent, and they and their promoters can be tried in Indian courts. "75. Act to apply for offence or contravention committed outside India (1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), the provisions of this Act shall apply also to any offence or contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of his nationality. (2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), this Act shall apply to an offence or contravention committed outside India by any person if the act or conduct constituting the offence or contravention involves a computer, computer system or computer network located in India." State IT Policy can remind the agencies of this issue, though its not mandatory, law is binding, whether you know it or not. Traitors, beware.... CK Raju Thrissur -------------------------- All fire, no smoke... http://ernakulam.sancharnet.in/doxa

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Electronic Voting Machines Software
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 06 Feb '07

06 Feb '07

Sorry and asking the same questions without using abbreviation Can anyone advise if the the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in use in India have their firmware open for inspection. -- 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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EVM Software
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 06 Feb '07

06 Feb '07

Hi Can anyone advise if the the EVM in use in India have their firmware open for inspection. -- 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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congratulations and thanks
by Nagarjuna G. 04 Feb '07

04 Feb '07

My hearty congratulations to all of you, who made the gnowledge.org portal launch a great event. let us all continue to make this one of the largest collaborative portals in the world. Though the event marks the end of a project, for those who are in it, it is a beginning. The gnowledge portal team is now ready to take calls to conduct workshops to introduce the new way of organizing a very large amount of free knowledge that already exists on the Internet. Best way to begin is to register at the portal and begin contributing in your area of work. We can all decide together, how to shape this portal in future. Nagarjuna

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Doug Mahugh : Linux Asia Open XML Workshop
by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay 04 Feb '07

04 Feb '07

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Mr. M. Moni, the head of India's e-Government Standards Committee, kicked off the event by saying "it is both strange and welcome to have Microsoft here today." He then discussed the Indian government's commitment to open standards, stressing the importance of open dialog between government and industry, and spoke of the huge investment in existing documents in both the public and private sectors. http://blogs.msdn.com/dmahugh/archive/2007/02/03/linux-asia-open-xml-worksh… - -- 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 iD8DBQFFxYAZXQZpNTcrCzMRAmRpAJ4xe9geq6Ncpp2y0Qa2FEgJIDZ9RQCeOvg3 hAfmePQ7HpvVmusg6FRYZdE= =SB2g -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Vista DRM Cracked on Launch Day
by Vihan Pandey 01 Feb '07

01 Feb '07

> > A ReactOS developer and first year student of bachelor's degree in > > software engineering Alex Ionescu [1] from Canada has blogged about > > a way to bypass the PMP (Protected Media Path), a DRM technique > > used in Windows Vista. Read the blog here [2] > > I'm not convinced that putting Winduhs down is the right way to go > about promoting freedom and/or free software. What does the list > think? i agree. Instead of harping on Winduhs' weaknesses, maybe we should be talking > about how it takes freedom away and entraps users. agreed. In fact i did some reading on the guy Alex Ionescu, he started out with DOS 4.0(majored in Hex editing) later adopted the windoze family and saw *nix's in between. Based on his history, he was and is majorly into win32 kernel stuff. Another angle on the same is that reverse engineering windoze is against the law(as one has signed the EULA during the install) and could probably land the person concerned up in jail. Should we be breaking the law even if it is for exposing cracks in an already broken system? Probably not, to quote RMS on the same ``breaking an agreement even for preventing a bad thing is NOT good". Anyway there are enough high priority GNU and other Free Software projects out there. Personally i would NEVER want to go on a windoze box EVER. Even if it were just for idle curiosities. Regards, - vihan

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The MS trojan horse in Linux Asia 2007
by Sandip Bhattacharya 31 Jan '07

31 Jan '07

In the Economic Times (at Bangalore) today, there is an article on page 6 titled "MS takes linux world by storm" """ When asked about its participation in Linux Asia, Microsoft said that the company will try to educate clients and communicate about its new stance towards open source. Mr Radhesh Balakrishnan, director, platform strategy, Microsoft, told ET, “Open source software is turning commercial and commercial software is becoming more open to open source. We believe that interoperability between the two is the way to the future. People have created a myth in the minds of clients that the world can work only either on open source. Rather than being carried over by rhetoric, clients should rather look at lowering TCO (total cost of ownership). According to a Frost & Sullivan study, Windows offers 15.9% lower TCO than Linux on the server side.’’ """ It is quite obvious what their point of participating in the event is about. I don't understand how a company which doesn't contribute to Linux is any positive/constructive way, can be allowed to participate in such an event. What is the criteria for participating in this apparently Linux event? Conversely, is there any way a Linux company can participate in an Microsoft promoting event and talk about the virtues of Linux? - Sandip

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Vista DRM Cracked on Launch Day
by പ്രവീ ണ്‍‌| Praveen എ|A 31 Jan '07

31 Jan '07

Vista DRM Cracked on Launch Day A ReactOS developer and first year student of bachelor's degree in software engineering Alex Ionescu [1] from Canada has blogged about a way to bypass the PMP (Protected Media Path), a DRM technique used in Windows Vista. Read the blog here [2] [1] http://www.reactos.org/wiki/index.php/Alex_Ionescu [2] http://www.alex-ionescu.com/?p=24 Cheers Praveen -- Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Re: [Fsf-friends] GNU Linux - trusted by Microsoft India
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

----- Anurag <anurag(a)gnuer.org> wrote: > Sometime on Monday 29 January 2007 12:45, CK Raju said: > > When a non-free proprietary software leasing agency like Microsoft > Inc has > > its portals hosted on Free Software (GNU Linux) platforms (details > at > > http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=microsoft.co.in), our > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > A point to note is that the domain "microsoft.co.in" has been squatted > over by > some ``eTechSupport.net'' and is not owned by Microsoft. > > The result being shown by netcraft are actual ones, eTechSupport does > run > gnu/linux. > Indeed the domain name in question does not seems to belong to Microsoft. Check the whois information, as has already been reported by Anurga, indeed it is some Nasik based company. Maybe MS layers in India are lazy. -- 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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BlueJ threatened by Microsoft.
by Debarshi Ray 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

BlueJ is a free software IDE which aims to teach object-oriented programming and Java to beginners and is developed by University of Kent and Deakin University with support from Sun Microsystems. The following link tells you about how it is being threatend by Microsoft through software patents. http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=21 Regards, Debarshi -- After the game the king and the pawn go into the same box. -- Italian proverb

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GNU Linux - trusted by Microsoft India
by CK Raju 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

When a non-free proprietary software leasing agency like Microsoft Inc has its portals hosted on Free Software (GNU Linux) platforms (details at http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=microsoft.co.in), our government blinks and looks at the opposite direction (http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=mail.bsnl.in). Wonder why our government is so keen to go after services that even Microsoft doesn't trust !! Citizens from TN who voted Dayanidhi Maran to power may petition him on this issue. CK Raju --------------------------------- Heres a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers

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Re: [Fsf-friends] GNU Linux - trusted by Microsoft India
by CK Raju 29 Jan '07

29 Jan '07

On Prashanth Mohan's report at http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2007-January/004582.html. True. DNS can be configured to serve the purpose of load-balancing. But the point is at least one server should be on Microsoft whose information is being cached. In this case you don't find one such. If Akamai is being used, the servers' IP address should change everytime you request for details, when there are more cache servers. This also is not the case here. Lastly there is no *unusual* combination of Linux and Microsoft IIS 6.0, all combinations are Linux Apache which confirms absence of any *Akamai activity*. Microsoft.co.in's case appear to be truly "trusted entirely with GNU Linux" for Microsoft India. Isn't this more accurate ? CK Raju --------------------------------- Heres a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers

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Desktop Linux 2006: The Year in Review
by Tinku Sampath 27 Jan '07

27 Jan '07

The OSDL's Desktop Linux Working Group has published its first year-end report on the state of the overall desktop Linux ecosystem. The report provides insight into the year's key accomplishments in terms of functionality, standards, applications, distributions, market penetration, and more..... http://desktoplinux.com/articles/AT3453502692.html - Tinku Sampath

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Controlling spam.
by Debarshi Ray 25 Jan '07

25 Jan '07

http://savannah.gnu.org/maintenance/ListHelperAntiSpam The above link documents a nice way to control spam on GNU Mailman run mailing lists. I am using it on 2 lists.gnu.org lists and 1 non lists.gnu.org list. Things seem to be ok till now. Cheers, Debarshi -- After the game the king and the pawn go into the same box. -- Italian proverb

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BBC to host Multi OS debate
by james mathew 25 Jan '07

25 Jan '07

BBC is currently seeking submissions from all you Microsoft Windows, Mac and [GNU/]Linux devotees "in 100 words or less, why you are such a supporter of your chosen operating system and what features you love about it". They will then select one user of each platform to go head to head in a debate that will be part of the BBC's Microsoft Vista launch coverage on January 30th. Read the full story on slashdot: http://it.slashdot.org/it/07/01/25/036227.shtml -- HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!

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UPA starts 2007 with a shame bang...
by CK Raju 24 Jan '07

24 Jan '07

Friends, Sancharnet, the BSNL mail service provider is undergoing a transition, if its MD is to be believed. The new domain would be bsnl.in, which, is on Microsoft platform. The MD's reason for migration was that this would help supervise and regulate *spams* more effectively! Indian citizens can now imagine a US Cop sitting on top of every mail originating or landing on their private mailbox with censor powers. (Of late mails from our mailing lists are not reaching my mailbox. Perhaps they are spams.) Another perfect entry to hall of shame... Details at http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://mail.bsnl.in Invariably, all e-mail traffic involving the users in subcontinent would be at the mercy of expertise from Microsoft. And all enquiries on such traffic will henceforth be extended only after the consent of US security agencies. UPA Government seems to be putting the technologists of the entire nation to shame, submitting, so meekly, its political will before a foreign power. CK Raju Thrissur --------------------------------- Heres a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers

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Kerala's IT Draft Policy
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 23 Jan '07

23 Jan '07

====Sorry, I didn't get Vimal's earlier posting on the issue. Cheers Vimal. ===== "..2.10 The Government realizes that Free Software presents a truly unique opportunity in building a truly egalitarian knowledge society. The Government will take all efforts to develop Free Software and Free Knowledge and shall encourage and mandate the appropriate use of Free Software in all ICT initiatives..." Complete IT Draft policy at http://itforum.kerala.gov.in/discussion/index.htm ----- By far, the most sensible ever IT policy, one that keeps undesirable tendencies at bay. A policy that systematically removes barriers-to-entry for all, especially the underprivileged for participating in a knowledge society. Cheers to all our untiring FSF hactivists who worked behind this project. CK Raju Thrissur ===========

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Kerala's IT Draft Policy
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 23 Jan '07

23 Jan '07

"..2.10 The Government realizes that Free Software presents a truly unique opportunity in building a truly egalitarian knowledge society. The Government will take all efforts to develop Free Software and Free Knowledge and shall encourage and mandate the appropriate use of Free Software in all ICT initiatives..." Complete IT Draft policy at http://itforum.kerala.gov.in/discussion/content.php?topicid=1&subtitleid=7&… ----- By far, the most sensible ever IT policy, one that keeps undesirable tendencies at bay. A policy that systematically removes barriers-to-entry for all, especially the underprivileged for participating in a knowledge society. Cheers to all our untiring FSF hactivists who worked behind this project. CK Raju Thrissur

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Re: A veiwpoint about FSF's campaign
by Vihan Pandey 18 Jan '07

18 Jan '07

> http://blogs.gnome.org/view/ryanl/2006/12/30/0 > > This article *_indirectly_* speaks about the dominance > of Non-Free software right from the early years of > computing, and also recognizes the efforts of FSF to > make users realize, that Non-Free isn't any good. > Perhaps, it speaks about being "It works!" / "It > should work whatsoever" approach. Interesting view point, and yes it does speak ``about the dominance of Non-Free software" however its the same stuff about you need it keep proprietary drivers, firmware etc. in your distro - else it won't work everywhere and will loose popularity. i don't think this guy really gets why gnewsense or ututo are being pushed. You NEED the world to know you need a COMPLETELY Free(as in Freedom) Operating System(yes that includes a Free BIOS as well). Anything lesser just won't do, and till the time we do have a completely Free(as in Freedom) Operating System we have no choice but to use what's there - but that does not mean we forget the objective of building the system. The minute you say Ubuntu supports everything(including proprietary drivers) the user becomes happy - cool - but then what is the probability of him recognizing the importance of Freedom(if he is unaware of it)? During our freedom struggle resistance to British economic imperialism by encouraging swadeshi cloth(mainly khadi), and paper(though very inferior in quality) was one of the cornerstones of the struggle. People boycotted british goods - plain and simple, why don't we boycott imperialistic hardware? Is it so hard(even for a newbie) to purchase hardware after doing a ``little" bit of homework? Come on, if someone is going to buy a car - they do ask if you get all the necessary spare parts nearby or where's the nearest service center. i think that's what most people forget. Freedom is not restricted to only those who believe in it or are aware of it, it is for all including those who don't care about it. They MUST be made aware of it. And yes, i am very well aware that there are people who couldn't care less and are irritated when you talk about freedom, well you just have to tell them what happens when they don't care - if they ignore you - try again, if they make fun of you try again, if they fight you try harder - then you win. Its only a matter of time. Regards, - vihan

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Kerala's draft IT policy released with lots of incentives for Free Software
by Vimal Joseph 18 Jan '07

18 Jan '07

Kerala's draft IT policy released http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/18/stories/2007011801800700.htm `Aim is to make entire State an IT destination' http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/18/stories/2007011808910400.htm Awareness programmes on copyright planned http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/18/stories/2007011820060400.htm The Draft policy is available for discussion at www.itforum.kerala.gov.in ~vimal

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Re: [Fsf Education] A veiwpoint about FSF's campaign
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 17 Jan '07

17 Jan '07

----- Roshan <d_rosh2001(a)yahoo.co.in> wrote: > http://blogs.gnome.org/view/ryanl/2006/12/30/0 > > This article *_indirectly_* speaks about the dominance > of Non-Free software right from the early years of > computing, and also recognizes the efforts of FSF to > make users realize, that Non-Free isn't any good. > Perhaps, it speaks about being "It works!" / "It > should work whatsoever" approach. > > -- > FSF-India Fellow Associate > http://www.gnu.org.in > So whats new is in this new article! Let me put it this way too, economics dictate the terms, and i can atleast predict the future where creating and maintaining any sufficienty complex proprietary software system is going to be very very expensive in comparison to free(dom) software. A time will come, when in comparison to past, when we would have used few free software with maybe a completely proprietary operating system, to a completely free(dom) operating software with maybe some marginal, unimportant and optional binary only blobs. And those binary only blobs would be cheaper to maintain for short time periods for the short sighted companies. And regarding one example of a binary only blob in case of Atheros based wifi card that atheros declined to open up (for madwifi GPLed drivers), now there is a community supported GPLed replacement (though still in beta). Its only a matter of time. Maybe others in list can site more such examples. And regarding binary only windoz blobs (lets say device driver in windoz), i have seen/ heard many horror stories where the manufacturer stopped providing driver support for newer versions of windoz, for perfectly working hardware devices, which are now more or less useless in newer versions of windoz. Webcams/ TV tuner cards/ 3d cards/ win modems etc etc.. I too have a 3dfx voodoo card in an old but good faithful machine that may not work in newer version of windowz, the manufacturing company is already dead and I cant see any binary blob to help me out on windoz in case I install anything better than windoz 2000-2(98). Regarding the above sites blog, i would consider it as a **transition only** phase. -- 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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A veiwpoint about FSF's campaign
by Roshan 17 Jan '07

17 Jan '07

http://blogs.gnome.org/view/ryanl/2006/12/30/0 This article *_indirectly_* speaks about the dominance of Non-Free software right from the early years of computing, and also recognizes the efforts of FSF to make users realize, that Non-Free isn't any good. Perhaps, it speaks about being "It works!" / "It should work whatsoever" approach. -- FSF-India Fellow Associate http://www.gnu.org.in __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/

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Join the DRM Elimination Crew now !
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 17 Jan '07

17 Jan '07

Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) is a technology that affects all users of computers, media players, mobile phones and other devices. "'Your devices don't trust you!' is the basic message of DRM. In fact they trust you so little that they will not even tell you that they put you under surveillance," says Joachim Jakobs, FSFE's media coordinator. [1]<http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q4/000157.html> "If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed," says Peter Lee, an executive at Disney. [2]<http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4342418> "DRM technologies are based on the principle that a third party has more influence over your devices than you, and that their interests will override yours when they come in conflict. That is even true where your interest is perfectly legitimate and legal, and possibly also for your own data," explains Georg Greve, FSFE's president. [3]<http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2006q4/000157.html> Join the campaign to eliminate DRM http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign Also act against the amendmend to Indian Copyright law for DRM http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign/Proposed-Amenments Cheers Praveen -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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Kartik Mistry: Events to watch out for!
by Frederick Noronha 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

http://kartikmistry.org/blog/?p=293 Events to watch out! January 15 Lots of things happening in the coming days. Watch out for Creative Commons launch of India [1] at IITB on 26th January and GNUnify 2007 [2] on next two days. And SELF conference [3] at HBCSE on 2nd February! For those who are in or near Bangalore, the first Indian Python Conference [4] is happening at full pace! [1] http://www.cc-india.org/?p=22 [2] http://gnunify.symbiosiscomputers.com/ [3] http://www.selfplatform.org/en/agenda [4] http://bangpypers.org/ -- 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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A graphic map...
by Frederick Noronha 15 Jan '07

15 Jan '07

A graphic map depicting the epic struggle of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) against the Empire of Microsoft http://mshiltonj.com/software_wars/current/ -- 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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gnu.org.in down?
by Roshan 15 Jan '07

15 Jan '07

Hello, I have been trying to access www.gnu.org.in, but there seems to be a database connection? Is a different CMS planned to be used for the website? -- FSF-India Fellow Associate http://www.gnu.org.in __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/

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Report on Economic impact of FOSS
by V. Sasi Kumar 15 Jan '07

15 Jan '07

• FLOSS applications are first, second or third-rung products in terms of market share in several markets, including web servers, server operating systems, desktop operating systems, web browsers, databases, e-mail and other ICT infrastructure systems. FLOSS market share higher in Europe than in the US for operating systems and PCs, followed by Asia. These market shares have seen considerable growth in the past five years. • FLOSS market penetration is also high – a large share of private and public organisations report some use of FLOSS in most application domains. In the public sector, Europe has particularly high penetration, perhaps soon to be overtaken by Asia and Latin America. In the private sector, FLOSS adoption is driven by medium- and large-sized firms. • Almost two-thirds of FLOSS software is still written by individuals; firms contribute about 15% and other institutions another 20%. • Europe is the leading region in terms of globally collaborating FLOSS software developers, and leads in terms of global project leaders, followed closely by North America (interestingly, more in the East Coast than the West). Asia and Latin America face disadvantages at least partly due to language barriers, but may have an increasing share of developers active in local communities. • Weighted by regional PC penetration, central Europe and Scandinavia provide disproportionately high numbers of developers; weighted by average income, India is the leading provider of FLOSS developers by far, followed by China. • While the U.S. has the edge in terms of large FLOSS-related businesses, the greater individual contribution from Europe has led to an increasing number of globally successful European FLOSS small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These are from the report on "Economic impact of FLOSS on innovation and competitiveness of the EU ICT sector". See http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/2006-11-20-flossimpact.pdf Best -- V. Sasi Kumar Atmospheric Sciences Division Centre for Earth Science Studies PB No. 7250, Thuruvikkal PO Thiruvananthapuram 695031, India -- V. Sasi Kumar <sasi.fsf(a)gmail.com> Free Software Foundation of India

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Re: [Fsf-friends] CAG takes IKM to new heights !
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 13 Jan '07

13 Jan '07

>IKM is recruiting 101 fresh candidates on consolidated pay > Senior Project Laders-3 > Project Leaders-6 That could be part of IKM strategy to keep at bay the professionals from pointing foul at their proprietary tendencies. Once inside their applicant's list or merit list, the voices of dissenting professionals can be reduced to a minimum. Advts like these are common from IKM whenever there is a *main issue* centered around Free Software in Kerala - like a national workshop, an international conference, a visit by RMS etc. CK Raju Thrissur

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Science, Education and Learning in Freedom, and gnowledge portal launch
by Nagarjuna G. 13 Jan '07

13 Jan '07

A one day conference on "Science, Education and Learning in Freedom (SELF)" is being organized by Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR on 2nd February 2007, at Homi Bhabha Auditorium, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Colaba, Mumbai, India. At this conference distinguished speakers from around the world will talk about free software, free knowledge and open standards, specifically in the context of science and education. On the same occasion, a multilingual community portal (gnowledge.org) of free knowledge for education, developed by the computer laboratory of HBCSE, TIFR will also be launched. A snapshop version of the portal will be distributed on a DVD at the conferencee, which includes offline content of wikipedia.org. The conference will take place from 9am till 6pm, and will have four main sessions. * Inauguration and Launching of the community portal: http://gnowledge.org * Introduction to "SELF: Science, Education and Learning in Freedom" European Commission Project, http://selfproject.eu * CopyLeft in Science, Education and Culture * Protecting Knowledge: Open Standards and Copyleft The conference is open for registration. Please read the full announcement, list of speakers, schedule, venue, registration details etc. at http://self.gnowledge.org/. Please circulate this information to your friends, put it up on your notice boards. Thanks -- SELF Conference Team Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

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Ubuntu Edgy CDs are now available
by Aanjhan R 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

Hello Friends, The Ubuntu-India team is delighted to announce that we have got a shipment of the Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft CDs. We are willing to share this with the LUGs around us and have created a Wiki page with respect to this. You can include your requirements there. What we have in hand are Ubuntu Edgy Desktop CDs (and its variants Kubuntu and Edubuntu for both 32 bit and 64 bit architectures), which are Live CDs with a GUI installer along with it. If you need to install on computers with less than 192 MB of RAM or need to upgrade from an earlier version of Ubuntu, 6.06 LTS ``Dapper Drake'', then we suggest you to download the `Alternate CD' from the Ubuntu Mirror sites. The Wiki link is below http://www.ubuntu-in.org/wiki/EdgyCdRequests We will try our best to meet your requirements depending upon the overall requests from other LUGs as well. Thanking You, Ubuntu-India Team

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RE: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 45, Issue 11
by Snehlata Shekhawat 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

If I were Bill gates in that I would like to share my work strategy with my friend and told them how to make more and more money sneh >From: fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in >Reply-To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >Subject: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 45, Issue 11 >Date: 11 Jan 2007 22:35:51 -0800 > >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. If you are Bill Gates ... ( ?????????|Praveen ) > 2. Re: If you are Bill Gates ... (Ramprasad) > 3. Free CAD program ( ?????????|Praveen ) > 4. Re: CAG takes IKM to new heights ! (VMK) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:48:52 +0530 >From: " ?????????|Praveen " <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> >Subject: [Fsf-friends] If you are Bill Gates ... >To: "Principal Support List of FSF-India" <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> >Message-ID: > <3f2beab60701110018x20f02b53t2489a7e814298188(a)mail.gmail.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > >Hi, > > We have started collection of tips to promote Free Knowledge and Free >Software for a Free Society here. >http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/IfYouAre > >Please pass on this to your friends which ever field of life they are in >also contribute to make it better. > >Cheers >Praveen > >-- >"Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. >`Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." > -- Richard Stallman >Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 2 >Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:52:41 +0530 >From: Ramprasad <ramprasad(a)gnu.org> >Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] If you are Bill Gates ... >To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> >Message-ID: <1168510961.6450.1.camel@ramprasad> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset= > >On Thu, 2007-01-11 at 13:48, പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen wrote: > > > We have started collection of tips to promote Free Knowledge and Free > > Software for a Free Society here. > > http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/IfYouAre > > > >That's a nice one ! > >- >Ramprasad B > > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 3 >Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:41:21 +0530 >From: " ?????????|Praveen " <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> >Subject: [Fsf-friends] Free CAD program >To: "Principal Support List of FSF-India" <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in>, > "Palakkad Libre software Users Society (+PLUS)" > <plus-discuss(a)lists.sarovar.org> >Message-ID: > <3f2beab60701110511k1a390900k6bd2e7a7bff238a2(a)mail.gmail.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > >Hi, > > >The BRL-CAD package is a powerful Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) solid >modeling system with over 20 years development and production use by the >U.S. >military. BRL-CAD includes an interactive geometry editor, parallel >ray-tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis, path-tracing for >realistic image synthesis, network distributed framebuffer support, >image-processing and signal-processing tools. The entire package is >distributed in source code form. >http://brlcad.org/ > >Would like to know the feedback from any AUTOCAD users how good this >package >is, as I don't have any experience with CAD tools. > >Cheers >Praveen > >-- >"Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. >`Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." > -- Richard Stallman >Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 4 >Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:12:14 -0800 (PST) >From: VMK <ellakannada(a)yahoo.com> >Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] CAG takes IKM to new heights ! >To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> >Message-ID: <636700.528.qm(a)web33206.mail.mud.yahoo.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > Forwarded Message [ Download File | Save to >Yahoo! Briefcase ] > > To:eGovINDIA@yahoogroups.com Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:47:02 >+0530 From:"EDP Division" <rbedp(a)vsnl.com> Subject: Re: [eGovINDIA] >E-Governance efforts in Kerala : CAG indicting IKM //Alocal state affair is >now part of a global corrupt mafia ! HTML Attachment [ >Scan and Save to Computer | Save to Yahoo! Briefcase > ] > > > >IKM is recruiting 101 fresh candidates on consolidated pay > > Senior Project Laders-3 > Project Leaders-6 > Sr. Programmers-12 > Programmers-12 > Jr Programmers-12 > Sr Tech Officer (GIS)-1 > Tech Officers (GIS)-2 > Tech Assistant (GIS)-4 > Sr. Tech Officer (Support)-4 > Tech Officer (Support)-4 > Sr. Tech Asst (Support)-14 > Tech Asst (Support)-2 > Tech Asst Trainee-25 > > Is this too related > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Venkat Kumaraswamy > To: eGov Corruption ; eGovINDIA Group ; eGov Northeast ; eGov GOK ; >India Wba ; India RTI ; eGovGOM Group ; ella KAVI ; eGov UP > Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 6:13 PM > Subject: [eGovINDIA] E-Governance efforts in Kerala : CAG indicting IKM >//Alocal state affair is now part of a global corrupt mafia ! > > > > E-Governance efforts in Kerala : CAG indicting IKM // A local state >affair is now part of a global corrupt mafia ! http://egovernance. >wordpress. com/2007/ 01/08/e-governan ce-efforts- in-kerala- cag-indicting- >ikm-a-local- state-a > > > > > >doxa(a)sancharnet.in wrote: http://egovernance.wordpress.com/ > >Congrats to "egovernance" for taking the story to a wider audience. Since >the links are genuine, we should also try to view them through different >angles. Perhaps something else would surface. > >CK Raju >Thrissur >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > > > >--------------------------------- >Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. > >------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >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 45, Issue 11 >******************************************* _________________________________________________________________ Always wanted to be a writer? Here's your chance! http://content.msn.co.in/Contribute/Default.aspx

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Re: IfYouAre
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/IfYouAre Nice idea and neat development. Once ready, we will alert PRESS to take note. CK Raju

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CAG takes IKM to new heights !
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

http://egovernance.wordpress.com/ Congrats to "egovernance" for taking the story to a wider audience. Since the links are genuine, we should also try to view them through different angles. Perhaps something else would surface. CK Raju Thrissur

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Free CAD program
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 11 Jan '07

11 Jan '07

Hi, The BRL-CAD package is a powerful Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) solid modeling system with over 20 years development and production use by the U.S. military. BRL-CAD includes an interactive geometry editor, parallel ray-tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis, path-tracing for realistic image synthesis, network distributed framebuffer support, image-processing and signal-processing tools. The entire package is distributed in source code form. http://brlcad.org/ Would like to know the feedback from any AUTOCAD users how good this package is, as I don't have any experience with CAD tools. Cheers Praveen -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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If you are Bill Gates ...
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 11 Jan '07

11 Jan '07

Hi, We have started collection of tips to promote Free Knowledge and Free Software for a Free Society here. http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/IfYouAre Please pass on this to your friends which ever field of life they are in also contribute to make it better. Cheers Praveen -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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GNOME speaker wanted for FOSS meet.
by Debarshi Ray 10 Jan '07

10 Jan '07

I got this on the ilug and gnome-list mailing lists. Anybody interested, please mail the original poster, ie. Girish R V, and not me. Happy hacking, Debarshi ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: ??????|Girish R V <girishrv_at_gmail_dot_com> Date: Dec 20, 2006 10:53 AM Subject: [GNOME-India] Call for Speakers on GNOME for FOSS meet at NIT Calicut To: gnome-in-list(a)gnome.org Hello all, I am girish, a 3rd yr btech student from nit calicut(a dist in kerala). We are conducting a 2 day programme on FOSS( called FOSS meet@nitc ) in the same lines as FOSS.in. We need some speakers who are willing to come over here and give us a talk on Gnome,GTK, and its upcoming features. The event is scheduled on 2,3rd February. We will be paying all the charges expended for travel and stay here**. This is the third edition of this event. Last time we had over 14 speaker from companies like yahoo,google,IBM speaking on various topics. We got a participation of over 300 students from all over kerala. Please do mail me if anyone is interested. Thank You **(Though if anyone is coming from north india we may not be able to cover the expenses. But even if you are do contact us. We will try to cover it.) -- After the game the king and the pawn go into the same box. -- Italian proverb

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Re [Fsf-friends] National Workshop on FOSS in Science
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 09 Jan '07

09 Jan '07

>An interesting experience was that we came to know that there was >pressure from some sources on the media to not cover the programme. Most often media lives by exceptions. More dangerously, it gets itself into a blindfolded situation after generalising on such exceptions. Perhaps, our movement might have ceased to be an exception. Cheers Dr Sasi. CK Raju Thrissur ------------ PS: Participants loved each and every session and its presenter (incl the Indian RMS ;-)) - feedback from teachers at MES College of Engg.

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National Workshop on FOSS in Science
by V. Sasi Kumar 08 Jan '07

08 Jan '07

A National Workshop on FOSS in Science (http://www.space-kerala.org/fsc) was held at the Union Christian (UC) College during January 4-6, 2007. There were about one hundred participants including students from the College. There were several presentations on various topics including scientific data visualisation using Python and MayaVi, free applications for mathematicians, LaTeX, and FOSS GIS. Prof. Nagarjuna spoke about gnowledge and symantic web; Prabhu Ramachandran (who developed MayaVi) presented a talk on the use of Python programming and MayaVi for scientific data visualisation; Ajith Kumar of Inter University Accelerator Centre demonstrated Phoenix (an acronym for Physics through Home Made Equipment and Innovative Experiments) which is a small piece of equipment that can be interfaced with a computer and an experimental set up (and both the hardware and software are Free); Ravi Kumar from GSI presented a talk on FOSS GIS; Dr. Manjusha Joshi from Bhaskaracharya Pratishtan presented a talk on FOSS applications for mathematicians; Vijayakumar discussed the use of CVS; Deepak presented a talk on FOSS tools for sharing ideas; Prof. Krishnan from Anna University presented a talk on the efforts taken by NRC FOSS. Dr. E. Krishnan was to have given an introduction to LaTeX, but he could not make it and I had to substitute for him (and I am sure the participants certainly lost out as a consequence). I hope I have not missed listing any lecture. The arrangements were excellent and most of the participants and resource persons (all of whom were present throughout the Workshop) really enjoyed their stay there. The college has a long tradition of standing for freedom -- Mahatma Gandhi was there in 1925 and planted a tree that is still there and Rabindranath Tagore was a member of their faculty in 1921-23. Many of the political and cultural leaders in Kerala were students of this college. And their logo says "The truth shall make you free". On the whole, the location and the proceedings were very interesting -- including a cultural programme presented by the students of the college in which some of the participants contributed impromptu. In the concluding session, some of the participants specifically stated that they are just waiting for the next Workshop here :-) There is a FOSS Cell in the college and they plan to conduct Workshops focussed on some of the topics that were presented there, such as Data Visualisation, LaTeX, etc. The Workshop was organised jointly by the FOSS Cell of UC College and SPACE, and was supported by Kerala State IT Mission and NRCFOSS/CDAC. An interesting experience was that we came to know that there was pressure from some sources on the media to not cover the programme. This means that someone is getting panicky about the spread of Free Software and we saw that as a very positive sign. -- V. Sasi Kumar <sasi.fsf(a)gmail.com> Free Software Foundation of India

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E-Governance efforts in Kerala - II
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 08 Jan '07

08 Jan '07

Its not just an in-house affair, the nexus spreads it wings beyond and extends them to bodies like United Nations - with a different theme altogether. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/wsis-themes/ict_stories/themes/case_studies/kera… A local state affair is now part of a global corrupt mafia ! CK Raju

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E-Governance efforts in Kerala : CAG indicting IKM
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 08 Jan '07

08 Jan '07

http://cag.nic.in/cag_reports/kerala/rep_2004/LB_08_CHAPTER_IV_.pdf is the original document of Comptroller and Auditor General indicting (the most dubious e-governance project in the subcontinent) IKM and Government (exposing the links that senior IAS officials have with the project and Microsoft). "A review of the implementation of the project was conducted by Audit during February � July 2003 with reference to records in IKM headquarters, one Grama Panchayat2 and two Municipal Corporations3. The bilingual data base in SQL4 Server in MS Access format was analysed using Computer Assisted Audit Technique and sample test method." ==> Project clearly involves proprietary corporate solution. "Government stated (July 2004) that the unutilised Central assistance of Rs 25.72 crore released during March 2003, according to ways and means position, had been deposited in the PD account of the Director of Panchayats. As IKM had utilised only Rs 2.37 crore during 2003-04, there was no justification to release funds of that magnitude to them." ==> (in this period we have farmers committing suicides) "Wasteful expenditure of Rs 69.78 lakh to train technical persons The expenditure of Rs 69.78 lakh incurred on selection, training and stipend to the apprentice trainees had become a waste. The Government stated (November 2004) that the expenditure incurred on training of technical persons was insignificant compared to substantial cost benefits that would accrue from BOLT mode. The reply is not tenable as the wasteful expenditure represented 22% of funds earmarked for training (Rs 3.15 crore).." ==> 3.15 crore for training - includes food, accommodation, travel and campfire expenses - truly 5 star for a State like Kerala. "Though the administrative control of IKM was transferred from the SPB to LSGD in July 2001, no fresh agreement was executed between C-DIT and LSGD for continuation of the project after 31 March 2001. Government stated (November 2004) that steps were taken to sign the MoU between C-DIT and LSGD with effect from April 2001. Such agreement with retrospective effect will not serve the desired purpose." ==> Conspiracy between State Planning Board and Local Self Government Department "In the absence of higher level suitable provision for validation of data at an upper level, there was a risk of issuing incorrect certificates, as the integrity of the data input cannot be vouchsafed. " ==> Even if it is technically corrected, the platforms and standards are proprietary and the risk would only continue. "The Government stated (November 2004) that online operation of Soochika and Sevana had commenced. But online operation of Sulekha, Sanchaya and Samkhya is yet to start." ==> IKM presenting plain lies before public with Government approval. "Due to inadequate controls for authorizing and capturing system access logs, the security of the system cannot be vouchsafed." ==> Since freedom to access software components is missing, security is not there and can never be there. All this and more at http://cag.nic.in/cag_reports/kerala/rep_2004/LB_08_CHAPTER_IV_.pdf ======== As of now, the Executive Mission Director of IKM has been promoted to be Chairman of IKM and is a member of State Planning Board. The earlier Planning Secretary, SPB is now Secretary to LSG Department (under whose control now IKM also comes). ==> simple switching theory. CK Raju Thrissur

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RMS in Gurgaon
by Sasi Kumar 07 Jan '07

07 Jan '07

Unconventional¸ hard-hitting and maverick are three words that best describe the free software-preaching messiah Richard Stallman. Mesmerizing an over packed auditorium¸ Stallman's captivating speech included insights on proprietary software¸ scorn for the well established norms of religion¸ dislike for a "drowning" George Bush and the evolutionary history of the GNU/Linux operating system. says the website of MDI, Gurgaon. Please see http://mdi.ac.in/news_events/news_events_site.asp?newsid=126. -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please see: http://swatantryam.blogspot.com/

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Festival... in Marathi or Hindi
by Frederick Noronha 07 Jan '07

07 Jan '07

Priti and team: Congrats! It's nice to have Festival in Indian languages. Just what is needed. Hope this news will be shared with all the GNU/Linux user groups and others interested. (Have sent it to ILUG-Goa http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa already.) For those who might not know Festival: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_Speech_Synthesis_System Festival is a general multi-lingual speech synthesis system developed at Centre for Speech Technology Research (CSTR) at the University of Edinburgh. It is distributed under a free software license similar to the BSD License. It offers a full text to speech system with various APIs, as well an environment for development and research of speech synthesis techniques. It is written in C++ with a Scheme-based command interpreter for general customization and extension.[1] The Festvox project aims to make the building of new synthetic voices more systematic and better documented, making it possible for anyone to build a new voice. It is distributed under a free software license similar to the MIT License. --- In bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com, priti patil <pritisd@...> wrote: > > Get it from here > > > http://janabhaaratii.org.in:9673/indicbhaaratii/Members/Priti_Patil/festiva… > > http://janabhaaratii.org.in:9673/indicbhaaratii/Members/Priti_Patil/festiva… > > Priti > > priti patil <pritisd@...> wrote: Hi all, > > On this upcoming special occassion of new year I am very happy to announce a new year gift on behalf of janabhaaratii team :) > > festival_mr (Marathi Text-To-Speech engine) and festival_hi (Hindi Text-To-Speech engine) are in their alpha state. Working crudely for both Marathi and Hindi, now under refinement process for it's next version. > > Will be available for testing on an eve of new year (most probably) !!! > > After testing, please do revert back to us since your valuable inputs can make it BETTER. > > Acknowledgments to Dr. Alka Irani (Chief Investigator, janabhaaratii), Sunil Mohan and Chaitanya Kamisetty (telugu l10n team), DONLab, Dept. of CS&E, IIT Madras, our team, karunakar (indlinux) and many.... > > > Warm Regards > > Priti Patil > janabhaaratii > Language Computing Group > C-DAC, Mumbai -- 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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Re Re: Re [Fsf-friends] TN may shut door on Microsoft
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 06 Jan '07

06 Jan '07

> Great step. (Perhaps soon we may be seeing Free Software instead of > Open Source - but I think it conveys the *spirit*.) Hmm... can you elaborate on the 'spirit'ual aspect?? The current (TN's, not mine) spirit is spirit (alcohol) as in Free Beer. Assuming that TN Govt is not part of OS movement, the amended spirit would soon be that as in Free Speech. CK Raju

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Re: Mumbai Free Map Workshop
by Vihan Pandey 05 Jan '07

05 Jan '07

> The workshop is free and open to the public. Ideally, participants > should be familiar with the open source software and the Linux operating > system, Of course, you mean the GNU/Linux operating system. Regards, - vihan

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Re Re: Re Re: Re [Fsf-friends] TN may shut door on Microsoft
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 05 Jan '07

05 Jan '07

>and requesting him to think about FLOSS and not just Open Source; >Requesting him to think about GNU and not just Linux. Yet to get a >response though.) Great work, congratulations and do keep going. CK Raju

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A New Year Gift: festival_mr and festival_hi
by priti patil 05 Jan '07

05 Jan '07

Get it from here http://janabhaaratii.org.in:9673/indicbhaaratii/Members/Priti_Patil/festiva… http://janabhaaratii.org.in:9673/indicbhaaratii/Members/Priti_Patil/festiva… Priti priti patil <pritisd(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Hi all, On this upcoming special occassion of new year I am very happy to announce a new year gift on behalf of janabhaaratii team :) festival_mr (Marathi Text-To-Speech engine) and festival_hi (Hindi Text-To-Speech engine) are in their alpha state. Working crudely for both Marathi and Hindi, now under refinement process for it's next version. Will be available for testing on an eve of new year (most probably) !!! After testing, please do revert back to us since your valuable inputs can make it BETTER. Acknowledgments to Dr. Alka Irani (Chief Investigator, janabhaaratii), Sunil Mohan and Chaitanya Kamisetty (telugu l10n team), DONLab, Dept. of CS&E, IIT Madras, our team, karunakar (indlinux) and many.... Warm Regards Priti Patil janabhaaratii Language Computing Group C-DAC, Mumbai __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re [Fsf-friends] TN may shut door on Microsoft
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 05 Jan '07

05 Jan '07

Yesterday The Hindu carried a half-page advertisement where the State Govt claimed that "All Government agencies in Tamil Nadu use only Open Source Software" (or words to such effect) and an image of Tux. Great step. (Perhaps soon we may be seeing Free Software instead of Open Source - but I think it conveys the *spirit*.) Cheers to all those behind it. CK Raju --------Original Message ------- TN may shut door on Microsoft http://egovernance.wordpress.com/2007/01/04/tn-may-shut-door-on-microsoft/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends

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Microsoft search does not give any results for badvista.org
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 04 Jan '07

04 Jan '07

... where as google has lots. http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/let-microsoft-know-they-need-to-fix-their-sear… Deleberate attempt? Cheers Praveen -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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Help needed in Chennai
by Krishna Pagadala 04 Jan '07

04 Jan '07

Hi All, One of the non-profits in Chennai that I work with wants to convert 5 computers from Windows to GNU/Linux can somebody help them? Helping will involve installing and configure a GNU/Linux system. I think that they will need one CD of TheOpenCD http://www.theopencd.org/download I am suggesting that they go with Kubuntu, does anybody have install and live CD for Kubuntu? 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 . __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

7 6

One Laptop Per Child?
by പ്രവീണ്‍‌|Praveen 03 Jan '07

03 Jan '07

An interesting article by one of the GNU Classpath Developer Roma Kennke http://kennke.org/blog/2006/12/21/one-laptop-per-child/ He thinks what our children really need are: * Parents. * Time to learn. * Childhood. and they don't need: * Floods of information and media. * Plastic toys * And certainly, kids don't need a computer I really liked this article and agree with some of his views. Regards Praveen -- "Value your freedom, or you will lose it, teaches history. `Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn." -- Richard Stallman Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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