- Fsf-friends - lists.fsci.in

Microsoft to give access to code
by james mathew 27 Jan '06

27 Jan '06

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4649348.stm *Microsoft has said it will allow rival software companies access to license parts of the source code for its Windows operating system.* The concession was made in response to a 2004 European Commission anti-trust ruling, which ordered the company to be more open to competitors' needs. It came three weeks ahead of the EU's compliance deadline, which threatened fines of 2m euros (£1.4m; $2.4m) a day. The commission said it was not sure the offer would help resolve the dispute. Microsoft's legal chief, Brad Smith insisted "the source code is the ultimate documentation. "It should have the answer to any questions that remain." But competition commissioner Neelie Kroes disagreed. "Normally speaking, the source code is not the ultimate documentation of anything," she said. "[This is] precisely the reason why programmers are required to provide comprehensive documentation to go along with their source code." *Needle in a haystack* Microsoft said the code will help rivals make their software compatible with its own. "We will ... license the Windows source code itself," said Mr Smith. "Today we are putting our most valuable intellectual property on the table so we can put technical compliance issues to rest and move forward with a serious discussion about the substance of the case." Rivals were not impressed. "Even the most sophisticated software engineers would be lost," said Thomas Vinje, a lawyer who represents some Microsoft opponents, dismissing Microsoft's move as a PR stunt. "They would dump millions of lines of code and finding what competitors need to interoperate would be like looking for a needle in a haystack." *Record fine* The compliance deadline was set in December when the European Commission said that Microsoft's offer of 12,000 pages of documentation and 500 hours of free technical support was not adequate. The landmark 2004 ruling said the world's biggest software company was guilty of abusing its position and hit Microsoft with a record 497m euros fine, telling it to open up its operating systems. Microsoft said that the latest concession went "far beyond" the 2004 decision. It maintains that it has tried to comply with the EU's demands, but says that Brussels keeps changing its guidelines. The EU's second highest court, the European Court of First Instance, will hear Microsoft's appeal against the 2004 ruling in April. -- "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil? Is is neither able nor willing, Then why call him GOD??"

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[Fwd: NetBSD live CD]
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 26 Jan '06

26 Jan '06

Thanks Haidut, I'll pass the word around. FN -------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Haidut <haidut(a)metawire.org> To: fred(a)bytesforall.org Subject: NetBSD live CD Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 23:14:24 -0500 (EST) Hello, I am one of the developers of Arudius - a live CD Linux distro targeting information security professionals. The CD has a large collection of security tools and a very small footprint (210MB) so it fits on a mini-CD, thus it can load its tools completely into RAM and run them very fast. In addition to this security-related Linux distribution, we also developed a NetBSD live CD focusing on the non-security community. It is called NeWBIE (or simply Newbie). This acronym is pronounced just like the word "newbie" and stands for (Ne)tBSD (W)are (B)urned (I)n (E)conomy, a naming convention similar to the one used for the well-known FreeSBIE CD. Newbie caters to the desktop-user (i.e. with applications for web browsing, chat, multimedia, document editing, etc) but will also serve as a core for creating a NetBSD-based live CD for network security auditing just like Arudius (see the website). We are also in the process of developing a DragonflyBSD version of NeWBIE. The goal of both CDs is to promote the usage of Linux/BSD and hopefully serve as useful tools for people who need that kind of software. We would appreciate it if you try out the CDs and give us some feedback on how we can improve them (i.e configuration, install additional software, etc). If you find any of the CDs to be useful, please mention them on your site or post a link to the homepage - http://arudius.sourceforge.net Thank you very much for your attention and if you have any questions feel free to send an email to haidut(a)gmail.com best regards, Haidut

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Samba 4.0 getting ready
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 26 Jan '06

26 Jan '06

Samba on its maturity path. ------ "Q: For how long has development on Samba 4 been going on now? Jeremy Allison: I think it started about a year ago, maybe longer. And it's big, it's biting off a lot of stuff. Right now the Kerberos Domain Controller and the LDAP server are less well developed than other areas, and that's where a lot of the work is going on with now... The problem is, people tend to trust their LDAP server; the one they have. So there are some tensions in Samba 4. One of the things is, there are many many people who have - let's say - they've got a small office with 50 computers or whatever. They don't have an LDAP server, they don't want an LDAP server, they don't know what an LDAP server is, they just want something that will standardise all their accounts in a single file. So for that, a built-in Samba 4 LDAP server is great, is exactly what they want...." Complete story at http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&… CK Raju

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Free Software Award Winner Announced
by Anivar Aravind 25 Jan '06

25 Jan '06

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Sullivan <johns(a)fsf.org> Date: Jan 26, 2006 12:53 AM Boston Massachusetts, USA - Wednesday January 25, 2006. At the ceremony for the 2006 Free Software Awards, Richard Stallman presented Andrew Tridgell with the award for the advancement of free software. Andrew "Tridge" Tridgell was recognized for his work as originator and developer of the Samba project. Samba reverse-engineered Microsoft's version of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which is used for file-sharing and print services. This software enables free operating systems to fit into Microsoft-based environments, encouraging greater use and adoption of free software. Samba has been implemented on millions of servers throughout the world. Tridge also released rsync, a highly respected remote file-distribution system, and contributed code to the Linux kernel. During 2005, Tridge wrote a free software client to interoperate with BitKeeper, a proprietary revision control system used at the time by the Linux kernel developers. His reverse-engineering efforts led BitMover Inc. to remove permission for the use of BitKeeper, paving the way for a free software replacement. The Linux kernel is now being developed using a revision control system called Git, begun by Linus Torvalds and licensed under the GPL. Every year, three finalists are nominated for the award by the free software community. This year's other two finalists were Harmut Pilch, recognized as founder of Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) and for his leadership during the fight against the Software Patent Directive in Europe, and Theodore T'so, recognized for his work on file systems and the Linux kernel. Previous winners of the Free Software Award * 2004 Theo de Raadt * 2003 Alan Cox * 2002 Lawrence Lessig * 2001 Guido van Rossum * 2000 Brian Paul * 1999 Miguel de Icaza * 1998 Larry Wall This year's Award Committee: Peter H. Salus (chair), Richard Stallman, Alan Cox (winner 2003), Lawrence Lessig (winner 2002), Guido van Rossum (winner 2001), Frederic Couchet, Jonas Oberg, Hong Feng, Bruce Perens, Raju Mathur, Suresh Ramasubramanian, Enrique A. Chaparro, Ian Murdock. The Free Software Foundation sponsors the annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software, to recognize and honor those that have made a great contribution to the progress and development of Free Software (free as in freedom as defined in the Free Software Definition), through activities that accord with the spirit of software freedom. Any kind of activity could be eligible---writing software, writing documentation, publishing software, even journalism---but whatever the activity, we want to recognize long-term central contributions to the development of the world of software freedom. "Accord with the spirit" means, for example, that software, manuals or collections of them (online or on CD) must be entirely free. Work done commercially is eligible, but we give this award to individuals, not to companies, organizations, or teams. You can support the award and the work of the Free Software Foundation here.[1] [1] http://www.fsf.org/donate -- John Sullivan Program Administrator | Phone: (617)542-5942 x23 51 Franklin Street, 5th Fl. | Fax: (617)542-2652 Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA | GPG: AE8600B6 Anivar Aravind -- Knowledge is power... share it equitably! http://www.gnu.org

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GNU/Hurd on Qemu
by प्रव ीण् ए (Praveen A) 25 Jan '06

25 Jan '06

Hi, This is the most easiest way to try GNU/Hurd. http://www.zabor.org/balrog/hurd/ A beautifully built qemu image of GNU/Hurd. Try it now !! Cheers Praveen -- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr

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[Fwd: [PRC] FLOSS fellowships announcements]
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Jan '06

24 Jan '06

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: V Vivek <viyyer(a)sarai.net> Reply-To: Free/Libre and Open Source Software Project List <prc(a)sarai.net> To: Free/Libre and Open Source Software Project List <prc(a)sarai.net> Subject: [PRC] FLOSS fellowships announcements Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 17:01:40 +0530 Happy New Year! We're excited to announce this year's Sarai-CSDS FLOSS Fellows, and we look forward to hearing more about their upcoming explorations... Vivek The Sarai- CSDS FLOSS Fellows 2006 Abhishek Choudhary Implementing/ Porting Hindawi, Romenagri, APCISR etc. to Linux / FLOSS environments Baishampyan Ghose/Kenneth Gonsalves Panini - Integrated Translation Management System. Ravishankar Srivastava Hindi Localization of OpenOffice.Org2.2 Help Contents Sharad Maloo Open Source Parallel Database. Subramanya Sastry Newsrack - Automating News Gathering and Classification Supreet Sethi Search Interface Driven Archive Surekha Sastry/ Srinivasa Raghavan "Indic B2B" Localization Modules Knowlege is power... share it equitably! _______________________________________________ prc mailing list prc(a)sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc

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[COMMERCIAL] ETDC courses... in Goa
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 23 Jan '06

23 Jan '06

Electronic Test & Development Centre, Goa announces software/IT courses: Linux Sysadmin (consists of Linux Administration modules for professionals). Pre-requisite: Knowledge of Linux installation commands, KDE and GNOME Desktops. Course dates 30 Jan - 2 Feb. Course fee: Rs 4500 + Rs 459 service tax per participant Information Security Management Systems Framework and Implementation ISO/IEC 17799 2000/ISO 27001 : 2005 Course date: 13-14 Feb 2005 Course fee Rs 4500 + Rs 459 service tax per particpant Linux Resource & Security Management Pre-requisite: Must have attended ETDC's Linux Sysadmin Course date: 15-17 FEb 2005 Course fee Rs 3500 + Rs 357 service tax per participant Group discount 10% for three or more participants. Venue: ETDC Conference Hall. Timing 10-17 hrs Further details: OIC (Computer) / OIC (Training) Director / PA to Director Electronics Test & Development Centre GMC NIO Road, PO Goa University Goa 403206 Phone 0832.245 8680-83 Telefax (0832) 245 9784 Email etdc_goa(a)sancharnet.in Payment: Course fees: DD in favour of "Pay & Accounts Officer, Dept of Information Technology" Payable at New Delhi Service Tax: DD in favour of sBI Treasury Branch Service Tax a/c payable at Panjim. Note: For outstation candidates, economical staying arrangements can be made on request.

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Dwayne offers tips on getting started in localisation
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 Jan '06

21 Jan '06

Dwayne offers tips on getting started in localisation By Frederick Noronha Dwayne Bailey (34) lives in Pretoria and comes from Cape Town, South Africa. In the world of Free Software and Open Source, Dwayne is well known for preaching the localisation gospel. Says Dwayne: "Actually localisation is everything that makes the computer work for you in your locale (country and language). Translating the computer interfaces is by far the biggest task and ongoing. But its not the complete picture. Keyboards, fonts, locales, date systems, rendering, bidi are all part of localisation." Dwayne has been involved with a major translation project in South Africa. As he put it when we last spoke, "At Translate.org.za we're localising Free and Open Source Software into 11 South African languages. One is English, it's quite an easy one (smiles). The others are Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Venda, Tsonga, Tswana, Siswati, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Ndebele." [2] But this time, at Africa Source 2, we focussed on another issue. What's the best route for a small-to-medium language to take, if it wants to enter the world of computing? Says Dwayne: "What I'm discovering now is that the first things to do (for any language) is to get in place the basic infrastructure. One reason is so that they can start, the other is so that they can write and do things in their language." Three things need to be checked, he explains. Firstly, whether you can type your language, and have a keyboard to do so. Then, you need to be able to see the text, so font-rendering is the issue here. The third important task is to define a locale for language and country. (In simple language, this is a configuration file that defines whether your language uses the metric or imperial system, what are the names in your language for the days of the weeks and months of the year, what calendar system do you use, and so on...) After this, what? Then, says Dwayne, you're really free to do translations. That's when you need to really start thinking about what you want to achieve. Even a small group can achieve change, he believes. "The reason why you need to define goals is to ensure you don't kid yourself about what you're doing. If you're localising [GNU]Linux into Bulgarian, and you say this is being done so that Bulgarians can use a computer in their language, when in fact they all use Windows, then you need objectives that are based in reality," he explains. Your objectives could be anything. "I'm happy if someone says I'm translating Thunderbird, the email client, into Afrikaans for my 100 year old granny," jokes Dwayne, whose specs and lean figure makes him look much more serious than he is. The import thing is to understand what your goals are like. "It's all about focus. Your objective helps to focus where you put in your energies. In our organisation, we found we were being pushed from pillar to post. Everyone wanted us to translate something, and there was always a good reason," he narrates. But what works well for a small language? "My feeling is that you have to translate stuff that focuses on the end-user. And that narrows down your scope. End-users are the people that are mostly going to benefit from whatever you do," he stresses. Dwayne also suggests that localisation teams look at cross-platform tools, i.e. those that work on multiple operating systems such as GNU/Linux, Windows or Apple Mac. "Even within that, I would define (the more useful tools as) a sub-set: anything to do with communication is probably the most important thing to work on," he explains. Has he emerged wiser from his experiences of past work? "If I was going to do things again, I would prioritise it in the following order: email client, instant messaging and a word processor. When you look at (the whole of) Open Office, it's a relatively large project. But you can (begin by) translating only the word processor." Can localisation in computing really make a difference to a language's future? Dwayne narrates the "interesting story" of the Venda language, which has some 700,000 speakers. "We needed to translate it. I found there were some extra characters needed -- beyond the Latin characters. So I investigated how to make a keyboard, and made it just for fun. I made some fonts." One translator in the team was a linguist. He talked about 'mechanical imperialism', where the deficiencies of the computer were changing the way people could write a language. That is still a problem. This worked itself out in odd ways: a professional translator employed by the South African parliament to translate into Venda, couldn't type all the characters needed. So they would type things out, and then add the 'missing' characters by hand. "Which is completely sad. Valuable information which could be created for the language is completely lost. That's a demonstration that simple things could do amazing things for a language," says Dwayne. Isn't it sometimes an uneasy relationship between techies and linguists, both of whom need a stable partnership to make a translation project a success? Says Dwayne: "Whereever there are issues about techies and translators, the reality is that techies don't appreciate translation. They appreciate translation when it looks good in a press release; but in their behaviour there's not that kind of care. But having said that, there are certain projects where there's a growing respect for the localisers. The key thing there is usually to have a representative for the localisers (in tech teams). They often act as the go-between." Check the TranslateWiki [3], a great starting point for localisation of your language. It offers links to: The WordForge project; The Translate Toolkit (a toolkit to convert between various different translation formats); Pootle (a portal that will enable you to manage your translation project, do web-based translation and offline translation); the Localisation Guide (a guide to how to start and run a localisation project) and a glossary of translation terms. Once programmers see localisers as valuable members of the community and once localisers see responsive programmers both sides begin to see a very healthy relationship, argues Dwayne. "Something that can take us onto 100 languages." Here are some figures that remind us of how serious the task is: There are about 239 languages in Africa with more than one million speakers. Free/Libre and Open Source Software covers about 50-60 languages in total. In Africa currently covered are 10! Says Dwayne: "Localisation is a task that many people can do and clearly we need lots more people to contribute." [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_localization [2] http://www.tacticaltech.org/node/237 [3] http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/ -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | http://del.icio.us/fredericknoronha Saligao, Goa, India | fred(a)bytesforall.org Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ----------------------------------------------------------

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Re: FSF in LinuxAsia
by Amol Hatwar 17 Jan '06

17 Jan '06

On Wed, 2006-01-04 at 12:37 +0530, Rahul Sundaram wrote: > Hi > > I will be planning to be around for Linux Asia in Delhi probably all the > time so if you need someone at the booth/stalls on occasions I can help > you with that. It would be helpful if you have some material for me to > go through related to the FSF India activities to answer questions on > that. If you need other help, just let me know and I can potentially > give it a try. Rahul just like Mishi wants to be involved at the FSF stall in Linux Asia 2006. I have asked him to be there at the IRC meets. Regards, ah

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[Fwd: Re: FSFI@LA2006]
by Amol Hatwar 17 Jan '06

17 Jan '06

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[OT] Linuxense Internship program
by Rajkumar S 16 Jan '06

16 Jan '06

Linuxense currently has an opening for its internship program. This is open for those are doing final year B-Tech or MCA or a fresh pass out but hasn't yet taken a job. The work done during this program will be released under GNU GPL. This is a paid internship program of 1-2 months duration (depends on candidate's skill and knowledge). See more details at: http://www.linuxense.com/community/internship.xhtml raj

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 10
by Mishi Choudhary 16 Jan '06

16 Jan '06

hi krishna tons of thnx for answering my questions,thgere re a few more as i understand if i develop a software licensed under gpl it implies that anyone else is allowedto copy it ,distribute it,modify it and do whatever is allowed to do as per gpl.then if i develop a software and a person x makes an exact copy of it and sells it for some priceand makes millions over it,hows it justified in that case? what have been the milestones in the history of free software movement? do all proprietary software have free software to copmete with? why should normal ppl like you n me be interested in free software when we never buy licensed software? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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[Fwd: Confirmation for Amol Hatwar/Free Software Foundation showcasing at .ORG MELA at LinuxAsia 2006]
by Amol Hatwar 14 Jan '06

14 Jan '06

Hello all, I had submitted an application to book a Stall for FSF long-time ago. The co-ordinator says that we have a stall. I am sorry I couldn't inform everyone about this sooner as I was away from the Internet for about 10 days. Now a question. Where should FSFI's particiation plan be discussed? On this list or at fsf-delhi or a more discreet/temporary non-public unarchived list? Warm regards, ah

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[Fwd: Re: FSF-India presence in LinuxAsia]
by Sameer N Ingole 13 Jan '06

13 Jan '06

Dear members, Can anyone from FSF-India confirm the authorization for coordination to Alolita Sharma? I did not know Amol Hatwar requested for the stall or he got confirmation. He did not seem to have read the mail of confirmation. Does anyone on the lists have any idea about it? BTW we are sure to get the space for the stall at LinuxAsia. Please Advice. Regards, -------- Original Message -------- From: - Fri Jan 13 23:26:48 2006 X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00800000 Message-ID: <43C7E9DC.80002(a)proscrutiny.com> Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 23:26:44 +0530 From: Sameer N Ingole <strike(a)proscrutiny.com> User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.8 (X11/20041020) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: asharma(a)technetra.com CC: atul(a)efyindia.com Subject: Re: FSF-India presence in LinuxAsia References: <43C7613F.9050006(a)proscrutiny.com> <43867.210.18.184.87.1137171132.squirrel(a)www.os3i.org> In-Reply-To: <43867.210.18.184.87.1137171132.squirrel(a)www.os3i.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Alolita, Amol Hatwar is one of our volunteers. He is currently out of station and I am not sure if he read your mail but in order to get confirmation I am going to ask people from gnu.org.in to authorize me for further coordination. As for what part of FSF, I would do everything that is needed and legitimate, to protect legal rights of FOSS contributers. Thank you for your reply. Regards, -- Sameer N. Ingole Volunteer Free Software Foundation of India --- Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Alolita Sharma wrote: >Hi Sameer, > >Thanks for your email. We have already confirmed a stall for FSF in the >.ORG Mela at LinuxAsia to a person named Amol Hatwar (amol(a)hatwar.org) >claiming to be representing FSF-India. However, we have not received any >confirmation from him to confirm FSF's presence in the .ORG Mela. > >Can you please let me know what part of FSF are you representing and who >is Amol Hatwar? I would like to get email from the main coordinators of >FSF India in order to ensure FSF is legitimately and well represented at >LinuxAsia. > >Look forward to receiving details from you. > >With best regards, >Alolita > > >>Dear Alolita, >> >>We are volunteers for FSF-India. FSF India is a non-profit organization >>committed to advocating, promoting and propagating the use and >>development of swatantra software in India. >> >>India chapter of FSF is planning to showcase GNU software which will >>mainly include GNU/HURD, GNU/Linux, GCC, GCJ and several other GNU >>software. For this display, we will need at least two PC (more is good). >> >>We are also planning to put GNU Books/Manuals, Free Software CDs, CDs >>with talks of FSF and GNU luminaries, T-shirts on sale if that is Ok. >> >>I would be greatful if you let me know the possibility and procedure of >>getting space/stall in .ORG Mela in LinuxAsia 2006. >> >>Regards, >> >>-- >>Sameer N. Ingole >> -- Sameer N. Ingole Blog: http://weblogic.noroot.org/ --- Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

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Re: [Fsf-delhi] FSF-India in LinuxAsia 2006
by Sameer N Ingole 13 Jan '06

13 Jan '06

> Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay wrote: > >> Sameer N Ingole wrote: >> >> >>> Do you know anyone from organizing body of LinuxAsia? I want to get the >>> firm answer from them about the stall space for FSF India. Tomorrow >>> I am >>> going to talk to them on phone and if I don't get anything firm, on >>> Saturday I will go to their office in Noida. Printing posters have >>> to be >>> postponed till we get assurance for stall space. >>> >> >> Additionally, provide clear indications that the idea is to sell >> merchandise and whether the committee are ok with that. > Baishampayan, all, Can we get GNU books to put on sale on the stall so I will mention it in there. Should we sale CDs/DVDs or give-away? Should we sale T-shirts? If yes where and in how much time can we arrange them? (I have no Idea about where we can get T-shirts printed or how much time it will take to arrange things.) Please give your inputs Regards, -- Sameer N. Ingole Blog: http://weblogic.noroot.org/ --- Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

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FSF-India in LinuxAsia
by Sameer N Ingole 13 Jan '06

13 Jan '06

Hi All, Sorry for my previous post (subject: Re: [Fsf-delhi] FSF-India in LinuxAsia 2006). There have been some discussion going on whether to put some GNU stuff on sale on FSF-Delhi. I want to know how/when/where can we get GNU books/Manuals, T-shirts (with GNU messages/graphics) that we can put on sale in LinuxAsia? Regards, -- Sameer N. Ingole Blog: http://weblogic.noroot.org/ --- Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.

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Re: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7
by Krishna Pagadala 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

>Mishi Choudhary wrote: >>On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 Krishna Pagadala wrote : >> Likewise Free Software developers will produce what >> they need for themselves, it just so happens that the >> rest of soceity also benefits. Also Free Software >> developers will develop whatever we pay them to >> develop, just like everybody else. >yes of course however most of the software developers or anyone >for that matter is paid monetarily for him or her to survive This line of thinking is errorneous when it comes to thinking about Free Software. Out of necessity each one of us is partly a lawyer, a doctor, an accountant, or a software developer etc. The sum total of the knowledge that we have in those roles will dwarf any professional organisation and its output. The main problem with tapping such knowledge is transaction costs. Let me give you an example. I have to do my taxes in a few months, and I am planning to do it on my own by reading the tax code. I am sure there are many more people doing the same. Now imagine that all the people who are doing this were to somehow able to put their knowledge in a very accessible way to everybody who wants it. That would pretty much be Free Accounting movement. In this instance none "of the accounting developers" need to be paid "monetarily for him or her to survive" because that is not their profession, however if some of them are adequately compensated by the public then they will make it their profession. >i wish to ask that who is this "we" whose paying the > free software developers? By we I meant the general public who consume free software. >and is the money being paid enough in comparison to > what one can make by working for a proprietary > software developing company? This is not an issue because the expectation is that people will make a living by means other than proprietary software. Customization, selling services, or developing Free Software as a hobby, or because they want to make the product that they bought better etc.. I would recommend that you read FLOSS survey report http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/ particularly free software developers motivations which can be found at http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/report/Final4.htm DEMOCRATIZING INNOVATION by Eric Von Hippel http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ.htm or atleast some of his papers at http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/papers.htm if you dont have the time to read the whole book. >> It has been estimated thatsourceforge alone >> is equal to 1 Microsoft. >whats is sourceforge Sourceforge is a place where Free Software projects are hosted. http://sourceforge.net/ > in what terms and manner is it equivalent to one microsoft By the estimated amount of man-years spent on development of code. >pardon my very basic queries but i wish to understand > every bit and am a complete novice in this waiting > for a response It is my pleasure to answer thoughtful questions like yours. Please ask anymore questions that you might have. >Warm Regards Krishna >Mishi Choudhary ===================================== To Reflect, to Inspire and to Empower http://www.employees.org/~krishnap/ The great moral question of the twenty-first century is: If all knowledge, all culture, all art, all useful information, can be costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to anyone -- if everyone can have everything, everywhere, all the time, why is it ever moral to exclude anyone from anything? -Eben Moglen --------------------------------- Yahoo! Photos Ring in the New Year with Photo Calendars. Add photos, events, holidays, whatever.

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7
by Mishi Choudhary 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

hello everyone since i am new to all this and allof you seem to be pros can u please spare sometime to answer certain questions i have .i'll look forward to hearing from you all can you please explain the economic viability of using free software? how are the developers of free software adequately compensated? how big is free software in comparison to proprietary software? Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Fwd: FSF Announces GNU Gnash - Flash Movie Player
by Anivar Aravind 11 Jan '06

11 Jan '06

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Sullivan <johns(a)fsf.org> Date: Jan 10, 2006 9:59 PM Subject: FSF Announces GNU Gnash - Flash Movie Player To: info-fsf(a)gnu.org Media Contact: Free Software Foundation <pr(a)gnu.org> Phone: +1-617-542-5942 Boston, Massachusetts, USA - Monday, January 9, 2006 - The Free Software Foundation announced today the addition of Gnash, the GNU Flash movie player and Firefox plugin, licensed under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). Gnash is a project to build a SWF version 7 compliant flash player with high-quality imaging. It is the most advanced free flash player that currently exists, and an important addition to the GNU project. The release of Gnash represents the achievement of one of the free software movement's high priority projects (see http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority.html). Rob Savoye, maintainer of Gnash, outlined details of the project and made a call for developer support, "Right now Gnash is playing more movies than any of the other free players. All ActionScript classes exist and work, but not all the methods of each class are fully implemented. With a few more developers, it could be reasonably complete in a few months." Features include: Runs as a standalone application - Gnash can run standalone to play flash movies. Firefox plugin - Gnash can run as a plugin from within Firefox and Mozilla. SWF v7 compliant - Gnash can play many current flash movies. XML Message server - Gnash also supports an XML-based message system as is documented in the Flash Format specification. High Quality Output - Gnash uses OpenGL for rendering the graphics. The home page of the project is at <http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/>. The Gnash development sources are accessible via anonymous CVS from <http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnash/>. The anonymous CVS services are provided by Savannah, a web front-end for hosting and maintaining project homepages, bug tracking, CVS, FTP, and mailing lists, running entirely on free software, without ads, for the entire community. Gnash development is being funded by PubSoft. PubSoft supports free software projects by connecting developers with funding <https://www.pubsoft.org/pubsoft.py/viewprojects>. About the Free Software Foundation: The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software - particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants - and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Their headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA. _______________________________________________ info-fsf mailing list info-fsf(a)gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf -- Knowledge is power... share it equitably! http://www.gnu.org

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Reverse engineering in India
by Thejesh GN 10 Jan '06

10 Jan '06

The new amendment (1999) brought forth a few changes in the fair use provision pertaining to computer software. It added three new provisions in the Act in Section 52(1) (aa). The new provisions read: "(ab) the doing of any act necessary to obtain information essential for operating interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs by a lawful possessor of a computer program provided that such information is not otherwise readily available; (ac) the observation, study or test of functioning of the computer program in order to determine the ideas and principles which underline any elements of the program while performing such acts necessary for the functions for which the computer program was supplied; (ad) the making of copies or adaptation of the computer program from a legally obtained copy for non-commercial personal use I have doubt with (ac). If I buy a software with the license prohibiting me from reverse engineering it. Decomposing it will become copyright infringement ? Any help with the point (ac) will be great. -- Thanks, Thejesh GN http://www.techmag.biz

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 8
by kiran pvsm 10 Jan '06

10 Jan '06

aa On 1/10/06, fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in < fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in> wrote: > > Send Fsf-friends mailing list submissions to > fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > You can reach the person managing the list at > fsf-friends-owner(a)mm.gnu.org.in > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Fsf-friends digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 (Mishi Choudhary) > 2. Re: Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 (shibu c varughese) > 3. Re: Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 (Harish Narayanan) > 4. Re: Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 (Manilal K M) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: 9 Jan 2006 15:10:39 -0000 > From: "Mishi Choudhary" <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com> > Subject: [Fsf-friends] Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 > To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > Message-ID: <20060109151039.27120.qmail(a)webmail50.rediffmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > hello everyone > since i am new to all this and allof you seem to be pros can u please > spare sometime to answer certain questions i have .i'll look forward to > hearing from you all > can you please explain the economic viability of using free software? > how are the developers of free software adequately compensated? > how big is free software in comparison to proprietary software? > > > Warm Regards > Mishi Choudhary > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:38:00 +0530 > From: "shibu c varughese" <admin(a)itmission.org> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 > To: "Mishi Choudhary" <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com>, "Principal Support > List of FSF-India" <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <op.s249rmdza7821a@ibm> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; delsp=yes; charset=utf-8 > > hi ..mishi, > "open source" software, and is distributed under the GPL (GNU General > Public License), this is the difference from other major systems. > Open source can provide your application : speed, reliability, > performance, portability and affordability....An example is the killer > application [Apache], just check out the market share for the Apache web > server at http://news.netcraft.com/...also do just check out A case study > in open source business for Trolltech at > http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/10/03/155235 this is just an > example which tells how Trolltech is obviously a successful company. > > Thanks, > Shibu C V > --- > > On Mon, 09 Jan 2006 20:40:39 +0530, Mishi Choudhary > <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com> wrote: > > > hello everyone > > since i am new to all this and allof you seem to be pros can u please > > spare sometime to answer certain questions i have .i'll look forward to > > hearing from you all > > can you please explain the economic viability of using free software? > > how are the developers of free software adequately compensated? > > how big is free software in comparison to proprietary 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 > > > > > > > > -- > Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 19:02:00 -0500 > From: Harish Narayanan <harish(a)gamebox.net> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 > To: Mishi Choudhary <mishi_c(a)rediffmail.com>, Principal Support List > of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <43C2F978.3030903(a)gamebox.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Mishi Choudhary wrote: > > >hello everyone > >since i am new to all this and allof you seem to be pros can u please > spare sometime to answer certain questions i have .i'll look forward to > hearing from you all > > > > > I am going to be very brief. > > >can you please explain the economic viability of using free software? > >how are the developers of free software adequately compensated? > > > > > Those two are related questions. > > Functional business models around Free software mostly follow a path > that involves releasing the software Free (as in freedom and price), and > then charging the users for support or services around the core > software. Often times, since people need customised variants of software > to suit their specific needs, they can (and do) pay developers to work > on modifying Free software to suit these requirements. This way, they > get what they want without having to build things from scratch, and the > software itself benefits as these improvements work their way back into > the parent projects. > > >how big is free software in comparison to proprietary software? > > > > > It differs based on what areas you're looking at. At the core levels > (the sorts of thing that drive the web: Apache, sendmail, ...), Free > software is huge; much bigger than proprietary software. This is also > quite true in realms such as high performance scientific computing in > research at large universities (where distributions of GNU/Linux, gcc, > Free numerical libraries rule the roost). If you were asking about the > "desktop space", its installation base is much much smaller than > proprietary software, like Windows. But I would be willing to wager it > is in the order of magnitude of popularity as Mac OS X. > > Harish > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 10:40:37 +0530 > From: Manilal K M <libregeek(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 7 > To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <2315046d0601092110g594e0a07n(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Dear Mishi, > I hope the book *Innovation happens elsewhere* may be a good > starting point to know how you can make business using Free/Open > source and how to participate in Free/open Source projects. It's > available online at http://dreamsongs.com/IHE/IHE.html and is licensed > using Creative Commons > (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/) > > regards > Manilal > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > > > End of Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 33, Issue 8 > ****************************************** >

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Free software poster making competition
by Arun M 07 Jan '06

07 Jan '06

Hi, As part of state conference of KSTA, Teachers Union in Kerala, they have arranged a poster making competition. Only condition is poster should be made with free software. Topics are Globalisation; Commercialisation of Education. regards, arun.

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Ubuntu in Asia, Jan-Feb 2006
by Shekhar Krishnan 06 Jan '06

06 Jan '06

Dear FSF Friends: The folks from Ubuntu and Canonical will be making a tour of many cities in East, South and Southeast Asia in the coming weeks, and I have been asked to help spread the word regionally. Please go to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AsiaBusinessTour and help fill in the wiki page for your city and you will be contacted by someone from Ubuntu/Canonical. You will first need to signup for a Launchpad account to use the Ubuntu Wiki. There are sections for business, government, academic and voluntary sectors. I have already helped fill in the Mumbai and Bangalore pages. Looking forward to seeing more inputs from the rest of the free software community in India (and no, I am not being paid to do this, I really like Ubuntu and want to see it spread in the region). Best, S.K. -- Shekhar Krishnan 9, Supriya, 2nd Floor 709, Parsee Colony Road no.4 Dadar, Mumbai 400014 India http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar http://web.mit.edu/~shekhar/www

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COMMENT: Google may not go Simputer way
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 05 Jan '06

05 Jan '06

>From HINDUSTAN TIMES January 5, 2006 GOOGLE MAY NOT GO SIMPUTER WAY Venkatesh Ganesh Mumbai, January 4 GOOGLE's ENTRY into the sub-Rs 10,000 PC market has rattled the cage of existing players. But the search-engine giant's entry into the hardware sector in India with a thin-client model (a PC with no hard disk and computing) may not be a walkover. HT was the first to report on December 15, 2005 about the Google's plans to enter the Indian market with thin-client model. Early entrants like the Simputer and other low-cost PCs are being still viewed skeptically. Globally too, thin-clients have managed to make only small inroads. But the real fight is for a different space. Google appears to be looking to dethrone Microsoft from its desktop throne. "Thin clients have been viewed in a cautious manner primarily due to the price factor. But with Google entering the fray at such an attractive price point, things might change," says Nitin Mukadam, an e-commerce consultant. The advantage with thin clients is that the storage happens in a central server. For example, all data and applications (like word processors, spreadsheets, etc) are hosted in a central server. This solves a lot of problems right from storage to viruses. Also, with bandwidth prices coming down, the commercial viability of a thin-client device is now more feasible. Then, therere are issues with regards to Random Access Memory (RAM) that can run with even small memory space. Industry analysts opine that Google has a rough road ahead. "Delivering complete functionality in a thin-client is most challenging," Sameer Kochhar CEO of Skotch told the Hindustan Times. Translated, it would imply that since Windows is the pre-dominant operating system, operating on non-Windows system would take some getting used to (Google would bundle Linux-based applications). Sanjeev Sharma, managing director, Fujusan Technologies, an Indian representative of Fujitsu, the Japanese IT and communication solution provider, feels that the acceptance of a device of this kind will be predominantly in the small office-home office.(ENDS)

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Debian... the quest for more developers in India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 04 Jan '06

04 Jan '06

http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2005/12/msg00538.html To: debian-devel(a)lists.debian.org * Subject: Report from foss.in/2005 * From: Kartik Mistry <kartik.mistry(a)gmail.com> * Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 05:41:27 +0530 * Old-return-path: <kartik.mistry(a)gmail.com> ________________________________________________________________________ Hello, Since, I am not 'valid' poster of this list, my mail me be blocked by listadmin! I asked DWN to report for foss.in/2005 conference in India and Debian activity during event. Joey can answer about this post. Thanks Joey to encourage me. Background: foss.in/2005 was earlier known as Linux Bangalore -YEAR [1] Starting from 2001 it was highly sucessful in terms of both - attendences and speakers. Speakers was from all over the world. The conference was renamed in aim with to change focus to particular city and only to linux - it is now represents more wider choice of Free and Open Source Software - foss.in itself represnts website name! [2] Debian at foss.in! India, the second largest nation in the world - which is top in IT all over, lacks contibutation towards FOSS and particulary Debian! There are only 2 active Debian Developers in India. Jaldhar Vyas [3] who headed Debian-IN Project [4] was worried about the situation. Jaldhar made it possible to India. Thus, two talks was arranged in conference! Jaldhar spend most of time in meeting people to explain and answers question about Debian and Debian-IN. Vaidhy who was DD in past helped a lot during jaldhar was busy with other work. Debian-IN BOF was organised and it was successful. Many people signed each other's key and make thier way towards become Debian Developer. What Next ? Lots more! We expect that there should be 20 Debian Developers in near future. Representation at DebConf6 [5] from India will also make some difference in situation too. If you are coming to India, please make announcement and arrange to meet people so that more key-signing party can be organise. Well, People behind foss.in is here [6] which includes speakers and oraganisers. [1] http://linux-bangalore.org/ [2] http://foss.in/2005/ [3] http://debian-in.alioth.debian.org/ [4] http://www.braincells.com/debian/ [5] http://debconf.org/ [6] http://planet.foss.in/ Thanks!

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Re: Fwd: Free Electron - free software to your liking
by Frederick Noronha 04 Jan '06

04 Jan '06

Dear Prof Pattnaik, Could you please get in touch with the FSF-Friends network in India? They would surely help. FN ============================================================ From: OSS FOSS <ossrti(a)yahoo.com> Date: 2006/01/04 Wed AM 01:39:31 IST To: Frederick Noronha <fred(a)bytesforall.org> CC: vmkumaraswamy(a)yahoo.com Subject: Fwd: Free Electron - free software to your liking Hello FN Happy New YEAR !!! Can you help with this. V. M. Kumaraswamy Tanmaya Pattnaik <bapun10(a)yahoo.com> wrote: Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 02:36:18 -0800 (PST) From: Tanmaya Pattnaik <bapun10(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Free Electron - free software to your liking To: ossrti(a)yahoo.com Dear Sir, Can u send the free software to us & send me the details of your assistance to do a project on this. Yours Tanmaya Ku Pattnaik. HOD - IT Deptt. Orissa Engineering College Bhubaneswar ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat SALIGAO GOA India Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks fred at bytesforall.org http://www.bytesforall.org

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Logs of the GLUG meet ...
by Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay 04 Jan '06

04 Jan '06

Hi, I missed the meet - so could someone please post the logs of the IRC meet ? Regards Sankarshan -- You see things; and you say 'Why?'; But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?' - George Bernard Shaw

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Re: Free Electron - software
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 03 Jan '06

03 Jan '06

Dear Dr, Whatever info I had is from the Net. Sorry I'm not into this deeper. Maybe you could google. I'll copy your message to my friends in FSF-India, who have an active presence in Kerala and might be able to help. Many thanks! FN On Sun, 2006-01-01 at 23:26 -0800, BSR-INDIA wrote: > Dear Sir! > > I have read an article about Free Electron - Free > Software to your liking in The Hindu Edition. I am > interested in knowing further in this regard. Could > you please let us know how can we procure the > software. > > Bye > > With warm regards, > > Dr.B.Santhanaraj, > HOD, Electronics & Biomedical Engineering, > Sahrdaya College of Engineering & Technology, > Kodakara - 680684, > Thrissur District, > Kerala, India > > > INDIA OF MY DREAMS-MAHATMA GANDHI-THE FATHER OF NATION. > I SHALL WORK FOR AN INDIA, IN WHICH THE POOREST SHALL FEEL THAT IT IS THEIR COUNTRY IN WHOSE MAKING THEY HAVE AN EFFECTIVE VOICE; AN INDIA IN WHICH THERE SHALL BE NO HIGH CLASS AND LOW CLASS OF PEOPLE; AN INDIA IN WGHICH ALL COMMUNITIES SHALL LIVE IN PERFECT HORMONY....WE SHALLO BE PEACE WITH ALL THE REST OF THE WORLD, NEITHER EXPLOITING NOR BEING EXPLOITED....THIS IS THE INDIA OF MY DREAMS..... > I SHALL BE SATISFIED WITH NOTHING LESS. -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ Frederick Noronha | Independent Journalist | Ph 832.2409490 _/ Goa India | fred(a)bytesforall.org | http://fn.notlong.com _/ Mobile: 0 9822 122436 | http://fn-at-google.notlong.com _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ EDUCATION INDIA: Relevant discussions from the world of education http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/education-india/ (See archives)

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FN'sEyeOnFLOSS *** F[L]OSS TV gets going *** 091619
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 01 Jan '06

01 Jan '06

................................................................ FN's Eye on FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software ........ ................................................................ ONLINE MOVIES RELATED TO FLOSS: FOSS.tv is a website for Podcasting and Vodacasting news from the world of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS). Navin Dhanuka <dhanukanavin(a)gmail.com> is now announcing that besides a 1hr movie on Linux Localization he is planning to have CBTs (computer-based training) on FOSS.tv And, yes, they will be released in Creative Commons License. He is zeroing on the following topics 1. Basic Shell 2. OpenOffice 3. Networking 4. PHP & MySQL 5. Python ... Your suggestions are welcome. You can see the video @ vlog http://www.foss.tv/wordpress/?p=6 Also, do long on to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fosstv/ "so that we can discuss about the same". If you know about ppl/groups who would be interested in helping in creation of CBTs, please fwd the message to them. [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] SFD IN UGANDA: From Wire Lunghabo James <lunghabo(a)LINUXSOLUTIONS.CO.UG> http://maitri.ubuntu.com/softwarefreedomday/wiki/index.php/Uganda [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] CREATING LEARNING OBJECTS... IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Burrokeet is an open source software project that is building an electronic system for creating Learning Objects. Funded by IBM, Burrokeet's development resides at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. The Commonwealth of Learning is dedicated to promoting educational and academic improvement throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, especially in the English-speaking developing world. They sponsor a variety of interesting and useful face-to-face conferences and online resources. Their report on a "Virtual University for Small States" is of particular interest. UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning has a set of Virtual University resources. http://www.freecurricula.org/links.php [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] FROM CAPE TOWN: Centre for Educational Technology, University of Cape Town is online at http://www.cet.uct.ac.za Stephen Marquard <marquard(a)CHED.UCT.AC.ZA> says, "My portfolio is learning technologies, which includes online learning environments. We use (free/libre and) open source software extensively for web-based applications. UCT built an inhouse learning environment (connect) from open source components, including the w-agora discussion engine. Last year we adapted this platform to host an online conference http://emerge2004.net, and released the resulting package under the GPL http://eduforge.org/projects/emergecolab/ We also have a multi-year project to migrate to the open source Sakai Project learning environment http://www.sakaiproject.org, which we're excited about for many reasons, including the Sakai community, interesting tools and applications emerging for Sakai, and of course the cool technology. On the social software side, we have recently started a blog service for a staff development programme (though we expect its application to be much wider) using plog http://www.plogworld.net , and are at various stages of using 4 different wikis for different purposes - swiki, Wikka, mediawiki and a Sakai wiki. We're also interested in eXe for offline content editing. [</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>] Copyleft -- verbatim copying, with credits -- allowed/encouraged.

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 32, Issue 27
by joy syl 01 Jan '06

01 Jan '06

Happy New Year !!! F.J.Sylvester __________________________________ Yahoo! for Good - Make a difference this year. http://brand.yahoo.com/cybergivingweek2005/

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 32, Issue 27
by joy syl 01 Jan '06

01 Jan '06

Dear friends Happy New year !!! love F.j.sylvester __________________________________ Yahoo! for Good - Make a difference this year. http://brand.yahoo.com/cybergivingweek2005/

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GPL-v3
by Nagarjuna 31 Dec '05

31 Dec '05

FSF is entering 2006 with a very important task, drafting GPLv-3. GPLv-2 was released in 1991, and it is the most widely used free software license. During the course of time, the computing environments are transforming, particularly with the entrance of webservices and embedded devices. In the context of these changes, it is possible that user's freedom may not be preserved. FSF is committed to protect the software freedom even under the transformed conditions in future. A draft of the GPL-v3 will be released during the First International Public GPL-v3 launch conference to be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on January 16 and 17, 2006. It is very likely that I will attend this event and will participate in the delibrations representing FSF India. I invite the free software community in India to actively participate in shaping the new license. If you would like to share any specific inputs let us discuss them here in the list. You may also want to send me your thoughts directly. Visit http;//gplv3.fsf.org/ wishing you all a success in protecting software freedom. Nagarjuna

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[OT] The Morning Songs by Rabindranath Tagore
by Ramanraj K 30 Dec '05

30 Dec '05

I have searched in vain for the 3rd stanza of "The Morning Songs" by Rabindranath Tagore . Could someone please point a link or send me the complete text of "The Morning Songs"? It would be used to update http://freeshell.in/~ramanraj/kr_tagore.html Thanks, Ramanraj K

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Free Software Events in 2005
by Manilal K M 30 Dec '05

30 Dec '05

Hi all, Is there any effort to list the Free Software events in 2005 ? It'll be nice if such a WIKI is set up by FSF for this pupose. This will provide a good reference in the future and also serve as a review of the past year. regards Manilal.

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 32, Issue 25
by Mishi Choudhary 30 Dec '05

30 Dec '05

no wonder the award considering who constitutes BSA Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

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Re: IPR in Computer software
by Ramanraj K 30 Dec '05

30 Dec '05

bbls_ps(a)allahabadhighcourt.in wrote: >Dear Sir >The aforesaid article and some other articles by his lordship Justice >Yatindra Singh dealing with computer software, open source are available >on the web site of the Allahabad high court (www.allahabadhighcourt.in). >They may be seen by going to the >web Diary - Item Wise - speech/article or may be accessed at >http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/calendar/itemWiseList.jsp?group=11 > >Yours truly >BBL Srivastava > Thank you for the information. I'll forward the news to other mailing lists that would find the articles and site interesting and useful too. It is heartening to know that the Allahabad High Court is using free and open software and standards so extensively. If I may say so, the articles by Hon'ble Mr. Justice Yatindra Singh have approached free software from a neutral point of view and present a fair picture to the reader. In the talk titled "OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS" delivered by Justice Yatindra Singh at NALSAR Hyderabad and NLS, Bangalore and NUJS, Kolkata, Linus Torvalds has been quoted from "Just for Fun: the Story of an Accidental Revolutionary' as saying: "The GPL and open source model allows for the creation of the best technology. ... It also prevents the hoarding of technology and ensures that anyone with interest won't be excluded from its development. So open source would rather use the legal weapon of copyright as an invitation to join in the fun, rather than as a weapon against others. It's still the same old mantra: Make Love, Not War, except on a slightly more abstract level." The quote captures the key IPR feature central to free software, and makes the legal intricacies involved superfluous. The practical reasons why many prefer to use free software is succintly summarised in the following words: "I shifted to GPLed software few years ago: the reasons were practicable. GPLed software comes without any cost. And it does what I do--word processing, playing music, watching Video, surfing internet,and electronically managing my calendar --as well as any other proprietary software." More generally, the observations on using computers in the talk titled "IT: The Road to Speedier Justice" is remarkable: "Computers are like 'English butlers'. They have to be told what to do and they do it in that way and no other way. Computers love routine and are never bored. But to achieve any success the minds of the judges, lawyers, and court employees have to be streamlined into a method. One has to leave individualism. The reports cannot be generated unless data is fed into computers; they will not have any meaning unless they are utilised and goals are fixed. And above all, if there is no will to change, no orientation to the work culture, then nothing can work." Sacrificing individuality is a small price to pay for the larger benefits received in return by the general public. Probably NRC-FOSS ( http://www.au-kbc.org/nrcf/index.htm )could include some of the articles as part of the curriculum for students. Public institutions that have not yet adopted free software practices need to wake up now. Thanks, Ramanraj K __ References: http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/event/OSS_&_IPR.pdf http://www.allahabadhighcourt.in/event/IT_-_Speedier_Justice.pdf http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/pipermail/ilugc/2005-November/022135.html (My previous post to ilugc about the article titled "Intellectual Property Rights in Computer Software" by Justice Yatindra Singh of the Allahabad High Court published in AIR 2005 Journal 353.

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Indian journalist wins Arab IPR media award
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 29 Dec '05

29 Dec '05

Maybe an issue to mull over: do journalists who write about software "piracy" pay for the proprietorial software they use? As a Free Software user, I do neither of these, and think the debate is being very badly skewed in the interest of big business. This is also reflective of the wider crisis afflicting journalism. -FN http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1583942,00050004.htm Indian journalist wins Arab IPR media award Press Trust of India Dubai, December 28, 2005 A Dubai-based Indian journalist has won the prestigious Arab IPR Media Award 2005 for his reportage on anti-piracy drive in the Arab world. Isaac John of Khaleej Times won the award for his "insightful reportage about the challenges and opportunities in forging an effective anti-piracy drive in the Arab world". The award was constituted by Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global organisation dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world, Co-Chairman of BSA (Middle East) Jawad Al Redha said. John -- a veteran of 25 years in Gulf media -- has won three Pan-Arab awards in a row in 2005, a rare distinction for an Indian journalist in this region. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayArticle.asp?col=&section=business&xfile=… Challenges ahead for anti-piracy drive By Issac John 17 August 2005 DUBAI - THE headway made by the UAE in combating piracy in computer software, film and music could be more remarkable if the Emirates succeeds in overcoming a major hurdle — a lack of consumer awareness and concern about this illegal activity besides non-cooperation from the public. Industry analysts and software experts believe that the next logical step for the UAE — which now has a low piracy rate of 34 per cent as against the global average of 35 per cent — is to foster a generation of consumers committed to, and convinced of the long-term social, ethical and economic impact for intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. Having overcome the first phase challenge of effective regulatory measures, the country's enforcement authorities now need to realise the importance of drumming up wider public support to their anti-piracy drive. This can be achieved only through sustained campaigns not only in business workplaces but also in schools and universities and other educational premises. "It is time that the UAE, which has sent a positive signals to its Gulf neighbours by the way it handled piracy, should seek to develop a culture proactive to fool-proof intellectual property protection measures. To realise this goal, enforcement of tougher rules is not only the answer but also the creation of awareness, right from an early age, about the negative aspects of IPR violations." "What is needed for our modern age techno- savvy society is a combination of stricter law enforcement and increased enlightenment. To combat IPR violations, effective legislation and its enforcement are vital, but no less significant is the support and cooperation both the authorities and the industries that are prone to copyrights infringement can win from the public," said a leading anti-piracy campaigner. "Therefore, to create a healthy and vibrant software industry and a strong environment for innovation, what is imperative is not only an effective and speedy implementation of policies and laws but also a sustained awareness campaign to win consumer hearts," he said. Most analysts maintain that in tandem with the strict implementation of regulatory measures, software industry should come up with improved copy protection technologies. "With CD burning and on-line file-sharing now becoming more rampant and undetectable in the UAE than organised sales in pirated software and CDs, effective copy protection technology is the immediate answer to the menace. In the long-term, it is only a well-orchestrated educational drive that could succeed and sustain." Stressing the need to introduce more copy-protected CD formats that limit the number of burns in curbing piracy, the analyst said CD burning is a growing problem that is really undermining the sale of software, films and music CDs in the UAE too. A random market survey by Khaleej Times underscored this growing trend. Market watchers said with the UAE's impressive PC penetration and sophistication rate, this type of privacy is almost on par with the US where burned CDs accounted for 29 per cent of all recorded music obtained by fans in 2004, compared to 16 per cent attributed to downloads from on-line file-sharing networks. In the UAE, while there is no organised or massive scale CD burning operations, an investigation by this paper found out that several production units catering to specific customer requirements — software, film or music CDs — are operational in certain residential areas, making them hard to be detected by anti-piracy squads. Nevertheless, the once-rampant sale of pirated CDs at parking places and street corners is now a rare sight the following the vigil kept by enforcement authorities. Subsequently, the UAE has been removed from the Special 301 Watch List by the United States Trade Representative. Analysts believe that it is imperative that government authorities and the software industries should marshal their efforts to educate the public that IPR protection is key to continued R&D to ensure innovations and growth in UAE's digital economy. Concerted efforts should also be taken to ensure all businesses understand the potential implications of lax security and the importance of creating a safe and legal working environment, they said. Experts also maintain that business establishments should be made aware of the pitfalls of pirated software. "Piracy stifles innovation. The cost of combating software piracy, plus lost revenues, could be spent on research and development to benefit users. When you buy legal software, you are contributing to the businesses that can improve your software in the future, as well as to the worldwide economy. When your organisation complies, you have the assurance that you are protecting your company from the legal fees, financial penalties, and bad press that accompany piracy lawsuits." The public should be made aware of the fact that pirated software may come cheap but can carry viruses or may not function at all. "Unlicensed users do not receive quality documentation and are not entitled to receive technical support or product upgrades, patches, or updates. Organisational productivity also suffers when employees use pirated products. Pirated software often leads to version control problems that prevent employees from efficiently sharing files, while driving up IT support costs," the expert warned. Piracy comes in many forms including licensed user duplication for unlicensed users and illegal Internet distribution. When someone copies software without buying the appropriate number of licenses, it is copyright infringement. Other forms of software piracy can occur when an individual copying a software for a friend or when a business under-reports the number of computers using a software. Warning against the pitfalls of obtaining pirated versions through illegal Internet distribution, experts said there is no guarantee that such software is secure or will work properly when installed. Estimates reveal that as much as 90 per cent of software sold over Internet auction sites is either bootlegged or gray market." With an estimated 35 per cent piracy rate globally, the economic effects of this menace are significant. In 2004, piracy cost the global economy some $33 billion, up from the previous year's $29 billion. Losses in the Middle East area and Africa are around $1.3 billion. According to global technology research leader IDC, the world spent more than $59 billion on commercial packaged PC software in 2004, up from $51 billion in 2003. But the total software installed was valued at $90, up from $80 billion. While the UAE, like its AGCC neighbours is giving keen care to adhering to TRIPS (the WTO's agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), it need to take more efforts in educating the public on its implications. As a front-runner in digital readiness in the Middle East, the UAE had a head start in embracing the Internet age, as well as mobile phone technology. In recent years, it made the protection of intellectual property a priority, and in the process, the country has blazed a trail as a regional role-model in safeguarding IPR. "Just as the UAE government has done to educate the local business community of the e-commerce and encouraged understanding of the Internet and its capabilities through various programmes, authorities should mount a consistent campaign to educate the public on the ill-effects of piracy." The country's copyright, trademark and patent laws, passed in 2002 were in harmony with international standards and exceed UAE's TRIPs obligations. The current copyright law, enacted in July 2002 grants protection to authors of creative works and expands the categories of protected works, to include computer programs, software, databases, and other digital works. Since then the UAE has come a long way with its piracy rates dropping to less than those of France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain Portugal and Canada. Most experts however, agree that suggestions or advice cannot completely thwart fraud. "A pirate will tell you anything it takes in order to sell you the illegal software. The best way to avoid pirated products is to purchase from authorized, reputable resellers. It is not uncommon for pirates to engage not only in the sale of illegal software but also in credit card fraud and identity theft. Counterfeit software may also have viruses or Trojan Horses." They advise that buying legal software saves money in many ways. "In addition, in most cases, all registered licensees receive information about productivity-enhancing updates, upgrades, and special offers. Organisations that manage their software licenses effectively standardise employees on common platforms; get rid of obsolete, unused assets; and manage more efficiently, resulting in fewer IT support calls, lower administration costs, and higher user satisfaction." -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | http://del.icio.us/fredericknoronha Saligao, Goa, India | fred(a)bytesforall.org Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ----------------------------------------------------------

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Fwd: [Free-electron] Welcome to the list
by Arun M 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Deepak R <deepakmail(a)gmail.com> Date: Dec 28, 2005 6:01 PM Subject: [Free-electron] Welcome to the list To: free-electron(a)mm.gnu.org.in Hello all, The purpose of this list is mainly to ask questions and post comments about free electron. Hopefully this will also serve as a place to clear doubts if anyone of us is attempting a "freedom fight" in a college lab. There was an article in y'day's Education plus with The Hindu on free electron. http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/12/27/stories/2005122700110200.htm Suggestions to promote and improve free electron are also most welcome. -- Deepak R. Lecturer in Electronics and Communication, Government Engineering College, Barton Hill, Trivandrum 695035. Tel : +91-9447761729 (Mob) +91-471-2430244 (Res) _______________________________________________ Free-electron mailing list Free-electron(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-electron

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Free Electron - free software to your liking
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 28 Dec '05

28 Dec '05

http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/12/27/stories/2005122700110200.htm Free Electron - free software to your liking N.J. NAIR Here is how open source software can be used as an educational resource for the benefit of all, particularly resource-starved institutions. In a significant attempt to promote innovation and help educational institutions conserve resources and overcome the limitations arising from the use of proprietary software, the Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment (SPACE) and the free software cell of Government Engineering College at Barton Hill in Thiruvananthapuram have jointly developed Free Electron, a GNU/Linux distribution package, mainly meant to meet the creative pursuits of electronics engineering students and teachers. Free software The proponents of free software have taken up the project to make it a valuable resource in education. The curbs imposed by proprietary software companies often hinder young talent from innovating. Either they would have to go for innovation ignoring the rules set by the companies or relinquish such ventures for want of funds. A boon Free Electron has come as a boon for all those who strive to make unique contributions in this realm. Setting up an electronic laboratory is rather a tough proposition for Government educational institutions and it is here that the Free Electron package comes to their rescue. According to R. Deepak, a lecturer in electronics at the Government Engineering College, Barton Hill, in addition to the typical desktop applications, Free Electron has the professional typesetting tool TEX, computer numerical application suite `ocatave,' computer algebra system `xmaxima,' electronic design automation suite gEDA and many more simulators, emulators and compilers required for various kinds of electronic design and simulation. The use of propriety software often limits IT education. Hence, the Government should adopt a policy against using proprietary technologies in educational institutions. Sensitising students should be the first step in creating an empowered society with free software and the creation of packages like Free Electron would set the trend in securing for the students more freedom to break new ground, he says. They can design tools and by having the customised CD they can practise at their convenience. They can also distribute the software among themselves totally free of cost. The software Free Electron comprises editors, electronic design tools, graphics, Math, a high-level language primarily meant for numerical computations, a multi-platform office productivity suite, `OpenOffice.org,' programming, typesetting, tools and viewers. Along with the customised CD, a detailed installation guide has also been prepared for the users. It is also available as an OpenOffice file in the directory `doc' in the CD. Academicians have made remarkable contributions for the development and popularisation of free software and Free Electron too is a step in this regard, says Vimal Joseph, an activist of SPACE. It gives the students as well as the teachers the right to copy and use it as one's own property, to study, modify and also to redistribute in an unrestricted manner. Highly adaptive Free Electron being highly adaptive, can be put to various uses without incurring any financial burden, says Joseph. SPACE is planning to widen its network on the campuses in an effective manner and make it accessible to more people within a very short span of time. As part of its awareness drive among students, the society has decided to give an assistance of Rs.50,000 each for the projects taken up by students. The society also has plans to set up cells in more educational institutions in the State. The society is encouraged by the warm response from the students and teachers. Almost all institutions would soon have such cells, says Mr. Joseph. Printer friendly page Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

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Virtual education software progress in India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 27 Dec '05

27 Dec '05

VIRTUAL EDUCATION SOFTWARE PROGRESS IN INDIA - Bangalore's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, which leads the Indian Government-funded Development Gateway ICT Research and Training Centre, has published a technical paper on building virtual classroom situations using the center's Vartalaap software. The open-source software is being developed to cater to the online communications needs of people in their local language. To read "Vartalaap - Virtual Classroom System": http://www.elearn.cdac.in/eleltechIndia05/PDF/07-Vartalaap%20%E2%80%93% 20Virtual%20Classroom%20System%20-Supriya%20-%2007.pdf For information on the India center and its ICT4D projects visit: http://www.ictrt.org.in

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Free-Electron
by james mathew 27 Dec '05

27 Dec '05

Article in Hindu regarding the release of Free Electron by GECBH and SPACE. http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/12/27/stories/2005122700110200.htm -- "Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

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A thorough re-vamp of Curriculum at University of Calicut
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 25 Dec '05

25 Dec '05

Friends, A re-engineering of almost all the practical sessions on Free Software in virtually all the semesters of UG Engineering courses of Computer Sc & Engg (CSE) and Information Technology (IT) at University of Calicut seem to be the most important aspect in the new and revised scheme and syllabi that is to be released soon. The revision work that took almost a year to finalise had been co-ordinated by Prof Valsaraj, Govt Engg College, Thrissur for IT and Prof Chandrasekhara Pillai, NSS College of Engg, Palakkad for CSE. The new scheme draws its inspiration from its predecessor, which had been predominantly worked out at NIT-C, Kozhikode in 1999. A new visible change in the outlook of both schemes has a lot to do with the suggested guidelines of Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), wherein CSE concentrates its discipline towards the theoretical aspects while IT focusses on the application domains. While no major changes were incorporated in the first four semesters for both the disciplines, semesters V to VIII are designed differently with ACM guidelines. Drastic changes are proposed to be incorporated for the laboratory sessions in all the semesters, as well as for the mini project (sixth semester) and main project (final year), where practices and principles in Free Software engineering domain find strong recommendation for implementation and use. The syllabus even discourages software development in some proprietary domains for mini project and main project. The revision committee had given a detailed look into the emerging trends in software engineering practices, world over, and had decided to recommend training the young engineering undergraduates to equip themselves with modern practices, most of which are not at all used in the proprietary software engineering domain. Cheers, CK Raju, Chairman, Board of Studies (CSE & IT), University of Calicut.

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Debian on one DVD?
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Dec '05

24 Dec '05

Debian on one DVD? Jaldhar Vyas [3]reported that one of the problems GNU/Linux users in countries like India face is low bandwidth. Therefore a distribution on CD or DVD is preferred over large network installations or updates. He has found a sponsor and is looking for a 1-DVD version of the Debian system. Jörg Jaspert [4]confirmed that the production is easy since he's done it before. 3. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2005/12/msg00089.html 4. http://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2005/12/msg00091.html

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Science Congress... and FLOSS
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Dec '05

24 Dec '05

This (below) has just been announced. Wonder if Free Software too could make its presence at the Science Congress? FN > Please note that there will be a special session on Open Access at the > Science Congress [Venue: MANAGE Auditorium, Hyderabad, Date: 6 January > 2006, > Time: 10.00 - 12.45]. Speakers include: > > Prof. N Balakrishnan, Associate Director, IISc, B'lore (Chairman) > Dr Alma Swan, United Kingdom (Keynote) > Dr Abhijit Lahiri, DSIR, New Delhi > Dr V Balaji, ICRISAT, H'bad > Dr D K Sahu, MedKnow Publications, Bombay > Ms Naina Pandita, NIC, New Delhi > Dr A R D Prasad, DRTC, ISI, B'lore > > Coordinator: Subbiah Arunachalam

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All FSUGs/GLUGs Meet: Jan 1, 2006
by Shakthi Kannan 23 Dec '05

23 Dec '05

Greetings! There were discussions in Indian GNU/Linux Users' Group, Mumbai on where to have the January month's meeting. I had an idea. What if all our FSUGs/GLUGs members from all over India meet together, online?. How would it be if we all meet in the beginning of the New Year? After discussion with the channel ops, I am happy to call for an all-India FSUGs/GLUGs members meet on January 1, 2006 at 1500 hrs IST at #gnu-india on irc.freenode.net. No agenda as such. The idea is to get to meet folks from different FSUGs/GLUGs, get to know what FSUGs/GLUGs have been and are working on, free software ideas/suggestions/plans/activities for 2006. I will broadcast this message to as many FSUGs/GLUGS that I am member of and that I know of. Please feel free to spread the word. Thanking you all and looking forward to meeting you all, SK (a.k.a mbuf on irc.freenode.net) -- Shakthi Kannan, MS Software Engineer, Hexaware Technologies [E]: cyborg4k(a)yahoo.com [M]: (91) 98407-87007 [W]: http://www.shakthimaan.com [L]: Chennai, India __________________________________ Yahoo! for Good - Make a difference this year. http://brand.yahoo.com/cybergivingweek2005/

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Fwd: [hipatia] LINKFw: [Fwd: [Fwd: France is the first country to propose the legalization of P2P downloadingin its new DRM law]]
by Arun M 23 Dec '05

23 Dec '05

http://www.audionautes.net/blog/index.php?2005/12/22/63-france-is-the-first… --- Aziz Ridouan, president of the Association of Audionautes approves the two provisions voted by the French Parliament to authorize content downloading on Internet. Following these provisions, the French Code of Intellectual Property shall now feature an article L-122-5 stating that : « Authors cannot forbid the reproductions of Works that are made on any format from an online communication service when they are intented to be used privately and when they do not imply commercial means directly or indirectly. » These provisions were proposed by the Association of Audionautes and the Artist-Public Alliance. They were initially contrary to the project defended by the French Government, but they were voted by 31 votes against 30. This Law proposal is not definitive yet, but Jean-Baptiste Soufron, Legal Counsel of the Association of Audionautes approves this vote and wants to point out that France is the first country in the world to propose the legalization of P2P downloading. http://www.audionautes.net The Association of Audionautes is a non-for-profit organization founded by French high-school and college students in order to react to the abusive threats of the musical industry. They now help more than 80 people to organize their defense, and they regroup more than 6000 members including students, lawyers, artists, etc. Press contact: +33 624 414 265 / contact(a)audionautes.net Legal contact: +33 617 962 457

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Re: Fsf-web subscription request
by Anivar Aravind 23 Dec '05

23 Dec '05

On 12/20/05, Amol Hatwar <amol(a)hatwar.org> wrote: > Is FSFI going to be represented at Linux Asia in Delhi? I am based in > Gurgaon and think I can help. Any Plans? Anivar -- Knowledge is power... share it equitably! http://www.gnu.org

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[Fwd: [BOAI] OA recommendations of Ukrainian Parliament]
by V. Sasi Kumar 23 Dec '05

23 Dec '05

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Iryna Kuchma <kuchma(a)irf.kiev.ua> Reply-To: BOAI Forum <boai-forum(a)ecs.soton.ac.uk> To: boai-forum(a)ecs.soton.ac.uk Subject: [BOAI] OA recommendations of Ukrainian Parliament Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:47:31 +0200 Open access is one of the priorities in developing information society in Ukraine — Recommendations of Ukrainian Parliament Ukrainian Parliament (Verhovna Rada) passed resolution On Recommendations of Parliamentary hearing on Developing information society in Ukraine (from 01.12.2005 № 3175-IV) where open access is called one of the priorities in developing information society in Ukraine. In Close 2 Developing informational infrastructure of this Resolution it is recommended for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to create favorable conditions for developing open access repositories in archives, libraries, museums and other cultural institutions. In Close 5 Creating accessible electronic information resources it is recommended for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to stir to activities on creating accessible national electronic information resources especially with scientific-technical and economical information; to develop model regulation on repository of electronic documents; and for the Ministry of education and science of Ukraine to speed up development of state program on ICT in educatio! n and science including the close on development of open access resources in science, technology and education with open access condition to state funded researches. (Ukrainian version of this resolution: http://zakon.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=3175%2D15) Open Access is also one of the priorities in National strategy on developing information society in Ukraine introduced to Ukrainian Parliament by Parliamentary Committee on Science and Education. Open Access recommendations in Ukraine where first introduced by the participants of Open Access Scholarly Communication Workshop, February 17-19 2005, organized by International Renaissance Foundation, Open Society Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, International Association of Academies of Sciences and National University Kyiv Mohyla Academy and supported by the British Council Ukraine. Iryna Kuchma Social Capital and Academic Publications Program Manager International Renaissance Foundation phone: (+380) (44) 461-9500 fax: (+380) (44) 486-0166 e-mail: kuchma(a)irf.kiev.ua http://www.irf.kiev.ua/programs/scaap

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The Battle for Bangalore
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Dec '05

22 Dec '05

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9071-1927247,00.html The Battle for Bangalore India is turning into a battleground for the hearts and minds of software developers. On one side are the forces of opensourcing, ranged against them is Bill Gates's Microsoft. It is a battle neither can afford to lose, writes Gervase Markham A nasty catfight has been going on in Washington and the American press. The essence of the battle calls into question the patriotism of CEOs who would sell out their countrymen for a quick buck by taking advantage of offshoring - a word guaranteed to cause an American software engineer to choke on his high-caffeine Jolt. American companies, being squeezed by low-cost, high-work-ethic competition from Asia, are looking to cut overheads by outsourcing their IT jobs. The destination of much of this exodus is the booming tech sector of India, as the world's second most populous country leverages the widespread knowledge of English, a legacy of its colonial past. The nexus of this growth is Bangalore, which boasts more than 200 technology companies and the highest number of engineering colleges of any city in the world. And now a different fight has begun in earnest. In terms of the global IT landscape, it is perhaps more significant. It is the battle for the hearts and minds of those tens of thousands of Indian software developers. On one side is Microsoft, hoping to tempt them with visions of a smoothly-integrated development system from a single vendor. On the other side is the free software movement, talking about the importance of liberty, unrestrictive licensing and control of your own computing environment. At stake is the ability to harness the brainpower of an entire subcontinent of hackers. In the most recent exchange of fire, Microsoft's shot made the loudest bang. Buoyed by a no doubt sincere but also profile-raising series of visits by Bill Gates to Delhi slums and AIDS counselling centres, there was extensive international coverage of Microsoft's "Ready Launch 2005" event at the Bangalore Palace. There, Gates announced a $1.7 billion investment in India over the next four years, split between "donations" of software to schools, job creation and building, and developer evangelism. However, reading the reports, one can't help but see a slightly patronising tone in their approach. One announcement which typified this was "Code4Bill" - a recruiting exercise dressed up as a competition, involving a series of online tests and real-world interviews. These whittle down the entrants to a final 20 who win internships at Microsoft India, and maybe even (gasp!) a job. The lucky grand prize winner gets to work in the "Bill Gates Technical Assistants Team" in Redmond for a year. By contrast, the FOSS.IN (FOSS stands for "free and open source software; .IN is the country code for India) conference, a week beforehand in the very same venue, received comparatively little publicity. There were 2,700 attendees gathered to hear big names in the Linux world such as Alan Cox, the impressively-bearded Welsh kernel hacker, who gave "brutally technical" programming talks. The event's sponsor list reads like a roll call in the ABM ("Anyone But Microsoft") army - Intel, Google, Sun, HP. At first glance, despite the Microsoft marketing muscle and donated dollars, free software should be a shoo-in. In a country which wants to encourage entrepreneurship and expand its economy, why pay more for less control? However, the free software community has its own, rather unexpected hurdle to overcome - a cultural one. Despite India being "the world's largest consumer of free software", not much code is making its way back to the major projects. It seems that Indian developers often have a difficult time engaging with the community. There have been several reasons suggested for this. One is that the Indian university system is more oriented to creating large numbers of employable graduates who pass tests, assembly-line style, than encouraging creativity and risk-taking. In a country where an engineering degree is the ticket to a reasonably comfortable life, no one wants to rock the boat. Another factor is that Indian developers are often most comfortable with a structured work plan and clearly-defined boundaries. This style of working is not a good fit for the self-motivated, somewhat chaotic style of the free software bazaar. So at the moment, the scales are evenly balanced. India is there for the taking. In five years' time, will India be Coding 4 Bill, or Coding 2 Share? ----------------------------------- Gervase Markham works for the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting choice and innovation on the internet. His blog is Hacking for Christ http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/gerv/

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[Fwd: [foss.in] Suday Times London mentions FOSS.IN]
by Sameer N Ingole 22 Dec '05

22 Dec '05

Hi, Interesting, please read.. > -------- Original Message -------- > >Hi, > > You might have seen todays Times of India article about Battle for >Bangalore's Technical brains (page 16). The original article appeared in >Sunday times >http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9071-1927247,00.html > >Regards >Praveen A > >-- > "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." >A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org >Me scribbles at http://www.pravi.co.nr > > > Regards, -- Sameer N. Ingole /*****************************************************/ Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. /*****************************************************/

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