- Fsf-friends - lists.fsci.in

Talk on GNU/Hurd internals
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 04 May '06

04 May '06

Hi, GNU Hurd hacker Annad Babu will be presenting a talk on Hurd/Mach internals. When: Monday 10AM-1PM (May 1st) where: Computer Science & Automation Dept., Indian Institue of Science[, Malleswaram, Bangalore]. Links: * GNU Hurd http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/ * Debain GNU/Hurd http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd * Qemu image http://www.zabor.org/balrog/hurd/ * Indian GNU/Hurd User Group http://i-hug.sarovar.org/ IRC: * on FreeNode #hurd, #hug, #i-hug, #hurd.in 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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[offtopic] GNU/Linux training faculty needed at Kochi.
by Vimal Joseph 04 May '06

04 May '06

Hello, If you have an aptitude in teaching and some experience in GNU/Linux (Debian preferred) please mail me. Candidates should either BTech or MCA. Knowledge in malayalam is essential. ~vimal <vimal(a)space-kerala.org>

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Monopoly fights for survival
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 03 May '06

03 May '06

----- Original Message ----- From: doxa(a)sancharnet.in To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in Sent: à¨¬à©à©±à¨§à¨µà¨¾à¨° 03 à¨®à¨ 2006 10:19:15 à¨¸5à©à¨°à© IST Subject: [Fsf-friends] Monopoly fights for survival "...Microsoft has been paying the large domain resellers to move their "parked" sites to IIS on Microsoft Server. Moving the parked customers of a single large reseller, GoDaddy.com, caused a shift of 4.5 Million domain names, or 5% of total server share from Apache to Microsoft IIS in the Netcraft report. This is an "appearance" change only, because the sites involved have no content. But managers believe figures like those in the Netcraft report, and act on them. It's time for the Free Software / Open Source community to fight back...." Full story at http://opensourceparking.com/ Just moved my parked domains to opensourceparking.com, thanks for the info. -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA -------------------------------- http://www.bbsbec.ac.in -------------------------------- ajaypal[at]bbsbec.org, ajaypal[at]acm.org

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Fwd: Ankit Fadia -- my childhood hero!
by Prabhat Sandheliya 03 May '06

03 May '06

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Prabhat Sandheliya <prabhat.news(a)gmail.com> Date: May 3, 2006 10:34 AM Subject: Fwd: Ankit Fadia -- my childhood hero! To: lug-indore(a)googlegroupes.com Hey guys, Her is the latest news in Ankit Fadia Case. I would Like you all to introduce Mahesh Aravind. He has written, such a wonderful and though provoking mail. Thanks man ! Prabhat. Here is the original message by him : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mahesh Aravind <ra_mahesh(a)yahoo.com> Date: May 2, 2006 4:38 PM Subject: Ankit Fadia -- my childhood hero! To: prabhat.news(a)gmail.com Prabhat, > Yesterday (03-04-2006)I attended a seminar by a so-called "Hacking > Guru" Ankit Fadia, at DAVV, Indore (MP) auditorium. I just want to > share my feelings with you. I read your mail (re: Ankit Fadia's fraudulent certificate), forwarded to ilug-cochin mailing list. It was excellent. Other than that, I can't find words to describe it. These were the "revelations" I had in the recent few years. I thought I was the only one who didn't accept Fadia as a "hacker", knocking him off discussions as just a wannabe kid backed by a loooot of media hype. Cracked Osama's message, huh? I'm not a hacker, just a wannabe. I'm a laaazy wannabe that 3-4 years ago I set out myself and went to get a `Hacking Book', instead of D-I-Y learning. What caught my eye (due to then recent media hype) was _Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking_, written by India's "young(est) hacker whiz kid" -- Ankit Fadia. I thought: Cool, this kid is only 16 (read: younger than me!) and he wrote a (I don't feel the same today) top-notch chapter on TCP/IP, a subject, whose core is still an uncrackable nut to many network professionals. Wow, *he* is something! At this moment I like to explain that, I hadn't reached enlightenment (or sought "nirvana") and was still stuck with (how horrible those days) Windoze. Cracking windows security, musta been something of weight. Oh, manipulating the registry(!!!), woohoo! Can be a `real hacker' among my school mates..., yipee! And at those times, I hadn't realised that a real hacker just doesn't show off! Months later, a lot(!) learned (from other "real" books), I stumbled upon [blacksun.box.sk] -- the so-called Black Sun Research Facility. Going through their archives, I was astonished to see that many articles were a copy of the chapters from the book, I paid Rs 385/- to buy. But then I was forced to think the other way: all these articles (or "philes") had some or other cracker `handle' as the author. Hey, how can these foreign (at then mostly Israeli) hackers get an Indian book's extract? These "philes" were word-to-word match with the Fadia's book. Then I came to know the Fadia's (then) website [hackingtruths.box.sk] was hosted in the same domain. Bingo! This kid is a fraud! I shoulda known it when I saw non-English comments to some of the so-called virus(!!) asm source code fragments. Somewhere (I don't recall where), I also read that Fadia was thrown out of BSRF for copy-pasting their articles, and not attributing the relevant credit to their authors. I think, nowadays articles at BSRF bears Fadia's name as the author. Not sure, cause nowadays I don't like (or want) to go to script-kiddie sites. > The seminar topic was "Ethical Hacking", now I want to ask Mr Fadia, > what is unethical about hacking ? Hacking is very positive word and > there in no need to put "Ethical" before it. By the way his seminar > topic should be "Ethical Cracking". Quite right. I think we need conduct more campaigns to restore the `media defaced' image of the `sacred word'. And, I think there's also a course called CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker); which looks like an internationally acclaimed course [ www.gocertify.com/article/ceh.shtml]. What do you think of it? Please let me know. > If you really want to become a hacker, please read an article by a > real hacker, Eric Steven Raymond (ESR). The man who changed the > history by writing a paper "Cathedral and Bazaar". This is what showed me the path, got me into "it"... and _our_ history revealed to me by ESR's Jaron File. I've read (tried to, at least) *all* his articles/essays. From _Halloween docs_ to _Sex Tips For Geeks_. I owe him much more than one! > The people who can not differentiate between hacking and cracking, > should read an article by the GOD of hackers Richad M Stallman (RMS), > the man who started GNU movement all by himself. The gcc (compiler), > gdb (debugger), emacs (editor) are some of the most popular softwares > in the world written by him. I particularly like this -- RMS *IS* GOD! (Please check the spelling: RMS is Richard Matthew Stallman) But these s/w could have been better captioned as GCC (compiler _suit_), GNU Emacs (Integrated <substitute-what-*ever*-you-want> environment). I for one breaths, eats and sleeps inside Emacs. This very mail was composed in it. Of late, I've been plotting to put `/usr/bin/emacs' as my shell in /etc/passwd! > The things Fadia demonstrated were ancient techniques used by crackers > to break into some one's machine. In the book too, mostly he gives us a list of common, default passwords and asks us to try our luck. > IP spoofing, SQL Injection, password cracking softwares, Trojan horse > programs, these are the tools of cyber criminals. So I wonder what is > the significance of the term "Ethical" here ?? Did he mention all this? I wonder from what site he learns all these "theories"? One particular book I liked very much is _Stealing the Network: How to Own the Box_, by Syngress Publications. It describes real hacking/cracking techniques, in fictional stories, using `bare' hands and crazy, creative ideas. I'll say its a must-read for anyone into computer security career. Any pointers for a freely-downloadable _The Cuckoo's Nest_? > The entire session was demonstration of third party utilities, and the > saddest thing was no mention of the name of any author of any utility. > He didn't care to give some credits to the utility developers. What a > shame !!! Great! What an attitude? Something like Micro$oft's `Embrace and Extend' policy: What yours is mine, and what mine is mine! > Second most annoying thing was that he calls himself a "hacker" and > was using a Windows XP operating system ???? A Windoze hacker, huh? Windows is not even an operating system; its an Un-Operating System! To quote _Unoffical Guide to Ethical Hacking_: There is a common belief that Windows is very insecure, but then Red Hat too is not so great in the security sphere. There are nearly 50 known ways to get root on a Linux box. The reason why hackers have found so many more holes or bugs in Windows is due to the fact that it is the most widely used OS in the world and the largest number of hackers have a go at Windows Security. The only thing that is in support if Linux is that fact that it is free and spreads the concept of open source and well, performance. However, while Linux's performance is better, I do not agree to what people say about the low Windows security. So, I think there is nothing wrong in using a Windows box for hacking. What can you say to this? Some people *never* learn! > Any confirmation of him decrypting Osama's message = 0 > (Hahahahahahahaha) Does Osama use Windows? > I tried to read a few books by him, but to my wonder some part of his > books are nothing but simple "copy and paste" material from well known > sites for Windows registry editing. Recently a book was released by him on _Email Hacking_. Not surprisingly, many of my friends' Yahoo! a/c started disappearing, some lost their mails, others got Mailer Daemon failures for mails that they never sent but bears their email id in the `From:' column, etc. Some even accused *me* for `hacking' their a/c's (honestly, I didn't, I never wanted to, and I don't know how to do it). Any news like this in your locality? Maybe we can sue him for promoting and encouraging criminal activities. > Oh God ! this is the clear violation of intellectual property rights > of the website. Please inform the webmaster. I have done it already. You being a fan of RMS, please don't use the term <quote>intellectual property</quote>. There is no such thing! Do visit [www.gnu.org/words-to-avoid.html]. Thoughts and ideas can't be owned and copyrighted (or patented for the matter). > I was astonished by the course he came to promote here, "Ethical > hacker certified by Ankit Fadia" ! "Ethical MESS-DOS(r) Hacker certified by Ankit Fadia". Sounds cool! I wonder what language does he work on? Microsoft Visual COBOL? > Unfortunately, question and answer round was cut from the seminar, Or he will have to *answer* some of those. How can he, when he follows some of them step-by-step from various "underground" sites? > Anyways, I went to him at the end of the seminar, and asked if Windows > is so vulnerable, can he suggest audience to use Linux rather than > Windows. And the reply came was straight "NO". What a shame ??? Shame? Not for him, of course. Obviously, he finds "Linux" too hard for him to contain and operate, let alone "hack"! > The reason is same why Microsoft does not patch up it's OS. Plain > economics. If you make system secure with Linux who is going to ask > for people like Fadia, so called "security expert" ??? Or people who are MCSEs? (MCSE: Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert) > And for god sake, stop behaving like a child, now you are in college, > so GROW UP !!! Just out of curiosity, what course does he pursue? Anyway, its good to know that *some* action is going out there to "shed light on" this incident. I fully appreciate it, and like you asked, I'll warn my friends about it. How can I cooperate? First of all, I think I'll subscribe to your mailing list. Best of Luck and Happy Hacking! Regards, Mahesh Aravind ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Prabhat Sandheliya --------------------------------------------------------------------- Promote Linux - Join mailing list : http://groups.google.com/group/lug-indore (Linux Users Group - Indore)

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Monopoly fights for survival
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 03 May '06

03 May '06

"...Microsoft has been paying the large domain resellers to move their "parked" sites to IIS on Microsoft Server. Moving the parked customers of a single large reseller, GoDaddy.com, caused a shift of 4.5 Million domain names, or 5% of total server share from Apache to Microsoft IIS in the Netcraft report. This is an "appearance" change only, because the sites involved have no content. But managers believe figures like those in the Netcraft report, and act on them. It's time for the Free Software / Open Source community to fight back...." Full story at http://opensourceparking.com/

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Free Software alternative to skype
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 02 May '06

02 May '06

Hi, Checkout this. They have a Firefox extention as well. http://openwengo.com/ 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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Linux: A European threat to our computers (by Tristan)
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 28 Apr '06

28 Apr '06

<http://shuddery.blogspot.com/> Hi, Can this not be a joke? Linux: A European threat to our computers (by Tristan) http://shelleytherepublican.com/2006/04/linux-european-threat-to-our-comput… 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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Since we were talking about hacking/cracking
by malovika roy 27 Apr '06

27 Apr '06

Hi guys, I would like to bring to your notice one site thats just been hacked, http://knowgenesis.org/forums/ One of my close friends (who writes on Open source related topics) is a moderator for this forum which is an online knowledge community. Pls see the mail below and if anyone of you can do something about this then please do. the responsibility is claimed by some Turkish hackers. Malovika. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Janani Gopalakrishnan <gjanani(a)gmail.com> Date: Apr 27, 2006 11:11 AM Subject: Since we were talking about cracking... Hi, Imagine my surprise when I visited it this morning. The site was wiped out clean, and there was just a banner by 2 Turkish hackers claiming responsibility for the deed. Check out http://knowgenesis.org/forums/ (do please check it out today because I think the admins will start recovery by afternoon -- or so I hope!) It's really outrageous. The impact sinks in only when we face the brunt. It was not even a commercial site -- just an online community (based on OS philosophies -- even their Journal is licensed under CC) for knowledge sharing! I wonder what thrill they gain out of this! I have lost around 2 months worth of posts by members because of this! And we were having such wonderful interactions. Janani -- ----------------------------------------------------------- "Things work out best for the people who make the best out of the way things work out."

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Since we were talking about hacking/cracking
by admin＠itmission.org 27 Apr '06

27 Apr '06

Hi, Just upgrade the forum if phpbb to the latest version, or search the database for that forum, to find any entries by the hack, do take rsync of your database further if you have shell access ... let me know if you need any help.. :) Thanks, -- Shibu C Varughese http://itmission.org ------------------------------------------------- --- malovika roy <malovika(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi guys, > > I would like to bring to your notice one site thats > just been hacked, > http://knowgenesis.org/forums/ > One of my close friends (who writes on Open source > related topics) is a > moderator for this forum which is an online > knowledge community. Pls see the > mail below and if anyone of you can do something > about this then please do. > the responsibility is claimed by some Turkish > hackers. > > Malovika. > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Janani Gopalakrishnan <gjanani(a)gmail.com> > Date: Apr 27, 2006 11:11 AM > Subject: Since we were talking about cracking... > > > Hi, > > Imagine my surprise when I visited it this morning. > The site was wiped out > clean, and there was just a banner by 2 Turkish > hackers claiming > responsibility for the deed. > > Check out http://knowgenesis.org/forums/ (do please > check it out today > because I think the admins will start recovery by > afternoon -- or so I > hope!) > > It's really outrageous. The impact sinks in only > when we face the brunt. It > was not even a commercial site -- just an online > community (based on OS > philosophies -- even their Journal is licensed under > CC) for knowledge > sharing! I wonder what thrill they gain out of this! > > I have lost around 2 months worth of posts by > members because of this! And > we were having such wonderful interactions. > > Janani > > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------- > "Things work out best for the people who make the > best out > of the way things work out." > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends >

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[Fwd: Would you like to mentor a student paid to contribute to your package?]
by Nagarjuna 26 Apr '06

26 Apr '06

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Would you like to mentor a student paid to contribute to your package? Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 14:56:31 -0400 From: Richard Stallman <rms(a)gnu.org> To: gnu-prog(a)gnu.org The GNU Project is participating in Google's Summer of Code program. (See http://code.google.com/soc/mentorfaq.html for details.) In summary: * Summer of Code 2006 is a program that offers student developers stipends to work on development of free software. * The FSF will be paid $500 per project, too. * We need people to volunteer to mentor these students, and also people to evaluate other ideas that students may suggest. * Payment to the student is contingent upon feedback by the mentor. * There is no requirement that the finished code be included in the package itself, but goal is to get code we want to use. * For FSF-copyrighted GNU packages, we will ask the student to sign the usual copyright assignment before getting paid, to make sure there will be no legal obstacle to using his code. If you are willing to mentor one or more projects, this could be of great use to the GNU Project -- it would introduce new volunteers to your package's code base, get a little funds for the FSF, and enhance the GNU operating system. Before you volunteer to be a mentor, please make sure you can actually spare the time to do the work; having mentors become unresponsive or drop out would be very bad. It is important for projects to be feasible for a good student-level hacker to do in 2 or 3 months; nothing super large. It is ok if you talk with student candidates that you already know are capable, to plan projects with them. That is a good way to produce projects that are really likely to get done, and done well. To volunteer as a mentor, please send email to <summer-of-code(a)gnu.org>. Please describe the student projects you offer to mentor, and for each one, say which GNU package it will enhance. We need to find a "backup mentor" for each project; the backup mentor is someone who will take over in case you become busy, sick, or otherwise unavailable. If you can think of any obvious suggestions for backup mentors for your projects, please mention the suggestions in your mail. (We consider these suggestions are tentative, so you can mention them first, then ask them if they are available.) But if you can't think of anyone, please suggest your project anyway. We will look for a suitable backup mentor. James Youngman <jay(a)gnu.org> will be taking care of accumulating the offers and putting them in our web site, but he could use one or two people to help. If you are willing to help, please write to <summer-of-code(a)gnu.org>. _______________________________________________ GNU Maintainers Announcement List gnu-prog(a)gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-prog . -- -- Dr. Nagarjuna G. Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Mumbai India. V.N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd, Mumbai, INDIA 400088 http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/Data/Objects/n/nagarjun/viewObject

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Dont be proud of freedom if its through linspire
by Hiran Venugopalan 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

I am now seeing many guys here who SAYS them as Linux [GNU/Linux Users] and talks about freedom.But when I ask them about the distro there reply is some times sad one for me - linspire.I dont think the linspire as Linux.Itssimply proprietary.Its on EULA.Although the basic GNU/Linux system is free software, most of the GNU/Linux versions now available include a small amount of non-free software--just enough to spoil them as a way to attain freedom. But Linspire is in a class by itself; large and important parts of this system are non-free. No other GNU/Linux distribution has back slided so far away from freedom. Switching from MS Windows to Linspire does not bring you to freedom, it just gets you a different master. | Hiran Venugopalan | | Palakkad Libre software Users Society | Adding freedom to common minds | | 09846951870 | hiran.v(a)gmail.com |

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Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 15:10:08 +0530 From: "Prabhat Sandheliya" <prabhat.news@gmail.com> Re: [Fsf-friends] Lamers Stuff !!!
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

>> Nice to know about your views. It _was_ nice to read after all. I spent a faur amount of time rolling in laughter too. >> Let's discuss the Sardar Sarovar Dam and Jessica's Lal's murder here >> too, while we're about it. How about Salman Khan's incarceration for >> shooting a black buck? Do you feel justice was served in that case? >> Hey, the wrong guy won Indian Idle too -- maybe we should organise >> mass meetings across the country to protest that! >> >> I look forward to hearing the views of everyone on this list with >> respect to all the burning issues in India today. > Well, dear. I don't think this is the right place to discuss these topics > here. This is FSF list and lets confine our discussions to IT, Linux and OSS > here. But if you have something to say, please visit here ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/India-Force/<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/India-Force/>) . People will love to hear your > views. My dear Prabhat, that is exactly what Raju was trying to imply. :)

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Google Summer of code guidelins
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

Hi, These are the GNU projects guidelines to participate in Google Summer of Code. http://www.gnu.org/software/soc-projects/guidelines.html More about Google Summer of Code http://code.google.com/soc/ http://code.google.com/soc/studentfaq.html will give you Frequently asked questions like 1. What is Summer of Code 2006? Summer of Code 2006 is a program that offers student developers stipends to create new open source programs or to help currently established projects. Google will be working with a variety of open source, free software, and technology-related groups to identify and fund several hundred projects over a three-month period. The inaugural instance of the program, which took place last summer, brought together 400 students and 40 mentoring organizations from 49 countries. We'd like to include even more organizations and participants this year. The program's goals are to inspire young developers and provide students in Computer Science and related fields the opportunity to do work related to their academic pursuits during the summer, and to support existing open source projects and organizations. Since we're looking to find developers around the world (many of whom may have considered creating open source software but havent yet taken the plunge), we felt that concentrating on the student population was a good place to focus our efforts. Further, since no single organization could possibly mentor hundreds of students working on disparate projects, we thought it made sense to spread the work throughout the open source and free software community. We also think that the Apache Software Foundation (for instance) knows a lot more about what an Apache project needs than Google does and is more likely to ensure that an applicant gets the right kind of guidance so they can create acceptable code. I really hope some of you join in. I'm sure it will be a really good opportunity to learn with some of the best programmers of the world (and ofcourse $4500). 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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Networking skills...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 25 Apr '06

25 Apr '06

Can someone help a friend in Belgaum? Networking skills? Is Anand Babu still in town? FN From: Nitin Bilgi <nbbbgm(a)rediffmail.com> Date: 13 Apr 2006 06:02:03 -0000 (11:32 IST) Hi Frederick. How r U? We are planning to conduct NETWORKING COURSE in Last week of APRIL/MAY can u suggest some Hardcore Networking prof. in GOA. offcourse Bhat and other and some from DLINK u know. pl send their contact email id and tel no's. Hope u will help us Thanking u NITIN BILGI

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Re: [OT][Fsf-friends] Lamers Stuff !!!
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

He may be a lamer, but I can say for sure, unless we expose such things, youngsters especially students will take him/ such people as an example to follow and forget about the real heros of computing (RMS, Denis Richie, Linus, ESR, and many more). I know so many students who think and assume Business Gate$ and even ankit fadia as their idol, and think of them as some great software engineers, IMHO they were/ are good business man, have been successfull in making money, if ankit ever was a hacker wannabe, ending up as a script kiddie but now a successfull business man. All that is necessary for a business man to succeed is for a hacker to do nothing. Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA -------------------------------- http://www.bbsbec.ac.in -------------------------------- ajaypal[at]bbsbec.org, ajaypal[at]acm.org ----- Original Message ----- From: Baishampayan Ghose <b.ghose(a)gnu.org.in> To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Sent: à¨¸à©à¨®à¨µà¨¾à¨° 24 à¨à¨ªà¨°à©à¨² 2006 03:36:32 à¨¶à¨¾. IST Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Lamers Stuff !!! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Prabhat, > Well, dear. I don't think this is the right place to discuss these > topics here. This is FSF list and lets confine our discussions to IT, > Linux and OSS here. But if you have something to say, please visit > here ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/India-Force/ ) . People will > love to hear your views. Raju is right. We all know AF is a fraud. This is a fact and it has been established many times. Now what we can/should do to expose him is totally off-topic here. Regards, BG - -- Baishampayan Ghose <b.ghose(a)gnu.org.in> Free Software Foundation of India http://www.gnu.org.in/

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Breaking News !
by Prabhat Sandheliya 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

Hi guys, I am sure you remember, the story I posted few days back, on the mailing list about Ankit Fadia, "Ankit Fadia : The real picture " . There is a new twist in the story. :-) I sent this mail to various people, including one IT and Cyber Law expert, Deepti Chopra. She also felt that Mr Fadia is doing something fraud and misleading people. She talked to Certificate authority of India and questioned about the authenticity and credibility of the certificate. When I posted the original story to various people, I got many positive responses. I forwarded all those mails to Deepti and she passed them to the Certificate authority of India. Now the twist in the story. :-) Deepti just informed me that, she got positive reply from Certificate authority of India. They have issued a notice to Mr Fadia and CEO, Reliance Web World to stop the issuing certificates. Now we are also thinking about taking some legal action against Mr Fadia and Reliance Web World. Cheers to our victory over unethical business practice and fraud. :-) Do send me your suggestions and views. -- Prabhat Sandheliya --------------------------------------------------------------------- Promote Linux - Join mailing list : http://groups.google.com/group/lug-indore (Linux Users Group - Indore)

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Yet another list on FLOSS?
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Apr '06

24 Apr '06

Dear FSF-India friends: BytesForAll has just launched a new mailing list, specifically focused on Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS, or FOSS). Details of the group are below. We invite all interested to join. Rather than replicating the many existing FLOSS networks, this one intends to have a specific agenda (i) build cross-border regional South Asian links among FLOSS campaigners, users and supporters (ii) share resources and building networks among those working on localisation of FLOSS, particularly on languages which have implications for more than one country in the region, or whose initiatives we can learn from (with a special emphasis on Urdu, Bengali, Nepali, the Devanagari script, smaller languages currently unsupported by FLOSS and/or proprietorial software, etc). In this way, we hope to complement, support and spread awareness about useful initiatives like IndicComputing, Ankur Bangla, and the MPP initiatives on Nepali localisation. On the Urdu front, in particular, links between Pakistan and north India (particularly) are needed on the FLOSS front. Your support and active participation is welcome! Many thanks to Fouad Riaz Bajwa <bajwa(a)fossfp.org> of Pakistan for his high energy levels and repeated prodding to BytesForAll for undertaking this initiative. INTRODUCING THE GROUP: A network to link Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS, or FOSS) advocates in South Asia, with an intention of building regional links and specially encouraging localisation efforts in this populous part of the planet which can really benefit from the power of free-as-in-freedom software. This is a sub-group of the wider BytesForAll Network. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_floss -- ------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | http://fn-at-google.notlong.com Goa, India | fred(a)bytesforall.org Co-Founder, BytesForAll | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 -------------------------------------------------------------

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[Fwd: [ILUG-BOM] Digital Certificates]
by Nagarjuna 23 Apr '06

23 Apr '06

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [ILUG-BOM] Digital Certificates Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 23:25:29 +0530 From: Saswata Banerjee & Associates <scrapo(a)saswatabanerjee.com> Reply-To: GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India <linuxers(a)mm.glug-bom.org> To: GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India <linuxers(a)mm.glug-bom.org> Hi Everyone, I attended a lecture at Indian Merchants Chambers yesterday on the new government rule called MCA-21. The new rule provides that all document sumbitted to the Ministry of Company Affaires now needs to be given in digital form only. They will no longer accept physical documents. Further, each of these documents will have to have a digital signature of the persons who were earlier required to sign the physical documents. This is the first step to moving all governement documents to digital form and save huge time and cost of users now wasted in standing in line and submitting documents to the government. The next will be Tax authorities, followed by Excise and Customs. Land Records are expected to be next thereafter. There are 7 companies in India who are authorised to issue digital certificates recorgnised under the Information Technology Act. TCS is one who was present at the seminar and demonstrated the use of the digital certificates. For those who have not used them, these are stored by TCS on USB Tokens, which look like USB Pen drives but are read-only 32KB drives with processors built in. You are supposed to insert in the token in the UCB port and then ask the Online-Form to pick up the digital certificate from the token and add it to the document to submit to the government. These certificates are based on 128 bit encryption and PKI. TCS assured me that it is designed to work both on Linux and Mac in addition to Windows and that they are including the relevant drivers with the token. However, the additional software tools they are providing for automating digital signatures on other documents will work only on Windows. I would like to know if any of you have used the Digital Siganture / Digital Certificates that is being issued under MCA-21 and can confirm that it works properly on Linux. The other providers of Digital Certificates includes MTNL. While TCS is charging Rs. 2075 for a 1 year valid certificate, MTNL is charging Rs. 350. They are sending it to you on email !! Ofcourse, they are doing this only at Malabar Hill Exchange and you have to go personally to their office and they will verify that you are the person whose name is on the form and your address, photo, etc. I do not know much on Digital Certificates. However with this becoming a major part of commercial and business transactions, I hope what the government is doing does not work only on Windows. If necessary, we (or perhaps FSF) will need to initiate a dialog with the government. In the next year, it is estimated that just government requirment will result in over 1 million digital certificates being issued. I think the actual figure will be close to 5 million as more government depatments like Income Tax, Sales Tax, Excise and Customs departments move to "digital documents only" mode. (Just imagine - if every shop keeper needs to file his sales tax returns online and needs a digital certificate to be able to upload the return to the government). It would be very important for us to ensure that Linux gets supported in the process. Regards Saswata -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers . -- -- Dr. Nagarjuna G. Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Mumbai India. V.N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd, Mumbai, INDIA 400088 http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/Data/Objects/n/nagarjun/viewObject

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Re: [Fsf-friends] FSF is incomplete w/o FIF (or something equivalent)
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 21 Apr '06

21 Apr '06

This is a very good idea, though i do hope some one can point on the legal issues/ validity of FIF. There are a lot of inteligent people and if it is possible to document ideas and somehow before the patent hogs get to patent them or even think of them. Sounds good. But ofcourse I do hope someone from legal background will comment on this. Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA ----- Original Message ----- From: sandeep Kumar <blackray(a)indiainfo.com> To: FSF India Friends <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Sent: à¨µà©à¨°à¨µà¨¾à¨° 20 à¨à¨ªà¨°à©à¨² 2006 09:04:54 à¨¶à¨¾. IST Subject: [Fsf-friends] FSF is incomplete w/o FIF (or something equivalent) Hi, Past couple of days, I interacted with RMS over this and in the process not only found about existence? of FSF India chapter, but also that I hadn't been the only one who got the wrong idea about association of OpenSource movement with RMS. FIF - Free Ideas Foundation, a forum where people can register their ideas, whether usable directly or in future, whether to do with computers or any other fields. People/Organisations can pick these ideas and develop product out of it, but can't practice the monopoly called patents. As a benefit for the consumer, this will present the options for better implementations and improvisations of same idea. But as far as I look at this FIF, it comprises of computer s/w and h/w related ideas, but not limited to these only. A little background behind this can be seen on http://idiotkid.blogspot.com/2006/04/opensource-is-incomplete-w_11439031574… and http://www.geocities.com/shimple0/techcorner.html Nagarjuna had asked me to introduce myself on this list, as other lists are kinda dead. I have been working as consultant for s/w companies as well as teaching at Pune University Computer Science Department as visiting faculty. Details more than this you can check out via "[Professional Details]" link on my homepage. May be my views are what has been discussed here in past, but I believe each time we come across same question, if environment/conditions have changed, we are likely to get different and each time more refined and closer answer. Sandeep ----- Want to know more about me? Check out http://www.geocities.com/shimple0

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FSF is incomplete w/o FIF (or something equivalent)
by sandeep Kumar 20 Apr '06

20 Apr '06

Hi, Past couple of days, I interacted with RMS over this and in the process not only found about existence? of FSF India chapter, but also that I hadn't been the only one who got the wrong idea about association of OpenSource movement with RMS. FIF - Free Ideas Foundation, a forum where people can register their ideas, whether usable directly or in future, whether to do with computers or any other fields. People/Organisations can pick these ideas and develop product out of it, but can't practice the monopoly called patents. As a benefit for the consumer, this will present the options for better implementations and improvisations of same idea. But as far as I look at this FIF, it comprises of computer s/w and h/w related ideas, but not limited to these only. A little background behind this can be seen on http://idiotkid.blogspot.com/2006/04/opensource-is-incomplete-w_11439031574… and http://www.geocities.com/shimple0/techcorner.html Nagarjuna had asked me to introduce myself on this list, as other lists are kinda dead. I have been working as consultant for s/w companies as well as teaching at Pune University Computer Science Department as visiting faculty. Details more than this you can check out via "[Professional Details]" link on my homepage. May be my views are what has been discussed here in past, but I believe each time we come across same question, if environment/conditions have changed, we are likely to get different and each time more refined and closer answer. Sandeep ----- Want to know more about me? Check out http://www.geocities.com/shimple0 -- ______________________________________________ IndiaInfo Mail - the free e-mail service with a difference! www.indiainfo.com Check out our value-added Premium features, such as an extra 20MB for mail storage, POP3, e-mail forwarding, and ads-free mailboxes!

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Transferability of Copyright
by Annamalai Gurusami 19 Apr '06

19 Apr '06

Hi All, I have been perusing the Indian Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov.in In that website copyright is talked about as some sort of author's special rights. If that is the real purpose of the copyright act, then why does it allow the transfer of copyright from one person (or organisation) to another? Does it make sense to ask for an amendment to make the copyright non-transferable? IANAL, hence this question. Any thoughts on this? Some of the +ve effects of such clause would be, 1. The authors would always be in control. The publishers can license the work from the authors. 2. If the author dies, the copyrighted work gets to public domain. Or inherited by his/her family. 3. No author can be forced or pressurized to transfer copyright. For example, if you want us to publish your paper you have to transfer the copyright to us. (http://cr.yp.to/writing/ieee.html). All your comments are welcome. Thank you. This is also reproduced here. http://missingrainbow.wordpress.com/2006/04/19/transferability-of-copyright/ Rgds, anna -- "Three women cannot deliver 1 baby in three months" - analogy on R&D time planning

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Fwd: [cslug] Fwd: [ilugd] Fwd: [Fsf-friends] Ankit Fadia : The real picture
by yogesh 19 Apr '06

19 Apr '06

On 4/6/06, Gaurav Mishra <gauravtechie(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Prabhat Sandheliya <prabhat.news(a)gmail.com> > Date: Apr 5, 2006 3:30 PM > Subject: [Fsf-friends] Ankit Fadia : The real picture > To: Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > > > Yesterday (03-04-2006)I attended a seminar by a so-called "Hacking Guru" > Ankit Fadia, at DAVV, Indore (MP) auditorium. I just want to share my > feelings with you. > > The Seminar was a complete failure, though it was attended by about well > over 100 people, but was a complete disaster. > > The very first thing by which I was offended badly was using the sacred word > "Hacking" to demonstrate something we, the hackers, call cracking. The > seminar topic was "Ethical Hacking", now I want to ask Mr Fadia, what is > unethical about hacking ? Hacking is very positive word and there in no need > to put "Ethical" before it. By the way his seminar topic should be "Ethical > Cracking". > > If you really want to become a hacker, please read an article by a real > hacker, Eric Steven Raymond (ESR). The man who changed the history by > writing a paper "Cathedral and Bazaar". please read the article here : > http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html< http://www.catb.org/%7Eesr/faqs/hacker-howto.html> > > The people who can not differentiate between hacking and cracking, should > read an article by the GOD of hackers Richad M Stallman (RMS), the man who > started GNU movement all by himself. The gcc (compiler), gdb (debugger), > emacs (editor) are some of the most popular softwares in the world written > by him. Please read the article here : > http://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_69.html > > The things Fadia demonstrated were ancient techniques used by crackers to > break into some one's machine. Now a days even 10 year olds can download > these tools from Internet to control others' machines. Can we call them > hackers ?? If he calls it hacking, I doubt if he understands the term even > "Cracking", leave hacking altogether. This childish behavior is called > script kiddie. > > IP spoofing, SQL Injection, password cracking softwares, Trojan horse > programs, these are the tools of cyber criminals. So I wonder what is the > significance of the term "Ethical" here ?? > > In the entire session I kept waiting for some program or utility, written by > himself. But I don't thing he had something like this to share with > audience. The entire session was demonstration of third party utilities, and > the saddest thing was no mention of the name of any author of any utility. > He didn't care to give some credits to the utility developers. What a shame > !!! > > Mr Fadia, I real hacker always respect the creativity of others, and before > using their work proper credits are given, this is the hacker's attitude. > It's not like that, you download something from Internet, use it and forget > the person, who made it. That's pretty mean. > > Second most annoying thing was that he calls himself a "hacker" and was > using a Windows XP operating system ???? > > I have been in to computers for the past 10 years and I never come across > any real hacker who uses Windows. I met Brian(Apache creator), Andy Cleen, > Alon cox, Rusty (all networking gods), RMS (the GOD himself) but all of them > were using some or other form of Unix or Linux. > > Come on, MR Fadia, Windows is the worst OS in the world, full of security > holes, so what is the point to break into a Windows machine ???? What do > you want to prove ???? > > He only once mentioned Linux, just to tell how you can use it's live CD to > boot a Windows machine and cracke the password. > > Actually, before attending the seminar, I Googled a lot about Fadia and his > work. But what I could find was self acclaiming statement by Fadia about > himself and his future and just crap, crap and crap by technology illiterate > Indian news papers' reports. > > I just want to share my findings with you. > > Vulnerabilities patches by Fadia = 0 (He may know how to break > in, but doesn't know how to fix up) > Bugtraq id's by Fadia = 0 > Hacking / Security tool by fadia = 0 (He simply Goolge and > download the tools from Internet, that's not cracking. Actual cracker > is the > programmer, but Fadia never ever gives due credits. Now that's not hacking, > that's > stealing) > Any open source software by Fadia = 0 (He is afraid of suggesting > Linux to people, 'coz it's secure) > Any Linux or Windows software security patch = 0 > Any recommendation or recognition by Real Hacker Community = 0 (They > laugh at him. He is just a kid) > Software / Cryptography patents by Fadia = 0 > Algorithms by Fadia = 0 > Any official citation by FBI/CIA/CBI for Fadia = 0 (They don't even > bother about any explanation) > Any confirmation of his self-claims = 0 (Nobody, expect > him knows, if they are real) > Any confirmation of him decrypting Osama's message = 0 > (Hahahahahahahaha) > Any original technical tutorial or book by Fadia = 0 (He simply copy > the things and never he never ever gives due credits to the > > original authors.) > Any originality in his tutes or books = 0 (Hahahahahahaha) > Skill level of Fadia = Only God > knows !!! > > > I tried to read a few books by him, but to my wonder some part of his books > are nothing but simple "copy and paste" material from well known sites for > Windows registry editing. Please visit www.winguides.com and compare the > material with his first book. Oh God ! this is the clear violation of > intellectual property rights of the website. Please inform the webmaster. I > have done it already. > > I was astonished by the course he came to promote here, "Ethical hacker > certified by Ankit Fadia" ! He sill is child in hacking field, and he is > giving the certificates for hacking ????? And worst thing, Reliance web > world is promoting it. What a shame !!! Have all gone mad ? Can't they see > ? > > Unfortunately, question and answer round was cut from the seminar, that's > also because of Fadia arrived there one hour late. Well, that's India's > celebrity style statement. Otherwise, I would have asked all these questions > to him there only. > > Anyways, I went to him at the end of the seminar, and asked if Windows is so > vulnerable, can he suggest audience to use Linux rather than Windows. And > the reply came was straight "NO". What a shame ??? > > I understood the reason, why he said no. The reason is same why Microsoft > does not patch up it's OS. Plain economics. If you make system secure with > Linux who is going to ask for people like Fadia, so called "security expert" > ??? > > I want to make an appeal to all of you, please make all of your friends > aware of these facts. Let one should not get undeserved advantage. I also > want to appeal news papers, please do not make a hero out of nothing. Stop > polluting the honest media by prejudiced reports. > > And at the end I want to tell Mr Fadia, that I don't have any personal > problem with you or your achievements, but please behave properly in hacking > community. We hackers are very positive people we never ever try to harm > anybody, until he comes to our or our philosophy's way. Please stop calling > your self a hacker, if does not understand the hacker culture. > > And for god sake, stop behaving like a child, now you are in college, so > GROW UP !!! > > > Prabhat. > > PS : I am sending this mail to Mr Fadia, Reliance web world, most of Linux > > mailing lists and all of my friends. Please post your comments.lug-indore(a)googlegroups.com > hi prabhat, Thanks for taking initiative. let me add some more. I attended his seminar yesterday at I2IT,pune . This time also he didnt get time for questions-answers .In his seminar, he defined 'hackers' - good people who work with security guy for ethical purpose and 'crackers' - computer criminals who steals passwords, does financial harms, etc. Now, his seminar was full of password cracking tools. he taught there - How to do attacks on site with hiding their identity. how can we use trojans to harm to remote computer. howto send forged emails. how can one deface website and how can he order jewelry for free with love demo. My claim - Is this comes under ethical hacking or cracking as per your definition? do public really need to be taught these things to secure their machines? and why dont you encourage them to use secure browsers like opera, mozilla? if he says many websites/proprietary softwares steals users information, why not ask them to move to open source world? why you do not tell them that most secure way of using internet is to use net as non-root user in linux box? :-\ people here are talking about ankit fadia like hes the next jesus because he is young and wrote a book. whats so hard about that? , you can compile the information from the internet ,rewrite it and throw in some remarks about this you understand, then make it read nice and you have a book. he said he wrote his first book in 15 days. my claim - I could have done same in 2 days. ;-) if u think he is quite young , then compare him with all those 12-13 years old kids from US who wrote big viruses/worms that caused billions of dollars damage to US. he does not talk about stack manipulation, reversing os hooks , kernel data structures. he does not owe any security research. He just keeps knowledge abt how hackers hack. Is that make him big hacker? and if he is so big hacker, why doesnt defcon , blackhat meetings entertain him? In his doordarshan interview, he told that he is working for many multinational security companies and can not revel their names for security reasons. =)) =)) My claim - I am working for a single multinational security company that is on the top of all your fucking companies and can not revel their names for the same. :-D ankit's own opinion abt his book(copy-pasted from http://neworder.box.sk/forum.php?did=edge317&thread=23811 ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am not at all the youngest hacker in the world and definitely not even the youngest writer in the world, neither do I have any desire to become so. The media has been responsible for giving me titles, which I am no way going to accept. I do not know everything there is to know about computer security and believe that every single individual registered at Neworder can definitely teach me a lot.... My first book is strictly meant for newbies who are starting out in the hacking scene. It does not talk about much advanced stuff and may not be useful to seasoned computer security experts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ for more analysis - read all postings http://neworder.box.sk/forum.php?did=edge317 So... he says his book is for newbies... for those of you whoever found his book facinating, you are newbie. There is a lot to learn about hacking. From hindustan times ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Americans had tried almost everything, but they just couldn't crack an encrypted message they came across while investigating the 9/11 attacks. Finally, they approached a 17-year-old boy in Delhi about whom The New York Times had done a feature. Over the next 10 days, Ankit Fadia hunkered down in his room in Delhi and came up with the key to crack the message. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- so what was NIST,NCSC and NSA were doing at that time? they created cryptography standards, algorithms and they need ankit to recognize their own algorithms implemented. cryptography is one of the most complex mathematics division!! NSA is the largest employer of mathematicians in the world !!! And what was ankit doing when NIST announced 'call for algorithm' for AES? and how does classified intelligence agency in which he works allow him to disclose that he decrypted laden's men's message? my claim - this agency came to me first for decryption. but I was involved in secret project of NASA that time. =)) Actually Osama has not been tracked till now. The question comes, why U.S. government did not continue to take help of Ankit till osama is physically captured?? If u search on the google for ankit fadia, this will be the first link. http://www.rediff.com/search/2002/apr/18ankit.htm His claim is that he found in chat conversation that pakistani hackers are going to hack some indian site and he reported it to US spy organisation and that spy organisation warned that site. So what is he doing when 50-60 indian sites are hacked by paki group daily? Here is the AIC(Anti India Crew - paki hacker group) explanation about above rediff article on the defaced website http://www.zone-h.org/defaced/2002/04/26/bhelapp.bhelhyd.co.in/ and even if somebody heard hacking chat conversation and reported to that site, is that make him big hacker? and why didnt he accept challenge of AIC when AIC has announced that it would be defacing the website of the Central Board of Excise and Customs , www.cbec.gov.in within two days and challenged Ankit Fadia to prevent the defacement? http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/04/30/stories/2002043002271300.htm let me give it a final shot. his own website ankitfadia.com was hacked.(it seems that he sold this domain to some search engine company these days.) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/141313.cms he says he could not do anything as it was dos attack. In his rediff article he told he uploaded site with anti-cracking software and stopped site from being hacked. then how did dos attack finished his own site? even his company website - e2-labs.com was defaced. check http://zone-h.org/en/news/read/id=3861/ Then why is he so popular?? because Indian people dont verify information. Media likes to create hype. can you recall uri gellar? some days ago, ankit said he is going to open food restaurant in pune. media stated - running restaurant is just a trick. he is doing some secret projects. =)) =)) now do you still believe he is good hacker? he said he receives 150-200 fan mails a day. lets all linux users in India mail him 1 harsh mail a day. -- yogesh chavan cslug and plug member pune

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Interview Peter Brown, the executive director of the Free Software Foundation
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 19 Apr '06

19 Apr '06

Bringing free software to the masses Ingrid Marson <mailroomuk(a)zdnet.com> ZDNet UK April 13, 2006, 13:15 BST Peter Brown, the executive director of the Free Software Foundation, hopes to 'get the message of free software outside the hacker world You'd think it would be easy to research the right-hand man of a free software icon, given the mass of information about the free software movement on the Internet. But a search for "Peter Brown" — the executive director of the Free Software Foundation — and "free software" produces only 14,000 hits on Google and little information about his past. So when we visited the Foundation's headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts it was a surprise to discover a clean-cut, suited English man from Oxford, who was quite so different from FSF founder Richard Stallman with his impressive beard and baggy clothes. Their backgrounds are also totally different. While Stallman is a programmer, having almost single-handedly developed the original version of applications such as Emacs and the GNU C Compiler, Brown has a background in business and finance, and only dabbled with coding when he was in his teens. But despite these differences, the two men share the same goal — in basic terms freedom around software, but more specifically to give people the freedom to run software for any purpose, to study and adapt that software, passing on the improvements to the public and to freely redistribute copies of the software. Both men are responsible for the overall direction of the Free Software Foundation and seem to offer complementary skills, with Brown coming across as more of a pragmatist than Stallman, whose idealism and drive to fulfil his goals has led him to spend his life telling people across the world about free software. ZDNet UK met with Brown last week to learn more about some of the Foundation's upcoming projects, how the FSF is run and funded, and what he feels makes the organisation so special. Read the full interview http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,39020463,39263218,00.htm Photos: Inside the Free Software Foundation http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39263220-1,00.htm -- "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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Fwd [phoenix-project] Traning Program for Teachers
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 19 Apr '06

19 Apr '06

Cross posting. CK Raju ----original message------- Hello All, Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, is conducting and two weeks training program starting from 22-May-06 for physics teachers from Indian Universities and colleges. Maximum number of participants is twenty. Mailing list members are requested to convey this message to teachers interested in Physics laboratory experiments. For online registration visit http://www.nsc.res.in/~elab/phoenix/workshop/index.html Ajith Kumar B.P. IUAC To unsubscribe from this list send a mail to phoenix-project-request_AT_freelists.org with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. (Needless to say _AT_ replaced by @ )

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Free Software and Open Source
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 18 Apr '06

18 Apr '06

Hi, Nagarjun replies to a long thread in ilug Mumbai about Free Software and Open Source Clarifies a lot of doubts. See the thread here http://mm.glug-bom.org/pipermail/linuxers/Week-of-Mon-20060417/025404.html Regards Praveen _____________________________ This is a reply to the entire thread so far, so not quoting any of them. I wish to clarify the difference by example, between OSS and <free> (swatantra/mukta/ajadi) software. Take 'Pine', an email client, releases source code, you can modify the sources, but can't distribute the changes you make according to pine license. Such a software is open source according to OSI. So, opening is not enough, we need the freedom to distribute the changes we make. Similarly 'scilab', a scientific application, is open source but not a <free> software. Therefore, all <free> software is open source, but not vice versa. So, free software is a proper subset of open source software. However, the number of open source applications that are not free software is very very tiny. So, it is also correct to say MOST open source applications are free software. Count the number of applications, not the number of licenses, to get the correct inclusion relation between them. If, OSI excludes those few applications that do not give the freedom to distribute the changes, then all <free> software is open source and vice versa. FSF should not change its stand is very clear, if you see how carefully the <free> software is defined. OSI's definition is left vague. May be business thrives by being vague. Let us ask OSI to modify their license listing policy. The use of the term 'open source' by the OSI may have created a nice term for the tongue, but at the cost of freedom. But, as I told you MOST open source applications do give you the freedom anyway. Still, it is surprising that OSI advocates seldom talk of the values like freedom. They continue to fetch contracts from govt and companies by arguing that oss is economical. Remember, they said they wanted to eliminate precisely this problem when they chose 'open' in place of 'free'. Did they succeed in clarifying? Certainly not. Open source adherents talk of total cost of ownership, while <free> software people say freedom is always expensive for we need to protect it constantly. That is why I always end my speach with: "Run for freedom even if it is expensive!" In order to sustain freedom we need to constantly work against the tendencies that try to take away our freedom. Metaphorically, a system must do work to maintain its stability, other wise the system will tend to a state of higher entropy. <Free> software community is an open system, like a living organism, takes feed from the environment and sustains itself by working against non-free software and those who promote them. I agree with the interpretation that <free> software is a social, cultural movement with wider implications to the future of human society. open source movement, if at all it is, emphasizes technology and a development model. I have no disagreements with their development model. If only OSI mends their licensing list policy, the differences between <free> and open source community will become thinner, if not disappear. -- "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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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 14
by Mishi Choudhary 17 Apr '06

17 Apr '06

hi can someone tell me whens the august event scheduled? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 15
by Mishi Choudhary 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

is the bandipur trek the only way to discuss about the august event. kindly lemme know in case i need to visit b'lore for the same Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 15
by Mishi Choudhary 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

is the bandipur trek the only way to discuss about the august event. kindly lemme know in case i need to visit b'lore for the same Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 14
by Mishi Choudhary 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

hi can someone tell me whens the august event scheduled? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Annual Free Software Event, India
by Shakthi Kannan 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

Greetings! I would like to know if there is an annual free software event held in India? I believe the Free Software, Free Society Conference (http://fsfs.hipatia.net/) is held in a different country, each year? Software Freedom Day, and other GLUG events are primarily local to the place or city where they belong, and they are not exclusively free software. I believe, an event in India for free software will greatly help our cause. Any thoughts? SK -- Shakthi Kannan http://www.shakthimaan.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] Annual Free Software Event, India
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 16 Apr '06

16 Apr '06

Its not just the magazines that say like this, at times even "premier" newspapers like "The Hindu" too is prone to making such off-remarks. Thankfully the paper has a significant presence only in South India. Here's what G Mahadevan wrote on 28 Feb this year. "... In fact, there are many committed users of free software who argue that this `geek factor' may be one reason for inhibiting the growth of free software usage in the State. A lecturer in a teaching department of the University of Kerala and a vocal proponent of free software points out that the `free software debate' as it were has now become politicised, personalised and is today anything but `free.' Some votaries of free software have taken their case beyond all limits. The kind of philosophical arguments about the differences between free software and open-source software actually put off everyone except the most committed users. Many a time the casual user of the computer is scared off Linux by all this geek-speak...." G Mahadevan could have taken some time off to learn about the differences in the same time he took for going after someone who doesn't know it. CK Raju Thrissur

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Formation of Ubuntu-India
by Baishampayan Ghose 14 Apr '06

14 Apr '06

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 [Sorry for cross-posting] Hello Fellow Ubunteros, Greetings!!! Hope by this time you would have known that the Ubuntu Indian Local Community Team has got the Official Status from the Council. See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/IndianTeam We have a few requests as well as announcements to be made. * Firstly we would appreciate if the GLUG's have their Local Ubuntu Teams who will be responsible for creating awareness about Ubuntu and Ubuntu-In community and also distribute the Ubuntu CDs in their Monthly meets or FOSS Events organised by placing bulk orders. [http://shipit.ubuntu.com] * We request you to create a Wiki page for your Local Team on our ubuntu-in.org website and start posting/contributing. Once you have created a wiki page kindly link it from http://ubuntu-in.org/wiki/Regional_Teams For e.g.. Once you have created a wiki page for your regional team say [Ubuntu_Chennai] kindly go to the Regional_Teams wiki page mentioned above and add your team name and link it. * You can help us in Localisation/translation/Packaging for Dapper as well as future Ubuntu releases. * Contribute Articles, Documentations, Frequently Asked Questions /Answers * Keep giving suggestions to help make Ubuntu better for us and the world. You can subscribe to ubuntu-in mailing list to get the latest information: http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in Hang around in our IRC channel #ubuntu-in @ irc.freenode.net "Live the Spirit of Ubuntu - Linux for Human Beings" Regards, BG - -- Baishampayan Ghose <b.ghose(a)gnu.org.in> Free Software Foundation of India http://www.gnu.org.in/ 1024D/86361B74 BB2C E244 15AD 05C5 523A 90E7 4249 3494 8636 1B74 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFEP6qaQkk0lIY2G3QRAv1qAJ4q5M2R27wyMEf7dotFTZVyaW7cEwCgnTXV oAvg8yFeO9+badpYuR3NvEU= =xDV+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Is it available in the world ?
by M.Balakrishna Pillai 14 Apr '06

14 Apr '06

hi all From "Fast Track to Linux" published by DIGIT, section 1.2.1 (page 15) <quote> A closely-related but not similar idea is that of free software. Free software means, well, that the software is available for free. It is already compiled and ready to use. Open source only means the source code is available to whoever wishes to build it and make fully-functional software. Free software need not be open source and similarly, open source software need not be free either. A free, but not open source, software can only be used, but cannot be modified-or for that matter dissected to see how it works. Open source software can also be a paid software, in which the source code is made available to the buyer. Open source and free software are closely related in the Linux world, but they are not the same. </quote> and last paragraph on page 16 <quote> No discussion on open source or free software is complete without the mention of Ricahard Stallman, the founder of GNU project </quote> Any known method of education to teach them ? With regards M.Balakrishna Pillai PS: I stopped reading it after that page.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 11
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

Please try this http://edu.kde.org/ There are plenty of other software too. Maybe google can help you. Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA ----- Original Message ----- From: Mishi Choudhary <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com> To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in Sent: à¨¸à©à¨®à¨µà¨¾à¨° 10 à¨à¨ªà¨°à©à¨² 2006 01:21:44 à¨¶à¨¾. IST Subject: [Fsf-friends] Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 11 hi i wish to know what ree the various oss available for children's education,the ones which re readily available in india and can be usedto promote the cause of free software Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 11
by Mishi Choudhary 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

hi i wish to know what ree the various oss available for children's education,the ones which re readily available in india and can be usedto promote the cause of free software Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 11
by Mishi Choudhary 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

hi i wish to know what ree the various oss available for children's education,the ones which re readily available in india and can be usedto promote the cause of free software Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Eduforge Tutorials
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

Eduforge Tutorials Tutorial 1 WHAT TO ASSESS WHEN SELECTING FOSS LEARNING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS http://tinyurl.com/psdoz Tutorial 2 SOURCES OF INCOME FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH EXPERTISE IN FOSS IN E-LEARNING is at http://tinyurl.com/r6623 Tutorial 3 FACTORS THAT DRIVE ORGANIZATIONS TO SHIFT FROM PROPRIETARY TO OPEN SOURCE LEARNING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS is at http://tinyurl.com/qvtbb Tutorial 4 GUIDELINES FOR MIGRATING TO AN OPEN SOURCE LEARNING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM http://tinyurl.com/rs27c Tutorial 5 OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS TO THE ADOPTION OF OPEN SOURCE LEARNING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS http://tinyurl.com/qh9tr Tutorial 6 IMPROVING OPEN SOURCE LEARNING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS http://tinyurl.com/jevmm Tutorial 7 OPEN SOURCE SYSTEMS, TOOLS AND REPOSITORIES USEFUL FOR E-LEARNING http://tinyurl.com/jtz46 Tutorial 8 OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE FOR THE EDUCATION MARKET http://tinyurl.com/f4nld -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | fred(a)bytesforall.org Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ---------------------------------------------------------- Pics from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/popular-views/

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paradigms of knowing
by Anivar Aravind 10 Apr '06

10 Apr '06

Dear Friends Checkout these interesting links http://www.paradigmsofknowing.org/ http://www.kumbham.in/ It is the experiments/explorations & thoughts of Jinan, an architect based on Nilambur, Kerala Anivar

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[GNU] Linux a BIG hit in India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Apr '06

09 Apr '06

http://in.rediff.com/money/2006/apr/08spec.htm Linux a BIG hit in India Leslie D'Monte | April 08, 2006 It has been over a year since UTI Bank set up its call center that handles over 7,000 calls per day. The bank was looking for a robust platform that could guarantee it "high availability of services and uninterrupted call traffic". It had options but finally decided on Linux for its core business applications. "Today, we are really happy with Linux that has delivered 99.99 per cent uptime so far," says Pritesh Thaker, AVP, IT, UTI Bank. The bank, in fact, is now planning to base its credit card-based system on Linux too. UTI is not the lone player to swear by Linux. Eveready, a leading manufacturer of dry cell batteries and flashlights in India, has built a mission-critical resource system to automate all functionalities of its daily business using the Oracle e-business suite running on a Linux platform. Central Bank of India has implemented Linux in nearly 3000 branches. The Penguin (official mascot of Linux), it appears, has finally marched into enterprises like IDBI Bank, Canara Bank, New India Assurance, LIC, BSNL, IRCTC, ABN Amro, Airtel and even the governments of Maharashtra and West Bengal. The list, of course, is not exhaustive. In most cases, though, the implementation of Linux in Indian enterprises is by Red Hat (primarily since Red Hat Linux has been popularised by the media and offers support for Linux which, being open source, can be downloaded for free and has no upfront licensing fee). Otherwise, one can choose from the hundreds of other Linux distributions - Mandriva, Debian, Suse, PCLinuxOS, Knoppix and Ubuntu to name a few - for desktops and enterprises. "All verticals are ready for Linux adoption today. However the banking, financial and insurance services (BFSI) and government markets have been pioneers of sorts in adopting Linux. The retail segment is also gaining ground quickly, along with verticals ranging from telecommunications to media and entertainment. "In India, we are increasingly seeing corporates running ERPs and mission-critical applications on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. Large databases and blade servers are being powered by Linux to run online share trading and lottery applications," says Javed Tapia, CEO, Red Hat. The Indiabulls group is a case in point. Indiabulls runs its Internet trading platform - Oracle 9i - on Linux. This system, which handles 40-45 per cent of Indiabulls' revenue transactions - nearly 10,000 customers are online at any point of time and transactions are in the range of Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) - runs on Linux. The online share trading infrastructure at Indiabulls generates close to 150000 database queries per minute. "Linux has become prettly stable. We never considered Windows because of the perception that it has a lot of vulnerabilities. Hence, we adopted the Linux route and are satisfied with the results," says Tejinderpal Singh Miglani, CTO, Indiabulls. IDBI's Sanjay Sharma, Head IT, corroborates this view. IDBI has been using an Oracle HR management and financial accounting system, which runs on Linux. From Sharma's perspective, this is a "mission-critical" application. "We did evaluate options like Unix and Windows too. However, we did not want to be tied up to resource-hungry applications and any particular vendor. Besides, you hardly have a problem of viruses with Linux," he says. Linux, indeed, is doing reasonably good business. IBM's business built around Linux, for instance, was worth $16 billion last year and is projected to be worth more than $50 billion, says the company's global head of public sector Linux sales, Mary Ann Fisher, who recently spoke at LinuxWorld, Australia. She added: "Governments worldwide are spending more than $3 billion a year on Linux hardware, software and services, and this is growing at 35 per cent a year. But it's the US military that is spending the most." "Mission-critical" debate Now, mission-critical applications, among other things, need servers. And for the first time, the server market in India is expected to cross the 100,000-unit mark in 2006. Servers are powerful networked machines for tasks such as handling e-mail, financial transactions, airline reservations and file storage. Based on the price, vendors classify servers as small (anywhere from Rs 40000 up to Rs 500,000), medium (from Rs 500,000 to Rs 1 crore) and large (over Rs 1 crore). They are identified as Intel (or X86 processor-based), Unix (or non-X86 processor-based) and Blade servers. Linux and Solaris are flavours of Unix. Windows and Intel form the loosely-termed "Wintel" brand. Back in 2000, India was primarily a Unix market in the enterprise. With the entry of certified and supported Linux solutions, Unix users in India found Linux an attractive proposition to migrate to. IDC has consistently reported Linux as the fastest growing OS in the world and predicts that the overall market revenue for Linux will exceed $35 billion by 2008. Globally, Windows narrowly overtook Unix in 2005 to claim the top spot in server sales for the first time, according to IDC. Computer makers sold $17.7 billion worth of Windows servers worldwide in 2005 compared with $17.5 billion in Unix servers. Linux came third. The Unix market, though, is still huge. Sun is trying to restore Unix fortunes as well by making Solaris an open-source project and bringing it to the x86 servers. The battle for Unix customers (traditionally, the server King) is not new, with IBM, HP and Red Hat all pushing Unix-to-Linux migration plans. This definitely has hurt Sun's profitability. Sun, in turn, released Solaris 10 last year as a free download (it has close to 5 million downloads). Praveen Sawkar, country manager, Solaris, Sun Microsystems India, admits that "Linux has gained some traction in the x86 server space and has managed to break Wintel combination's stronghold on this segment of the market". However, he adds, that most mission-critical applications in the world "continue to be deployed, almost without exception, on the SPARC platform". He opines it will be a long time before the industry will start basing their mission-critical applications on Linux. "In the BFSI industry, one of the largest users of mission-critical applications, Linux is used for end-user banking, algorithmic and analytical work (derivative analysis and risk portfolio assessment). It is yet to be used in core banking environments, something that can be classified as being mission-critical," asserts Sawkar. Microsoft concurs with this view. Sanjiv Mathur, director (customer and partner experience), Microsoft Corporation India, notes that according to IDC, 42.3 per cent of mission-critical applications worldwide run on Windows server platform. "With a 69.5 per cent market share, Microsoft has a strong foothold across all verticals including BFSI and government. Linux has a much smaller share of the market, which is limited to specific areas of high-performance computing and other workloads like security and edge servers, which have traditionally been on the Unix platform. So this whole perception of Linux posing a threat to Microsoft does not hold true. Linux growth is more from the re-platforming of Unix," he adds. Frost and Sullivan (India) - director ICT, Alok Shende, too, appears to be in agreement. "Linux is definitely getting into the enterprise. However, enterprises today need end-to-end solutions. Second, the price of the OS is a small part of the end-to-end solution. People should look at the total cost of ownership, which included long-term costs like services and people availability. Linux has to create a whole market around the product. While it has matured as a technology, it is wanting from a business perspective. And that will take some time," he opines. However, there are major companies that stand aggressively by Linux. Sandeep Menon, director, Linux Business, Novell West Asia, opines that Linux is increasingly being used as a platform of choice for mission-critical applications. "Several mainframes and super computers are running Linux. Linux is also been embedded in routers and telecom equipment. It is used by some of the largest banks, airlines and Internet engines in the World. What else can be more critical?" he asks. He adds that with proprietary software, the customer is totally at the mercy of vendor. If the vendor discontinues support for any reason, the customer can't do anything. In the case of Open Source Linux, even if the vendor stops support, the customer can go to anyone else for support or even support it using his/her own resources, given that the source code will be available. Ashutosh Dhanesha, country manager, Linux Business, IBM India, concurs: "Linux gives customers choice. Our philosophy on "Freedom of choice" for software, hardware and services and leadership in industry standards provides customers with security, flexibility and control of their IT infrastructure and applications. We see Linux moving to mission-critical applications such as ERP and even high end applications such as Seismic data analysis." "Linux is the most proactive as far as security is concerned. With a million eyeballs looking continuously at the code, bugs are fixed faster than they can be exploited. As opposed to a licensing approach that proprietary platforms follow, we sell subscriptions, wherein customers are automatically covered for upgrades and updates," says Tapia. Experts opine there is a Rs 600-crore (Rs 6 billion) market for open source software which is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 35-40 per cent. A sharp rise in enterprise-wide adoption of Linux or Open Source is one of the primary reasons for this optimism. Gartner predicts that by 2008, 95 per cent of Global 2000 organisations will have formal open-source acquisition and management strategies. The Penguin, it appears, will give its competitors an icy path to walk on. Penguin facts * Linux is expected to have a 15 per cent share of the ERP market by 2007 (Peerstone Research) * 55 per cent of all companies deployed Linux by the end of 2005 (AMR Research) * There are over 1.2 million developers with Linux skills (Evans Data Corp) * IBM has more than 7000 services professionals working with Linux * Robert Francis Group (IBM-sponsored research) found security levels in Linux generally exceeded those in Windows, providing a more secure and manageable environment out of the box with significantly more functionality in terms of security integration and management * The Linux kernel programming code is better and more secure than the programming code of most proprietary software - based on a four-year analysis of the 5.7 million lines of Linux source code conducted by five Stanford University researchers

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.LRN ... and a weblog (supporting e-learning and digital communities)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Apr '06

07 Apr '06

LINKS: .LRN, combines three functional areas (CMS, blogs, collaboration) in one platform. .LRN is the world's most widely adopted enterprise-class open source software for supporting e-learning and digital communities. Originally developed at MIT, .LRN is used worldwide by over half a million users in higher education, government, non-profit, and K-12. http://dotlrn.org See also Cesar Brea's Weblog What I saw at the revolution: .LRN/ OpenACS meetings in Heidelberg, Germany http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cesarbrea/stories/storyReader$33 -- ------------------------------------------------------------- | India Linux Users' Group, Goa | | Join the friendly user group | | Mail list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/join | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teach-yourself-linux | | http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa-announce | | http://www.iosn.net/country/india/organizations/ilug-goa/ | ------------------------------------------------------------- , , / \ .-. * SOFTWARE ((__-^^-,-^^-__)) (. .) * FREEDOM `-_---' `---_-' / V \ * SHARING `--|o` 'o|--' // \\ \ ` / /( )\ KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ): :( '.^^_^^.' SHARE IT EQUITABLY :o_o: \_/ \_/ "-"

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Could someone send this to SPACE in Kerala pls?
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Apr '06

07 Apr '06

Swedish N3P offers a new two-year college level training, financed and accredited by the Swedish Department of Education, in how to become a successful Project Entrepreneur in Free Software/Open Source. http://www.n3p.se/ (Swedish) (Swedish) http://www.n3p.se/en.php (English) -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | fred(a)bytesforall.org Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ---------------------------------------------------------- Pics from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/popular-views/

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Hai check this out very interesting
by Priya Rajaram 06 Apr '06

06 Apr '06

Hai to all Yesterday i came across a product called touchlive voice card using this card we can send voice recorded sms ,not exactly sms its Voice messaging service itz like u can record the message in ur own voice and send to many people all over india @ Rs 1per message ,i enjoyed using that cards , even u can try and enjoy the card.And there website is www.touchlive.in

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Ankit Fadia : The real picture
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 06 Apr '06

06 Apr '06

Ok I may disagree a little here, I do sincerely think fadia may not be foolish or dumb, but his claim to faim may be a little too far fetched and he got more media attention then he actually deserved. he built a brand and now selling it, even it is more or less fake. But for a 16 year old, that he was, it was/ is an achievement by his time, atleast we should appriciate that, but nothing more, and the 16 year old, now 20 something, must realise that he has to grow and be more than an ankle biter. Same can I say about some other authors, though not as bad as fadia, who is very very popular in the script kiddy/ haxor wannbe C/C++ student community, some one with a sir name starting with a **K**, from Pune, author of a number of books on C/ C++ / C++ Projects and pointers and a lot many others. Except for maybe one books the rest need a lot of improvements but he sells. These people have skills, and should get the respect that is worth to them, but their claim to fame is usually over hyped and more that they actually deserve. But still these people deserver **some** respect and no more. Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA ----- Original Message ----- From: Joe Steeve <joe_steeve(a)gmx.net> To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Sent: à¨µà©à¨°à¨µà¨¾à¨° 06 à¨à¨ªà¨°à©à¨² 2006 12:30:34 à¨¸5à©à¨°à© IST Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Ankit Fadia : The real picture Ajay Pal Singh Atwal <ajaypal(a)bbsbec.org> writes: > Oh well, he is coming to my department in i guess a week or so > and charging INR 250/- per seat (though I am not sure), I will oh my gawd. Heh., not only is he dumb., he is making quite a good business out of it too.. > post back my response, its already too late to say no, and > people are too eager to shell out money, but I will make sure a > spade is called a spade. Pound him with questions. -- ..O. A proud GNU user ...O OOO http://www.joesteeve.org/ --

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Re Re: [Fsf-friends] Ankit Fadia : The real picture
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 06 Apr '06

06 Apr '06

Why not attempt seriously to bring him up as a Free Software Developer ? Throw some serious task in his own *area of expertise* to solve. I think instead of bashing him or involving him in some kind of flame war, this would be a better way. He already has some "child prodigy fame", after certain media persons promoted him early on, but this is where he could really make a mark. CK Raju --------Original Message ------- On Thu, 2006-04-06 at 01:41 +0530, Ajay Pal Singh Atwal wrote: > Ok I may disagree a little here, I do sincerely think fadia may not be foolish or dumb, but his claim to faim may be a little too far

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Ankit Fadia : The real picture
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 05 Apr '06

05 Apr '06

Oh well, he is coming to my department in i guess a week or so and charging INR 250/- per seat (though I am not sure), I will post back my response, its already too late to say no, and people are too eager to shell out money, but I will make sure a spade is called a spade. But ofcourse after reading some parts (I didnt had the courage to read the whole) of his FIRST book from my institute library I alread have this notion (for around an year), he is or was an ankle biter and is trying to create more ankle biters but no real hackers/ crackers. BTW here are the actual links of amazon reviews about fadia books If mailman is kind enough not to trim the links http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1931841721/ref=cm_cr_dp_2… http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1592000452/ref=cm_cr_dp_2… Better than the books I guess :-) Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal Dept of CSE & IT BBSBEC, Fatehgarh Sahib Punjab, INDIA -------------------------------- http://www.bbsbec.ac.in -------------------------------- ----- Original Message ----- From: Baishampayan Ghose <b.ghose(a)gnu.org.in> To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Sent: à¨¬à©à©±à¨§à¨µà¨¾à¨° 05 à¨à¨ªà¨°à©à¨² 2006 04:33:27 à¨¶à¨¾. IST Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Ankit Fadia : The real picture -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Prabhat, > Yesterday (03-04-2006)I attended a seminar by a so-called "Hacking > Guru" Ankit Fadia, at DAVV, Indore (MP) auditorium. I just want to > share my feelings with you. Very well written. You only reaffirmed what we have believed ever since this Ankit Fadia hype was created. I guess it's time we started educating people about these ``quacks''. All his achievements and claims to fame are just plain lies and he has no way to prove them otherwise. He has earned a shit-load of money selling his heavily plagiarised books and now is studying some course in Stanford. It's actually not so easy to disprove the myths associated with him ... the best we can do is to ignore him. We have a lot more ``real hacking'' to do than even think about script kiddies like Fadia. Just ignore him ... the world will realise. Soon. Regards, BG - -- Baishampayan Ghose <b.ghose(a)gnu.org.in> Free Software Foundation of India http://www.gnu.org.in/ 1024D/86361B74 BB2C E244 15AD 05C5 523A 90E7 4249 3494 8636 1B74 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFEM6P+Qkk0lIY2G3QRAiJvAKCjrnnhEc04Je1Ija6yYwKEbaeP6wCbBNRt KtBMElzbRU6Hbba4Rto2S+g= =TSfu -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends --

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(no subject)
by jayanta chakraborty 04 Apr '06

04 Apr '06

hi ur asl and mobile no pl --------------------------------- Jiyo cricket on Yahoo! India cricket Yahoo! Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time.

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Amendments proposed to the Copyrights Act
by Ramanraj K 04 Apr '06

04 Apr '06

The Registrar of Copyrights, Copyright Division of the Department of Secondary & Higher Education under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has issued a notification inviting suggestions and amendments to the Copyright Act, 1957. It is available online at www.copyright.gov.in, along with a list of the proposed amendments. A new Section 65A for "Protection of Technological Measures" providing that "any person who circumvents an effective technological measure applied for the purpose of protecting any of the rights conferred by ths Act, with the intention of infringing such rights, shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extent to two years and shall also be liable to fine." While Section 63 already imposes stringent punishment for infringement of copyright, defining "copyright infringement" in very clear terms under Section 51, the propsed Section 65A is vague and seeks to punish licencees in an arbitrary manner. Further more, changes to Section 52 have also been proposed. The effects of these and other changes proposed may need to be carefully studied and analysed. Earlier, a memorandum was sent to CSIR, requesting them to publish all their research under open formats and licenses promoting public use. This may be the right occasion to send in suggestions in response to the notification, so that the Copyright Act, by default, makes the works of all Public and Educational Institutions freely available to the public using open standards. There is a need to encourage authors to release their works under the GPL, FDL or other general public licenses, and the Registry may make provision for free online registration, publication and download in such cases (probably, with just a cvs). Please send in suggestions to improve, strengthen and safeguard the rights and works of authors contributing to the general public domain. Ramanraj K

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 1
by Mishi Choudhary 03 Apr '06

03 Apr '06

Hello everyone firstly,thnx ciaran ,the transcripts re quite useful.it makes a lot of sense to read them this way. secondly i hear fsf india is organising an event somewhere in asugust where prof moglen is visiting,can anyone tell me more about the same? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 36, Issue 1
by Mishi Choudhary 01 Apr '06

01 Apr '06

Hello everyone firstly,thnx ciaran ,the transcripts re quite useful.it makes a lot of sense to read them this way. secondly i hear fsf india is organising an event somewhere in asugust where prof moglen is visiting,can anyone tell me more about the same? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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GPLv3 awareness: transcripts of Stallman and Moglen
by Ciaran O'Riordan 01 Apr '06

01 Apr '06

Hello everyone. RMS recently gave a speech about GPLv3 in Italy. It was a good speech, and the Q&A was interesting, so I made a transcript: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3/torino-rms-transcript.en.html I also made a transcript of the long GPLv3 presentation given by Eben Moglen on January 16th, when the draft of GPLv3 was first released: http://www.ifso.ie/documents/gplv3-launch-2006-01-16.html I made these as part of my work on FSFE's project to assist the GPLv3 consultation process, and I'm sending the links here because they might be useful for people who are working on GPLv3 awareness in India. When the GPLv3 process was launched, there were only two experts: Stallman and Moglen. We need information about GPLv3 to spread to every part of the world, and we have a time limit, so hopefully the transcripts will: 1. Maximise the reach of the work of the two experts 2. Provide learning materials to make new experts (you!) I also made a transcript of a short (25 minute) GPLv3 presentation which Richard made at FOSDEM in February: http://www.ifso.ie/documents/rms-gplv3-2006-02-25.html On the GPLv3 wiki, I've made a page for collecting similar materials: http://gplv3.fsf.org/wiki/index.php/Reusable_texts And more info on FSFE's GPLv3 awareness work can be found here: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/gplv3/gplv3.en.html When I made these materials, I informed many free software communities in Europe because that's where I'm active. I didn't inform the free software communities in India - I wouldn't know how. Hopefully others here who wish to help spread GPLv3 awareness will find these useful. -- Ciarán O'Riordan ______________________ \ To support free software, join http://ciaran.compsoc.com/ _____________ \ and tell others about FSFE's http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/ciaran/weblog \ Fellowship: http://www.fsfe.org

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