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comments for "gnulinuxclub.org"
by gaurav 02 Jul '05

02 Jul '05

Dear friends, GnuLinuxClub.org <http://GnuLinuxClub.org> is a non-profit, volunteer driven organization dedicated to the propagation and usage of Gnu/Linux and Free Software. The organization tries to provide support to the Gnu/Linux community as well as to increase the usage of Gnu/Linux among the general computer users community After receiving comments from your side and from RMS ,we realized that we were creating a mistake when we talk about Gnu/Linux and leave out free software from it. Our website aims to help out all Gnu/Linux users technically but we also want to make them aware of Gnu/Linux and free software. For the same we have made some changes to our website and since it under development so we could afford to make the required changes. the slogan of our website has been changed to "its all about freedom" with reference to http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/freedom-or-power.html We have introduced a new section for free software where we aim to answer the basic questions regarding free software We have mentioned about Gnu/Linux in our "why gnulinux" section We have mentioned it quite clearly in our "Gnu/Linux distros" section regarding Free Gnu/Linux and non-Free Gnu/Linux distros Here, we require your help We can find a list of Free Gnu/Linux distros but what about non-free Gnu/Linux distros can we just say that since slackware 10.1 contains a package "xv" which is not free so Slackware in non-free Gnu/Linux distro what more additions do you suggest? regards gaurav masand webmaster:gnulinuxclub.org <http://gnulinuxclub.org>

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 27, Issue 2
by kumar p.k. 02 Jul '05

02 Jul '05

Dear Brother, Hope u r fine. 1)First u call me. 2)I would like to know how much amount u want to transfer ? 3)Givew your full address and Phone number immediately. 4)I am ready to help u.but it should not make any harm to me. bye KUMAR 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 (kumar p.k.) 2. FSFIndia in LFY (Frederick Noronha (FN)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2005 00:05:58 -0700 (PDT) From: "kumar p.k." Subject: [Fsf-friends] RE To: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in Message-ID: <20050701070558.36516.qmail(a)web33310.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 kumar_physio(a)yahoo.com --------------------------------- Yahoo! Sports Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sat, 02 Jul 2005 00:27:05 +0530 From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" Subject: [Fsf-friends] FSFIndia in LFY To: FSFFriends Message-ID: <1120244225.3757.19.camel(a)localhost.localdomain> Content-Type: text/plain Just a short note to say the July issue of Linux For You is scheduled to carry a story on FSFIndia. Some of the inputs for the piece were collated by me, though I don't know what play the editorial will give this story. Anyway, do lookout for it. The issue is just out from the press, I'm told ... haven't seen it myself. FN -- Frederick Noronha (FN) Independent Journalist ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ 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 27, Issue 2 ****************************************** __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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FSFIndia in LFY
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 01 Jul '05

01 Jul '05

Just a short note to say the July issue of Linux For You is scheduled to carry a story on FSFIndia. Some of the inputs for the piece were collated by me, though I don't know what play the editorial will give this story. Anyway, do lookout for it. The issue is just out from the press, I'm told ... haven't seen it myself. FN -- Frederick Noronha (FN) <fred(a)bytesforall.org> Independent Journalist

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RE
by kumar p.k. 01 Jul '05

01 Jul '05

kumar_physio(a)yahoo.com --------------------------------- Yahoo! Sports Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football

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Re: SLYNUX
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 01 Jul '05

01 Jul '05

>Yes, I'll second that. We all must remember that Sarath is > in his teens and in his enthusiasm ( or due to TV publicity) > must have overstepped some aspects. As another poster posted, > it can be softly pointed out and right way can be pointed out. > Then we may have a prodigy in our midst. I think we missed out completely on the age of Sharat. A similar episode once had surfaced on a mailing list on php-db where another 'child prodigy' (one Tonu) was advising programmers at NASA a few years back. When Tonu was bombarded with advises, he had to cry out that it was time for him to have an ice-cream with his friends, which prompted 'the list' to check out his age. I think we need to have a diplomacy while dealing with newbies and 'child prodigies'. Cheers Sarath. Go ahead and do things. If someone tells you that something had been a mistake, correct it and proceed. We desperately need people like you. CK Raju

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Confusion over computer programs
by Ramanraj K 29 Jun '05

29 Jun '05

The patent office has published a draft practice manual at http://patentoffice.nic.in/ipr/patent/manual.htm and called for suggestions: <quote> MANUAL OF PATENT PRACTICE & PROCEDURE - PATENT OFFICE, INDIA (2005) Last Date of Submission of Suggestions extended upto 20th August 2005 </quote> Though TRIPS clearly says "Computer programs, whether in source or object code, shall be protected as literary works under the Berne Convention", and the Patents Act also excludes computer programs from patentability, the Patent Office, on the strength of many US cases, has tried to classify computer programs and has attempted to make a few exceptions. Computer programs cannot be patented as part of any invention, as much as any mathematics involved in an invention cannot be patented. The draft manual has been published at the above site, and please send your feedback so that we may address the issues involved. A few quotes from the Draft Manual: <quote1> 3(K) a mathematical or business method or a computer program perse or algorithms. computer program product is claimed as "A computer program product in computer readable medium", "A computer-readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon", etc. In such cases the claims are treated as relating to software perse, irrespective of the medium of its storage and are not held patentable. Examples in respect of other categories of subject matter are Scheme or method of bookkeeping. Business method in the field of accounting. Method of tax collection. A contents display method for displaying contents on a screen, A method for controlling an information processing apparatus, for communicating via the Internet with an external apparatus, A method for transmitting data across an open communication channel on a wireless device that selectively opens and closes a communication channel to a wireless network, and each wireless device including a computer platform and including a plurality of device resources that selectively utilizes a communication channel to communicate with other devices across the network All the above methods though utilise computer programs for its operation, are not computer programs as such and hence allowable On the other hand, A method of executing a computer program, in which at least part of the copy of the program available for execution is analysed to determine whether or not any change has been made thereto, and in the event that a change is detected, a further copy of the program is retrieved and caused to be executed instead of the first copy, A method for generating a new computer program using a software development tool, These are the programs solely intellectual in its context and hence not allowable. The Guidelines for examination of Computer-related inventions are given in Annexure 2 <\quote1> The examples used to justify patentability for some of the kinds of computer programs, is very vague and was very difficult for me to follow. Could someone please explain what it means? <quote 2> 9.CONCLUSION The statute excludes from patentability the software per se. The inventions relating to the application of the computer program or software is held patentable under the Indian Patent Act, 1970 when claimed in combination of hardware and software components of a computer which provides a "technical advancement " over the prior art. It is necessary for the applicant to describe the "technical contribution" to the prior art when the invention involves software. The technical problem, which needs to be solved by the invention, should be sufficiently described as to how the hardware is controlled by the software to overcome the previously described problem. The "technical character" of the invention should be brought out clearly in the claims. </quote2> TRIPS is conveniently forgotten, and heavy reliance has been made upon US decisions that have no application to India. IMO, US should change its patent practice to fulfill its TRIPS obligations and any illegal practices in the US that are contrary to TRIPS cannot be cited as examples here in India. Besides, the manual gives the following example: <quote> EXAMPLE (1) If one has invented a new kind of spray bottle patents may be granted for - . The bottle itself (a product) · A chemical in the plastic (chemical composition) · The spraying mechanism (an apparatus) · How you extruded the plastic (a process) </quote> I suppose, if the contents of the spray bottle happened to be water, the patent office would not patent water along with the new invention. If we can see why water is not patentable along with the sprayer, then there should be no difficulty in seeing that novel computer related hardware inventions could be easily patented, excluding any computer programs it may use. The computer programs the invention uses would be "protected" by copyright law, but never fall within the scope of the patent. Please comment. Let us please take up the issue as soon as possible. Regards, Ramanraj.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] SLYNUX - Gaining Cheap Popularity
by NS Srikanth 29 Jun '05

29 Jun '05

> From: Krishna Pagadala <krishnaact(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] SLYNUX - Gaining Cheap Popularity > To: Principal Support List of FSF-India <fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in> > Message-ID: <20050628154027.93858.qmail(a)web52601.mail.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > Most of the reporters are clueless about computers, > and come to interview Sarath just because it makes a > "good" news item. I dont think they have any interest > presenting the issue well. > > If anybody wants to understand the media, please > watch/read Manufacturing Consent. > http://chomskytorrents.org/TorrentDetails.php?TorrentID=32 > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375714499/qid=1119972544/sr=8 -1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2201387-8431267?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 > > As for trademark infringement, please cut Sarath some > slack. Do we want to live in permission culture or in > free culture? http://www.free-culture.cc/ Yes, I'll second that. We all must remember that Sarath is in his teens and in his enthusiasm ( or due to TV publicity) must have overstepped some aspects. As another poster posted, it can be softly pointed out and right way can be pointed out. Then we may have a prodigy in our midst. > > Regarding renaming xmms to linamp, again do we want to > take permission from the powers that be every time? Is > it a world worth striving for? living in? > > I think Sarath has all the rights to do what he has > done. > > And regarding the nonsense of piracy, please read > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy > > -Krishna Really enlightening ! NS Srikanth

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SLYNUX - Gaining Cheap Popularity
by Dileep M. Kumar 29 Jun '05

29 Jun '05

Hello GNUHeads, I just saw a program (samakalikam) in Kairali TV. They were showing Sharat Lakshman and his newly developed OS "SLYNUX". I hope you all also read this mail.. Sharat. We had lot of discussions on this topic some months back. At last Sharat himself told us that he just remastered knoppix (http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2005-January/002756.html). But right from the news in Hindu, he claims that he build an OS based on linux and it is user-friendly like Windows. This is making false impression in majority of public (who are non-IT people). In TV program he was telling that he renamed xmms to linamp and gaim to slynux messenger so that people who come from windows world understand easily. Does these products allow to change their name like this. Also names like My computer, My documents are trademark of Microsoft, IAC. He uses these terms to make SLYNUX mimic like windows. These are trademark infringement. His new site www.slynux.co.nr has proofs (screenshots) to support this. He now invite the community to join the slynux development. This can put others also in danger. What is your goal, sharat ? If you want to advocate the advantage of FS, this is not a good way, IMO. Hackers from different part of the world work hard to achieve this goal, join them. See distros like Mandrake, Fedora, Ubuntu ... Just renaming the efforts of those hackers and gaining cheap popularity is bad. May be you are too young to understand this. Atleast your parents (or the people who support you) should understand this. You are really insulting the hackers who build knoppix and other GNU tools bundled with it. If you are a real hacker, join with savannah or similar group of hackers. Regards -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Dileep M. Kumar || dileep AT kumarayil DOT net || www.kumarayil.net Our future depends on our philosophy - Richard M Stallman No Software Patents: http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/en/m/intro/index.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---

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Koha 2.2.3 (GPLed Integrated Library Mgmt System) LiveCD published
by indradg＠icbic.com 29 Jun '05

29 Jun '05

Hi all, L2C2 Technologies (www.l2c2.org) has published a LiveCD featuring the latest version (2.2.3) of Koha (http://www.koha.org) - The World's first Opensource Integrated Library System (ILS). It can be freely downloaded from Koha's Sourceforge site. The download URL is : http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=16466&package_id=58674 About the Koha LiveCD --------------------- The Koha Live CD is designed to provide the potential user with a "feel" of what Koha is like, without requiring the user to actually install anything in the computer's hard disk. To use the CD, one has to simply put it in one's CD-ROM drive, and reboot. A fully featured version of Linux loads off the CD-ROM and one can easily check out and play around with Koha via the Mozilla Firefox web browser provided in the Linux desktop environment that starts up. The CD comes with a sample dataset of about 1000 titles to enable the users to get a feel of the day-to-day operations. For example, one can create a new user and try out the circulation module which supports keyboard-wedge style barcode readers . The core components inside the Koha Live CD (version 1.0), all of which work together to provide the ultimate end user with the experience of Koha are: * Koha (version 2.2.3) * Apache HTTP Server (version 2.0.53) with mod_perl support * Perl (version 5.8.4) * MySQL (version 4.1.10a) * XFCE4 Desktop Environment (version 4.1.10a) * Mozilla Firefox Web Browser (version 1.0.2) * Kbarcode barcode generation software (version 1.8.0) * GLabels label designer (version 2.0.1) With best regards, Indranil Das Gupta, Chief Technology Architect L2C2 Technologies E-Mail: indradg(a)l2c2.org Phone : (0)-98300-20971 L2C2 Technologies --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-- [Innovations that make a difference] --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-- www.l2c2.org ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.

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Careers in New Media Festival, 1-3 July 2005
by Shekhar Krishnan 26 Jun '05

26 Jun '05

Dear All: Apologies for cross-posting. Please forward to interested individuals and organisations. For more information and to register, contact Sonia Nazareth at +91.22.2382.1893 or +91.98199.39820 or write to sonia(a)cometmedia.org Best, S.K. _____ Comet Media Foundation presents CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA seminar and exhibition interactive presentations with the finest minds on the hottest topics in New Media DATES: FRIDAY 1st, SATURDAY 2nd and SUNDAY 3rd July 2005 TIME: 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Daily VENUE: Bosco Hall St Andrews Church Compound, Hill Road Bandra West, Mumbai 400050 a COSMOS foundational event CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA is a festival composed of a seminar, an exhibition and scope for many interactions. It aims to create awareness among students about the new and viable professional options unleashed by emerging information and communication technologies. Friday 1 July 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR COMMUNICATIONS Seminar 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Saturday 2 July 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR A NEW WORLD Seminar 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Friday 1 July, Saturday 2 July and Sunday 3 July NEW MEDIA Exhibition 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA will have an inter-disciplinary approach, with experts and established professionals from a wide variety of work areas sharing their experiences and visions of the future. This is an unique opportunity for students to interact with experts in order to make a strategic career choices. COSMOS is a recently-launched initiative of the Comet Media Foundation in Mumbai, exploring the complex and densely woven field in which science, technology and society overlap. The educational programme of COSMOS is scheduled to be operational by 2006. For more information on the Comet Media Foundation visit http://www.cometmedia.org The CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA festival is open to all. Entry to the exhibition is free. The seminar presentations require pre- registration, as seats are limited. The registration charges are Rs 200. For more information and to register, contact Sonia Nazareth at +91.22.2382.1893 or +91.98199.39820 or write to sonia(a)cometmedia.org FRIDAY 1 JULY 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR COMMUNICATIONS Seminar (25 minute presentation will be followed by 15 minute question and answer sessions) 10:00 to 10:15 Introduction CHANDITA MUKHERJEE Comet Media Foundation, Documentary Film-Maker 10:15 to 10.45 Keynote Address "the unfolding new media scenario " NINA SABNANI Head, Department of New Media Studies National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad 10.50 to 11:30 "Making it in the games industry" REENA GEORGE Human Resources Manager, Indiagames Ltd, Mumbai HRISHI OBEROI Head of 3D and Console Games, Indiagames Ltd, Mumbai 11:30 to 11.45 BREAK 11:50 to 12:30 "Animation as a career for the future" SHILPA RANADE Faculty Member, Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai 12:35 to 1:15 "Can writing be a viable career? Exploring web-journalism" KIRAN JONNALAGADDA Blogger and Information Architect, Seacrow Labs, Bangalore 1.20 to 1.30 "The power of the portal: a case study" Z. ANSARI rediff.com 1:30 to 2:15 LUNCH 2:20 to 3:00 "Entrepreneurship in the age of new media: entertainment and commerce" TOBY MORNING Chairman, Urban Technology Ventures, Los Angeles, U.S.A. 3:05 to 3:20 BREAK 3:25 to 4:05 "Opportunities in audio-visual post-production" NEIL SADWELKAR Editor and Editing System Consultant, Technical Consultant to Pixion Studio 4:10 to 4:30 Concluding Remarks NIRMALENDU JAJODIA Software Developer, Board Member, Comet Media Foundation SATURDAY 2 JULY 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR A NEW WORLD Seminar (25 minute presentation will be followed by 15 minute question and answer sessions) 10:00 to 10:20 Introductory Note NIRMALENDU JAJODIA 10:25 to 11:05 "Emerging careers in the new information age" GURUNANDAN BHAT Chief Technologist, Synapse, Goa 11:10 to 11:50 "Future prospects for sound specialists" P. BALARAM Audio Engineer, Audeus Studios, Mukta Arts, Mumbai 11:55 to 12:10 BREAK 12:15 to 12:55 "Careers in e-learning" RUPESH GOEL Head, Simulations, Tata Interactive Systems 1:00 to 1:40 "GIS (Geographic Information Systems) applications" VINEET SHROFF Founder-Director, Biond Software, Mumbai 1:40 to 2:25 LUNCH 2:30 to 3:10 "New media as an area of research and training" NISHANT SHAH Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore 3:15 to 3:30 BREAK 3:35 to 4:15 "ICTs, social development and business models" JAYALAKSHMI CHITTOOR Editor, I4D Magazine, Centre for Science Development & Media Studies (CSDMS), New Delhi 4:20 to 4:30 Vote of Thanks INDRANIL CHAKRAVARTY Film-Maker and Project Director, COSMOS New Media Initiative, Comet Media Foundation, Mumbai ABOUT THE SPEAKERS NINA SABNANI teaches Communication Design at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. After a degree in Fine Arts from Baroda, she studied animation at NID and in the UK. Later, she did a post graduate programme in Television & Film from the USA on a Fulbright Fellowship. She has evolved with the times to embrace a wide range of subjects in her profile. At present she teaches courses in Visual Scripting for Animation, Interaction Design, Linear and non-linear story telling, Games design, Illustration and Multi-sensory Design. http://www.nid.edu REENA GEORGE currently Manager Human Resources at Indiagames, had extensive experience in the IT industry. A part of the dynamic industry of wireless gaming, Reena has taken Indiagames from an 80 member team to over 250 employees in the past one year. She is an active member of the HR Infotech Association, Mumbai. http://www.indiagames.com HRISHI OBEROI is currently Head of the 3D & Console games at Indiagames. He has specialised in computer graphics and animation and has designed and programmed 2D and 3D games for mobile phones. Hrishi is currently producing a console named "Ashoka". He is active in the International Game Developer's Association, Mumbai chapter, organises gaming events like WCG India and speaks in technical forums concerned with games development in India. http://www.indiagames.com SHILPA RANADE is a faculty member at the Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. A gold medallist from Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, she did her Masters in Visual Communication from IDC, IIT, Mumbai and subsequently completed an M.Phil in Animation from the Royal College of Art, London. Her animation film Mani’s Dying won the critics award at the Bombay International Short Film Festival, 1996 and was nominated for the best British short film award at the British Short Film Festival, 1995. http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in KIRAN JONNALAGADDA is a writer and programmer who works at the crossing of media, technology and the web. Currently a consultant technologist at various organisations, he is also an Independent Research Fellow at Sarai, studying how the user interface affects online communities. He is also a collaborator on the Mumbai Free Map Project of CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust), Mumbai, a member of the Plone Foundation, and a trustee of the Tapovan School in rural Bangalore. An observer and participant in blogging, Kiran is also an occasional journalist and a keen photographer. http://www.seacrow.com http://www.freemap.in TOBY MORNING is an entrepreneur who heads Urban Technology Ventures, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. This group of internet-based companies aims to leverage technology and “serve as a catalyst for creating a more peaceful, healthy, prosperous planet for future generations”. Toby’s passion for music has taken him from event promotion to music distribution and concert promotion to the Internet radio portal djunion.com. Toby’s focus is on developing the company’s internet services, and he is in India investigating various fresh business opportunities with Indian partners. http://urbantechnologyventures.com NEIL SADWELKAR spends most of his waking hours as an editor and edit system consultant, currently at a large post production house called Pixion. Neil started out making sky shows in the Planetarium, moved to 16mm film and then followed video through its evolution as a professional medium. Neil has been associated with documentary and feature film-making in all the possible capacities—sound recordist, editor, camera person, director. He has been a contributing editor at Misenscene, and forum host at the DMN Forums’ Final Cut Pro forum. http://www.sadwelkar.com GURUNANDAN BHATT enjoys working on applications that allow people to organise, share and disseminate data and collaborate in useful, productive and innovative ways. Currently Chief Technologist at Synapse, Goa, a company that “partners with clients to solve their business problems through information-based initiatives” Gurunandan has worked extensively on designing and developing complex yet inexpensive information systems. An ardent proponent of Open Source software, he regularly speaks at events, has authored several books and writes for technology magazines. http://www.plusthought.org BALARAM PONDENKANDATH graduated from FTII Pune in sound recording and sound engineering. He has designed, installed and worked as a recordist at a number of leading sound studios such as Sargam Studio, Audio Bytes of Mumbai, VGP Digital Studios, ABM Digital Studio, Maryan Digital Studio of Chennai and Navodaya of Trivandrum, Jeevan TV satellite channel of Cochin and the dubbing and DTS mixing studios for Easwary Films, Banglore. Currently Balaram is the chief recording engineer at Audeus Studio for Mukta Arts. He consultants with the Music Archive at St. Paul's, Bangalore and does sound engineering for musical shows in India and abroad. http://www.muktaarts.com RUPESH GOEL is Head, Simulations, Tata Interactive Systems, a large developer of custom e-learning solutions. It has a multi-disciplinary team of over 700, including content developers, 3-D animators & modellers, software engineers and instructional designers. TIS e- learning programmes cater to the needs of diverse sectors in the corporate, educational and government arena. Its offerings include business and educational simulations, enterprise applications training, adaptive assessments, story-based learning objects, game- based learning, teacher tools and teaching aids and a host of other applications. http://www.tatainteractive.com VINEET SHROFF trained in aeronautical engineering at IIT Powai. He founded Biond Software in 1994 with Milind Dalvi. Biond is in the space of creating GIS datasets or digital maps for India. His expertise includes procurement and analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, vectorisation and CAD work, physical field survey and application software development. Vineet is also the founder director of Newreka Chemicals and CEO of Standard Engineers. His special interests include growing exotic fruits. NISHANT SHAH is a researcher in contemporary culture and new digital media based at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore. His interests are in looking at the formation of online communities in the third world through blogging. The construction of identities online and the patterns of social structure that arise due to these activities are of immediate interest to him. Nishant has been designing and teaching courses in contemporary digital cultures for undergraduates at Christ College and St. Joseph's College, Bangalore. His work has been published in various poetry anthologies and he dreams of writing a novel some day. http://www.cscsban.org JAYALAKSHMI CHITTOOR has written extensively on gender, consumer issues, ICT4D, mountain issues and natural resources management and has experimented with new electronic media for community building and networking. Heading the i4d programme of the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, she brings out the monthly magazine “i4d” and coordinates two research studies. She also works as regional Asia advisor to Bellanet International, promoting ICT tools to provide opportunities to disadvantaged communities and for providing democratic space in the world of the Internet. http://www.i4d.csdms.in http://www.i4donline.net

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Careers in New Media Festival, 1-3 July 2005
by Shekhar Krishnan 26 Jun '05

26 Jun '05

Dear All: Apologies for cross-posting. Please forward to interested individuals and organisations. For more information and to register, contact Sonia Nazareth at +91.22.2382.1893 or +91.98199.39820 or write to sonia(a)cometmedia.org Best, S.K. _____ Comet Media Foundation presents CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA seminar and exhibition interactive presentations with the finest minds on the hottest topics in New Media DATES: FRIDAY 1st, SATURDAY 2nd and SUNDAY 3rd July 2005 TIME: 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Daily VENUE: Bosco Hall St Andrews Church Compound, Hill Road Bandra West, Mumbai 400050 a COSMOS foundational event CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA is a festival composed of a seminar, an exhibition and scope for many interactions. It aims to create awareness among students about the new and viable professional options unleashed by emerging information and communication technologies. Friday 1 July 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR COMMUNICATIONS Seminar 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Saturday 2 July 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR A NEW WORLD Seminar 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. Friday 1 July, Saturday 2 July and Sunday 3 July NEW MEDIA Exhibition 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA will have an inter-disciplinary approach, with experts and established professionals from a wide variety of work areas sharing their experiences and visions of the future. This is an unique opportunity for students to interact with experts in order to make a strategic career choices. COSMOS is a recently-launched initiative of the Comet Media Foundation in Mumbai, exploring the complex and densely woven field in which science, technology and society overlap. The educational programme of COSMOS is scheduled to be operational by 2006. For more information on the Comet Media Foundation visit http://www.cometmedia.org The CAREERS IN NEW MEDIA festival is open to all. Entry to the exhibition is free. The seminar presentations require pre- registration, as seats are limited. The registration charges are Rs 200. For more information and to register, contact Sonia Nazareth at +91.22.2382.1893 or +91.98199.39820 or write to sonia(a)cometmedia.org FRIDAY 1 JULY 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR COMMUNICATIONS Seminar (25 minute presentation will be followed by 15 minute question and answer sessions) 10:00 to 10:15 Introduction CHANDITA MUKHERJEE Comet Media Foundation, Documentary Film-Maker 10:15 to 10.45 Keynote Address "the unfolding new media scenario " NINA SABNANI Head, Department of New Media Studies National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad 10.50 to 11:30 "Making it in the games industry" REENA GEORGE Human Resources Manager, Indiagames Ltd, Mumbai HRISHI OBEROI Head of 3D and Console Games, Indiagames Ltd, Mumbai 11:30 to 11.45 BREAK 11:50 to 12:30 "Animation as a career for the future" SHILPA RANADE Faculty Member, Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai 12:35 to 1:15 "Can writing be a viable career? Exploring web-journalism" KIRAN JONNALAGADDA Blogger and Information Architect, Seacrow Labs, Bangalore 1.20 to 1.30 "The power of the portal: a case study" Z. ANSARI rediff.com 1:30 to 2:15 LUNCH 2:20 to 3:00 "Entrepreneurship in the age of new media: entertainment and commerce" TOBY MORNING Chairman, Urban Technology Ventures, Los Angeles, U.S.A. 3:05 to 3:20 BREAK 3:25 to 4:05 "Opportunities in audio-visual post-production" NEIL SADWELKAR Editor and Editing System Consultant, Technical Consultant to Pixion Studio 4:10 to 4:30 Concluding Remarks NIRMALENDU JAJODIA Software Developer, Board Member, Comet Media Foundation SATURDAY 2 JULY 2005 NEW MEDIA FOR A NEW WORLD Seminar (25 minute presentation will be followed by 15 minute question and answer sessions) 10:00 to 10:20 Introductory Note NIRMALENDU JAJODIA 10:25 to 11:05 "Emerging careers in the new information age" GURUNANDAN BHAT Chief Technologist, Synapse, Goa 11:10 to 11:50 "Future prospects for sound specialists" P. BALARAM Audio Engineer, Audeus Studios, Mukta Arts, Mumbai 11:55 to 12:10 BREAK 12:15 to 12:55 "Careers in e-learning" RUPESH GOEL Head, Simulations, Tata Interactive Systems 1:00 to 1:40 "GIS (Geographic Information Systems) applications" VINEET SHROFF Founder-Director, Biond Software, Mumbai 1:40 to 2:25 LUNCH 2:30 to 3:10 "New media as an area of research and training" NISHANT SHAH Research Scholar, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore 3:15 to 3:30 BREAK 3:35 to 4:15 "ICTs, social development and business models" JAYALAKSHMI CHITTOOR Editor, I4D Magazine, Centre for Science Development & Media Studies (CSDMS), New Delhi 4:20 to 4:30 Vote of Thanks INDRANIL CHAKRAVARTY Film-Maker and Project Director, COSMOS New Media Initiative, Comet Media Foundation, Mumbai ABOUT THE SPEAKERS NINA SABNANI teaches Communication Design at National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. After a degree in Fine Arts from Baroda, she studied animation at NID and in the UK. Later, she did a post graduate programme in Television & Film from the USA on a Fulbright Fellowship. She has evolved with the times to embrace a wide range of subjects in her profile. At present she teaches courses in Visual Scripting for Animation, Interaction Design, Linear and non-linear story telling, Games design, Illustration and Multi-sensory Design. http://www.nid.edu REENA GEORGE currently Manager Human Resources at Indiagames, had extensive experience in the IT industry. A part of the dynamic industry of wireless gaming, Reena has taken Indiagames from an 80 member team to over 250 employees in the past one year. She is an active member of the HR Infotech Association, Mumbai. http://www.indiagames.com HRISHI OBEROI is currently Head of the 3D & Console games at Indiagames. He has specialised in computer graphics and animation and has designed and programmed 2D and 3D games for mobile phones. Hrishi is currently producing a console named "Ashoka". He is active in the International Game Developer's Association, Mumbai chapter, organises gaming events like WCG India and speaks in technical forums concerned with games development in India. http://www.indiagames.com SHILPA RANADE is a faculty member at the Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. A gold medallist from Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, she did her Masters in Visual Communication from IDC, IIT, Mumbai and subsequently completed an M.Phil in Animation from the Royal College of Art, London. Her animation film Mani’s Dying won the critics award at the Bombay International Short Film Festival, 1996 and was nominated for the best British short film award at the British Short Film Festival, 1995. http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in KIRAN JONNALAGADDA is a writer and programmer who works at the crossing of media, technology and the web. Currently a consultant technologist at various organisations, he is also an Independent Research Fellow at Sarai, studying how the user interface affects online communities. He is also a collaborator on the Mumbai Free Map Project of CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust), Mumbai, a member of the Plone Foundation, and a trustee of the Tapovan School in rural Bangalore. An observer and participant in blogging, Kiran is also an occasional journalist and a keen photographer. http://www.seacrow.com http://www.freemap.in TOBY MORNING is an entrepreneur who heads Urban Technology Ventures, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. This group of internet-based companies aims to leverage technology and “serve as a catalyst for creating a more peaceful, healthy, prosperous planet for future generations”. Toby’s passion for music has taken him from event promotion to music distribution and concert promotion to the Internet radio portal djunion.com. Toby’s focus is on developing the company’s internet services, and he is in India investigating various fresh business opportunities with Indian partners. http://urbantechnologyventures.com NEIL SADWELKAR spends most of his waking hours as an editor and edit system consultant, currently at a large post production house called Pixion. Neil started out making sky shows in the Planetarium, moved to 16mm film and then followed video through its evolution as a professional medium. Neil has been associated with documentary and feature film-making in all the possible capacities—sound recordist, editor, camera person, director. He has been a contributing editor at Misenscene, and forum host at the DMN Forums’ Final Cut Pro forum. http://www.sadwelkar.com GURUNANDAN BHATT enjoys working on applications that allow people to organise, share and disseminate data and collaborate in useful, productive and innovative ways. Currently Chief Technologist at Synapse, Goa, a company that “partners with clients to solve their business problems through information-based initiatives” Gurunandan has worked extensively on designing and developing complex yet inexpensive information systems. An ardent proponent of Open Source software, he regularly speaks at events, has authored several books and writes for technology magazines. http://www.plusthought.org BALARAM PONDENKANDATH graduated from FTII Pune in sound recording and sound engineering. He has designed, installed and worked as a recordist at a number of leading sound studios such as Sargam Studio, Audio Bytes of Mumbai, VGP Digital Studios, ABM Digital Studio, Maryan Digital Studio of Chennai and Navodaya of Trivandrum, Jeevan TV satellite channel of Cochin and the dubbing and DTS mixing studios for Easwary Films, Banglore. Currently Balaram is the chief recording engineer at Audeus Studio for Mukta Arts. He consultants with the Music Archive at St. Paul's, Bangalore and does sound engineering for musical shows in India and abroad. http://www.muktaarts.com RUPESH GOEL is Head, Simulations, Tata Interactive Systems, a large developer of custom e-learning solutions. It has a multi-disciplinary team of over 700, including content developers, 3-D animators & modellers, software engineers and instructional designers. TIS e- learning programmes cater to the needs of diverse sectors in the corporate, educational and government arena. Its offerings include business and educational simulations, enterprise applications training, adaptive assessments, story-based learning objects, game- based learning, teacher tools and teaching aids and a host of other applications. http://www.tatainteractive.com VINEET SHROFF trained in aeronautical engineering at IIT Powai. He founded Biond Software in 1994 with Milind Dalvi. Biond is in the space of creating GIS datasets or digital maps for India. His expertise includes procurement and analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, vectorisation and CAD work, physical field survey and application software development. Vineet is also the founder director of Newreka Chemicals and CEO of Standard Engineers. His special interests include growing exotic fruits. NISHANT SHAH is a researcher in contemporary culture and new digital media based at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore. His interests are in looking at the formation of online communities in the third world through blogging. The construction of identities online and the patterns of social structure that arise due to these activities are of immediate interest to him. Nishant has been designing and teaching courses in contemporary digital cultures for undergraduates at Christ College and St. Joseph's College, Bangalore. His work has been published in various poetry anthologies and he dreams of writing a novel some day. http://www.cscsban.org JAYALAKSHMI CHITTOOR has written extensively on gender, consumer issues, ICT4D, mountain issues and natural resources management and has experimented with new electronic media for community building and networking. Heading the i4d programme of the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, she brings out the monthly magazine “i4d” and coordinates two research studies. She also works as regional Asia advisor to Bellanet International, promoting ICT tools to provide opportunities to disadvantaged communities and for providing democratic space in the world of the Internet. http://www.i4d.csdms.in http://www.i4donline.net

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How to start a Telugu Wikipedia
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 25 Jun '05

25 Jun '05

There was a request for help on *how to start a telugu wikipedia* a few weeks back. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/How_to_start_a_new_Wikipedia provides solution. CK Raju

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Fwd: Indian patents again
by Anivar Aravind 23 Jun '05

23 Jun '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rebentisch <arebenti(a)web.de> Date: 23-Jun-2005 10:07 Subject: Indian patents again To: in-help(a)ffii.org Sounds very familiar for us: "The draft also includes guidelines for examining inventions in the software sector. As per the guidelines, claims relating to software programme products are nothing but computer programmes per se, simply expressed on a computer readable storage medium, and as such, are not patentable. However, an invention involving hardware along with software or a computer programme in order to perform the function of a hardware may be considered patentable. For instance, embedded systems." http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lm… Patents Act draft norms finalised Gaurie Mishra / New Delhi June 23, 2005 The government has formulated the draft guidelines for the newly amended Patents Act, 2005. As per the guidelines, non-inventions, inventions relating to atomic energy, or those contrary to public order or causing serious prejudice to human beings, animals, health or environment will not be patentable. "Any process for medicinal, surgical, curative, diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of human beings or animals to cure them is not patentable under the Indian Patents Act. Patents, however, can be obtained for surgical, therapeutic or diagnostic instruments," according to the draft guidelines which have been put on the official website for public comments. The draft guidelines relate to the practice and procedure to be followed in examination of patents applications in India. They also aim at making industries, research and development organisations, individual researchers and inventors familiar with the patents system in India provide a user-friendly system for obtaining as well as maintaining patents under the existing law. While clones and new variety of plants are not patentable, the process or method of preparing genetically modified organisms are patentable subject matter. The draft also includes guidelines for examining inventions in the software sector. As per the guidelines, claims relating to software programme products are nothing but computer programmes per se, simply expressed on a computer readable storage medium, and as such, are not patentable. However, an invention involving hardware along with software or a computer programme in order to perform the function of a hardware may be considered patentable. For instance, embedded systems. Mere discovery of a scientific principle or formulation of an abstract theory or discovery of any living thing or non-living substances will also not be eligible for a patent. Similarly, a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any other aesthetic creation, including cinematographic work and television productions, are not patentable, according to the guidelines. When a patent is granted to two or more persons, each will be entitled to an equal undivided share in the patent unless an agreement to the contrary is in force. All can enjoy their rights for their own benefits without accounting for to others but the licence cannot be given to any other person, or their assignment, without the consent of others. Similarly, when a patented article is sold by one of two or more persons registered as grantee or proprietor of a patent, the purchaser and any person claiming the article through him shall be entitled to deal with the article in the same manner as if the article had been sold by a sole patentee, the guidelines said. The Comptroller of Patents can, at any point of time, revoke a patent if the criteria like novelty are not fulfilled. Violation or false information given in the disclosure norms can also lead to revoking of patents. _______________________________________________ In-help maillist subscribe via http://aktiv.ffii.org/ fine-tune via http://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/in-help

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why you shoul not call it GNU/Linux
by Mahesh T. Pai 18 Jun '05

18 Jun '05

>From http://www.linuxmark.org/who_needs.html <quote> Similarly, if you are writing a product review, an engineering report, or even printing literature that merely refers to LINUX as the operating system, as long as you indicate at least once by using the circle � symbol that it is a registered mark, it is not necessary </quote> -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Half knowledge is worse than ignorance. --Thomas B. Macaulay

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Re: [Fsf-friends] why you shoul not call it GNU/Linux
by Mahesh T. Pai 18 Jun '05

18 Jun '05

(replying to the list) Rakesh 'arky' Ambati said on Sat, Jun 18, 2005 at 11:39:49AM +0530,: > Dear Pai, > > Please explain more clearly, even when I read the link I didn't get the > idea. > >From http://www.linuxmark.org/who_needs.html, and quoting from what I already quoted:- ``...review, an engineering report, or even printing literature that merely refers to LINUX as the operating system,'' ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Got it?? If you refer to Linux as _the_ operating system, you do not need a (sub)license from linuxmark.org. So, the chap who writes a book called ``Debian GNU/Linux for ....'' requires a license to use the term ``Linux'', and the g[uy|al] writing ``FooBar Linux for lUsers'' does not. To be fair, this move by Linus seems to be a safeguard against corporate entities (the which need education about what `free' means, that is) (mis)appropriating the term, though. On a more serious note, this (and the developments at Mozilla*) mark beginning of the new problem in Free Software world - trademarks. (*) see http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/trademarks/policy.html -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Man's most judicious trait, is a good sense of what not to believe. --Euripides

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Debian Project at OSS Symposium, LinuxTag and DebConf
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Jun '05

17 Jun '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Martin Schulze <joey(a)infodrom.org> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Debian Project http://www.debian.org/events/ Debian at OSS Symposium, LinuxTag and DebConf events(a)debian.org June 17th, 2005 http://www.debian.org/News/2005/20050617 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Debian Project at OSS Symposium, LinuxTag and DebConf The Debian project will attend the Open Source Software Symposium in Stuttgart and the LinuxTag in Karlsruhe next week, both in Germany. June 20th - 21st Symposium OSS 2005 Ostfildern, Germany http://www.debian.org/events/2005/0620-oss2005 The Debian project will run a booth and will present the distribution at this symposium for business and public administration.. Michael Meskes will also give a talk about the use of the Debian system in companies and in public administration. June 22nd - 25th LinuxTag Karlsruhe, Germany http://www.debian.org/events/2005/0622-linuxtag This is the largest and most important Free Software exhibition and conference. The Debian project will maintain a booth in the exhibition area and organise a mini conference called Debian Day with the schedule below. The new and shiny release of Debian 3.1 alias sarge will be demonstrated at the booth where visitors can get pressed DVDs with the release on it for the i386, amd64 and powerpc platforms. In addition to this, there will be several other talks that cover Free Software and Debian in particular. There will also be a keysigning party again on Saturday which requires to submit the keys before. There will be a release party to celebrate the release of Debian 3.1 and their new Debian book at the booth of Open Source Press (B107) on Thursday 17 o'clock to which all Debian people are invited. In the evening, the new Debian release will be celebrated at the KaLUG party, starting at 20 o'clock next to the AKK. July 10th - 17th Debian Conference Helsinki, Finland http://www.debian.org/events/2005/0710-debconf The Debian conference aims at Debian developers and interested users who would like to know more about the inner structure of the project and the distribution. The schedule will be available shortly before the conference. In the wek before a work camp will be organised. On July 9th a public conference will be organised at the same place. Schedule for the Debian Day The Debian Day has been extended to two days and will take place on Thursday and Friday in room 2.05. In general the talks will be held in English if not denoted otherwise. Thursday, June 23rd, 2005 Time | Speaker Title ------+------------------------------------------------------------- 10:00 | Norbert Tretkowski Backporting Practice 11:00 | Joey Schulze Debian Security 12:00 | Luk Claes Internationalisation & localisation 13:00 | Goswin von Brederlow Debian Archive Structure 14:00 | Martin Zobel-Helas The volatile Archive 15:00 | Meike Reichle The Debian Women Project 16:00 | Enrico Zini CDD: Current and Future Friday, June 24th, 2005 Time | Speaker Title ------+------------------------------------------------------------- 12:00 | Yutaka Niibe Porting to the m32r Architecture 13:00 | Mike Wiesner Kerberos V5 with Debian (German) 14:00 | Stefano Zacchiroli OCaml @ Debian 15:00 | Florian Mo"llers Knowledge, Power and free Beer 16:00 | Hauke Goos-Habermann m23 Distribution System 17:00 | Michael Banck The Ubuntu Development Model Additional talks with Debian connection at LinuxTag Some talks will be delivered outside of the the Debian Day in the regular conference schedule or the community schedule. Several of these talks will be given in German. Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005 10:00 Fabian Franz Introduction into Knoppix (EG) Thursday, June 23rd, 2005 13:30 Florian Schie?l Migration to Linux in Munich (UG2) Friday, June 24th, 2005 12:00 Fernanda Weiden Free Software with a female touch (UG2) 16:00 Mako Hill Financing Free Software Projects (UG2) 17:00 Fabian Franz Introduction into Knoppix (PLF) Saturday, June 25th, 2005 14:00 Key Signing Party (R 2.05) 15:00 Debian Developers Debian Projekt intern (UG3) 16:00 Alexander Schmehl Howto pay back (Community Forum) 16:00 Mako Hill Debian and Ubuntu: fork or not to fork (UG3) 17:00 Michael Kofler Ubuntu - The human Linux (EG) 17:00 Gregorio Robles Quo vadis, libre software? (UG3) We invite all interested people in these areas to attend these conferences, meet Debian developers and users, exchange GnuPG fingerprints, discuss various topics on Debian and Free Software, and otherwise participate in our vibrant community. --

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Advice Needed: Use of FSF logo
by Sameer N Ingole 17 Jun '05

17 Jun '05

Hi All, I am currently communicating with few collages in my region (Nagpur, Wardha) about conducting a seminar to mark Software Freedom Day. I want to know if I can use GNU logo and FSF's name for further communication? Is there any registration required for official membership? I am a member of this list since almost 2 years now and a promoter of Free Software. Any inputs appreciated. Regards, -- Sameer N. Ingole /******************************************************************************/ The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons. -- F. Dostoyevski /******************************************************************************/

6 6

(no subject)
by Dr.Mayank Trivedi 16 Jun '05

16 Jun '05

-- Dr.Mayank Trivedi mjt_123(a)emailplus.org -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and love email again

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Update on GNU/LINUX acitvities of IT@SCHOOL at kannur
by swathantra software 15 Jun '05

15 Jun '05

Dear Friends, A core group for supporting GNU/LINUX in schools of Kannur District was formed in the last meeting of the KSTA (Teachers Association).In the beginning we could make a seven member team only to support schools in seven sub districts.S2S2 has given extensive training to the group members on installation and configuration of Ubuntoo based IT@SCHOOL CD.As the support system progress we hope to get more members to cover all schools in all Sub districts. Regards Sujeevan,S2S2,Kannur, 9447449107 ------------------------------------------------------------ CDs available from S2S2 CentOS 4,Mandriva LE2005,Gentoo 2005,FC3 32&64 bit ,FC3 Source,K12 LTSP,Ubuntoo,HOWTO CD Etc ------------------------------------------------------------

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(no subject)
by Dr.Mayank Trivedi 15 Jun '05

15 Jun '05

Dr.Mayank Trivedi -- Dr.Mayank Trivedi mjt_123(a)emailplus.org -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and love email again

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Efforts by KSTA to spread the philosophy of Free Software by supporting GNU/linux for the IT@school project
by Praveen A 11 Jun '05

11 Jun '05

Hi all, Today I have attended a seminar by KSTA for promoting the use of Free Software as part of the IT @ School programme. It has been a wonderful seminar by VK Sasidharan, KSTA state committee member. It was a continuation of the Planning session we had last month. The KSTA is strongly supporting the free software movement and they are using their strong base of teachers. It is now our duty to support them with technical support which they need. There is a conspiracy by the government to subotage this effort. So request all of you to be a part of this great stuggle. These are my experiences in these meets. IT at School Palakkad support group formation — my first talk<http://www.pravi.co.nr/2005/06/08/it-at-school-palakkad-support-group-forma…> A new beginning for IT education in Kerala<http://www.pravi.co.nr/2005/04/23/a-new-beginning-for-it-education-in-keral…> Also there is a call for GNU/linux volunteers by the Depart ment of Education Kerala. See this for more details APPLICATION FOR INCLUSION IN IT@SCHOOL LINUX SUPPORTING GROUP <http://education.kerala.gov.in/linuxsupport.htm> -- "GNU is the system, and Linux is the kernel." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org My Weblog at http://www.pravi.co.nr Rediscover the web ! Get firefox at http://www.getfirefox.com Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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[OT]Doing arithmetic with computers
by Ramanraj K 10 Jun '05

10 Jun '05

While doing arithmetic, how is infinity represented on a computer? Thanks, Ramanraj.

7 8

Fwd: [GNU/FSF Press] Free Software Directory reaches 4, 000 packages
by Ramanraj K 10 Jun '05

10 Jun '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Sullivan <johns(a)fsf.org> Date: Jun 9, 2005 10:27 PM Subject: [GNU/FSF Press] Free Software Directory reaches 4,000 packages To: info-press(a)gnu.org Boston, MA, USA - Thursday, June 9, 2005 - The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced that the FSF's Free Software Directory registered its 4,000th software package. The Directory, which accounts for more than 40% of the traffic on the FSF's Web site (receiving 2.25 million hits per month, an average of 321K per day), has grown and improved steadily in the past year: one year ago, the Directory had 3153 packages; it now has 4,029. The Web form, which lets developers enter packages themselves, has been refined and expanded. The category structure has undergone a fourth revision to reflect the increasing depth of free software packages available. Mathematics, formerly part of the Science category, is now on its own, while the Science category itself has deepened considerably: there are now 11 subcategories under Science, including Artificial Intelligence, Meteorology, and Genetics. The size and depth of the Science category reflects free software's popularity in academia. The variety of real-world applications of free software also increased greatly: there are now enough fax-related, barcoding, and e-commerce software for them to have their own categories. Moreover, you can now run the following businesses with free software: an ISP, an animal shelter, a medical practice, a travel agency, an Internet cafe, a real estate office, an alternative energy company, a pizza parlor, a winery, a library, a bookstore, a search-and-rescue team, and a full service restaurant. Free software is increasingly being used in creative fields. 'CinePaint' is an image retouching software that has been used in the production of (among others) Harry Potter, Scooby-Doo, and Stuart Little. 'diskWriggler' is a newer package intended as a benchmarking tool in film and post-production. Individual video and multimedia artists are also using free software, and many of them are writing their own tools. 'LiVes' and 'veejay' are popular free software video editors; 'FreeJ', 'MoB', 'EffecTV', 'PureData', 'piksel', and 'PiDiP' are tools for working with video and creating various effects. The recognition the Directory has received has also increased. It was profiled on lwn.net on August 25, 2004 [http://lwn.net/Articles/97521/]. At the FSF's first annual members' meeting, in March 2003, Richard Stallman, President of the FSF, named the Directory as his first choice of the two most important projects the FSF had undertaken in the past five years. Almost 90% of the packages in the Directory are licensed under the FSF's own GPL or LGPL licenses. The continuously rising number of packages in the Directory is proof that usable, productive free software exists for a variety of business, personal, and artistic contexts and can be found at http://directory.fsf.org/. -- 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. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA. (This announcement can be found at http://www.fsf.org/news/fsd.html .) Boston, MA, USA - Thursday, June 9, 2005 - The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced that the FSF's Free Software Directory registered its 4,000th software package. The Directory, which accounts for more than 40% of the traffic on the FSF's Web site (receiving 2.25 million hits per month, an average of 321K per day), has grown and improved steadily in the past year: one year ago, the Directory had 3153 packages; it now has 4,029. The Web form, which lets developers enter packages themselves, has been refined and expanded. The category structure has undergone a fourth revision to reflect the increasing depth of free software packages available. Mathematics, formerly part of the Science category, is now on its own, while the Science category itself has deepened considerably: there are now 11 subcategories under Science, including Artificial Intelligence, Meteorology, and Genetics. The size and depth of the Science category reflects free software's popularity in academia. The variety of real-world applications of free software also increased greatly: there are now enough fax-related, barcoding, and e-commerce software for them to have their own categories. Moreover, you can now run the following businesses with free software: an ISP, an animal shelter, a medical practice, a travel agency, an Internet cafe, a real estate office, an alternative energy company, a pizza parlor, a winery, a library, a bookstore, a search-and-rescue team, and a full service restaurant. Free software is increasingly being used in creative fields. 'CinePaint' is an image retouching software that has been used in the production of (among others) Harry Potter, Scooby-Doo, and Stuart Little. 'diskWriggler' is a newer package intended as a benchmarking tool in film and post-production. Individual video and multimedia artists are also using free software, and many of them are writing their own tools. 'LiVes' and 'veejay' are popular free software video editors; 'FreeJ', 'MoB', 'EffecTV', 'PureData', 'piksel', and 'PiDiP' are tools for working with video and creating various effects. The recognition the Directory has received has also increased. It was profiled on lwn.net on August 25, 2004 [http://lwn.net/Articles/97521/]. At the FSF's first annual members' meeting, in March 2003, Richard Stallman, President of the FSF, named the Directory as his first choice of the two most important projects the FSF had undertaken in the past five years. Almost 90% of the packages in the Directory are licensed under the FSF's own GPL or LGPL licenses. The continuously rising number of packages in the Directory is proof that usable, productive free software exists for a variety of business, personal, and artistic contexts and can be found at http://directory.fsf.org/. -- 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. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA. (This announcement can be found at http://www.fsf.org/news/fsd.html .) -- 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 _______________________________________________ FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press

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Fwd: [GNU/FSF Press] GPL Version 3: Background to Adoption
by Ramanraj K 10 Jun '05

10 Jun '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Sullivan <johns(a)fsf.org> Date: Jun 10, 2005 2:06 AM Subject: [GNU/FSF Press] GPL Version 3: Background to Adoption To: info-press(a)gnu.org Boston, MA, USA - Thursday, June 9, 2005 - The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today released the following article by Richard M. Stallman and Eben Moglen discussing the forthcoming GPL Version 3. GPL Version 3: Background to Adoption by Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen The GNU General Public License (``the GPL'') has remained unmodified, at version level 2, since 1991. This is extraordinary longevity for any widely-employed legal instrument. The durability of the GPL is even more surprising when one takes into account the differences between the free software movement at the time of version 2's release and the situation prevailing in 2005. Richard M. Stallman, founder of the free software movement and author of the GNU GPL, released version 2 in 1991 after taking legal advice and collecting developer opinion concerning version 1 of the license, which had been in use since 1985. There was no formal public comment process and no significant interim transition period. The Free Software Foundation immediately relicensed the components of the GNU Project, which comprised the largest then-existing collection of copyleft software assets. In Finland, Linus Torvalds adopted GPL Version 2 for his operating system kernel, called Linux. That was then, and this is now. The GPL is employed by tens of thousands of software projects around the world, of which the Free Software Foundation's GNU system is a tiny fraction. The GNU system, when combined with Linus Torvalds' Linux---which has evolved into a flexible, highly-portable, industry-leading operating system kernel---along with Samba, MySQL, and other GPL'd programs, offers superior reliability and adaptability to Microsoft's operating systems, at nominal cost. GPL'd software runs on or is embedded in devices ranging from cellphones, PDAs and home networking appliances to mainframes and supercomputing clusters. Independent software developers around the world, as well as every large corporate IT buyer and seller, and a surprisingly large proportion of individual users, interact with the GPL. During the period since 1991, of course, there has developed a profusion of free software licenses. But not in the area covered by the GPL. The ``share and share alike'' or ``copyleft'' aspect of the GPL is its most important functional characteristic, and those who want to use a copyleft license for software overwhelmingly use the GPL rather than inventing their own. Updating the GPL is therefore a very different task in 2005 than it was in 1991. The substantive reasons for revision, and the likely nature of those changes, are subject matter for another essay. At present we would like to concentrate on the institutional, procedural aspects of changing the license. Those are complicated by the fact that the GPL serves four distinct purposes. * The GPL is a Worldwide Copyright License As a legal document, the GPL serves a purpose that most legal drafters would do anything possible to avoid: it licenses copyrighted material for modification and redistribution in every one of the world's systems of copyright law. In general, publishers don't use worldwide copyright licenses; for each system in which their works are distributed, licensing arrangements tailored to local legal requirements are used. Publishers rarely license redistribution of modified or derivative works; when they do so, those licenses are tailored to the specific setting, factual and legal. But free software requires legal arrangements that permit copyrighted works to follow arbitrary trajectories, in both geographic and genetic terms. Modified versions of free software works are distributed from hand to hand across borders in a pattern that no copyright holder could possibly trace. GPL version 2 performed the task of globalization relatively well, because its design was elegantly limited to a minimum set of copyright principles that signatories to the Berne Convention must offer, in one form or another, in their national legislation. But GPL2 was a license constructed by one US layman and his lawyers, largely concerned with US law. To the extent possible, and without any fundamental changes, GPL3 should ease internationalization difficulties, more fully approximating the otherwise unsought ideal of the global copyright license. * The GPL is the Code of Conduct for Free Software Distributors Beyond the legal permission that the GPL extends to those who wish to copy, modify, and share free software, the GPL also embodies a code of industry conduct with respect to the practices by which free software is distributed. Section 3, which explains how to make source code available as required under the license, affects product packaging decisions for those who embed free software in appliances, as well as those who distribute software collections that include both free and unfree software. Section 7, which concerns the effect of licenses, judgments, and other compulsory legal interventions incompatible with the GPL on the behavior of software distributors, affects patent licensing arrangements in connection with industry standards. And so on, through a range of interactions between the requirements of the license and evolving practices in the vending of both hardware and software. The Free Software Foundation, through its maintenance and enforcement of the GPL, has contributed to the evolution of industry behavior patterns beyond its influence as a maker of software. In revising the GPL, the Foundation is inevitably engaged in altering the rules of the road for enterprises and market participants of many different kinds, with different fundamental interests and radically different levels of market power. The process of drafting and adopting changes to the license must thus approximate standard-setting, or ``best practices'' definition, as well as copyright license drafting. * The GPL is the Constitution of the Free Software Movement The Free Software Foundation has never been reluctant to point out that its goals are primarily social and political, not technical or economic. The Foundation believes that free software---that is, software that can be freely studied, copied, modified, reused, redistributed and shared by its users---is the only ethically satisfactory form of software development, as free and open scientific research is the only ethically satisfactory context for the conduct of mathematics, physics, or biology. The Foundation, and those who support its broader work, regard free software as an essential step in a social movement for freer access to knowledge, freer access to facilities of communication, and a more deeply participatory culture, open to human beings with less regard to existing distributions of wealth and social power. The free software movement has taken advantage of the social conditions of its time to found its program on the creation of vast new wealth, through new systems of cooperation, which can in turn be shared in order to further the creation of new wealth, in a positive feedback loop. This program is not, of course, universally shared by all the parties who benefit from the exploitation of the new wealth created by free software. The free software movement has never objected to the indirect benefits accruing to those who differ from the movement's goals: one of the powerful lessons the movement has learned from previous aspects of the long-duration Western movement for freedom of expression is the value of working with, rather than against, conventional economic interests and concerns. But the movement's own goals cannot be subordinated to the economic interests of our friends and allies in industry, let alone those who occasionally contribute solely for reasons of their own. Changes to the GPL, for whatever reason they are undertaken, must not undermine the underlying movement for freer exchange of knowledge. To the extent that the movement has identified technological or legal measures likely to be harmful to freedom, such as ``trusted computing'' or a broadening of the scope of patent law, the GPL needs to address those issues from a perspective of political principle and the needs of the movement, not from primary regard for the industrial or commercial consequences. * The GPL is the Literary Work of Richard M. Stallman Some copyright licenses are no doubt known, in the restricted circle of one firm or law office, as the achievement of a single author's acumen or insight. But it is safe to say that there is no other copyright license in the world that is so strongly identified with the achievements, and the philosophy, of a single public figure. Mr. Stallman remains the GPL's author, with as much right to preserve its integrity as a work representative of his intentions as any other author or creator. Under his guidance, the Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright of the GPL, will coordinate and direct the process of its modification. * Conclusion The GPL serves, and must continue to serve, multiple purposes. Those purposes are fundamentally diverse, and they inevitably conflict. Development of GPL version 3 has been an ongoing process within the Free Software Foundation; we, along with our colleagues, have never stopped considering possible modifications. We have consulted, formally and informally, a very broad array of participants in the free software community, from industry, the academy, and the garage. Those conversations have occurred in many countries and several languages, over almost two decades, as the technology of software development and distribution changed around us. When a GPLv3 discussion draft is released, the pace of that conversation will change, as a particular proposal becomes the centerpiece. The Foundation will, before it emits a first discussion draft, publicize the process by which it intends to gather opinion and suggestions. The Free Software Foundation recognizes that the reversioning of the GPL is a crucial moment in the evolution of the free software community, and the Foundation intends to meet its responsibilities to the makers, distributors and users of free software. In doing so, we hope to hear all relevant points of view, and to make decisions that reflect the many disparate purposes that the license must serve. Our primary concern remains, as it has been from the beginning, the creation and protection of freedom. We recognize that the best protection of freedom is a growing and vital community of the free. We will use the process of public discussion of GPL3 drafts to support and nurture the community of the free. Proprietary culture imposes both technology and license terms; free software means allowing people to understand, experiment and modify software, as well as getting involved in the discussion of license terms, so that everyone's ideas can contribute to the common good, and the development of each contributes to the development of all. Copyright Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen, 2005. Verbatim copying of this article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. -- 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>. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA. -- 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 _______________________________________________ FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [OT]Notations for representing infinity
by Ramanraj K 09 Jun '05

09 Jun '05

On 6/8/05, V. Sasi Kumar <sasi.fsf(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, 2005-06-08 at 08:32 +0530, Ramanraj K wrote: > > (BTW division by zero is assumed to be infinity and afaik there is no proof > > for that). > > If I remember my math, division by zero is properly said to be > indeterminate, and not infinity. Infinity is not a number, but a concept > -- if that does make sense. Commonly, division by zero is treated as an illegal operation. But, Bhaskara in his Lilavati gives khahara (infinity) as the answer to 1/0 and it does seem to make sense, though there is no proof for this hypothesis or the claim that division by zero is an illegal operation. Interestingly, 1/0 is also a notation for khahara - infinity in the works of our ancients. Now, we may follow the same notation n/0, where the numerator n may stand for the initial value of an infinite range of values. > > There should be a way to represent ... or infinity in the above > > equation on computers. If there are no standard ways of doing it > > then, we should devise a way to do it. It is fairly important to be > > able to represent infinity on computers just as easily as we represent > > numbers, because it has many practical uses as well. We may have to > > define max and min values for variables, and sometimes it has to be > > set at infinity. > > > > If there are no standards for this, then: > > [1] A special character could represent infinity (lemniscate : > > sleeping 8 :) or three dots ... > > > > AND/OR > > > > [2] The last bit could be used to represent infinity. If a n bit word > > is used to represent integers, then the allowed integers have values > > between -2^(n-1) and (2^(n-1)) - 1. The maximum integer value could > > be reserved to represent infinity > > I am a little confused. Are you talking of writing infinity? In that > case, the infinity character is available. But when you want to do > actual computation, you cannot obviously do an iteration an infinite > number of times. So there we are forced to select an appropriately large > number that could stand for infinity. Both issues have to be dealt with almost simultaneously: [1] How could we represent infinity within the byte words used for numbers; and [2] Explore the means for doing actual computation once its representation and notation can be taken for granted. There is a discussion at ieee on whether there should be a representation for -0. After all, 0-0 = 0 and there is nothing wrong in having a representation for -0 for the sake of balance, and further is would also help to represent infinity in a simpler manner. The integer values allowed are in the range -2^(n-1) and (2^(n-1)) - 1 and there is a slight imbalance there. If -0 is also represented, then the imbalance would be corrected and then the range would be just -2^(n-1) and 2^(n-1). The values -2^(n-1) and 2^(n-1) themselves could represent negative and positive infinity respectively. > It may be interesting to know that there are different kinds of > infinity. For instance, there are an infinite number of integers. But > there are an infinite number of rational numbers between any two > integers. So these two infinities cannot be considered to be of the same > kind. If I remember right, they are represented by the Hebrew alphabet > aleph. So we have aleph1, aleph2 and so on. Thanks for the info about aleph. I am using both types of infinities to define legal data in the calpp project. Any given procedure could have a number of steps, and by using rational numbers to represent steps, any future new steps created, could always be inserted between any two given steps taking advantage of the infinite number of rational numbers between two integers. If we need to use infinity in our computations, we can implement them on our own, making our own rules, but standardisation would be better. The max and min values possible for integers and floats could represent -∞ ∞ and -א א respectively. Assignment could be done more simply using the notation of our ancients in the form n/0 Thanks, Ramanraj.

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Inviting you to join in Software Freedom Day, September 10, 2005
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Jun '05

09 Jun '05

We would like to invite you and your user group to join this network of grassroot marketing for Free/Libre and Open Source Software! Looking forward to having you with us on September 10, 2005 in whatever way you would like to mark the event! -FN (Frederick Noronha) Introducing Software Freedom Day 2005! Mark September 10th 2005 on your calendar! It is the second annual Software Freedom Day. We will be staging a range of events around the world to raise public awareness of Free and Open Source Software. This is a global grassroots effort, and we invite the Free and Open Source Software community around the world to join in the celebration and help spread the word! Over 70 teams joined the celebration in 2004, organising a range of events at schools, universities and public places. This year, we have every opportunity to grow and make an even greater impact on community awareness. What will happen? You may celebrate the day locally however you would like, but we encourage you to engage in some sort of outreach activity to spread the FOSS message in your community. For example, you could organise a seminar or an installfest or simply invite people to meet up in the park for a picnic. If you want to participate, please stop by the SFD website (http://softwarefreedomday.org/) and register a team so that others in your area can find you and hook up. Our website and wiki have pictures and reports from some of the SFD2004 events, so you can get an idea of what worked well. If you participated last year, please join us again, and please share your experiences with the new teams. How does it work? As last year, we will prepare special promotional materials for distribution by the SFD teams. In 2004 this included ISO images of a custom version of TheOpenCD and a custom version of Knoppix along with some printed materials. Due to our budget constraints we were only able to produce CD covers while the local teams did a great job of burning their own CDs and copying materials. This year we have funding for up to 15.000 of our custom CDs shipped out to 150 teams world-wide. Be sure to sign up (http://softwarefreedomday.org/) for supplies before the July 1st deadline! In addition, other supplies (such as t-shirts and balloons) will be available, but the quantities and distribution process of these items is not yet determined. What can I do? The best way to participate is to start forming a SFD team and make sure you register with us http://softwarefreedomday.org/index.php?option=com_mosforms&mosform=1&Itemi… and apply for sponsorship (http://softwarefreedomday.org/). We also need help with lots of things on the global level: * Writing * We would appreciate well-written articles about SFD or about FOSS in general that can be submitted to local media or distributed on the day. Form letters that can be sent to schools, businesses government organisation, etc. will also be useful. * Material Design * We have some artwork already, but we need designs for the SFD2005 CD labels and covers, as well as T-shirts, balloons, stickers, or even temporary tattoos! If you or your friends have some artistic inclinations feel free to pop into the SFD Forums (http://softwarefreedomday.org/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=47) to share your ideas and your work. * Donations: * SFD funds cover the costs of material and logistics support that we provide. Any surplus funds can be used for advertising in the week before the event. You can Donate Online http://softwarefreedomday.org/index.php?option=com_static&static file=donate.html&Itemid=51 if you would like. http://maitri.ubuntu.com/softwarefreedomday/wiki/index.php/LaunchDoc

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Site@School, the CMS for primary schools, Version 2.3 released!
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Jun '05

09 Jun '05

>From Dirk Schouten <schoutdi(a)knoware.nl> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Site@School, the OSS/GPL website content management system for primary schools has many improvements and added functionality in version 2.3. For example: - A chat module: unlimited and safe chatpages with logging (*). - Template editor: now every school can create a beautiful site without knowing HTML. - TV module: use a tv set as kiosk browser. - Now in 16 languages: Dutch, French, German, English, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Portugese-Brazilian, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, Bulgarian. - Maximum of 99 homepages per pupil. Improved e-mail alerts for teachers when pupils add or change their page content. - An Intranet for teachers. - Teachers can have their own webpages. - Project pages where pupils can collaborate. - Simplified site management: every admin, teacher or pupil can manage a section of the site. - Improved and simplified installation. - Bugfixes, numerous small improvements to modules, etc. - Comprehensive users' guide with over 300 screenshots. - Coding guidelines and a developers manual. - And much more .... (*) These modules are available: advertisments, agenda, picture gallery, calendar, class pages, e-mail, forms builder, forum, guestbook, news,newsletters, search, sitemap, up/download. Siste@School is Open Source Software, licensed under the General Public License, usable under Linux and Windows. Cordial greetings and good luck with S@S, The Site@School Development Team Links: Site@School download (software, users' guide, etc.): http://sourceforge.net/projects/siteatschool Site@School homepage: http://siteatschool.sourceforge.net

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[FSFE PR][EN] FSF Europe Newsletter (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 08 Jun '05

08 Jun '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- 1. General Assembly in Vienna, Austria 2. Access to Knowledge (A2K) meeting in London, UK 3. Romanian discussion mailing lists 4. LinuxWorldExpo in Milano, Italy 5. Linuxwochen Wien, Vienna, Austria 6. Software patent conference in Udine, Italy 7. Alessandro Rubini in Bologna 8. FSFE very active in Brussels 9. Freedom Party in Berne, Switzerland 10. FSFE looks for new intern 1. General Assembly in Vienna, Austria On 7th May 2005, the general assembly of FSFE met in Vienna, Austria to review the activities of the past year and plan ahead for the next year to come. As this was the end of the second electoral period for FSFE's extended executive committee, the executive committee presented another two-year executive summary. The general assembly thanked its executives for their excellent work of the past two years and unanimously reelected the entire extended executive committee. http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/reports/es-2005.en.html 2. Access to Knowledge (A2K) meeting in London, UK The A2K initiative has its background in the ongoing debate of a reform of the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation. On 12th and 13th of May, representatives of various civil society initiatives, universities and governments as well as independent activists met to discuss a possible treaty on "Access to Knowledge" to be proposed on United Nations level. Georg Greve took part in the meeting for FSFE and provided input on issues such as Free Software, software patents and open standards. He also chaired the session on Authors and Performers. The A2K treaty would be an important milestone to truly transform WIPO into a "World Intellectual Wealth Organisation." http://www.fsfeurope.org/documents/wiwo.en.html 3. Romanian discussion mailing lists After he translated several pages of the FSFE website to Romanian, Adi Roiban volunteered to manage a Romanian speaking discussion mailing list about Free Software topics (fsfe-ro at fsfeurope.org) and one about Free Software in education in Romania (edu-ro at fsfeurope.org). The FSFE happily hosts these lists, along with several other mailing lists on Free Software topics. http://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo 4. LinuxWorldExpo in Milano, Italy Most people of the Italian team were present at the LinuxWorldExpo in Milano. Stefano Maffulli held a speech about the Fellowship and participated in a round table discussion about open standards and free software. Alessandro Rubini spoke about documentation and licensing issues in free software development; he also served as chairman of the "Linux for embedded devices" session. Emmanuele Somma of the Italian team spoke about free software adoption in financial institutions, and Free Ekanayaka presented the Agnula project. Thanks to the work of the Italian team and volunteers, the highest amount ever of donations from an Italian event was achieved. 5. Linuxwochen Wien, Vienna, Austria Linuxwochen Wien (Linux weeks Vienna), Austria's biggest Free Software event, took place from 24 to 27 May. Karin Kosina opened the event with a keynote on 24 May and held a speech about the importance of the term "Free Software" on May 26th. On 25 May, Georg Greve gave the keynote for the "B2B and public administrations" day. Both also took part in several panel discussions. 6. Software patent conference in Udine, Italy Italian team members Stefano Maffulli, Alessandro Rubini and Fabrizio Veutro participated as speakers in a conference about software patents organised by the Udine University. University staff members organised this event to counter ongoing efforts to push for unlimited patenting during University activities. 7. Alessandro Rubini in Bologna On 20 May, Alessandro Rubini talked in Bologna, in a lesson organised by Prof. Renzo Davoli within the "Master in Tecnologia del Software Libero e Open Source", about the economic models of Free Software development. 8. FSFE very active in Brussels Ciaran O'Riordan, FSFE's full-time representative in Brussels, is still working closely with the FFII on the software patent issue. He met several members of the European Parliament and had good contacts with the press, for example the German magazine Spiegel and the Wall Street Journal Europe. He also organised a Freedom Party on 2 June in Brussels where Fellows of FSFE and other friends of Free Software could meet and celebrate digital freedom together. 9. Freedom Party in Berne, Switzerland FSFE's associated organisation Wilhelm Tux organised the first Swiss Freedom Party in Berne on 21 May. The party, although small, gathered some 25 people from all over Switzerland. Myriam Schweingruber, president of Wilhelm Tux, explained the work of FSFE and presented the Fellowship and its CryptoCard. Alex Schroeder, vice-president, recalled the importance for the Swiss, although not in the EU, to collaborate actively with the FSF Europe on such important issues as software patents, proprietary software monopolies and more. 10. FSFE looks for new intern FSFE intern Karsten Gerloff has just entered the last month of his internship. His work consists of handling most of FSFE's office tasks, promoting the Fellowship and assisting Georg Greve in the Hamburg office, as well as sometimes on his travels. The FSFE is looking for someone to succeed him as soon as possible. http://www.fsfeurope.org/contribute/internship.en.html You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html _______________________________________________ Press-release mailing list Press-release(a)fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release

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OFFTOPIC: Wipo in Singapore
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Jun '05

07 Jun '05

http://www.eians.com/stories/2005/06/07/07sing.shtml Global patents body launches Singapore office Print this page.. Indo-Asian News Service Singapore, June 7 (IANS) The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) opened its Singapore office Tuesday in a bid to foster closer ties between the with the various intellectual property (IP) offices in the Asia-Pacific region. The office, the first in the region, is expected to facilitate constructive dialogue on issues in the international IP agenda and creating a culture of respect for IP, reports Xinhua. "The Asia-Pacific is rapidly emerging as an exciting region of new growth for IP," said Singapore Senior Minister of State for Law Ho Peng Kee at the opening ceremony, adding that the office will help countries in the region to develop IP as a tool for economic growth. Also Tuesday, the Asia-Pacific Regional Symposium on Intellectual Property for Development opened here, the first major meet organised by the inaugurated office and Singapore's Foreign Ministry. Participants in the conference will exchange views on issues such as effective IP strategies for national development, balancing competing priorities in IP policy and the new business role of IP offices in the 21st century. The WIPO has offices in Geneva, Washington, New York and Brussels. Indo-Asian News Service

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Indian Consitution
by Annamalai Gurusami 07 Jun '05

07 Jun '05

Hi All, I came to know that I can get Constition of India in a CD-ROM. But this will cost INR 515/-. http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/cd.htm Instead of this I thought it is better to buy a hard copy of Constitution of India. Can anybody tell me where I can order for one? I enquired at nicsi(a)hub.nic.in, asking why the CD is so costly. But I did not get any response. My thoughts were that, if Indian Constitution is in Public Domain, shouldn't the cost of that CD-ROM be just about INR 100/- or so? I asked them if I can resell it, but I didn't get _any_ response. :-( What are your thoughts on this? Thank you. Rgds, anna -- As soon as we started programming, we found to our surprise that it wasn't as easy to get programs right as we had thought. Debugging had to be discovered. I can remember the exact instant when I realized that a large part of my life from then on was going to be spent in finding mistakes in my own programs. -- Maurice Wilkes discovers debugging, 1949

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[Fsf-friends] Re: [Ilugc] [Photos] FSFS Conference, May 28-30, 2005, Kerala
by Ramanraj K 07 Jun '05

07 Jun '05

On 6/7/05, Shakthi Kannan <cyborg4k(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Greetings! > > I have uploaded the photos (32 of them) taken during > the Free Software, Free Society Conference held > between May 28-30, 2005 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala > at: > > http://www.shakthimaan.com/Mambo/gallery/GNU-Linux-FSF-Community-Work Shakthi, thanks for uploading the photos so quickly. One minor correction: In photo No:30 of the album,Dhusasana and Duriyodhana are seen (not Krishna). The Special Kathakali performance was part of Duryodhana Vadham upto the end of Dhusasana. I should thank Dr. Sasi Kumar who explained in detail about the various costumes used in a Kathakali performance. The good characters are painted in green, and the villains are usually painted red along with other fearsome face props but also have funny noses. Draupadi was also played by a male artist. A kathakali artist trains himself for as many as 15 years before playing serious roles, and their perfection in performing their role should be seen to be believed. More information about kathakali is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathakali > P.S.: I am one of the unfortunate ones who couldn't > get a ticket to travel to Kerala :( Argh. I missed so much. The next meet might be at Venuzuela - let us not miss that :)

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[Fsf-friends] Fwd: [Ilugc] [Photos] FSFS Conference, May 28-30, 2005, Kerala
by Ramanraj K 07 Jun '05

07 Jun '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Shakthi Kannan <cyborg4k(a)yahoo.com> Date: Jun 7, 2005 9:12 PM Subject: [Ilugc] [Photos] FSFS Conference, May 28-30, 2005, Kerala To: ilugc(a)ae.iitm.ac.in Cc: fsf-tn(a)gnu.org.in Greetings! I have uploaded the photos (32 of them) taken during the Free Software, Free Society Conference held between May 28-30, 2005 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala at: http://www.shakthimaan.com/Mambo/gallery/GNU-Linux-FSF-Community-Work Thanks to Anand Babu and Ramanraj for the photos. The conference site: http://fsfs.hipatia.net/ SK P.S.: I am one of the unfortunate ones who couldn't get a ticket to travel to Kerala :( Argh. I missed so much. -- proudly anti-micro$oft -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shakthi Kannan, MS Software Engineer, Specsoft (Hexaware Technologies) http://www.shakthimaan.com 98407-87007 (M) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email ilugc-request(a)ae.iitm.ac.in with "unsubscribe <password> <address>" in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc

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Re: [Fsf-friends] CBSE/NCERT
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 06 Jun '05

06 Jun '05

Dear Nagarjuna, The author is Sangeetha Panchal a teacher at Hans Raj Model School, New Delhi who has co-authored (alongwith Alka Sabharwal of the same school) the text "Computer Science Information Technology for Class 5" of CBSE. She claims to have been a member of Computer Science Syllabus designing committee for both NCERT and CBSE. The text is full of MS stuff, and the authors seem to be blind in love with MS products. The questions framed reflect their intentions of making students commit to an unflinching love towards these products. Somehow, this reminds me of the scandalous indulgance of IKM (Information Kerala Mission), an incubatory project of Microsoft under Govt of Kerala, whose chief (PV Unnikrishnan) was desperate to get photographed with Bill Gates, when the latter visited India. Media personnel took the story head on and commented that this was a "sell-off" (the development of Microsoft based software for local bodies in Kerala). This gentleman even took the Minister for IT and arranged for the *shake-hand* session. PV Unnikrishnan had earlier written (after making EM Sreedharan , son of EMS, a co-author of the article presented in the 13th Science Congress) that he was going to *set up the biggest deployment of MS SQL Server in Kerala*, when the computerisation of the Local bodies would be completed. Cadres of LDF, whenever opposed were silenced, telling them that *the project* had the blessings of (late) EM Sreedharan Nambudiri. People often get into *radical extremes* falling into love with *dollar power* of the richest corporate, without realising that their folly would only be short-lived and that they would be dumped forever into waste basket by common citizens. And this seems to be exactly what is unfolding in Kerala when the School Teachers Association would have completed their training of Free Software. CK Raju, Thrissur

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Reminder: FSUG, Bangalore
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Jun '05

06 Jun '05

Self-description. From "Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati" <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com> Free Software User Group-Bangalore http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/ an active group of Free Software enthusiasts, GNU users and students. We started FSUG two years ago with a view to mentor, help the use Free Software in Schools and colleges and for common good. Recently we have made a successful public campaign to adopt Free Software Solution in educational courses by Visveswaraiah Technological University. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign Currently we are working on creating a massive directory of Indian Free Software Projects, consisting of all the contributions from Indian Sub-continent. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?IndianFreeSoftwareProjects END OF FORWARDED MSG .......................................................................... Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436 Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.net ..........................................................................

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Mumbai Free Map
by Kanti Jadia 06 Jun '05

06 Jun '05

Hi Shekahr, This is really good. Now a lot of issues with developement would get resolved. In ref. the open series maps (OSMs) could eventually replace the maps already present Related news : http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2005052002830300.h… Regards Kanti On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 Shekhar Krishnan wrote : >Dear All: > >Please see the latest demo of the Mumbai Free Map on http://freemap.crit.org.in > >This now contains detailed vector layers for roads, railways, buildings and plots, projected onto a satellite composite image of the city. The data has been sourced from existing municipal development plans, surveys, and maps, which we have scanned, traced and stitched together with our archive of project materials at CRIT. > >This project has been developed using completely free and open source software (Map Server, GRASS, QGIS) and copyleft and public geographic data. > >The project web page is on http://www.crit.org.in/projects/gis and we welcome comments and feedback on it as we begin developing an interface by which to annotate the maps and develop this as an open source and interactive archive and community information infrastructure. > >Regards, > > >S.K. >_____ > >Shekhar Krishnan >CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust) >B-43, Shravasti >Goregaon-Malad Link Road >Malad (West), Mumbai 400064 >India > >http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar > > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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CBSE/NCERT
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 05 Jun '05

05 Jun '05

Fred, The CBSE curriculum still has Microsoft based themes. Worse still, one of the members of the curriculum revision committee for NCERT/CBSE has written a text book, published by Oxford University Press - ulterior motives are explicit. CK Raju

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Wanted volunteers:Indian Free Software Projects page.
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 05 Jun '05

05 Jun '05

Wanted volunteers to support and encourage the growth of this page. http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?IndianFreeSoftwareProjects It's very important to all. Can you help? -- arky Rakesh 'arky' Ambati GPG Key ID: 0x92BCF7D4 Blog [ http://arky.in ] Member FSUG-Bangalore [ http://bangalore.gnu.org.in ] Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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How Free Software Pays my Bills (Steven M Rubin)
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 05 Jun '05

05 Jun '05

Hello There, Often Free Software developers are projected in bad light,perhaps this autobiographical article will enlighten quite a few. http://www.free-soft.org/FSM/english/issue03/paybills.html How Free Software Pays my Bills by Steven M. Rubin Static Free Software I've been playing with computers since I was in High School 35 years ago. And in those 35 years, I've done it all: a Computer Science Ph.D. and a host of jobs including systems administrator, researcher, professor, author, entrepreneur, and most of all, programmer. What I like most about computers is that I can build useful programs for other people. The idea of free software has always made sense to me. And now free software is my business. A program that I wrote nearly 20 years ago ("Electric") is a GNU offering, and I work on it full-time. For the past 3 years, I've earned more than ever before by consulting, training, and selling products related to this system. I'm so busy that the "dot bomb" didn't even touch me. And everyone who I consult for (Sun, Intel, etc.) agrees that I may take the improvements - that they pay for - and give it out to the GNU community. How did this come about? Here is my story. Electric, 1982 It all started back in 1982 when I was working at the Fairchild Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. It made sense, when working for a chip manufacturer, to investigate ideas in Computer-Aided Design (CAD). And this was at the time when the famous textbook by Mead and Conway came out ("Introduction to VLSI Systems"). With this book, integrated-circuit design became less of a black art and more accessible to the masses. After using two other CAD systems, I decided to write my own, and so I built Electric. Even by today's standards, this system has clever ideas that make it powerful. Soon, everyone in the lab was using it to design chips. Now Fairchild, at that time, was owned by Schlumberger, a large company that had many other holdings. One of those other holdings was Applicon, a maker of CAD systems. When we showed Electric to people at Applicon, they declared that they already knew all of these ideas, and so they had no interest in it. This news made me very happy, because I could then suggest to the lab director that we give this worthless CAD system away to others. The lab started giving out the Electric source code to universities and other nonprofit groups (licensed in the style of Bell Labs' UNIX). After a few years, it was widely used. For example, Canada and New Zealand set up agencies in their countries to support Electric for the schools of their nation. Leaving the Womb But then I quit working for Schlumberger, and since they owned my system, I also quit working on Electric. Or so I thought. One day a man named Brian Gardiner called me on the phone and told me an incredible thing: he had just bought the rights to Electric from Schlumberger. He was forming a company called Electric Editor Inc., and he needed my help. For 10 years, Electric Editor lived on the edge of survival. Brian took no salary for many of those years. At first, the system was priced low (it was already developed and ready to use). But people were afraid to purchase it because of its suspiciously low price. So Brian raised the price to be competitive. Then the customers had another reason to avoid us: we were too small. Complex CAD systems require extensive training, and people were afraid of having to retrain if our small company folded. It was a double-edged sword. The only place where Electric did well commercially was as a "custom-solutions" CAD system. A few large software development projects were undertaken for customers whose needs were outside of the mainstream. Electric was easy to customize to these special needs. But it wasn't enough, and Electric Editor decided to close its doors. It was at this point that I was able to convince them to place Electric at GNU. Was it a last act of desperation for a dying company? No, it was a crafty way to solve all of Electric's problems at once! Free at Last The two objections to the use of Electric were price and company stability. As a piece of "free software" from the most well-known free software collection, both of these issues are finally put to rest. The low price is no longer suspicious, because everyone knows and understands the "free software model". And people also feel that GNU is at least as stable as any company in business today. I purchased the rights to Electric from the old company and formed a new one: Static Free Software (www.staticfreesoft.com). My new company finally had the perfect product: a CAD system you can trust, at a price you can afford. But what's in it for me? First off, it's still great to see people using my programs, and now I have users all over the world. University professors teach classes with Electric, many individual "hobbyists" are designing chips at home, and engineers at large companies are evaluating and using it. I'm doing a modest business just selling supported binaries, documentation and CDs on the web. But the real payoff comes when a large company wants Electric, and pays me to help them. For the past 3 years, I have consulted continuously at Sun Microsystems. During that time, I have also done projects for Intel and a number of smaller companies. Free software consulting has turned into a modern "cottage industry", where I sit home in my "cottage" uploading software to the web, and customers on the other side of the world wire payment to my bank account. Staying Free Everyone knows the classic work-world model: when you work for "the man," he owns your soul. And when a company pays me to develop Electric, they own those improvements. But thanks to GNU, this scenario gets changed. Because improving Electric could trigger the GPL and force distribution, most companies see this as an encumbrance that has potential "downstream cost." So corporate lawyers regularly assign ownership of the improvements to me. That way, they don't have to worry about fulfilling the terms of the GPL. Corporate lawyers hate the GPL for another reason as well: its "viral" nature. If even a single subroutine of Electric's code is used in any other company product, that entire product gets "infected" and must be given away free (this is not my analogy: I've heard it from corporate lawyers more than once). One company, to protect itself, purchased a "commercial license" from me that circumvented the GPL and granted them more control of distribution. But I was still able to stipulate in this commercial license that the bulk of the improvements, and all of the bug fixes, would be owned by me and thus remain free. In the 17 months since that agreement was made, none of my work has been restricted in any way, and all of it gets sent to GNU. So every day, I work on Electric, and I still love it. I don't work very hard: about 25 billable hours per week, plus time in the evening to answer "fan mail". No boss can kill my project, and there's never been a lack of work. I even have colleagues all over the world who contribute code and help me to build a well-respected piece of software. It could never have happened without GNU. About the Author Steven M. Rubin is the author of the Electric VLSI Design System, and the CAD tools textbook "Computer Aids for VLSI Design." He received his doctorate at Carnegie Mellon University and has done research at Bell Labs, Schlumberger, and Apple. Specializing in visually-oriented computing, his research has spanned computer vision, graphics, and CAD. Steve is also the lead singer of Severe Tire Damage, the first band to perform live on the Internet. Knowlege is power... share it equitably! -- arky Rakesh 'arky' Ambati GPG Key ID: 0x92BCF7D4 Blog [ http://arky.in ] Member FSUG-Bangalore [ http://bangalore.gnu.org.in ] Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

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Re:[Fsf-friends] draft gnowledge manifesto
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 05 Jun '05

05 Jun '05

Dear Nagarjuna, >I have uploaded the oulines of the talk given at Trivandrum conference. Sounds soft now. But there may be issues related to construction of "mind" - perhaps, the theme of "mentality" over mind may be more suitable to this context (it would smash away a few more remaining brmnkl concepts). In fact culturation could directly and easily be exchanged with mentality - saying explicitly that there is no "mind". Regarding "Copyrights and Patents", we should remove that *bias*. "...When the English Parliament passed the first modern copyright law, the Statute of Anne, in 1710, it did so in part to stop publishing monopolies 'from oppressing authors, potential competitors, and the public'. The first American copyright law, in 1790, covered only books, maps, and charts, and granted monopoly control for a mere 14 years (renewable for another 14). The Copyright Clause itself specifies only 'limited times' for monopoly control of creative works, after which they enter the public domain � that is, they become freely available for anyone to publish, sell, copy, or preserve...." (www.fepproject.org) Historically, hence the concept of Copyright were quite different from what they are interpreted today by Corporate-based education/legislations. One more issue remains. And that is to commit that though there are ways today to get *interconnected* globally, in reality, there is no *communication* (Nizar-ian theme, which includes "mentality" - ex Kanpur IIT, your alma mater). People just do not communicate, they mimic, coerce or terrorise. Here the ethics centred around *principles of sharing* that is embedded with Free Software, gives a way out, probably the best way - and that's why citizens world over do not scared when Free Software is becoming *global*, getting ready to *colonise* with its own anti-inhuman *imperialistic designs*. The most fundamental departure from Marxian idealogy is that "revolution" here doesn't pit human beings against human beings, it forces human beings to come together and work for *commons*. Maybe, your theme already covers these ideas. CK Raju

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draft gnowledge manifesto
by Nagarjuna G. 05 Jun '05

05 Jun '05

I have uploaded the oulines of the talk given at Trivandrum conference. Though this is not a complete essay, most of you could make out what is between the lines. I waiting for some peaceful time to complete the draft. Meanwhile do give me your inputs, criticism, etc. the link is: http://db.hbcse.tifr.res.in/gn/gnowledge-manifesto.html Nagarjuna

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Free CDs spread open source in India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 04 Jun '05

04 Jun '05

http://news.com.com/Free+CDs+spread+open+source+in+India/2100-7344_3-572000… Free CDs spread open source in India Published: May 25, 2005, 9:17 AM PDT By Ingrid Marson Special to CNET News.com The Indian government is trying to encourage the use of computers across the country by distributing free CDs that contain localized versions of popular open-source applications. The government has started distributing CDs containing Tamil-language versions of various open-source applications, including the Firefox browser, the OpenOffice.org productivity suite and the Columba e-mail client. It plans to freely distribute 3.5 million copies of the CD to Tamil speakers worldwide, according to R.K.V.S. Raman, a researcher at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, a Bangalore-based organization involved in the production of the CD. Open Source Software In India, seeking avenues for growth There's no standing still in a competitive global market--just check out the tech action in Bangalore. Raman told ZDNet UK on Wednesday that the CDs have been in considerable demand following a newspaper-and-television advertising campaign last month. "We have had a tremendous response to this (initiative)," he said. "In the first two weeks of the campaign we got about 100,000 hits daily on the Web site offering CDs, and about 2,000 to 3,000 downloads (of Tamil-language applications). We have already sent out around 50,000 CDs and have a backlog of 35,000." Once the requested CDs have been sent out, more copies will be distributed with computer magazines and newspapers, according to Raman. Even the president of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has taken an interest in the project and earlier this month met the team involved in the production of the CD. The next stage of the project is to distribute CDs containing applications in Hindi, the national language of India. This stage will be launched on June 21 and likely will involve more than the 3.5 million CDs earmarked for the current phase, said Raman. Eventually, the government plans to release CDs in all of the 22 official languages of India. Raman believes open-source software has two main advantages for the Indian population--it is relatively inexpensive and it can be modified fairly easily. "We are sometimes not comfortable with Western user interfaces--they don't make sense in our culture, particularly for rural people who haven't had much access to technology. If we want to modify the software we have to have access to the code," he said. The Indian government's decision to ship free software in this way likely will be a blow to Microsoft, which plans to release a low-cost version of Windows in India soon. Microsoft originally hoped to release its Windows XP Starter Edition--a low-cost, feature-restricted version of Windows XP--by the end of March, but it's now aiming for a June release. Ingrid Marson of ZDNet UK reported from London.

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MADE IN INDIA: Anjuta 2.0 released... after much of a wait
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 04 Jun '05

04 Jun '05

http://anjuta.sourceforge.net/ Anjuta 2.0.0 released! kh_naba - 2005-05-15 03:02 - Anjuta C/C++ IDE After much waiting we are please to announce Anjuta 2.0.0, the first release of Anjuta 2.x series. This is an alpha & unstable release and may not be suitable for production use. However, we encourage to use it and help us with bug reports. Both stable and development release can be used simultaneously, but they should be installed in different install prefix (important). (7 Comments) [Read More/Comment] The goal of Anjuta DevStudio is to provide a truely customizable and extensible IDE framework and at the same time provide the basic implementations of common development tools. libanjuta is the framework that realizes the Anjuta IDE plugin framework and Anjuta DevStudio realizes many of the common development plugins. Anjuta branches Anjuta currently has two main branches, ANJUTA_1_2_0 and HEAD. The ANJUTA_1_2_0 branch is stable branch and corresponds to anjuta-1.x release series. The HEAD branch is the anjuta-2.x releases and is the latest development series. Anjuta 2.x development series has new extensible plugin architecture and all the plugins have been ported to this new plateform. The libanjuta interface defines all the IDE APIs and is used to write anjuta plugins. In addition, it also provides many utility classes. Following are the major milestones that we will attempt to reach by the estimated dates given. There will be smaller releases in-between, mainly stablization and bugfix releases. Milestone 2.1.0 - (Estimated release time Aug 2005) - Compelete autotools project management implementation (gnome-build) - Complete libanjuta API definition and documentation - Complete Users manual, tutorials and FAQ - Partial implementation of ants (java) project management (gnome-build) - Partial implementation of Online anjuta plugin installer - Fix GDL to restore widgets dock locations correctly. - Fix GDL to restore widgets geometry correctly on dock. .......................................................................... Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436 Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.net ..........................................................................

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SITEWATCH: http://www.tectonic.co.za/
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 04 Jun '05

04 Jun '05

SITEWATCH: http://www.tectonic.co.za/ 3 June 2005 Last Updated: 2005-06-02 , Diary of an open source developer workshop: Independent journalist Frederick Noronha blogged his way through the Asia Source open source developer workshop in India earlier this year. Now he has collected all his writings over the entire workshop and released them as a small book which offers a fascinating insight into the state of open source software, not only in Asia, but throughout the world. SA partners to participate in global free software study: The CSIR and the University of the Western Cape have been selected to participate in a two-year global study on free and open source software. X Factor - understanding the X window system: Unix systems and their derivatives, including Linux, these days have one major thing in common. They all use the same system as the back end for their graphical interfaces. This system is called the X window system, or more commonly X. Creative Commons launched in SA: Founder Larry Lessig joins African counterparts to launch South African chapter of organisation working to challenge and re-define the notion of intellectual property rights. Skills deficit still dogs open source software in Africa - report: Bridges.org this week released the findings of its study on the use of free/open source and proprietary software in public computer centres in Africa. It found that where free software was well-implemented there were many advantages but FOSS still faces many challenges to widespread adoption. It also found that many of the preceived advantages of free software - such as cost - were not realised in Africa. CSIR's open source centre evolves: Around R50 million a year to be pumped into growing the number , and quality of technical skills in South Africa through learnerships, increased research and new technologies. BitDefender for small businesses and FreeBSD: The security conscious will be pleased with the decision by BitDefender to extend support to FreeBSD as well as introducing a small business-focused version that runs on most Linux distributions. SA has skills to challenge global software market - Tax CIO: The South African IT sector has an unparalleled work ethic and the skills needed to be a major innovator in the global software market but needs to pick its battles carefully, South African Revenue Service CIO Ken Jarvis said this morning. Obsidian gets Ubuntu deal: Shuttleworth signs up Obsidian as Ubuntu support partner in South Africa. 111 LPI exams written at LinuxWorld: The LPI certification event held yesterday at LinuxWorld South Africa saw candidates writing 111 exams. Maddog rails against 'false' TCO debate: Long-time Linux advocate and a keynote speaker at the first LinuxWorld ZA conference, Jon "Maddog" Hall told conference delagates that the real value of open source is not captured in a total-cost-of-ownership calculation. LinuxWorld kicks off with Shuttleworth: EduBuntu and a local support partner for Ubuntu topped Shuttleworth's opening address at LinuxWorld yesterday. He also gave some hints on what to expect from Breezy Badger, the next release of Ubuntu expected in October. Managed Linux services on show at LinuxWorld: Synaq plans to showcase the "clear cut" advantages open source software offers businesses, irrespective of their size. Web-based OpenOffice.org 2.0 training Local training company Intoweb to launch web-based interactive OpenOffice.org 2.0 training package at LinuxWorld. News you might have missed LinuxWorld kicks off with Shuttleworth 2005-05-18 - EduBuntu and a local support partner for Ubuntu topped Shuttleworth's opening address at LinuxWorld yesterday. He also gave some hints on what to expect from Breezy Badger, the next release of Ubuntu expected in October. Managed Linux services on show at LinuxWorld 2005-05-17 - Synaq plans to showcase the "clear cut" advantages open source software offers businesses, irrespective of their size. Web-based OpenOffice.org 2.0 training 2005-05-17 - Local training company Intoweb to launch web-based interactive OpenOffice.org 2.0 training package at LinuxWorld. Obsidian to unveil new look at LinuxWorld 2005-05-16 - SA Linux "veterans" Obsidian Systems plan to use local show to launch their new corporate identity. Tangent to unveil Linux management tools at LinuxWorld 2005-05-13 - Distro-independent tools to make administering Linux as simple as possible. News | About Us | Contact Us | Newsletter | User Groups | Advertise | Copyright (c) 1998 - 2005 Tectonic Media. All rights reserved. .......................................................................... Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436 Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.net ..........................................................................

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Softwarefreedomday.org
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 02 Jun '05

02 Jun '05

Would really like to invite Free Software user groups in different parts of India (or elsewhere) to join in the softwarefreedomday.org event, which is being organised this year on September 10, 2005. FN .......................................................................... Frederick (FN) Noronha | Freelance Journalist | Mobile +91 9822 122436 Tel +91.832.2409490 | http://fn.swiki.net | http://www.bytesforall.net ..........................................................................

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WIPO online debate on IP and information society (June1-15)
by Pedro de Paranaguá Moniz 02 Jun '05

02 Jun '05

Want to be officially heard? Chance to participate. cheers, Pedro. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [A2k] WIPO online debate on IP and information society (June1-15) Date: Tue, 31 May 2005 12:42:07 -0400 From: To: Ecommerce(a)lists.essential.org, a2k discuss list <a2k(a)lists.essential.org> ONLINE FORUM ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY June 1 - 15, 2005 Through an online forum, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will provide a unique opportunity for all to take part in a dynamic discussion on the role of intellectual property in the Information Society. The Online Forum on Intellectual Property in the Information Society will be hosted by WIPO from June 1 to 15, 2005, at http://www.wipo.int/ipisforum/. The WIPO Online Forum is designed to enable and encourage an open discussion on issues related to intellectual property and the information society, in light of the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Comments will be invited on 10 themes: 1.The WSIS Declaration of Principles sets out a vision for the information society – how can the intellectual property system support this vision? 2.The intellectual property system and freedom of expression and creativity: Help or hindrance? 3.The public domain and open access models of information creation: at odds with the intellectual property system or enabled by it? 4.What is the impact of copyright law, both at international and national levels, on education and research? 5.What are the rights and responsibilities of intellectual property rightsholders? 6.Global partnerships to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals: what role for intellectual property? 7.How is intellectual property policy made for the information society: and who makes it? 8.How can cultural and intellectual diversity of traditional communities be respected in the information society? 9.Emerging business models for distributing intellectual property online: opportunity or threat? 10.What are the challenges for enforcement of intellectual property rights in the digital environment? Anyone who has an interest in these topics will be free to post their comments on the WIPO Online Forum over a two-week period beginning June 1, 2005. Each theme page will contain a commentary about the issue and list of questions to consider, background resources and a posting of comments made. WIPO is looking forward to a lively and extensive debate in this Online Forum, which, it is hoped will include comments from all stakeholders, as well as the general public. This initiative is part of WIPO’s continuing efforts to raise awareness about intellectual property issues, encourage discussion and ensure that the intellectual property system responds to the concerns of all stakeholders. The conclusions of the Online Forum will form part of WIPO’s contribution to WSIS. For further information please contact: +41 22 338 8138, or email: ecommerce(a)wipo.int. _______________________________________________ A2k mailing list A2k(a)lists.essential.org http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k ____________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail, cada vez melhor: agora com 1GB de espaço grátis! http://mail.yahoo.com.br

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FSFS conference
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 02 Jun '05

02 Jun '05

Dear GNagarjun, (G as in GNU) I think the paper presented by the Italian Senator had a lot to do with 'Commodities and Capabilities' by Amartya Sen. What do you feel about it? CK Raju

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RE:Summer of code from google
by Puneet Goel 01 Jun '05

01 Jun '05

Don't forget to read the comments on Slashdot. Interesting ones :) http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=151249&threshold=1&mode=flat…

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Let this School Adopt GNU/Linux, Make a difference
by Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati 01 Jun '05

01 Jun '05

Dear Friends, Please forgive me for X-posting this email but the you help by donating some money to school so that it can get a new computer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Premier Academy Panjagutta(Hyderabad) is a School primarily meant for the poor children,they are keen on trying Linux in their School Lab! Mr.Herald of FLOSS-HYD played a pivotal role in convincing school management to shift over to Linux(I thank him for that). There is a shortage of funds(around Rs.3000) for buying a computer,it would be great if members of FLOSS-HYD come forward to donate some money ........by contributing you will be helping around 200 young minds getting introduced to the world of LINUX !! People interested in contributing can send a cheque or contact Mr.Herald directly(9848438717). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cheers --arky Rakesh 'Arky' Ambati <rakesh_ambati(a)yahoo.com>

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Summaer of code from google
by Puneet Goel 01 Jun '05

01 Jun '05

The Summer of Code is Google's program designed to introduce students to the world of Open Source Software Development. This Summer, don't let your programming skills lie fallow...Use them for the greater good of Open Source Software and computer science! Google will provide a $4500 award to each student who successfully completes an open source project by the end of the Summer. (payment details can be found in FAQ) By pairing applicants up with the proven wisdom and experience of established prominent open source organizations (listed below), we hope to make great software happen. If you can't come up with a great idea to submit, a number of our organizations have made idea lists available. http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html cheers! Puneet

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Free Software Free Society Thiruvananthapuram Declaration
by Sasi Kumar 30 May '05

30 May '05

The Free Software Free Society Conference held at Thiruvananthapuram during May 28-29 adopted a declaration that called upon the social and political institutions to eliminate systems that hinder the development of the gnowledge society (see www.gnowledge.org). The full text of the declaration is available at fsfs.hipatia.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. V. Sasi Kumar

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