- Fsf-friends - lists.fsci.in

see this
by amal dev manuel 23 Mar '05

23 Mar '05

hello friends, see the link. http://www.herowar.com/recruit.phtml?id=20413 this enirely runs on a debian box. amazing !!, isnt it ? tom __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/

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Left saves the day!
by Ramanraj K 23 Mar '05

23 Mar '05

Certainly, many reports were far from accurate going against the debates reported at: http://164.100.24.208/today/tdailydeb.htm It may be a spectacular success after all! Not only, that, it *might* include an *important* amendment touching upon computer programs, that we should wait to hear from authoritative sources. Meanwhile, a little food for thought: I just had the chance to read the following document published at http://cpim.org/upa/2004_patents.pdf <quote> Left Parties on Amendments to the Indian Patent Act Dec 20, 2004 The Group of Ministers had made available to us the draft Patent (Third) Amendment Bill for our consideration and suggestions. We were told about the predicament faced by the Government: The Patents Act 1970 had already been substantially altered and diluted by the two amendment bills enacted by the previous NDA government. There was also the so-called deadline of TRIPs to be observed. And hence the need to push through the Third amendment bill as proposed. Either the reasoning or the conclusions of the Government did not convince us. Nevertheless, we tried to understand the compulsions of the Government and limit our suggestions to the absolute minimum that is needed to be done to safeguard the national interest... Draft Patents Bill 2003 ======================= Clause 3(k) and (ka) (k) a computer programme per se other than its technical application to industry or a combination with hardware; (ka) a mathematical method or a business method or algorithms; Amendment Suggested =================== Clause 3(k) (k) a mathematical method or a business method or a computer programme per se or algorithms; Clause (ka) be deleted Comments of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion ======================================================= This issue has been discussed by the JPC during the 2nd Amendment to the Patents Act. The proposed changes are more in the nature of a classification, due to confusing interpretations that have arisen. Section 3 of the Act contains details of items which are not inventions within the meaning of the Act and hence, are not patentable. This section also provides, inter alia, that "a mathematical or computer programmes per se or algorithms" are not patentable. However, this provision has been subject to confusing interpretations, (such as whether 'per se' applies only to computers programme, or also to mathematical or business methods. Also, whether technical applications of computer programmes are patentable or not). Given the emerging opportunities in the software sector and growing Indian strength in information technology, it is necessary to clarify the provisions in Section 3 (k) so as to allow patenting of a computer programme only in case it has technical applicatioos in combination with hardware. Software alone is already protected under copyright laws. It is also proposed to clarify that a mathematical or business method or algorithm will not be patentable. The Department of Information Technology has suggested the incorporation of such a clarification which is now proposed to be included. The GoM has considered this issue and noted that the proposed clarification is in the larger national interest. Reply to Comments by Deptt. of Industrial Policy and promotion ============================================================== Draft Bill reduces the scope of what is not patentable in the area of computer programmes. This is not in the interest of the software industry in India. To the contray, it could promote the interests of monopolies like Microsoft. If the qualification per se is creating confusion, the same may be deleted from the original Clause 3 (k) of the present Act, without any other Amendments. </quote> I came to know about the above, just this morning from the cpim.org website. On 21st, the very same amendment was independently suggested for another reason: The best justification for the amendment sought is this: "Under the TRIPS agreement, "computer programs" shall be protected by copyrights. In this context "per se" is a meaningless qualification, and the amendment would make our law fully TRIPS compliant." The fact that US issues patents for software merely means that the US is violating TRIPS and India should complain to the WTO against the practice, claiming heavy damages for the violation. If India succeeds with this amendment, our friends in Europe would be too happy to follow suit. It would put considerable pressure on US to modify their law." If Section 3(k) reads "a mathematical or business method or computer program or algorithms", it should be a very, very important success, far beyond having the proposed changes alone dropped. We have now fulfilled all our so called "International Obligations" India *should* complain to the WTO against the US practice of "software patents" that are a serious trade barrier in US. Meanwhile, we should prepare a letter thanking all the people who have made this possible.

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MS' influence redux
by balachandran c 23 Mar '05

23 Mar '05

In our discussion about the subject, we were pointing out the current state of affairs. Most of the actions proposed involved contacting the relevant authorities and pointing out the facts to them. While this is necessary, it is nowhere near sufficient. (Please don't misunderstand me, I do believe that it involves a lot of hard work, and it really is necessary). Let us assume that these efforts become successful. MS could still give away their software to students, or show off some eye candy (ooh, avalon is soo shiny). Suddenly, FS becomes that thing which you are forced to use, not something you choose to use. It is very easy to manipulate people's opinion against it, in this condition. This is under a very optimistic assumption. We could use the {horse, cart} analogy here?? Shouldn't we try to get the students onboard first? Is it that difficult to get students' attention? Maybe we could sponsor an FS based event in college Tech. meets. Students will be looking around for interesting things, and they can find stuff about FS for themselves. Are people neglecting the "attention first, ideology later" option because they think it is on the wrong side of "ends / means" argument? Is it considered too *ahem* inappropriate to be discussed on this list? Bala.

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[Fsf-friends] Petition to make GoK to accept Open Debate on Bangalore One project
by Venkat Kumaraswamy 23 Mar '05

23 Mar '05

Dear Friends, I have just read and signed the online petition: "GoK to accept Open Debate on Bangalore One Project" hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/19562006/ I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself. Best wishes, Venkatappa M. Kumaraswamy --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.

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Conflicting Reports
by Ramanraj K 23 Mar '05

23 Mar '05

There are too many conflicting reports. We should wait for an authoritative source to publish the contents of the Bill. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Yet another shameless day in India Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 05:48:22 +0530 From: Nagarjuna G. <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> To: Ramanraj K <ramanraj.k(a)gmail.com> CC: in-parl(a)ffii.org References: <424034D3.3070503(a)gmail.com> On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 08:38:03PM +0530, Ramanraj K wrote: > http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200503222001.htm > > > Lok Sabha passes Patents Bill > ...The Bill provides for product patents in drugs, agri-products and > embedded software... > The above report is wrong: The reports say that "patenting of software embedded with hardware" is dropped from the ordinance. That is what we demanded. "According an Indian pharma company The new look patent law takes steps to ensure that available drugs t leave the market and keeps embedded software out of the patent ambit. Key provisions that enable recognition of product patents for pharmaceuticals and food, in line with committments to the WTO, have the official added. been accepted,donofficial," http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=66980 "It has also decided to exclude embedded software from the ambit of the product patent regime." http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2005/mar/22patent.htm "In addition, patenting of software embedded with hardware, introduced in the Ordinance, has been dropped. Left parties had objected to software patenting on the ground that it might give rise to foreign multinational monopolies." http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=85839 Nagarjuna

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NEWS: Government wins over left on Patents Bill
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Mar '05

22 Mar '05

http://in.news.yahoo.com//050322/43/2kbwt.html Tuesday March 22, 6:43 PM Government wins over left on Patents Bill By Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) The government scored a major victory in parliament Tuesday, winning the support of its left allies on the controversial Patents Bill, even as the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party insisted the measure be examined by a parliamentary committee. The left parties have been vociferously opposing the bill, contending it would result in a steep hike in prices of essential medicines and that some of its provisions were against national interest. The left parties said they would support the bill because the government had accepted 10 of the 12 amendments suggested by them. The amendments relate to areas like definition of inventiveness, new inventions, compulsory licensing, royalty and the raising of objections before the grant of a patent instead of afterwards. The bill was to have been debated and passed Monday but this was deferred to Tuesday to enable the government and the left iron out their differences. Initiating the discussion in the Lok Sabha, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath reiterated the government was only fulfilling an international commitment that had been made on the issue. At the same time, he assured members he would address all the apprehensions raised by them. This did not satisfy the BJP, which insisted the bill be referred to a committee for deeper study. Uday Singh of the BJP alleged that the government was being "unduly influenced by MNCs". Pointing out that 70 percent of anti-AIDS medicines for underdeveloped countries are sourced from India, he said prices would rise sharply if the bill was passed. "The bill will be a let down not only for us, but for those countries also," he maintained. Pawan Kumar Bansal (Congress) contended the government was helpless as the World Trade Organistion had mandated some of the measures. "But the government is taking all measures to protect the interests of the common man and keep the prices of the essential medicines under control," Bansal argued. Members in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday discussed the plight of the farmers in the country. The issue was raised by MPs from Andhra Pradesh, who spoke about increasing suicides by farmers in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere who fell into a debt trap after their crops failed. _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Sign up for low-volume, high-quality news summaries and updates from Goa at http://newsfromgoa.swiki.net * It's free and volunteer-driven.

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NEWS: Communists push passage of India's patent bill
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Mar '05

22 Mar '05

http://in.news.yahoo.com//050322/43/2kbzd.html Communists push passage of India's patent bill By Indo-Asian News Service ADVERTISEMENT New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) A controversial Patent Amendment Bill, that had drawn protests even in African countries as it was feared it would lead to rise in costs of cheaper India-made generic drugs, was passed amid protests in the lower house of parliament. Even as the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) pressed for the bill's reference to a parliamentary panel and staged a walkout, the government managed to get the support of Left parties and secure the passage in the Lok Sabha. "There were five-six areas where we wanted changes. Some safeguards are also in place on life-savings drugs. We are, therefore, supporting the new regime," said Prakash Karat, politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). The bill seeks to replace an ordinance promulgated in December to meet the Jan 1 deadline to recognise product patents, enable the grant of compulsory licences for export of medicines and modify rules on exclusive marketing rights. These provisions are part of India's commitment to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) under the pact on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights, but there were fears mainly over its likely impact on prices of drugs and medicines, especially those for AIDS. The patent bill originally had an enabling provision that required poor nations with insufficient or no manufacturing capacity to grant compulsory licence to Indian companies for import of drugs to meet emergent public health situations. This provision has now been amended to help these least developed countries, a number of them in Africa. They are no longer required to issue a compulsory licence to an Indian firm to import patented drugs from the country. The Indian government can allow such exports even if the importing country merely authorises or notifies its requirement. Other changes relate to areas like definition of inventiveness, new inventions, royalty and the raising of objections before the grant of a patent instead of afterwards. The bill was to have been debated and passed Monday but this was deferred to Tuesday to enable the government and the left iron out their differences. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said the new legislation would not affect domestic prices as 97 percent of the drugs in the Indian market were already off patents, including 350 live-saving essential drugs. But rights groups said a patient of AIDS in poor countries who pays some $20 a month for treatment with generic medicine could end up coughing up $395 for the branded anti-retroviral drugs because of some provisions in the new legislation. There were protest marches in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, countries with large numbers of HIV/AIDS patients, who feared higher cost of drugs following passage of the patent bill in India. "The life and health of hundreds of thousands of people globally depends on the decisions taken in India this week," said Ellen 't Hoen of the Paris-based Doctors Without Borders, a health and medical aid group. Hoen, who had been gathering support in India against the new legislation, said close to 50 percent of an estimated 700,000 HIV patients in poor and developing countries depend on Indian drugs for treatment. But the commerce minister said: "The 12 anti retro-viral drugs, mostly used for AIDS and made in India, cannot be patented. They are pre-1995 inventions. India will continue to manufacture, use and export them without hindrance." The bill now goes to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house, before going to the president for signature for it to become law. _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Sign up for low-volume, high-quality news summaries and updates from Goa at http://newsfromgoa.swiki.net * It's free and volunteer-driven.

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Jailed for using a nonstandard browser
by Praveen A 22 Mar '05

22 Mar '05

Jailed for using a nonstandard browser <quote> A Londonder made a tsnuami-relief donation using lynx -- a text-based browser used by the blind, Unix-users and others -- on Sun's Solaris operating system. The site-operator decided that this "unusual" event in the system log indicated a hack-attempt, and the police broke down the donor's door and arrested him. </quote> http://www.boingboing.net/2005/01/27/jailed_for_using_a_n.html -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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Re: [Fsf-friends] RMS has signed the appeal to the VTU. Have you?
by Raj Shastrakar 22 Mar '05

22 Mar '05

http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign link is broken --- "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred(a)bytesforall.org> wrote: > http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign [See > serial # 80] > > >From Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org>: Schools of > all levels should > insist on Free Software, because proprietary > software prohibits learning > and builds dependency. See > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html > > _____ > _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance > Journalist * Goa > \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 > 122436 > | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net > http://goabooks.swiki.net > |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net > http://www.bytesforall.org > \/ > ----------------------------------------------------- > Sign up for low-volume, high-quality news > summaries and updates from > Goa at http://newsfromgoa.swiki.net * It's free > and volunteer-driven. > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Sports - Sign up for Fantasy Baseball. http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Free Software & Schools of Kerala
by Raj Shastrakar 22 Mar '05

22 Mar '05

sorry lost the date .... can someone elaborate the agenda and when is the meet scheduled. --- Manilal <manilal(a)caths.co.uk> wrote: > > > Starting with 8th Standard this year. > > > > I would like to request all free software > activists from Kerala to > > make yourself available for this meeting and > contribute to the > > initiative. > > > > > > Thanking You, > > Arun. > > > > > > Venue: Shikshak Sadan, near Ernakulam South > Railway station. > > Time : 10 am - 3.30 pm > > > Months ago there was a meeting held at Freedom Hall > ( C-DIT City Centre, > Thiruvanathapuram) which seriously(?) discussed the > e-governance and Free > Software. Free Software activists from > Thiruvanathapuram including the FSF > representatives attended the meeting. At the end of > the meeting an ad-hoc > committee was formed and decided to produce a > working model of Free > Software in e-Governance. And then no news ... > > Just remembered the TVM Meeting, when I saw this > posting... > > regards > Manilal > > > _______________________________________________ > Fsf-friends mailing list > Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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RMS has signed the appeal to the VTU. Have you?
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 Mar '05

21 Mar '05

http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign [See serial # 80] >From Richard Stallman <rms at gnu.org>: Schools of all levels should insist on Free Software, because proprietary software prohibits learning and builds dependency. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Sign up for low-volume, high-quality news summaries and updates from Goa at http://newsfromgoa.swiki.net * It's free and volunteer-driven.

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Review of Ubuntu hoary
by Praveen A 21 Mar '05

21 Mar '05

Hey all, It features the brand new Gnome 2.10 version with a lot of new features (check http://www.gnome.org for new features of gnome 2.10). It has now a bit torrent client and now totem plays videos (they say so). The new add or remove programmes make installation a snap with just a tick mark. It has the new gimp 2.2, easy configuration of modem .... It has all the things for a newbie, a desktop to recommend and it is superb (based on debian so quality is assured). Try it today or register your copy today. Suggest it confidantaly to your friends. It is a really great desktop GNU box. Love Praveen A -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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Patents Bill deferred by a day
by Ramanraj K 21 Mar '05

21 Mar '05

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200503211602.htm

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UNESCO between two Phases of the WSIS
by V. Sasi Kumar 21 Mar '05

21 Mar '05

"An International Conference “UNESCO between two Phases of the World Summit on the Information Society” will be held on May 17-19, 2005 in Saint-Petersburg (Russian Federation) under the auspices of UNESCO. The Conference is organized with a view to clarify the next steps and key decisions of UNESCO with regard to the creation of the global information society." More details are available at: http://confifap.cpic.ru/conf2005/eng/info/ -- V. Sasi Kumar <sasi.cess(a)gmail.com> Centre for Earth Science Studies

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Legal Affairs Wing
by Ramanraj K 21 Mar '05

21 Mar '05

I propose we create a Legal Affairs Wing to discuss, research and solve legal issues involving the use of Free Software. Pressing issues should receive the highest priority, but we cannot afford to lose sight of the fact that GNU Freedom could become the mother of *all* our Freedoms. Law reform and the task of reducing law to code would be the main work of the Legal Affairs Wing. Modern legal systems need to use free software. Often, people imagine legal applications to be "vertical" but on the contrary, nothing could be more "horizontal". Law is the common background for *all* of us. Making the law available as free software code would make free software more ubiquitous in society. Today's editorial in the Hindu, includes an opinion on "Making Government Intelligent" that is available online at : http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/21/stories/2005032101751000.htm . We need to act quickly. Free software is based on the philosophy of love, sharing, and freedom, and the same social colloboration is needed to reduce the law to code to achieve success. Many entities have "business rules" written in antiquated languages based on non-free software, and the lack of availability of equivalent or better free software code is cited as main reason justifying use of non-free software. Our involvment in a constructive way is necessary to bring about an important change. The Legal Affairs Wing (LAW) should have two clear divisions, (1) "FSF LAW", dealing with matters involving issues directly concerning FSF India, such as gpl violations, and very specific issues concerning use of free software, and (2) "GNU LAW" dealing with the law in general. Please make room for GNU LAW - it will change our lives for the better :) Regards, Ramanraj.

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www.ffii.in
by Nagarjuna G. 20 Mar '05

20 Mar '05

André Rebentisch" <arebenti(a)web.de> created http://www.ffii.in/. please visit this site and if any from India is interested to maintain this site, please contact me or buero(a)ffii.org. This is very important development and all the people who want to maintain and promote software freedom should join here. Nagarjuna

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NEWS: Hurd/L4 Developer Marcus Brinkmann Interviewed
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 20 Mar '05

20 Mar '05

http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/19/1411219 Hurd/L4 Developer Marcus Brinkmann Interviewed GNU is Not Unix | Posted by CowboyNeal on Saturday March 19, @09:26AM from the papa-on-brand-new-bag dept. wikinerd writes "A few years ago when the GNU OS was almost complete, the kernel was the last missing piece, and most distributors combined GNU with the Linux kernel. But the GNU developers continued their efforts and unveiled the Hurd in 1990s, which is currently a functioning prototype. After the Mach microkernel was considered insufficient, some developers decided to start a new project porting the Hurd on the more advanced L4 microkernel using cutting-edge operating system design, thus creating the Hurd/L4. Last February one of the main developers, Marcus Brinkmann, completed the process initialization code and showed a screenshot of the first program executed on Hurd/L4 saying 'The dinner is prepared!' Now he has granted an interview about Hurd/L4, explaining the advantages of microkernels, the Hurd/L4 architecture, the project's goals and how he started the Debian port to Hurd." FORWARDED VIA: _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Writing with a difference, on issues that really make the difference.

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two links.
by Mahesh T. Pai 19 Mar '05

19 Mar '05

Dear list, At the risk of sounding pompous, below is the link to the slides of the talk I gave at Engg. College, Trichur on February 26th. http://paivakil.port5.com/writings/trichurpresentation.pdf.bz2 They were good enough to publish a short write up on software licensing and Indian copyright law in their souvenir. Here is the link. http://paivakil.port5.com/writings/trichurwriting.pdf.bz2 Verbatim copying and distribution of both are allowed. Have a nice time. -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com If your mail client does not support HTML, click here

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[Announcement] Server Break in Challenge
by Rajkumar S 18 Mar '05

18 Mar '05

Dear Sir Linuxense is conducting a server break-in challenge starting from 9 March 2005 2 AM IST. In this event, Linuxense will make a GNU/Linux server available on the Internet which the contestants try to break in. This challenge will give you a unique opportunity to test your security skills on a professionally set up server without violating any legal barriers. This event will also help you to understand the requirements of a secured server to be deployed on the Internet. At the end of the event Linuxense will share the network packet dump of the event which will help you to learn various techniques used by other contestants and do forensic analysis. Details about the event can be found http://www.linuxense.com/challenge Please feel free to pass this on to other interested institutions/lists/people also. regards, raj

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[Fsf-friends] State Obligation for activities of Transnational Corporations
by Ramanraj K 18 Mar '05

18 Mar '05

The WTO deals elaborately with rights of traders. It is mostly silent about the obligations of the traders. What if a patented product messes up the environment and the patentee has perished into the dust or is untraceable? Who exactly is responsible for the mess? We today find that the ENRON mess is sought to be cleared with funds from LIC and EPF. The mess by DDT and other "US Patents" could hardly be seen as "innovative steps" - they were just innovative in causing new kinds of cancers and seriously injuring the natural food cycle that is not easy to repair. The monopolisation by non-free software companies threatens education and the moral values we have. Janet McLean, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland, New Zealand, delivered the "George P. Smith, II Distinguished Visiting Professorship Lecutre" at Indiana University School of Law, USA on the subject of "The Transnational Corporation in History: Lessons for Today?" which is avilable online at: http://www.law.indiana.edu/ilj/v79/no2/mclean.pdf "If we start with the notion that corporations are created by states or by the operation of law, that they are abstract persons, then we will be more likely to find a space at least to talk about what a corporation's obligations should be." The responsibility and obligations of transnational corporations is yet to be investigated, researched and found out. Then, the WTO is clearly an irresponsible regime, incomplete without answers, and it cannot be shamelessly pushing forward the private interests of a few multinational corporations who could vanish into the thin air at wish. Other links to ponder upon: http://www.healthgap.org/press_releases/05/030104_HGAP_AA_INDIA_IPR.html The plea from Africa, asking India not to proceed with the amendments to the patents law, is heart rending, and we should hold a helping hand, even if it means that bombs may rain over us this monsoon. There is no much of a choice here: many are waiting to "out-source pharmaceutical" research to India - in plain English many poor Indians would end up being used as guniea pigs for "research" - and the wonderful products could be safely "protected" through our legal system itself - what convenience! http://www.expresspharmapulse.com/20050317/happenings05.shtml William (Bill) Haddad addressed the members of the Press on the ills of the current Patent Ordinance and rules. He also had a word of caution for the Government of India, the people of India and the national sector pharma Industry not to bow to the MNC pressure and to learn from the pitfalls of the US Patent laws and the problems faced by the people due to the same.

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[Fsf-friends] Patents (Amendment) Bill, 2005 introduced in Lok Sabha
by Ramanraj K 18 Mar '05

18 Mar '05

The agenda for 2005-03-18 at the Lok Sabha included: <quote> Patents (Amendment) Bill, 2005 16. SHRI KAMAL NATH to move for leave to introduce a Bill further to amend the Patents Act, 1970. ALSO to introduce the Bill. ______ STATEMENT REGARDING ORDINANCE 17. SHRI KAMAL NATH to lay on the Table an explanatory statement (Hindi and English versions) showing reasons for immediate legislation by the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance, 2004 (No. 7 of 2004). </quote>

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Change your life.
by jothi prakash 18 Mar '05

18 Mar '05

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Bangalore one Project â A reverse gear e-governance: Re: IAS officer reply with respect e-Seva project to Central MIT Minister, NISG, INDIA-EGov, CM's, Secretary's of e-Gov, WHICH is being REPLICATED in Karanataka State
by Venkat Kumaraswamy 17 Mar '05

17 Mar '05

----------------- Forwarded Message: Subj:Bangalore one Project – A reverse gear e-governance: Re: IAS officer reply with respect e-Seva project to Central MIT Minister, NISG, INDIA-EGov, CM's, Secretary's of e-Gov, WHICH is being REPLICATED in Karanataka State Date:3/12/2005 8:28:39 PM Pacific Standard TimeFrom:umashankarc@yahoo.comTo:ellakannada@yahoo.com, cm(a)karnatakacm.com, cm(a)kar.nic.in, cs(a)karnataka.gov.in, itsec(a)bangaloreit.com, devcom(a)karnataka.gov.in, prs-fd(a)karnataka.gov.in, secybud-fd(a)karnataka.gov.in, secyexp-fd(a)karnataka.gov.in, hcom(a)vsb.kar.nic.in, prs-infra(a)karnataka.gov.in, prs-home(a)karnataka.gov.in, prshigh-edu@karnataka.gov.inCC:vs@nisg.org, ceo(a)nisg.org, piyush.gupta(a)nisg.org, satyajit.suri(a)nisg.org, sandeep.paidi(a)nisg.org, binay.sharma(a)nisg.org, bala.srinivas(a)nisg.org, rekha(a)nisg.org, devajoy.choudhury(a)nisg.org, umashankarc(a)yahoo.com, minister(a)mit.gov.in, mos(a)mit.gov.in, secretary(a)mit.gov.in, srinath(a)mit.gov.in, rgilani(a)mit.gov.in, dg(a)nic.in, lalitha(a)hub.nic.in, kashinath(a)hub.nic.in, pspillai(a)hub.nic.in, ellakannada(a)yahoo.com, novamed(a)aol.com, India-egov(a)yahoogroups.com, ellakavi(a)yahoogroups.com, ias-tn(a)yahoogroups.comSent from the Internet (Details) Bangalore one Project – A reverse gear e-governance Author: C.Umashankar IAS., (TN) http://www.sugame.com/umashankar umashankarc(a)gmail.com The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and they do not reflect the views of any Government or the Indian Administrative Service. In the name of e-governance, Karnataka had decided to favour a consortium of private companies through Bangalore One project. Actually there is no e-governance in the whole design of Bangalore One! Collection of utility bills or collection of passport applications can not be considered e-governance. Bangalore one is a purely vendor driven utility bill collection arrangement whereby the citizen who enjoys remitting the sum through different banks and different modes as on today is being cornered to make the payment through the kiosks operated by the private vendors. The effort would be to discontinue the online payment portals (I wonder whether they are operational even now) and direct service facility through the respective offices/organisations. I would appreciate the Karnataka Government if it had decided to carry out this venture for true e-governance such as online procedure for all licences and permits, government approvals for building permits, RTOs, labour department procedure, employment exchanges, treasury payments, entire commercial tax procedure, traffic police operations, police station operations, rural development operations, highways and PWD operations and so on. The proposed Bangalore one nonsense does not cover any of these areas! After commencing true e-governance through Bhoomi, with the full technical help of National Informatics Centre (NIC), my esteemed colleague Rajiv Chawla had jettisoned NIC and went for private vendors. And this time it is not e-governance, but a good business for a private partner in the name of e-governance. The undoing of the e-governance momentum in Karnataka had just begun. What is the agenda behind this move? I have certain pertinent questions? Why a State Government wants to involve itself in collection of BSNL bills? BSNL and all telecom operators have their collection systems already in position. Why include them? Is it to show ‘volume of business’ which the AP government boasts now and then when they talk about their e-seva centres! The volume of business is an utter nonsense. Even without the e-seva or Bangalore one, the volume of business is there. It is not that these kiosks generate this volume. The BSNL (or like organisations which have joined the bill collection kiosks) does all the hard work. They generate the revenue through their own business plan, infrastructure and manpower. The kiosks simply collect these amounts as collection agents. But this amount is shown (which is usually large) as a turnover from the kiosks. It is a cheap business trick. If I could find out the cheap trick beyond this smoke and hype, it is not going to take much time for others to find out this in the near future. After India had commenced liberalisation, the States and Central Government have hardly any role in private business. They have to move out from their existing business ventures through disinvestment. The Government of India and State governments have already been doing this. But Karnataka wants to get into private business! It cannot be argued that this effort would result in better citizen services. Because the citizens of Bangalore have already been enjoying online payment facility and payment facility through multiple bank counters. The kiosks would restrict them to go to these 15-50 counters! It is going to be a downgraded service and not the other way around. And what are the plans for the rural masses! Can this service provide online Old Age Pension service or can it allow the rural masses to enhance their democratic participation through transparent and online rural development administration? Can it empower the women, especially the rural women or can it empower the SC/STs? I am deeply concerned and so I am using harsh words against my own wishes. Why I am concerned? I am explaining the cause of my worry in the succeeding paragraphs. Before I explain why the Bangalore one nonsense is against humanity, let me share my anguish from a real life situation. Runaway bribe culture. Can Bangalore One rein in this culture? A month and half ago, one of my acquaintances approached me and informed that an officer was demanding Rs.10 lakhs to clear a file. There was nothing unusual or out of the way in the whole proposal. Even when everything was alright with the proposal he was asked to remit the huge sum as bribe. I wanted to intervene. But my acquaintance said that if I intervened the whole thing would be off and they would ensure that he would be ruined. He begged me to desist from interfering. He did not have the money to pay the bribe. Rupees ten lakhs is not a small sum! This acquaintance had come up in his life doing porter service in Chennai railway station. Through sheer hard work he had come up in life. The situation was that if he did not pay the bribe, he was going to lose the whole investment which he had already made in that venture. This was all borrowed money. So he chose to borrow the bribe sum and remitted the same in two instalments. Even after remitting the huge bribe, the officer had cleared only one out of the two proposals. The other one is still pending. In between I had to go to Bihar for election duty. Today morning (12th March 2005) the acquaintance called me to inform about this daughter’s engagement. I asked him a few more questions. Yes, till date he did not get approval for the second part of the proposal though he had paid the full sum (agreed bribe sum for both the proposals). His partner had decided to break off from the business because of this delay. I also asked him whether he dealt with through agents or the officer himself had interacted with him directly. He replied that the officer himself gave the instructions in person to him. He had paid the last instalment of Rs.2 lakhs at Nagercoil bus stand, as per the officer’s instructions! Now people would raise questions, in all the wrong ways! (The way Tehelka was witch hounded) Why you did not inform the Government? You are also a silent accomplice to this fraud and so on. Let me request you to look at the point I wish to drive at the end of this paragraph. (I informed the CBI. They said they would not be able to do anything without the consent of the State Government. They are now looking for the assets of this officer. If the assets are created in TamilNadu they would be able to catch him. But I am sure he is a clever guy. He would be creating the assets in some other State). What I have described here is only a tip of the iceberg. I don’t have many acquaintances who run business or do special commercial ventures. Within this limited number I got this information. I tremble to imagine the real magnitude of corruption in TamilNadu and rest of India. If something like this can happen in TamilNadu which is supposed to be a better administered State, what could be the position in other States? Now the question is does the Bangalore one project have the prowess to curb this type of looting of honest citizens? No. None of the services envisaged has anything to do with e-governance. At present these utility bills are being collected by the respective organisations. In addition to that infrastructure they are creating a new kiosk infrastructure only to benefit the private partner. This private partner (consortium) would go to another State such as Maharashtra, Rajasthan, TN etc and get another order. This is a pollution of the highest order. Unfortunately, this pollution spreads faster than the environmental pollution. Role of NISG e-governance is supposed to capture the government processes and not the bill collection alone. As explained here, Bangalore One does not have any components of e-governance. NISG, a new venture to support e-governance in the country apparently does not know the meaning of e-governance. I fail to understand the decision of NISG to be part of Bangalore One. This is a pure and cheap commercial venture in which an august body such as the NISG has no role at all. This had demoralised die hard e-governance lobbyists like me. What demoralises the e-gov enthusiasts more is that the wrong lead given by NISG may lead to a series of wrong ventures in Karnataka and other states too. Bangalore One is going to raise questions about the existence of NISG! What is e-governance? e-governance is the process of automating the government operations in such a manner that wherever the government to citizen/ G to business/ G to G interface takes place the same should be electronic enabled. This means the citizens should be enabled to file all their applications for licences, permits etc online and get the orders of the Government / local body online. Internet has to play a crucial role. The Government offices /local body offices have to be e-enabled to process the entire requests online. Primacy should be given to electronic records and NOT paper records. The citizen interface should be fully e-governed. The government employees should commit their transactions online. All the Tottenham based personal registers have to give way to process driven automation system! In short, process automation is the key to e-governance. Similarly, the business houses have to get a facility whereby their entire interaction with the Government should go online. Today, the business community in India has to bribe its way in all its interaction with the Government. If one wants to register a company and obtain a Sales Tax certificate there is a price, the labour department has its own pricing system for every type of transactions, the inspector of factory office has its price, the electrical inspector has his price, the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Tax department has his/her price, and the tale of owe goes on and on. Another of my acquaintances was explaining his recent encounter with a lady Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (enforcement) department in Chennai. This lady officer believes in straight business. Her way is to start the bribe negotiations right at the first minute of her entering the premises of a factory/company. She fixes her amount and places her demand for bribe sum even before setting her eye on any of the records of the factory / company which she visits. The private companies, even if they are very honest are scarred to gain enmity of these vultures because they can always find some technical fault. Even if there is none, they can write a false report and implicate a defiant company. It is extremely painful for an honest businessman in India to run his business. Lack of transparency which induces corruption is the root cause. It is a different matter that unless these businessmen carry out their day to day activities there can be no employment, no taxes, no income to the Government and there can be no government worth its salt too. Yet, the honesty of businessmen is tested on a day to day basis all over the country by these vultures. The system however is a darling for the unscrupulous businessmen. In the end, the citizen is the loser. For every such bribe paid, the businessman has to recoup the ‘loss’ though some other way. The balancing act results in public damage such as adulteration, under wieghment etc. e-governance has to put a check on these vultures. By resorting to process driven automation system and bringing up all the citizen/business interfaces online, the Governments can achieve a high level of efficiency and revenue accruals. Had it happened in Karnataka? There are only two places in India where process automation takes place, viz., Tiruvarur district of TamilNadu (1999 onwards in all Taluk offices) and in Taluk offices of Karnataka (Bhoomi project (2001) which does the limited operation with regard to land record maintenance in rural Karnataka). One needs to e-enable the citizens by hosting these services online using internet and open source software as medium. Karnataka’s proposed Bangalore one nonsense has no solution to any of the ills descried above. Let us make an analysis of the Bangalore one. The pluses and minuses of Bangalore one 1. it has no governance or e-governance content. It has no software for handling the back office operations of the government offices. It does not have even a single service which can be called e-governance. Payment of utility bills does not come under governance at all. This may come under the definition of (part of) e-commerce. It is a different matter that Governments have no business to involve themselves in e-commerce. It is an exclusive domain of the private corporate. 2. it has nothing for the business community, save for the consortium which had been identified for the implementation of the project. 3. it is not process automation based. 4. it does not have any plan for the Government offices. It has plans only for the window dressing (kiosks) 5. it does not have anything for the poor who constitute over 50% of Kannadigas. 6. it has nothing for the rural areas, which constitute 75-80% of Karnataka. 7. it has nothing for women or SC/STs. (The rural e-seva project which has been under implementation in West Godawari district of Andhra Pradesh has given primacy to women self help groups for the kiosk operations. Though the West Godawari project had not automated the back office operations, it had resulted in massive empowerment of the rural women. For this achievement, Sanjay Jaju and his team deserve all credits. West Godawari had gradually started building the back office automation as well, according to the latest reports. Why Karnataka chose to ignore this women empowerment issue?) 8. Bangalore one or any other similar project has the retarding effect of stalling true e-governance projects. This had already happened in AP. The e-seva project had resulted in stalling of all other efforts to bring in true e-governance. AP has nothing to quote as genuine e-governance effort except the registration department automation which was commenced before the commencement of e-seva. The private vendors would allow anything which has something for them. After tasting success in one project such as the e-seva, they look for only the ‘revenue models’ and not something which is beneficial to the citizens/common man. The revenue model means revenue to them. May be it is a shared revenue. 9. According to the e-mail admission from NISG, the NISG which manages the Bangalore one nonsense has no plans for rural areas. (http://www.sugame.com/umashankar) Sabotaging political will True e-governance requires a strong political will. The very fact that Karnataka had reached this level with Bangalore One shows that there is tremendous political will for e-governance in Karnataka. The political executive apparently is of the opinion that they had given go ahead for e-governance. They had no idea that they had consented to something which does not come under the definition of e-governance! This had been clearly explained in the foregone paragraphs. I am deeply concerned that such a political good will coming from Karnataka Government is being cunningly diverted to a smoke screen project which is aimed at benefiting only the private sector implementing agencies/consortium. By the time the political leaders realise this malady, precious time would have been lost. A forward looking and potential state for wholesale e-governance is going down in an abyss. A potential opportunity is being wasted through this diversion! Who is behind this Bangalore One nonsense? Why the advocates of Bangalore One are afraid of True e-governance? After achieving political will, true e-governance venture requires careful assessment and planning. It requires leaders. It needs the support of the Government employees. It needs champions from among the bureaucrats to spearhead the momentum. This list is only illustrative. These steps involve real leadership and efforts. People don’t want to take pain or leadership. They want to show results without any efforts or pain. So, the private operators come up with this magic wand called e-seva, a magic wand that worked ‘wonders’ in Andhra Pradesh. But the times have changed. When Andhra’s e-seva was introduced, India was nowhere in the e-gov field. Now there is tremendous awareness among Indians within India and abroad. The magic wand is going to fail this time. The very fact that I have written this piece shows that the magic wand has already been failing to impress! Every paisa spent on Bangalore One project has to be brought under CAG’s scanner. Today experts in e-governance are ready to volunteer the CAG’s team to study and analyse a deeds/misdeeds of a government in the area of e-governance. Let us start with Bangalore One and then with the momentum created by it let us implement other e-gov projects! This was the question posed by a senior officer of Karnataka Government when we had a telephone discussion on this subject. The officer wanted to know the feedback from me for various angles. So, he acted as a devil’s advocate and raised a few questions. This is one of them. I answered him that Bangalore One would not create the momentum one expects. ‘When we implement e-governance solutions we need to put our best foot forward. We should never put the wrong foot forward. Because the first wrong foot forward would beget another wrong foot. For example, the Andhra e-seva project which was a wrong foot forward had already resulted in another wrong foot in the form of e-procurement which is totally vendor driven. There is no enabling factor in both these projects. So, my opinion is that Karnataka should not put its wrong foot forward. The proposed Bangalore One project would not result in any empowerment. We need the Government employees, citizens and the Government to get empowered through any typical e-governance effort. In the Bangalore one project, the Government and government employees are being kept away. Only the private vendor has his say all the way. Bangalore one would create a severe dependency factor. Both the Government (its employees also) and the citizens have to be dependent on the private partners who carry out the project. This goes against all parameters’ I also informed another angle as to why Karnataka should not go for Bangalore one with the present content. This is my genuine concern too. We all know that the press is dominated by the middle class. The middle class oriented press would look at the hype that is being generated by Bangalore One with special interest. The hype will be generated by the private partners as they are getting a sizeable income out of this project. Looking at the hype, the press would start writing great stories about Bangalore One. The very same private operators would assist the preparation of documentation for prestigious awards such as Stockholm challenge etc. The officers behind the project would get some award because the awards have to be given to some one, every year. After getting such awards, the officers who are behind this project would feel satisfied that they had achieved some great thing (whereas their achievement is next to nothing) and then they would never have the drive to look at the rural areas, women empowerment, SC/ST empowerment using e-governance and so on. So, Bangalore One has the potential to thwart Karnataka One, meaning Karnataka on top of every other States in e-governance. The so called e-governance which is actually collection of utility bills in Bangalore city would be restricted to the precincts of Bangalore city. The effort would not evolve into process automation based e-governance in Bangalore city (BMC) or in rest of the government processes in the entire Karnataka state. Private partner driven bogus e-governance, a threat to India’s future I am concerned at this lurking danger that e-governance effort in India would be hijacked by these private partners. The national e-governance action plan had been approved for Rs.12,500 crores. Everyone who wants to do business may have an eye on this pie. The businessmen who believe in short cuts may like to propose e-seva/Bangalore One like projects only. This would result in total discredit to the concept of e-governance in India. It is my assessment that even 50 years after the introduction of projects such as e-seva or Bangalore One, the government offices would continue to be the same. The vultures in the government offices (calling themselves as Government officers) would continue to fleece the citizens. The politicians would remain happy because these vultures would offer a share of the booty to the political class for their election expenses. But the citizen would continue to be a slave under a fully ‘e-governed’ atmosphere. The citizen would have two sets of full fledged governments, one run by the actual government and the other by the vendors who have taken up the ‘e-governance’ projects. Both of them would have equal number of employees. In the initial period of hype, the private sector bill collection centres may not indulge in fraud or corruption. Such a situation would not continue for long. A time would come, not long from now, we would hear the news that the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti corruption had entered XYZ seva centres and seized unaccounted money or records. This would be the natural result of an over grown bureaucracy run by the private sector to administer ‘e-governance’. The women, especially the rural women would continue to remain deprived and oppressed. Their husbands would happily beat them as usual despite the change in times, from a traditionally governed nation to a fully ‘e-governed’ nation. The Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe population would continue to be discriminated against with no change in the social system. They would be confined to their slums/bastis despite the governments taking great strides in the sphere of so called e-governance. Oh! I am sorry for Karnataka and sorry for India. Long live Bangalore One Umashankar 12th March 2005 umashankarc(a)gmail.com http://www.sugame.com/umashankar Apologies for using the word nonsense often. I did not find a more appropriate word than this to express my feelings. The inner voice: 1. There are enough number of critics to any new initiative! Do you have a solution framework Umashankar? I hear this voice. Yes I do have a solution framework. In fact the whole write up had stemmed out from such a solution framework. I cannot volunteer unless the decision makers who matter wish to change course and listen to the right ways. I am willing to collaborate. Of course open source will be the base line for any such initiative or idea. 2. Open source vs. proprietary software: I have not got into the open source Vs. proprietary source (Microsoft) issue which is very much relevant as on today. Because there is much more here which forced me to analyse the basis of the project, a project which has no foundation! Open source, the beauty of future mankind has to wait for its turn. --- Venkat Kumaraswamy <ellakannada(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Hello Members of this forum, > > This is an email written by one of the IAS officers > of INDIA from TAMILANADU CADRE. > No member from this great forum has not even talked > about and discussed about this. WHY ? He talks about > e-Seva Project of AP, which is now being REPLICATED > as BANGALORE ONE project in Karnataka State. > > Any one in this forum knows how much money has > tarnsferred hands in this transaction? This has > happenend without TENDER PROCESS. It has goine to > the same company. How can you all expect things are > going to get corrected in INDIA. World Bank Funds, > UNDP Funds, USAID , USAEP funds and othe agencies > funds is being used by GOI and State govts. in INDIA > for some of these projects. > > I think we should send this email of this IAS > officer to WORLD BANK, UNDP and other agencies so > that they all should know what is happenning in > INDIA. IS e-GOV really happenning in INDIA by > reading this email ????? > > This forum should discuss these kind of things > openly, so that things can get corrected. > ----------------- > Forwarded Message: > Subj:Re: ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY - Bangalore one - > Sucides need not be assisted by NISG Date:1/27/2005 > 7:06:28 AM Pacific Standard > TimeFrom:umashankarc@yahoo.comTo:ellakannada@yahoo.com, > minister(a)mit.gov.in, mos(a)mit.gov.in, > secretary(a)mit.gov.in, srinath(a)mit.gov.in, > rgilani(a)mit.gov.in, dg(a)nic.in, lalitha(a)hub.nic.in, > kashinath(a)hub.nic.in, pspillai(a)hub.nic.in, > cm(a)karnatakacm.com, cm(a)kar.nic.in, > cs(a)karnataka.gov.in, itsec(a)bangaloreit.com, > devcom(a)karnataka.gov.in, vs(a)nisg.org, ceo(a)nisg.org, > piyush.gupta(a)nisg.org, satyajit.suri(a)nisg.org, > sandeep.paidi(a)nisg.org, binay.sharma(a)nisg.org, > bala.srinivas(a)nisg.org, rekha(a)nisg.org, > devajoy.choudhury(a)nisg.org, prs-fd(a)karnataka.gov.in, > secybud-fd(a)karnataka.gov.in, > secyexp-fd(a)karnataka.gov.in, hcom(a)vsb.kar.nic.in, > prs-infra(a)karnataka.gov.in, > prs-home(a)karnataka.gov.in, > prshigh-edu@karnataka.gov.inCC:ellakannada@yahoo.com, > novamed(a)aol.com, India-egov(a)yahoogroups.comSent from > the Internet (Details) > > 27-1-05 > > Dear Mr.Kumaraswamy, > > The e-seva concept implemented by Government of AP > is > meant for underdeveloped states. > It would not suit developed States such as > Karnataka, > TN or Kerala. > > The e-seva concept completely ignores two vital > aspects viz., back office automation in the > respective > government offices and its non replicability in > rural > areas. > > The citizen is forced to go to the e-seva centres to > avail the service whereas he/she can do it from home > using his computer or any other computer. > In the short run it may look like a great thing. But > as it progresses one would realise that it is a step > backward and not forward. > > e-seva is mostly for payment of utility bills. This > is > not e-governance. These items come under e-commerce. > > > In Chennai you can pay your utility bills without > movin g out from your home. All you need to do is to > authorise your banker to make the remittances > online. > This is a free of cost service. The tax payers' > money > with the government agencies is also saved. > > The citizen should have a variety of options to make > the utility payments. It should not be restricted to > the e-seva centres. By adopting the e-seva concept > in > Bangalore, Karnataka is taking a step backwards as > it > treats its citizens illiterate who require the > assistance of the e-seva centres. e-seva concept is > good when the citizen is illiterate and is not in a > position to operate computers on his/her own. I am > sure Bangalore citizens are literate enough to > operate > computers. > > By adopting e-seva concept the Government of > Karnataka > is putting a huge seal on true e-gov efforts. > Because, > under e-seva concept, back office automation is > given > a go by. That means the back office work would > continue to be under the manual method or a non > scientific computerised method. > > Ideally speaking, the back office should be > automated > using online methodology. Each and every government > official has to switch over to mouse and keyboard > from > pen and paper. After succeeding in this effort, the > agencies have to open up their online counters to > the > public. This includes internet based payments. > This would result in true transformation in the > country. > > e-seva would kill such a transformation initiative. > > e-seva can be taken up only where user charges are > there. Can you imagine user charges in rural > development areas and social welfare areas? > > That means the so called "e-governance" would never > reach these people in Karnataka. My colleagues would > be happy to announce it as yet another greatest > thing > they have done. They may even be awarded with > international citation! > > An e-governance effort without taking into account > the > poor section of the society can be called only anti > human. > > Well, I have one more observation to make. > Can e-seva reduce the loot that is being committed > by > Government officials and others in RTOs/police > stations/PWD/HW offices/ education department/labour > department/industries department/commercial taxes > department? > What about building licences! > You can get a glaring building construction > violation > as long as you pay the right money to the Bangalore > officials! > Can they make the building construction approval > online? > Can they book the corrupt rats in the Bangalore > corporation through e-seva? > Can they issue driving licences and vehicle permits > through e-seva centres? > > Let us first make the licence raj online. > The country is under the peril of being > disintegrated > due to corruption in government departments? > > And where is the role for NISG here? > Sucides can be done without NISG's assistance too! > > Regards. > > Umashankar C.Umashankar IAS., (TamilNadu Cadre) e-governance expert and Member (Special Invitee) - Working group for implementation of National e-governance action plan, Government of India, New Delhi. Member, India e-gov group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/India-egov/ Current assignment: Election Observer (General) in East Champaran district - Motihari town from 7th Feb 2005 to 1st March 2005. Tel: 06252-241035 Mob: 94316-32262 Chennai: Ph: 91-44-52054443 94443-82827 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia
by Venkat Kumaraswamy 17 Mar '05

17 Mar '05

> > >All of you might know allready about program called PROJECT > > >SHIKSHA which is being promoted by MS. we all need to worry about M$'s dominance in EDUCATION sector. M$is buying it's way into all States of INDIA. They are signing MOU's with States to do PROJECT SHIKSHA. This is one of the blunder done by Education Secretaries of INDIA and State Education Secretaries. What M$ is doing is sponsoring Teachers, Professors and Officials trip to USA and make them to attend some seminars given by M$. Our people go for these things and they forget about the country and it's Education system. We need to find what M$ has played a role in awarding the OLTP project ? WAS anyone involved in this decision making and listening to the advise of M$ ? M$ has deep rooted in Education System of INDIA. WE all need to think of way to get out of this mess created by few people for their greed. I think M$ must be planning in developing application developers using their technologies in INDIA, so that it will deny entry of OS in INDIA. M$ is really worried about this. That is why BG of M$ is increasing his DONATIONS in INDIA. Recently he has given funding to MSS Foundation I think. These NGO's follow what M$ says. That is the POWER of MONEY. IN ONE WAY M$ IS CORRUPTING our good NGO's and Individuals. M$ can be held responsible for increasing our CORRUPTION in our Country. WE all need to discuss this matter further in this the M$ and it\'s AGENDA. As far as BANGALORE ONE project, IT SHOULD BE OPENLY DEBATED AS written by this IAS offcier. We all should support this and encourage the IAS officer to go and challenge the ELITE people who are recomending e-Seva to be used in BANGALORE ONE project. As all of you know e-Seva has been slammed by CAG. In these days the e-Seva centers are most vulnerable for,ONLINE SECURITY FRAUD. This is more problematic by using e-Seva by GOK. I do not know how NISG is recomending e-Seva to be REPLICATED in BANGALORE ONE project. GOD SHOULD SAVE KARNATAKA STATE. NISG will not !!! They will go away once the deal is made with GOK. I think, we all need to discuss further and we should get more opinions from the group and move forward on this. WE SHOULD FORM A CORE COMMITTEE. Thanks Sincerely V. M. Kumaraswamy ------------------------------------------------------------------- ",1]);//-->forum. We might want make a committee with in this group to look into the M$ and it's AGENDA. thanks V. M. Kumaraswamy --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!

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Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia
by Venkat Kumaraswamy 17 Mar '05

17 Mar '05

Hello Sameer N I, What you thought I was giving wrong information ? This is happenning all over INDIA. GOI has sold Education System to MS for their money. Because BG of MS is DONATING funds for HIV and other things. What BG of MS is doing throwing BONES at DOGS. Our Govt. BUREAUCRATS for their ME TOO ATTITUDE doing all these things by signing MOU's with MS for PROJECT SHIKSHA without even thinking of consequences. It is spreading like CANCER all over the country. I am fighting in different fronts in Karnataka State Governament. There is more than NAGAPUR UNIVERSITY. You should submit an application to the University and also on GNU Letterhead. This should be done by all of us. All of you need to reab the CURRICULUM written by MS. This is a large file. I can't send it through the group. But I am going to copy the report written in outlookindia.com Wrtten by: Sugata Srinivasaraju <sugata(a)outlookindia.com>, Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 12:24 PM Subject: microsoft story Dear Sir, Outlook has used just 500 words in print from this article. It could not use the rest due to space constraints. The full article would be put up on our Internet site. Regards, Sugata. By Sugata Srinivasaraju It was a primary school in Argentina. A few years ago computers had been newly installed. Prof. Kenneth Keniston of the MIT went there to understand how children were getting used to the new technology. He asked the instructor how the kids were faring? She said they were picking up things amazingly fast, but her only concern was that the software in the computer was converting little Argentines into little Americans. It is a somewhat similar anxiety of erasure of identity that has made writers, linguists, educationists and local language computing experts raise questions about a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the Government of Karnataka (GoK) has recently entered into with Microsoft for IT education at the primary and secondary school level. Dubbing the MOU as the "Microsoftisation of education," the critics want the government to terminate the agreement and ensure that a more multilateral IT education is imparted, instead of allowing just one multinational corporation to "monopolize" the minds of children. In fact, renowned playwright and MLC, Chandrashekar Kambar, has raised the issue in the Upper House of the Karnataka legislature in the recently concluded session. The MOU is part of Microsoft�s �philanthropic� effort to accelerate the spread of computer literacy among students and teachers in government schools across India exclusively through Microsoft products. Through �Project Shiksha� they intend to reach out to 3.5 million students and 80,000 teachers in the next five years. To meet this target, they have entered into an agreement with many state governments and Karnataka was the most recent signatory in November 2004. Eminent Kannada writer and Sahitya Academy award winner, K P Poornachandra Tejasvi, who has been leading the charge against the MOU, in a letter to the government, has accused it of spending crores of rupees in the name of IT education to merely forward the business interests of Microsoft. "When responsible governments across the world are moving towards open source software, which is available free and could be evolved to suit our local needs, why should we remain at the mercy of expensive proprietary software?" He asks. When we point out that the Microsoft proprietary software is after all coming free for Project Shiksha, he shoots back: "That is what we are made to believe, but read clause II.2 in the MOU it clearly says that the government will set up three IT Academies in �a central location� of Bangalore, Dharwad and Gulbarga and give it to Microsoft for an annual charge of Rs. One [repeat Rs one] to run for five years. They also specify that the government should provide a minimum of 1000-2000 square feet building with �electricity, running water, sewer, security and maintenance staff and phone and/or lease lines.� The government also assures that it would regularly supply students for the IT academies, which is like saying that we will supply regular customers for Microsoft. This means the government has to shell out crores of rupees of taxpayers� money to help Microsoft carry out its philanthropy." Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Chiranjiv Singh, who has responded to Tejasvi�s letter admits that the facts of the matter have come as an "eye-opener" and he would ask the heads of the departments concerned to "examine the issue and take appropriate action." US-based Nova Group CEO and President, V M Kumaraswamy, who has started an Internet activism group on the issue and who is currently in Bangalore to petition Chief Minister Dharam Singh and former prime minister Deve Gowda, says that if the government were spending taxpayers money to get some unique technological exposure to our children then we could have thought it was well worth it, but training in Microsoft products only would mean restricting job opportunities for these kids later. "The correct approach is to teach children with total open source solutions so that they become marketable once out of school. If they are trained only in Microsoft products they may become less marketable or not marketable at all, judging from the present trend among business houses and governments all over the world," says Kumaraswamy. "We are not against Microsoft products, but we are against the one vendor policy of the government. It is ethically wrong that a MNC which is fighting monopoly charges in US and European courts is allowed to monopolize government IT initiatives and that too in a very important sector like education which prepares the next generation technologists," Kumaraswamy clarifies and adds that he is contemplating a PIL in the matter very soon. Eminent linguist at Kannada University, Prof. K V Narayana, agrees: "Project Shiksha is only advantage Microsoft. Also, I have doubts if the government is capable of creating infrastructure and the learning mileu that it has promised in the MOU. One needs to just take a look at the government schools to understand what I mean. They still do not have toilets and don't get textbooks on time. In other words there is no preparedness for the technological leap that it claims to be envisioning." Kambar says he is also concerned about the lack of transparency in the whole affair. "They are neither ready to share the curriculum nor the source code for their products. With source code especially there are a lot of security issues involved," he says. Nandu Pradhan, director, Public Sector and Governments, Micorsoft India dismisses these allegations: "Microsoft is a responsible global citizen. Project Shiksha was launced by Bill Gates himself when he came to India in 2002 and the idea behind it is to empower the masses. We simply want to help the common man join the knowledge economy. About 20 million US dollars has been set aside till 2007 for the project," he says. When we ask him about the monopoly charge, Pradhan gives the analogy of a driving school. "When we go to a driving school, we may learn on one brand of vehicle and may later end up buying a different brand of vehicle. So what we are doing through Project Shiksha is we are only teaching basic skills and fuelling IT literacy. We are investing quality time and are developing a top class curriculum. We will also pay for the faculty that teaches children, besides offering licensed copies of software." But another issue that has complicated matters for Microsoft is the Kannada Language Interface Package (LIP) that it has developed for the Windows platform. Tejasvi, Kambar and others have accused Microsoft of not caring to consult local language computing experts or linguists while developing LIP. "There are nine universities in Karnataka and one Kannada University which deals with language related issues, not one person in these institutions have been consulted," they say. Countering the charge, Raveesh Gupta, marketing in-charge of localization at Microsoft India told Outlook that over 500 language users, including U R Ananthamurthy, were consulted. "In fact Jnanpith laureate Ananthamurthy was the keynote speaker at the launch of the Kannada package. Also, we need to understand that the package is not cast in stone, it is an ongoing process. We are open and what we have done is in no way comprehensive," he said. Microsoft shared nine names of Kannada experts that it consulted, only Ananthamurthy's name was recognizable in the list. But he has been erroneously described as a 'linguist.' "I am really disappointed that some people are jeopardizing the destiny of our language. Also, the government is encouraging Microsoft at the cost of many local companies which have worked on Kannada software for years now. At one time there were 26 companies working on Kannada software, now there are 4 left, with the entry of Microsoft those four too will cease to exist," Tejasvi paints a grim picture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have more on MS, if group members wants to know more about MS and what they are doing and how they are buying their MARKET share in INDIA and other things. Just let me know. We should do a petition to stop MS growth in all the places. MS are breaking into SCHOOLS and UNIVERSITIES. We all need to stop this. SPREAD THE WORD about MS on what they are doing. Thanks Venkat Kumaraswamy Sameer N I <strike(a)proscrutiny.com> wrote: Venkat Kumaraswamy wrote: > >Good thing this thread started about MS. > >All of you might know allready about program called PROJECT SHIKSHA which is being promoted by MS. Even MS is writing curriuculum for PRIMARY, SECONDARY and HIGH SCHOOL. > >GoI has sold the Education System to MNC called MS. We need to stop this also. > >Even some STATE Govts. in INDIA have signed MOU with MS for this PROJECT SHIKSHA. > >MS in the name of PHILONTHRAPHY is buying their way into EDUCAION SYSTEMS in INDIA. > >Even some Govt. colleges and Some Universities are offering courses only in MS products. > >I will post some articles related to this in my next posting. > >We all need to think how we can stop this MS mania !!! > Strange but true... Nagpur University has M$ .Net and ASP included in their syllabus.. I am ready to fight with the university officials but then I do not have enough authority.. An application on a plane paper and an application on gnu letterhead. The two will definitely have substantial difference. Any thoughts? Regards, Sameer. _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!

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NEWS: Left, BJP refuse to bite Patent Bill
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Mar '05

17 Mar '05

http://in.news.yahoo.com//050316/48/2k85o.html Thursday March 17, 4:00 AM Left, BJP refuse to bite Patent Bill By ENS Economic Bureau With both BJP and the Left parties putting their foot down, the UPA government is finding it extremely difficult to push through the Patents (Amendment) Bill in its present form. Desperate to convince both friends and foes, the government met both Left Parliamentarians and the BJP leadership on Wednesday afternoon, but appeared to have made little headway. The government's logic that it is under international obligation, as a signatory, to enforce the bill, found no takers in both the BJP and Left camps. With Left MPs refusing to fall in line to allow the passage of the bill as it has been envisaged, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath turned the BJP's help, again unsuccessfully. Kamal Nath called on BJP President L.K. Advani in his chambers in Parliament on Wednesday to discuss the bill. He argued that the bill, after all, had been initially moved by the NDA government. But Advani insisted that the bill be sent to the Standing Committee for detailed discussions, before moving it in Parliament. This was as per BJP's earlier stance and the party been quite vocal about it since Tuesday. After Wednesday's meeting, Advani told The Indian Express, ''BJP's stand even earlier was to refer the bill to the Standing Committee. We have always maintained that many suggestions could be dealt with in the Standing Committee.'' The earlier bill was sent to the Standing Committee towards 2003-end and as the 13th Lok Sabha was dissolved soon after, it never got discussed, Advani said. The party now wants the UPA government to follow the same route and not rush it through Parliament. Open defiance . Left continues to oppose provisions in Bill . BJP opposes it more for political reasons . Patents Ordinance to lapse sans passage by next week Advani said Nath agreed to ''consider'' the suggestion and would get back to him after discussing it with his Cabinet colleagues. Unlike the Left, which has consistently opposed many provisions in the Patents Bill, the BJP has no ideological problems with it. The party has decided to oppose the bill more for political reasons, sources said. If the bill is not passed by next week, the Patents Ordinance issued by the government in December will lapse, and a fresh ordinance will have to be issued. But senior Left leaders have been quite critical and have said they did not ''understand why the government was not inserting protection clauses permitted under the Doha declaration.'' A senior Left leader who has been part of the negotiating team said, ''Those protection clauses can give our domestic industries some leeway to operate, but the government would not for unspecified reasons be taking recourse to them.'' Other Left leaders said one could understand the Trips requirement and the obligations the country had to fulfil. But, they said, there were provisions in the proposed Amendment Bill which came under the Trips plus category. Senior CPM Politburo member Prakash Karat said in its present form the bill was unacceptable. Those Left leaders, who attended Wednesday's UPA-Left meeting in Parliament on Patents (Amendment) Bill, said it was ''inconclusive''. The Left said till now the UPA government appeared not to have climbed down on any of the key issues on which it held a diametrically opposite point of view.

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The Corporate Eyeball Trap
by Praveen A 17 Mar '05

17 Mar '05

Atul Chitnis writes about the threat faced by the Free Software Community ( Read Open Source = Free Software -- we are two different parties of the same "code-sharing" community. We co-operate on all the practical issues). The threat is very real. Read on.... <quote> Recently, Open Source Definition Author Bruce Perens spoke about some of the threats facing Linux. He specifically pointed at things like software patents, which he rightfully identified as a real danger to any form of innovation and growth in Linux. However, it isn't the only one. There is another one - sneakily creeping up on the Open Source world, ready to bite - something I call the "Corporate Eyeball Trap". Allow me to give you some background first. </quote> Read full story http://comversations.com/columns/showentry/11 -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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INDIA: Respected Vice Chancellor...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Mar '05

17 Mar '05

Please sign this memo and add your suggestions and points. FN _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Writing with a difference, on issues that really make the difference. - - - - - - - - - http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign VTU-FLOSS Campaign The Vice Chancellor Visvesvaraya Technological University Belgaum - 590 014 Karnataka State, India Respected Sir, Re: Opening wider software avenues for your students through Free Software. There are thousands of engineering and polytechnic colleges in India. Each year, a few hundred thousands of graduates and diploma holders earn their degree. They pay thousands of rupees as fees to get the best facilities. A part of this goes to buying the softwares which they use either in college lab or for doing their assignments at home. For every software which India's engineering students use; there is an alternate Free Software program available. Free Software offers freedom, accelerated possibilities and wider vistas to our students. But in a 'talent rich, resource poor' country like India, it is also an issue of costs. Huge amounts of resources will be saved, and productivity gained, while deploying Free Software. This will not only make engineering education more cost-effective, but also more productive. Free/Libre and Open Source Software has many other advantages such as reliability, performance and security; building up of long-term capacity within the state and country itself; the Free (as in freedom) philosophy; encouraging innovations; offering alternatives to illegal copying; throwing up many possibilities in localisation; helping students vastly by allowing them to learn from the source code; getting access to literally thousands of tools; in addition, of course, to lower costs. Issues related to Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in education are outlined very well at http://www.iosn.net/education/foss-education-primer/ Other than cost benefits, Free Software has other extremely pertinent advantages. We would urge you to serious consider the following: * No-fee licensing * Ease of license fee management * Better large-scale programmability * Easier integration * Better performance * Development convenience * Better support Niranjan Rajani in a study on FLOSS in the developing world, notes, "FLOSS has a complementary and reciprocal relationship to education. One needs an educated section of the population to fulfil the full potential of FLOSS, and at the same time FLOSS helps, enhances, and complements education by providing tools to promote education." In the case of education in computer sciences, FLOSS provides opportunities which nothing else can, as the Finland-based researcher Rajani points out: * Unrestricted access to the source code. * An environment of unlimited experimentation and tinkering. * Collaboration and interaction with a community of programmers, coders and users around the world. In addition to providing ready and available tools, Free Software provides positive examples from projects around the globe. In practice, this means that if someone in some other place has created a tool to reach a specific educational goal, one can take it as a starting point and build on it, without the need to "reinvent the wheel". The Dspace project and the Koha library software, mentioned earlier, are but two simple examples of such possibilities. As far as collaboration is concerned, Sourceforge is perhaps the biggest collaboration project ever created, uniting tens of thousands of software projects and hundreds of thousands of people around the world. "FLOSS itself has been called the most collaborative human effort ever," as Rajani points out. In addition to the above, the inherent qualities of FLOSS make it a prime tool for achieving local language educational software, especially for languages which are not deemed commercially viable for proprietary software vendors. This has the scope of offering both relevance and employment to so many of your bright young students. There are literally hundreds of Free Software's programs which colleges or universities can adopt. As Vishweshwaraiah Technological University is one of the biggest engineering-related universities in India, its time for VTU to give the lead and move towards using Free Software. This would encourage other Universities to follow suit. Let the VTU have the pride to be the first one to adopt Free Software in educational curriculum, on a scale significant enough to make a difference to the future of VTU, its many students, and India itself. Here we submit some examples of three such alternative Free Software programs which can be used for technical education. * (1) Operating System: Windows v/s GNU/Linux Because of the software tools prescribed in the colleges, and also a general lack of awareness of Free Software options, most colleges use Microsoft Windows based operating system. Yet, in terms of technological features, stability, learning possibilities, the GNU/Linux is increasingly being recognised as the best available globally. It is the best suited for any educational institution. Students can not only use it, but also can study its source code to understand its internal workings. Likewise, they can easily get in touch with the many volunteers who have put together this amazing set of tools, and collaborate internationally to created more suitable products and also hike their own skill-sets. But many of the colleges use or have started adopting GNU/ Linux, starting with the server room, where it is well known for its stability and security now it has entered our labs and desktops. * (2) Simulation: Matlab v/s Octave Matlab is used in communication and electronics lab. Matlab for an individual license for use in a university (academic use) costs $500. Any college will have to buy a minimum of 25 licenses. This means shelling out Rs.537,500. Octave, which is a simulation software written by university professors. This usually comes, along and as part of, the GNU/Linux Operating System. The advantage to students is that they don't have to buy a limited student version to use at home. They can use Octave both at lab and at home. SciLab? is another Free Software competitor for Matlab. It uses sophisticated algorithms to analyse data and produce aesthetic graphics. NG-SPICE is another GPLd Circuit Simulator which is based on the University of Berkley's Spice Version 3f5. * (3) Office software's: MS Office v/s Open Office Currently, we all used Microsoft Word to submit our project documents for review and for other academic purposes. Recent technological developments now mean that we have Open Office which is as good as Microsoft Office and has the same, if not better, features. Microsoft Office in fact lacks some features like PDF (Portable Document Format) support, compatibility with older versions of Microsoft Office, lack a vector drawing application, etc. Open Office gives you everything starting from a word processor, to presentation software to PDF generator. It is fully compatible with Microsoft Office -- so already existing data in those formats can be used. Don't you think it's the right time to save money and enhance efficiency of technological education in our country? The above are just examples. There are many such software programs from which the students can benefit. We hope the university understands the urgency and the need. We would be happy to give the university any information/help that is needed. Currently, India has a wide range of volunteer GNU/Linux support groups, a list of which can be found at http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList * (4) Computer Networks Subject Teaching: Ethreal, tcpdump, NS2 etc We use the above mentioned tools for the teaching of Computer Networks and Data Communication subjects. There are a number of other GNU GPLed tools which can be used in a number of other labs for teaching and learning. * (5) Content Management Systems: Drupal, PHP-Nuke etc For building websites and info portals for students to make online learning possible. In the world of online forums, Free Software have a number of free options. You could well imagine the impact that the accelerated spread of such easily-reachable and usable tools would have, not just on the engineers of tomorrow, but on the wider Indian society as a whole. We thank you for your patient hearing, and urge your reputed university to take speedy and decisive steps in this direction. Thanking you, We remain, Yours sincerely,

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Update on Amendments to Patents Act
by Ramanraj K 16 Mar '05

16 Mar '05

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=85335 <quote> Cyber expert and Supreme Court advocate Pawan Duggal pointed out that in the US, software itself is patentable. So are business process methods embedded in hardware. “Not allowing software and software embedded with hardware will cut significantly India’s share in the patent pie,” he said. </quote> If software is patentable in the US, it merely means that the US is clearly violating TRIPS and India should complain to the WTO against the illegitimate and inane practice. So far as the other argument goes, it is as bad as saying not enough people are suffering from cancer, depriving hospitals, pharmaceuticals and graveyards from revenue.

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Governments of Europe: Please support Denmark!
by cherry＠asianetindia.com 16 Mar '05

16 Mar '05

Hello, On March 4th the Danish Parliament obliged their Minister of Economic and Industry Affairs to reopen the software patents discussion in the EU Council of Ministers. This is a big step forward and so we say: Thank you, Denmark! For more details visit http://demo.ffii.org/cons0503/ -- Vivek Varghese Cherian Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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LTDP is now GNU/LTDP
by Anand Babu 15 Mar '05

15 Mar '05

LTDP project has changed its name to GNU/LTDP (GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project) and all references on their web site from "Linux OS" to "GNU/Linux OS". S.Thanikachalam has approved A.Nagappan to go ahead with this name change and stress the importance of Freedom. We should thank both of them for considering our request. Here is a short intro to this project: ====================================================================== GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project (License GPL/LGPL) http://gnomebangalore.org/ldtp GNU/Linux Desktop Testing Project (GNU/LDTP) is aimed at producing high quality test automation framework and cutting-edge tools that can be used to test GNU/Linux Desktop and improve it. It uses the "Accessibility" libraries to poke through the application's user interface. The framework has tools to generate "AppMap" by reading through the user interface components of an application. The framework also has tools to record test-cases based on user-selection on the application. GNU/LDTP core framework uses "AppMap" and the recorded "test-cases" to test an application and gives the status of each test-case as output. As of now, GNU/LDTP can test any GNOME application which are accessibility enabled, Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, any Java application (should have a UI based on swing) and KDE 4.0 applications based on QT 4.0 (based on the press releases by KDE). ====================================================================== Best Regards, -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org> GPG: 875D 577F 4130 BB7C 7E00 459F 6B45 5939 62E1 5A31

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Consilience at NLSIU - Legal Aspects of FOSS
by Ramanraj K 14 Mar '05

14 Mar '05

The Law and Technology Committee (Ltech) at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore is organising its annual conference -Consilience - this year on the "Legal Aspects of FOSS". This conference aims play an important role in helping the government frame a policy well suited to free software. Ankur Singla is the Convener, Law and Technology Committee, NLSIU, and more details about the event will follow soon.

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MS' influence in academia
by balachandran c 14 Mar '05

14 Mar '05

I believe it is very important to step up the activities regarding FS advocacy in Universities and Schools. The "Unix culture" was born in the Universities, and it appears that MS is determined to kill it there. MS already offers gratis copies of its softwares in Universities. I am pretty sure that with higher broadband penetration, they will offer these "academic programmes" in Indian Schools too. I guess that they are not offering these "services" in India since they know that the kids will make illegal copies anyway, and they don't have to pay the bandwidth costs. (Most likely, the Schools will be paying for the b/w costs). This is a very real threat. As far as the gnu on the desktop question goes, I think win's main strength is this: you can get your nephew to reinstall win every time it craps out. There are lots of gnu users who can make their machines do a samba, but the mass of users who can "just install gnu, and maybe even change themes" are few. We need them. MS's efforts will largely absorb people from this category. Our efforts: The real meaning and purpose of FS is freedom, the real reason, ethics. Most of our efforts in advocating FS is based on these facts. But are they enough? A very popular argument among us goes this way: if someone uses FS for any reason other than the one that ought to be, they will move away when they get an alternative. I agree. But so what? While they are using FS, they are providing us with that resource which we badly need. (As far as moving away is concerned, notice that inertia when people refuse to go gnu even when ethical *and* financial considerations point that way? Inertia works both ways.) Am I saying let us forget all about ethics and talk about "network effects" ? All I am saying, is that if we have 1000 people who will switch to nonFS tomorrow, but can help 10 people who "get it" to switch to FS today, it is something positive. Moreover, it is easier to get our real point across to people who already use FS. (We are experts in preaching to the converted ;) ). When we get our point across to people who use nonFS, we imply that they are supporting something unethical. People resent this. They react, not by thinking about the problem and reaching a logical conclusion, but by pushing the whole problem across the SEP (Somebody Else's Problem) barrier. What if we can make sure that when people think about the problem, they are already on the other side of the ethical/moral problem? I think they will react differently. Better yet, we can get them to act. If you agree with my point, you will see that our resources are not well organized. As far as the ethical aspect goes, we have lots of essays at FSF website. I believe that we should organize all our resources, the essays, the case studies:extremaduras and munichs (personally, I found the extremadura story more relevant to India), the bounties, the cool tech's:xens and reisers, the tutorials, the LUGs. Advocacy must be multi-pronged, it requires a bit more planning. Personally, my attempts at FS advocacy to individuals have been successful. My only attempt involving a group (CS students at CET), a failure. I realize that volunteering support (short pointers on how to use gnu tools, staying after regular hours to discuss things, burning cds with knoppix, eclipse, and all that jazz) was not enough. The issue is not that people think about the problem and choose nonFS, they simply refuse to think about the problem. We need serious brainstorming to get their attention. One of the interesting suggestions that came up in one of the FSF meetings was to give some sort of membership to the students to let them know that they are part of our group. I am sure, we can come up with more ideas. Here is one: FSF Academic Awards. Best Project (Developed): The conditions are obvious. Adv: The CS students are required to develop projects anyway, lets recognize their creativity. Applied (Technical): Use/Modify existing software for creative applications in non CS fields. Applied (Social): Socially relevant application of FS. Arts (Essays, Artwork for FS projects, Artwork with FS): So my basic idea is to get some attention for FS from the whole range of academia. Ofcourse, the real problem would be to find sufficient resources. For my part, I pledge Rs.3600 to any effort to bring in the students. As far as solving the resource problem goes, I think we should lobby the alumni of the schools to support us. Maybe this "FSF academic awards" idea is not a practical one, maybe it is. But more importantly, we *need* some ideas to make them reach us. Something more "interesting" than letters to beaurocrats. Eagerly awaiting your ideas and suggestions, bala.

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[Fsf-friends] Visitor from the UK: Open Advantage, Univ of Central England, FLOSS
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

We're expecting a guest for this month's ILUG-Goa meeting, scheduled for Saturday April 26, 2005 between 3-5 pm at the Goa Science Centre, Miramar, in Goa. Greg Wild <Agregwild at aol.com> is visiting India from mid-April and says he's "trying to make contacts with Linux users in India". He has lived most of his life in the U.S but have been resident in the UK for the last six months. Says he: "I am a member of the South Birmingham and Wolverhampton Linux User Groups in the UK. and have been involved with Open Advantage, a unit of the University of Central England specialising in promoting open source software in the UK and Europe. Prior to arriving in England, I was a member of the Cincinnati LUG in Ohio. I would consider it an honour if you could arrange for me to make contact and I would be very interested in the kind of work taking place in India." Greg accepted our invite for the meeting at the Goa Science Centre, Miramar. He says: "Looking forward to being there and hope to have ready a comprehensive report on the Open Source situation in Birmingham U.K." He will be arriving in Goa on March 18, 2005 and is keen to know whether universities here use GNU/Linux. Greg also looks forward to build contacts with GNU/Linux users and projects. "I would be grateful for any ideas," he says. FN _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Writing with a difference, on issues that really make the difference.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia
by Venkat Kumaraswamy 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

Hello All , Good thing this thread started about MS. All of you might know allready about program called PROJECT SHIKSHA which is being promoted by MS. Even MS is writing curriuculum for PRIMARY, SECONDARY and HIGH SCHOOL. GoI has sold the Education System to MNC called MS. We need to stop this also. Even some STATE Govts. in INDIA have signed MOU with MS for this PROJECT SHIKSHA. MS in the name of PHILONTHRAPHY is buying their way into EDUCAION SYSTEMS in INDIA. Even some Govt. colleges and Some Universities are offering courses only in MS products. I will post some articles related to this in my next posting. We all need to think how we can stop this MS mania !!! Thanks Kumaraswamy Sameer N I <strike(a)proscrutiny.com> wrote: Hi, [snip] >Assuming that there are resources, I want to ask the community: how >many of you are willing to work for FSF as full timers if proper >compensation is given, at various parts of the counry? And howmany of >your are willing to work with full timers during your spare time? > > [/snip] I don't know about if I will be able to work as a full timer. As far as efforts are concerned as a part timer, I am already preparing for a 3 day Seminar on Free Software to be conducted at a college in Wardha, Maharashtra. More on this in a separate thread... as it would be inappropriate to discuss about seminar in this tread. Regards, Sameer. _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: 3 day seminar at Wardha
by Sameer N I 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

It is very nice to have you as a speaker. The dates are yet to be confirmed. I am communicating with the college officials. The topics for the seminar are yet to be discussed in detail. I have to work out the details in a way so that the UG and PG students and FSF both are benefited. What gnu ware can we give out? I can bear cost of 50 CDs.. + all my expenses and communication expenses. What are the expenses we might have to take care of? I would also look for some sponsors if need be. Any inputs are highly appreciated. Regards, Sameer. Nagarjuna G. wrote: >I dont mind coming to Wardha for a workshop on freesoftware as a >speaker, provided suitable dates and time are worked out. when is this >going to be? > >Nagarjuna > >

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[Fsf-friends] E-newsletter on GNU/Linux... from India (free to share)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

------------------------------------------------------------ LinTux Newsletter - Saturday, Mar 12th, 2005 "Spreading the Spirit of Gnu/Linux" ------------------------------------------------------------ http://groups-beta.google.com/group/lintux ------------------------------------------------------------ For joining the newsletter, scroll to the bottom for details I also request you to send in your comments and suggestions regarding the newsletter to: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------ WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF GNU/LINUX ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** FSF/UNESCO Free Software Directory ********************************** The Free Software Directory is a project of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). We catalog useful free software that runs under free operating systems - particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants. Licenses are verified for each and every program listed in this directory. URL: http://directory.fsf.org/ Site to visit 5th Feb-19th March. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ************************* Rev up your presentations ************************* We all appreciate well-thought-out slide shows that logically step through a topic, especially when they're not dull and boring. When creating presentations, many of us are tempted to toss in every little feature the software supports. Unfortunately, cluttered slides can be hard to follow, and obnoxious design elements look cheap. One good technique to enhance your presentations is to use the GIMP's mask feature to make interesting text and cut-out objects, and make those objects move on an OpenOffice.org Impress slide. Suppose you are trying to convince a client that he needs to switch over to a remote support model for his customers. His company currently sends its technicians... Read Full: http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/02/16/142721 8 ------------------------------------------------------------ ************************************** Woo Windows Users with Linux-in-a-Box ************************************** In an effort to convince frustrated Windows users to adopt Linux, Novell has introduced a new version of SuSE Linux that bundles revamped applications and tools with the latest version of the operating system. SuSE Linux Professional 9.3 includes the complete Linux operating system, more than 3,000 open-source packages, including the Microsoft Office-compatible OpenOffice office suite, and hundreds of open-source applications. The offering also includes a variety of graphics and multimedia applications; multiple development tools; a comprehensive set of Internet tools, including the open-source Firefox 1.0 Web browser and e-mail and instant messaging clients; an integrated firewall, spam blocker and virus scanner; and support for VOIP (voice over IP) and virtualization. By bundling such a vast array of applications and tools, Novell hopes to woo Microsoft users who may be frustrated with Windows' security bugs and might be open to switching to Linux if the transition is smooth and easy... Read Full at: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1775214,00.asp?kc=EWRSS 03129TX1K0000616 ------------------------------------------------------------ ***************************************** Desktop Linux wins plaudits for stability ***************************************** CeBIT: Companies who choose open source software over Windows for their enterprise resource planning tend to be surprised by the absence of crashes, according to users and vendors A company that migrated from Microsoft Windows to Linux on the desktop has praised the open source operating system's stability. G�nter Stoverock, the data processing manager at German import company Heinz Tr�ber, said on Thursday his firm had decided against running its ERP software on Windows as it considered it less stable than the open source alternative. "We didn't want to rely on Windows-based systems as they were quite instable and insecure," said Stoverock. "With Linux there is no blue screen and no freezing - that was the advantage for us."... Read Full at: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,391909 50,00.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************** 10 Reasons to Switch to Linux ****************************** 1. It Doesn't Crash Linux has been time-proven to be a reliable operating system. Although the desktop is not a new place for Linux, most Linux-based systems have been used as servers and embedded systems. High-visibility Web sites such as Google use Linux-based systems, but you also can find Linux inside the TiVo set-top box in many livingrooms. Linux has proved to be so reliable and secure that it is commonly found in dedicated firewall and router systems used by high-profile companies to secure their networks. For more than ten years, it has not been uncommon for Linux systems to run for months... Read Full at: http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/1000117 ------------------------------------------------------------ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Fight Disease with Linux &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Like SETI@Home, the Folding@Home project takes advantage of distributed computing to analyze data for a singular goal. However, rather than searching for extraterrestrial radio signals, Folding@Home is focused on protein-folding simulations; once doctors understand how proteins behave, they can examine the causes of - and hopefully design cures for - a plethora of diseases. To make these projects more appealing, they're often packaged as screensavers that display pretty pictures while using your CPU's "spare" cycles to crunch data and send it back to the project home (SETI, for example, had a cool graph of the radio frequencies and power levels)... Read Full at: http://channels.lockergnome.com/linux/archives/20050308_figh t_disease_with_linux.phtml ------------------------------------------------------------ *************************************** GNOME 2.10 Desktop & Developer Platform *************************************** The GNOME 2.10 Desktop and Platform release is the latest version of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment. GNOME runs on a variety of platforms, including GNU/Linux (commonly called Linux), Solaris, HP-UX, BSD and Apple's Darwin. GNOME includes powerful features such as high-quality smooth text rendering and first class internationalization and accessibility support, including support for bi-directional text.... Read Full at: http://channels.lockergnome.com/linux/archives/20050310_gnom e_210_desktop_developer_platform.phtml ------------------------------------------------------------ ******************************************* AmaroK is a step up for Linux audio players ******************************************* With the release of amaroK 1.2 last month, I finally found the Linux music player I've been wanting. When I moved to Linux full-time about two years ago, the only software that I missed from Windows was a quality audio player. Linux audio players lacked features like cover downloads, smart playlists, or easy burning to CD. Even worse, with a large collection of more than 10,000 tracks, the Linux players generally locked up when I tried to load them all, or at least slowed to an unbearable crawl. AmaroK has all of the basic features of modern Windows audio players, and some features that I haven't seen in any other player. The name "amaroK" was taken from an album by composer Mike Oldfield. Developer Mark Kretschmann said, "I've been a long-time fan of Mr. Oldfield's work and thought the name sounded nice, so I chose it for the application." Of course, it doesn't hurt that the name already has a "K" in it. The word means "wolf" in Inuit, which explains the various amaroK logos.... Read Full at: http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/04/174621 0 ------------------------------------------------------------ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Torvalds switches to Apple ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Linux creator Linus Torvalds said this afternoon that he's now running an Apple Macintosh as his main desktop, mainly for work reasons, although partly simply because he's a self-described "technology whore". Torvalds, who initially created Linux for the Intel x86 platform, revealed to the Linux Kernel Mailing List in February during a discussion on kernel size reduction that his main desktop machine no longer featured an x86 processor. Hence, Torvalds said, a patch specific to the x86 platform that he was submitting to the list for consideration was totally untested. ZDNet Australia was intrigued by this remark, and sought to question Torvalds on why the man who has single-handedly revolutionised the use of Unix on the x86 platform would move away from it, and where he had moved to. Torvald's response came quickly and succinctly. "My main machine these days is a dual 2GHz G5 (aka PowerPC 970) - it's physically a regular Apple Mac, although it obviously only runs Linux, so I don't think you can call it a Mac any more ;)" he said.... Read Full at: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/0,39023165,39183867,00.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ +++++++++++++++++++++++ GNU/Linux user groups.. +++++++++++++++++++++++ This page contains a list of the useful user groups that help in spreading Free/Libre and Open Source Software. Would really appreciate any help in updating and correcting this list and keeping it current. Let's try to network all the 'little' GNU/LUGs, who badly need your support to grow. FN (Frederick Noronha in Goa) Read Full: http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** My Workstation OS: Linspire 4.5 ********************************** Built on a Debian Linux core, Linspire is designed for simplicity of use, and it delivers this in spades. Linspire eliminates the need for me to be technically proficient in the nuances of Linux to successfully operate and enjoy the OS. This includes loading software, staying updated, and never seeing a command-line interface. It makes it very easy to just get on with what I have to do and not worry about the technicalities of using a Linux-based system. Installing Linspire is a often a pleasant surprise for seasoned Linux users, as the operating system's hardware detection routines are really top-notch. Many of the common trouble spots for Linux, such as printers, USB keychain drives, and DVD writers, are recognized and installed automatically; no need to hunt for obscure libraries and drivers. Linspire is also one of the very few distributions to offer ... Read Full at: http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/10/1651237 ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************************** FSF offers jobs page for employers, employees ********************************************** While it has carried job listings on its site in some form since 2001, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) launched a newly revived "Jobs in Free Software" page last month to match employers who are committed to the ideals of free software with like-minded job seekers. John Sullivan, the program administrator for FSF, is the man charged with bringing life to the jobs page and the rest of the FSF site, which has recently undergone an extensive renovation. He says that the job listings can be a valuable resource for businesses "concerned with ethics" that want to reach a community of job candidates who share the same concerns... Read Full at: http://business.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/04/211255 ------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************************** More-Secure Linux Still Needs To Win Users ****************************************** The National Security Agency built a version of Linux with more security tools that its technologists believe could help make the country's computing infrastructure less vulnerable. They've won over the Linux developer community with the changes. But success depends on its adoption by U.S. companies and government agencies, something that remains very much in doubt. For more than a decade, the National Security Agency has worked on a way to use a computer's operating systems to control how software applications and users can access data. The agency succeeded years ago in creating these "mandatory access-control" features for specialized operating systems, but very few users deployed them. Taking a gamble in 2000 on the emerging Linux operating system, NSA started applying its security approach to the open-source code. The result is Security Enhanced Linux, which it hopes can raise the nation's overall level of cybersecurity... Read Full at: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid= MRP5E2VFVSXTIQSNDBCSKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=60405829 ------------------------------------------------------------ ******************* CLI Magic: Antiword ******************* It's a simple fact of life. Most people have not yet found their way to freedom, and instead try to make themselves as comfortable as they can be in captivity. They suffer the burdens of the monopoly with only an occasional wince at the thought of malware or a curse because of their latest crash. This almost always means their word processing is done with MS Word. We've got to learn to deal with them, and their documents. Antiword is a very handy little tool for doing just that. Shake the cobwebs of the GUI out of your head and meet me at the CLI and I'll show you how to use it. Antiword is a GPLd, multiplatform labor of love by Adri van Os, with assistance from others in porting and making it available on RISC OS, FreeBSD, BeOS, OS/2, Mac OS/X, Amiga, VMS, NetWare, Plan 9, Epic, Zaurus, DOS, and Windows. Those in addition to Linux/Unix, of course. Antiword is still in beta, but I found it completely usable as it is. The current release on Debian is 0.35.1... Read Full at: http://enterprise.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/07/0228215 ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** Review: Mandrake Corporate Desktop ********************************** The corporate desktop GNU/Linux distribution is a relatively new invention, having begun with SUSE Desktop, then followed by Sun's Java Desktop System and Red Hat Desktop. But with much less fanfare, Mandrakesoft released a Corporate Desktop product last January. It's cheaper, has no minimum purchase requirement, and has support options ranging from one to five years. Compared to the alternatives, Mandrake Corporate Desktop is suited more for smaller shops that need a cost-effective and reliable desktop platform with corporate support. Mandrake is traditionally known as a cutting-edge desktop GNU/Linux distribution. It is often the first distro recommended for many people when they consider switching to GNU/Linux. Unlike other desktop distributions, Mandrake has never been shy about including the most up-to-date software packages in each new release.... Read Full at: http://distrocenter.linux.com/article.pl?sid=05/03/07/224220 ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************** Firefox Is Heading Towards Trouble ********************************** Opinion: I think Firefox is the best browser on the planet, but it's not going to stay that way long unless the team behind it gets their act together sooner rather than later. I love Firefox. It is, without a doubt, my favorite browser ever, and I've used almost every one that ever rendered a Web page. No matter what the operating system-Windows, Linux, heck, even NetBSD-one of the first things I do now with any of my boxes is to install Firefox on it. Firefox is also gaining software support. In addition to smaller open-source add-on programs, mainstream helper applications like Yahoo Toolbar and Google Desktop Search are now coming to Firefox.... Read Full: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1774091,00.asp?kc=EWRSS 03129TX1K0000616 ------------------------------------------------------------ *********************************** A More Business-Friendly BitTorrent *********************************** Analysis: The latest version of this popular peer-to-peer client and protocol makes it easier for both users and network administrators to manage its bandwidth-hungry ways. Open-source programmer Bram Cohen on Monday released version 4.0 of his popular BitTorrent client for Windows and Linux. BitTorrent is an ad hoc, P2P (peer-to-peer) protocol. Cohen created it to address the problem of transferring popular, large files over the Internet. Instead of using the client-server model of traditional Internet file distribution systems, such as FTP or the Web's HTTP or older P2P systems such as Kazaa, wherein files are shared directly among individual users, BitTorrent took a new approach... Read Full: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1775055,00.asp ------------------------------------------------------------ **************************** The Oldest Trick in the Book **************************** As the reach and deployment of computer technology expand, the risks and problems associated with pervasive use and the often breakneck speed of innovation and adoption impose more and more frequently. And while numerous security advisories are issued every day, those alerts probably represent only a tiny fraction of the faults that exist and have yet to be discovered - either by the good guys or the bad guys. One serious problem is vulnerability, where a fault or an oversight in a software application allows unauthorized access to the computer. While some vulnerabilities are "mostly harmless" - for instance, spyware may be unwanted, but is otherwise benign - others vulnerabilities can undermine privacy and even breach security measures. A significant weakness, or exploit, can even permit a malcontent to trick a program into doing something it wasn't designed to do. Oddly enough, the most commonly attacked exploit, the buffer overflow, is also the oldest. Around since the infancy of computers in the 1960s, buffer overflow first gained widespread notoriety in 1988... Read Full: http://www.linux-mag.com/content/view/129/2123/ ------------------------------------------------------------ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Getting your digital pix using Linux $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It may lack an all-in-one solution like Apple's iPhoto, but there are tools that make using a digital camera with Linux easy. In this month's column, I'll be showing you some useful methods for accessing your digital camera under Linux, as well as JAlbum, a great tool for building Web-based photo albums. Downloading images from your camera: There are two ways to access and download images from a digital camera under Linux. Determining which method is best for your camera will depend on the model of camera that you have. Some cameras work with the first method, others with the second. The best way to work out which method suits your hardware is simply to indulge in a little trial and error. They're both free, after all.... Read Full at: http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;298681864;fp;2;fpi d;37 ------------------------------------------------------------ ****************************** Plextor PVRs Now Support Linux ****************************** FREMONT, Calif. - March 8, 2005- Plextor� Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced the availability of a free Linux Software Developers Kit (SDK) for ConvertX video capture devices. For the first time, the Open Source Software (OSS) community can enjoy the advanced features of Plextor ConvertX PVRs, including real-time hardware-based MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and Motion JPEG video encoding in a low-cost USB 2.0 video peripheral. Licensed under the GNU General Public License, the Linux SDK supports the popular Video for Linux 2 (V4L2) and Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) specifications. It also supports deprecated Open Sound System (OSS) applications via the OSS compatibility layer provided by ALSA. The new driver, which requires the Linux 2.6 kernel, includes sample code that can be reused in open source or proprietary applications to help developers get started quickly. Read Full at: http://www.plextor.com/english/news/press/LinuxPVR_pr.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Appeal from FSUG-Bangalore (about VTU) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VTU-FLOSS Campaign Vice chancellor, Visveswaraiah Technologies University, Belagum, Karnataka. Dear Sir, There are thousands of engineering and polytechnic colleges in India. Each year lakhs of graduates and diploma holders earn their degree. They pay thousands of rupees as fees to get the best facilities. A part of this goes to buying the software's which they use either in college lab or for doing assignments at home.For every software which they use; there is alternate Free Software program available. Now this shows the amount of money which we can be saved if we start using Free Software. This will bring down cost education considerably. Other than cost benefits, Free Software has other advantages * No-fee licensing * Ease of license fee management * Better large-scale programmability * Easier integration * Better performance * Development convenience * Better support There are hundreds of Free Software's programs which colleges or universities can adopt. As Vishweshwaraiah Technological University is one of the biggest universities in India, its time for VTU to moving towards using Free Software. This will make other Universities to follow. Let the VTU have pride to be the first. Here I am giving you an example of three such alternative Free Software's which can be used. * (1) Operating System: Windows v/s GNU/Linux I don't know what university generally recommends to colleges. But presently almost all the colleges use Microsoft Windows based operating system. We all know the best available operating system today is GNU/Linux. It is the best OS any educational institution can have. Students can not only use it but also can study. * (2) Simulation: Matlab v/s Octave Matlab is used in communication and electronics lab. Matlab for individual license for university (academic use) costs $500. Any college will have to buy minimum 25 licenses. Which means shelling out Rs.537500. Octave, which is simulation software written by University professors. This usually comes with the GNU/Linux Operating System. The advantage to students is that they don't have to buy a limited student version to use at home. They can use Octave both at Lab and at home. SciLab? is another open source competitor for Matlab. It uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze data and produce lovely graphics. Now you have the choice which one you want to include in your curriculum. * (3) Office software's: MS Office v/s Open Office Well, we all used Microsoft word to submit our project documents for review and for other academic purposes. Now we have Open Office which is as good as MS office and has some feature Microsoft Office lacks like PDF support, compatibility with older versions of Microsoft Office, HTML editor, a vector drawing application .... It gives you everything starting from word processor, presentation software to PDF generator [Fully compatible with Microsoft Office -- So already existing data in those formats can be used]. Don't you think it's the right time to save money of a poor student ? The above are just examples. There are many such software programs from which the students can benefit. We hope the university understands the urgency and the need. We would be happy to give you any information/help if university needs. Here by we urge the university to make an effort in this direction. Thank you, Please sign this petition at: http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign :: Taken from Little League, posted by Frederick N (FN) :: ------------------------------------------------------------ ??????????????????????????????????????? Some interesting links... freshmeat.net ??????????????????????????????????????? http://freshmeat.net/releases/190257/ DRBL 1.3.7-2 (Testing) by Steven - Fri, Mar 11th 2005 03:13 PDT About: Diskless Remote Boot in Linux (DRBL) provides a diskless or systemless environment for client machines. It works on Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, and Fedora. Unlike LTSP, it uses distributed hardware resources and makes it possible for clients to fully access local hardware. It also includes Clonezilla, a partitioning and disk cloning utility similar to Symantec Ghost. Changes: This version supports Fedora Core 3 x86_64. Instead of apt, yum or urpmi are now the default maintaining and updating program for Fedora Core 3 or Mandrake Linux 10.1, respectively. XXX http://freshmeat.net/releases/190256/ Time Sheets 1.08 by web-tool - Fri, Mar 11th 2005 03:04 PDT About: Time Sheets is an online employee time sheet and attendance management program. The time sheet administrator can setup time periods, and employees can login and enter their work times online. All timesheets can be exported to Excel for convenient printing and analysis. It is especially valuable for a sales team or other employees that are on the road or work in remote locations. Changes: This release fixes some HTML format problems in the main template and corrects some spelling errors. XXX http://freshmeat.net/releases/190247/ yawiki 1.0RC3 by mecky - Fri, Mar 11th 2005 02:54 PDT About: yawiki is a wiki system strives to be a perfect place for working together and sharing information. The syntax for the wiki system is really simple to learn. Getting started with a wiki system is easy. It features versioning of every page, and the history can be viewed to restore old versions. A page can be restricted so that it can only be edited by users. Every user can add pages to a personal list of bookmarks. Different themes are supported. A search engine (Jakarta Lucene) is integrated. Changes: This is mainly a bugfix release. It also now supports different themes. Each user can select an individual theme in the user settings. The old theme has been enhanced a bit and a new one is included as well. This version now also supports a pluggable way to support different render engines. The documentation describes how to use a different renderer. XXX http://freshmeat.net/releases/190233/ Shell Script to Clone Linux System 20050311 by Swergar Tsang - Thu, Mar 10th 2005 21:46 PDT About: Clone Linux System is a script that uses standard Linux programs like dump, restore, stat, and parted to clone and restore a Linux system. It supports ext2 and ext3 filesystems. RAID support is experimental. Changes: The full path of grub-install/lilo is now used in restore.sh. All partitions detected by parted are now removed in partition.sh. RAID and non-RAID system dumps are now implemented in different scripts. A bug where /tmp was used to perform a restore by default despite it not always having enough space was fixed. A problem with detecting inodes incorrectly was corrected and minor bugfixes were made. Taken From: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/little_league/ ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Events/Meetings this week @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ::: Planning a event/ holding a meeting regarding gnu/linux, send me the info and the details at: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com and it published in here ::: ------------------------------------------------------------ ********************************* READERS COMMENTS ********************************* No Comments this week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SUBSCRIPTION INFO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> To subscribe to this newsletter, send a blank email with subject as "Join linux newsletter" to: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com >> To unsubscribe send a blank email with "unsubscribe linux" as subject to: lintuxnews(a)gmail.com >> To change your delivery address, please send a email with subject as "change address" with your current & new email id's as the contents of the message. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Quick Links to Gnu/Linux Groups +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. 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RE: need for Full timers, was Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia
by Sharma. Vishal 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

Do we, know what are the needs for a full timer persons..are they well defined.. How is that going to be funded..haev you guy sgot enough funds... And is there a plan how to get some revenue coming to FSF....india. But i think site needs bit of a lift and some better sections.... like user disscussion forums on various sections, thsi way of mailing list is a pain, and WIKI is also needed and few blogs will do..:) Not sure who is co-ordinating these activities in india.., so lets get the whole project plan going once we know what are the needs of movement and i'm more then happy to help in either way... Vishal -----Original Message----- From: fsf-friends-bounces(a)mm.gnu.org.in on behalf of Nagarjuna G. Sent: Sun 3/13/2005 5:42 PM To: Rakesh 'arky' Ambati Cc: fsf-wg(a)mm.gnu.org.in; fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in Subject: need for Full timers, was Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia On Sunday 13 Mar 2005 1:20 am, Rakesh 'arky' Ambati wrote: > --- "Nagarjuna G." <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> wrote: > > > > > > > > > The issues that you raised are very important. Let > > us discuss how to > > make FSF India's efforts more organized. membership > > issue is soon > > going to be launched. We need full time workers for > > FSF. FSF India > > at the moment has none. This needs resources to > > compensate the full > > timers. > > > > Assuming that there are resources, I want to ask the > > community: how > > many of you are willing to work for FSF as full > > timers if proper > > compensation is given, at various parts of the > > counry? And howmany of > > your are willing to work with full timers during > > your spare time? > > > > Dear Mr.Nagarjuna, > > I believe there is no dire of volunteers for FSF.We > never had enough resources to hire any full timers,in > any case most people like arun,ab and yourself had > been doing great work without expecting anything in > return. > > If you have not posed the above question literally, > you can count me in anytime. Take a look at our website. The site doesnt look at the activities that FSF india is carrying out. Feb we had several activities. some of them were very impressive. They are not listed as events. The details of those events are not recorded on the website. Most of this only due to the absence of one responsible person who takes note of all the events and creates content and sends it to Dileep. Dileep does his job very promptly, but content creation is a very important job. Whether paid or unpaid we need someone to do this job. Several events are happening all over the country. Chennai, Vellore, Mumbai, Puna, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kharagpur, not to mention the events in Kerala. Why should they get reflected at the site. Several people in India are developing free software, why is that information not getting reflected. We also need volunteers to take responsibility to manufacture and dispatch goodies like Tshirts, stickers, posters, documentation CDs, ebooks etc to people. And send them to each place so that the organizers find it handy. I agree with you, we have no dearth of volunteers, so many of them are listed on our website. We want a coordinator to take their help and spread our activities. We want a coordinator for FSF, whether paid or not. Nagarjuna _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends

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need for Full timers, was Re: [Fsf-friends] MS' influence in academia
by Nagarjuna G. 13 Mar '05

13 Mar '05

On Sunday 13 Mar 2005 1:20 am, Rakesh 'arky' Ambati wrote: > --- "Nagarjuna G." <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org> wrote: > > > > > > > > > The issues that you raised are very important. Let > > us discuss how to > > make FSF India's efforts more organized. membership > > issue is soon > > going to be launched. We need full time workers for > > FSF. FSF India > > at the moment has none. This needs resources to > > compensate the full > > timers. > > > > Assuming that there are resources, I want to ask the > > community: how > > many of you are willing to work for FSF as full > > timers if proper > > compensation is given, at various parts of the > > counry? And howmany of > > your are willing to work with full timers during > > your spare time? > > > > Dear Mr.Nagarjuna, > > I believe there is no dire of volunteers for FSF.We > never had enough resources to hire any full timers,in > any case most people like arun,ab and yourself had > been doing great work without expecting anything in > return. > > If you have not posed the above question literally, > you can count me in anytime. Take a look at our website. The site doesnt look at the activities that FSF india is carrying out. Feb we had several activities. some of them were very impressive. They are not listed as events. The details of those events are not recorded on the website. Most of this only due to the absence of one responsible person who takes note of all the events and creates content and sends it to Dileep. Dileep does his job very promptly, but content creation is a very important job. Whether paid or unpaid we need someone to do this job. Several events are happening all over the country. Chennai, Vellore, Mumbai, Puna, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kharagpur, not to mention the events in Kerala. Why should they get reflected at the site. Several people in India are developing free software, why is that information not getting reflected. We also need volunteers to take responsibility to manufacture and dispatch goodies like Tshirts, stickers, posters, documentation CDs, ebooks etc to people. And send them to each place so that the organizers find it handy. I agree with you, we have no dearth of volunteers, so many of them are listed on our website. We want a coordinator to take their help and spread our activities. We want a coordinator for FSF, whether paid or not. Nagarjuna

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The draft patent law
by Ramanraj K 12 Mar '05

12 Mar '05

http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/12/stories/2005031201151000.htm "The draft patent law", by Frederick M. Abbott, Amy Kapczynski & T.N. Srinivasan in "The Hindu", dt. 12-3-2005 "...Nothing in the TRIPS Agreement requires India to accept this onslaught..."

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[Fsf-friends] INDIA: Appeal from FSUG-Bangalore (about engineering studies)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign FSUG-Bangalore | RecentChanges VTU-FLOSS Campaign Please Sign This letter Vice chancellor, Visveswaraiah Technologies University, Belagum, Karnataka. Dear Sir, There are thousands of engineering and polytechnic colleges in India. Each year lakhs of graduates and diploma holders earn their degree. They pay thousands of rupees as fees to get the best facilities. A part of this goes to buying the software's which they use either in college lab or for doing assignments at home.For every software which they use; there is alternate Free Software program available. Now this shows the amount of money which we can be saved if we start using Free Software. This will bring down cost education considerably. Other than cost benefits, Free Software has other advantages * No-fee licensing * Ease of license fee management * Better large-scale programmability * Easier integration * Better performance * Development convenience * Better support There are hundreds of Free Software's programs which colleges or universities can adopt. As Vishweshwaraiah Technological University is one of the biggest universities in India, its time for VTU to moving towards using Free Software. This will make other Universities to follow. Let the VTU have pride to be the first. Here I am giving you an example of three such alternative Free Software's which can be used. * (1) Operating System: Windows v/s GNU/Linux I don't know what university generally recommends to colleges. But presently almost all the colleges use Microsoft Windows based operating system. We all know the best available operating system today is GNU/Linux. It is the best OS any educational institution can have. Students can not only use it but also can study. * (2) Simulation: Matlab v/s Octave Matlab is used in communication and electronics lab. Matlab for individual license for university (academic use) costs $500. Any college will have to buy minimum 25 licenses. Which means shelling out Rs.537500. Octave, which is simulation software written by University professors. This usually comes with the GNU/Linux Operating System. The advantage to students is that they don't have to buy a limited student version to use at home. They can use Octave both at Lab and at home. SciLab? is another open source competitor for Matlab. It uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze data and produce lovely graphics. Now you have the choice which one you want to include in your curriculum. * (3) Office software's: MS Office v/s Open Office Well, we all used Microsoft word to submit our project documents for review and for other academic purposes. Now we have Open Office which is as good as MS office and has some feature Microsoft Office lacks like PDF support, compatibility with older versions of Microsoft Office, HTML editor, a vector drawing application .... It gives you everything starting from word processor, presentation software to PDF generator [Fully compatible with Microsoft Office -- So already existing data in those formats can be used]. Don't you think it's the right time to save money of a poor student ? The above are just examples. There are many such software programs from which the students can benefit. We hope the university understands the urgency and the need. We would be happy to give you any information/help if university needs. Here by we urge the university to make an effort in this direction. Thank you, Please sign this petition * click this link [1] to enter your comments. * Enter your Signature in Text Box right below the _Start Here_ line. * Give your name in the 'Username' and kindly don't edit any other contents. * Click Save button. Start Here 1. Thejesh GN. Milwaukee USA. Former student of VTU [1BT98EC047]. March 01 2005 2. Rakesh 'arky' Ambati (Bangalore India) Fri Mar 11 11:19:57 IST 2005 3. Praveen Arimbrathodiyil (National Instititute of Technology, Calicut) Fri Mar 11 17:34:50 IST 2005 We use GNU/Linux in our main Computer center. It saves a lot of money of the college as there is no licence fee to be paid for each users. Since the source code of the softwares are available many computer science students do projects based on Linux kernel and other such projects. The possibility of use of thin-clients (which our computer center use) reduces the cost of hardware dramatically. It has proved to be beneficail to our college and I urge you to chose Free Software for giving a better alternative for students. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ d88888b d8b db Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa India 88' 888o 88 f r e d @ b y t e s f o r a l l . o r g 88ooo 88V8o 88 http://www.bytesforall.org * http://fn.swiki.net 88~~~ 88 V8o88 Phone 0091.832.2409490 Mobile 09822 122436 88 88 V888 784 Nr Lourdes Convent, Sonarbhat Saligao Goa 403511 YP VP V8P Writing ... with a difference, on issues that matter

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[Fsf-friends] Urge Visveswaraiah Technologies University to go Open Source.
by Thejesh GN 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

Hi All, You know how much important for an university to go open source. To force VTU to go open I am collecting the support online. Please sign the petition at http://www.techmag.biz/?q=node/66 Please put your comments when you sign it. Thanks very much for your support. Thejesh GN thejATtechmagDOTbiz

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Fwd: [glugc] Ubuntu 5.04 Preview
by Praveen A 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Arun Vishnu M.V <arunmvishnu(a)yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:08:18 -0000 Subject: [glugc] Ubuntu 5.04 Preview To: glugc(a)yahoogroups.com Hi friends, The Ubuntu Team is proud to announce the preview of their second release: Ubuntu 5.04-preview - codenamed "Hoary Hedgehog" (*). The preview release includes both install CDs and bootable Live CDs for three architectures. There are CD images of the preview release in both Install and Live CD format for Intel/x86, PowerPC and AMD64 here: http://releases.ubuntu.com/hoary/ You can either download from http://releases.ubuntu.com/hoary/ or order Free CD's in http://shipit.ubuntu.com/ The final version of Ubuntu 5.04 is expected to be released in early April. Arun Vishnu http://www.geocities.com/arunmvishnu http://arunmvishnu.blogspot.com/ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT ________________________________ Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/glugc/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: glugc-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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[Fwd: IPO patent trolls conference]
by Ramanraj K 11 Mar '05

11 Mar '05

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: IPO patent trolls conference Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 20:20:49 +0100 From: "André Rebentisch" <arebenti(a)web.de> Organization: http://freemail.web.de/ To: Us-parl(a)ffii.org, wipo-parl(a)ffii.org http://www.ipo.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Meetings_and_Events/2005_IPO_Meet… Trade Association to Raise Public Awareness of Approaches to Intellectual Property Rights WASHINGTON, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Patent reform is a top public policy issue. One of the more controversial elements in patent reform is the debate over patent "trolls." The term patent "trolls," coined by Intel Corporation, refers to a company that acquires patents, sometimes from bankrupt firms, and seeks to leverage the acquired portfolio by identifying those who allegedly infringe on one or more of the patents. Both sides of this issue will be represented at the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) "Patent 'Trolls' and Patent Property Rights" Conference on March 14, 2005. This unique conference will examine the effects of patent "trolls," patent assertion companies, and patent licensing companies. Executives from industry, legal scholars, and other experts will discuss strategies and tactics for coping with patent infringement and possible legislative reforms. One major concern is the rising cost of patent litigation. In 2004, according to Hildebrandt International's Law Department Survey, companies reported that spending on IP litigation rose 32 percent over the previous year. According to Herbert Wamsley, executive director of IPO, "There are IPO members who believe this sharp rise in patent litigation costs can be attributed to organizations known as trolls." However, Wamsley adds, "There are other members who disagree. Either way, it is important to broaden the public's understanding of the systems for developing, protecting, and enforcing intellectual property rights." The luncheon address will be given by Adam H. Jaffe, Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brandeis University. Professor Jaffe is co-author of Innovation and Its Discontents: How Our Broken Patent System is Endangering Innovation and Progress and What to Do About It. Other sessions will include: * Patent "Trolls": What they are? How do they affect the industry? Affect the patent system? * Independent Patent Asserters and Licensing Organizations: What are they? Who buys and why? How are patents sold? How do independent patent asserters and licensing companies affect innovation? * Reform Proposals Directed at "Trolls" * Operating in Today's Patent Assertion Environment For more information on the IPO "Patent 'Trolls' and Patent Property Rights" Conference please visit http://www.ipo.org. About Intellectual Property Owners Association Founded in 1972, IPO is a national trade association for owners of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets in all industries and fields of technology. IPO was established to broaden public understanding of intellectual property rights. Members include large and small businesses, intellectual property attorneys, and independent inventors and authors. SOURCE Intellectual Property Owners Association Web Site: http://www.ipo.org ______________________________________________________________ Verschicken Sie romantische, coole und witzige Bilder per SMS! Jetzt bei WEB.DE FreeMail: http://f.web.de/?mc=021193 _______________________________________________ Us-parl mailing list Us-parl(a)ffii.org http://lists.ffii.org/mailman/listinfo/us-parl

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Politics of FLOSS
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 10 Mar '05

10 Mar '05

POLITICS OF OPEN SOURCE CLASS: Sweden's University of Go"teborg is offering a class on the politics of free / open source software. The course will run from April to June. It's online, it's free, and it's in English. Applications are due March 15. For more information, visit http://www.informatik.gu.se/eng/education/politicalscience.xhtml [Thanks to Michael Gurstein for posting this to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers list --FN] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ d88888b d8b db Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa India 88' 888o 88 f r e d @ b y t e s f o r a l l . o r g 88ooo 88V8o 88 http://www.bytesforall.org * http://fn.swiki.net 88~~~ 88 V8o88 Phone 0091.832.2409490 Mobile 09822 122436 88 88 V888 784 Nr Lourdes Convent, Sonarbhat Saligao Goa 403511 YP VP V8P Writing ... with a difference, on issues that matter

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Very inetresting plot by microsoft to target Free software enthusiasts
by amal manuel 10 Mar '05

10 Mar '05

hi, > Free software development is not merely a `process'. > It is a cause. It > is a belief. It is a state of mind. Freedom is > something worth living > and breathing. absolutely. man make commodities for him, later become the slave of those. in this scenario, protecting freedom is very important. amal ~amal "its always darkest, before it goes pitch black" __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/

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[Fsf-friends] Very inetresting plot by microsoft to target Free software enthusiasts
by Praveen A 10 Mar '05

10 Mar '05

Hi all, This is about a Microsoft plan to find "focus group" (I dunno what it means). This shows how Microsoft targets students with cds, softwares,books.... It all started with a request from swroop ch (http://swaroopch.info ) with subject "Want to talk to Microsoft (India) about Linux?" http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-bangalore-non-tech/message/4789 It is very long thread but it is worth it. It was about a meet organised by .Net group in Bangalore who invited Swaroop for the meet saying they wanted to learn about FOSS. Then someone from that group mails, Chitnis brings out the plot..... very inetresting like a thriller (Even Chitnis traced the root to Microsoft US !) He told the guy who invited FSF/OSS people to participate in their meet. >>>> But anyway, now that I have your attention - here is your first step towards understanding this whole "Linux thing" that you are so curious about: When you ask the question, do you focus on "Linux"? Do you perceive it to be a "product" that competes with "Windows"? If so, you already took a wrong turn two crosses back. Because what you see as a product is in reality a *by-product* of a process. Free and Open Source Software is the result of a collaborative development process that has existed for decades that was given a more formal definition in 1984, and it is this *process* that really challenges the whole existing software scenario (and, of course, people like Microsoft :) Once you understand *that*, then you are just a few steps away from understanding the whole thing. We'll be glad to help. Come on in - the water is great! :) <<<<<< -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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Very Important
by Praveen A 09 Mar '05

09 Mar '05

Dear Friends, Patents are a devious tool to harm developing countries' development. Not only will patents harm software; but will also lead to rise in prices of medicines. [Read further for more info] What you can do ? a) Post this on your blog/website too if you have one b) Email this to as many people as you know c) Email to the Editor of various magazines, newspapers that we don't want patents d) Email to the President of India and any political party in India who has an email Why are patents bad ? Below are some medicines whose cost are given as follows (In India in Rupees) [In US in Rupees] CIPROFLOXACIN (29 Rupees) [2353 Rupees] DICHLOPHENAC (4 Rupees) [675 Rupees] These are just two examples. Wondering why medicines are SO cheap in India? This is because India had a big pharmaceutical industry. They can produce drugs at a fraction of the cost at what Merck wants to sell them for. Infact the drug prices are way lower in India than in Pakistan next door because India happened to develop its own pharmaceutical industry. Note: Because India had its own patent law which allows only process patent for food, chemicals and drugs. The American Corporations don't like that .They want more children to die in India. They want more profit; which means more children die in India. They want to make sure that India doesn't produce drugs costing less than the American counterparts. Now this is done in two ways under GATT. One way is to increase the length of patents. The other is to change their character from Process Patent to Product Patent. Note: Quoted from a speech by Noam Chomsky The thing that made American prices higher is now put up as an Ordinance in India. It is being considered in next Session of our Parliament. Note: Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. See the news report from msnbc http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6895896/ So we need to ACT now before it is too late, before we will need to burn our pocket before even buying a tablet of Disprin or the like. Please follow the actions as mentioned above to spread this fact among as many people, so that this Bill is not passed. Note: Global Campaign against Indian Patents Amendment (GCAIPA) is a forum to co-ordinate the actions against the Patents amendment bill globally. http://gcaipa.org/ Maybe, the legislature will listen… But let us try our best. Note: All this happens because the rulers think that the common people are donkeys and considering the fact that the low literacy rate is one cause, it is all the more important that we, the previlaged minority, who enjoys the advatages of education has a greater responsibilty. -- PS: You might be wondering why this important issue is not discussed in the mass media or in the parliament. 1. Do you know that the ordinance was issued after 3 days of closing the session 2. It was issued hurriedly when the nation was facing the Tsunami disaster and all the media attenstion was there. 3. People think it is not their problem untill they face it personally. For more deatils see my bolg http://www.livejournal.com/~pravi and these posts 1. IS Rs. 29 = Rs. 2353 ? http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi/11432.html 2. Changing rules of patents http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi/11699.html 3. Patent laws http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi/11927.html and http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi/12417.html We didn't consider the recommendations by the committes which we appointed to study patents and we are even giving more than what they asked for (loyal than the king) [even WTO did not ask for patenting of life forms and we are allowing evn that -- patenting of life forms like ameba, fungus ...] Countries like Brazil are aware of these issues and they framed the rule to protect their people. See the news report from BBC - Brazil to break Aids drug patents.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4059147.stm Our Government did not think of our people and they are selling the people of India for some Dollars. [See after this rule comes into place not only the poor but even the middle class cannot afford the medicines. The medical treatment is going to be available to only an elite minority.] It is already happened with Lukemia patients. Indian companies produce drugs for treatment of Lukemia at Rs 99 a capule and 4 per day it amounts to Rs 12,000 per month. Many cannot afford that and now after the change in patent rule of 1995 [It increased the duration of patents from 7 to 20 years] an MNC called Novartis filed a case in Chennai high court saying it has patent for its drug Gleevec. The Chennai high court stopped the production of drugs by Indian companies and now the only drug available for Lukemia patients is Gleevec of Novartis. And the cost -- Rs 1,25,000 only !!!!! We should not sit idle. It is time to act !!!! _______________________ -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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Europe loses the software patent battle
by Raj Mathur 09 Mar '05

09 Mar '05

Council Presidency Adopts Software Patent Agreement Against Council's Rules 7 March 2005 -- The Council Presidency today declared the software agreement of 18 May 2004 to have been adopted, in violation of the procedural rules and in spite of the evident lack of a qualified majority of member states and the requests of several states to reopen negotiations. Full story at: http://wiki.ffii.org/Cons050307En -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves

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India wins neem patent case
by Praveen A 09 Mar '05

09 Mar '05

NEW DELHI, MARCH 8. The European Patent Office in Munich today dismissed an appeal against revoking a patent granted by it for the preparation of a fungicide derived from the seeds of the neem tree. This will go a long way in giving confidence to traditional users, according to Vandana Shiva, Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology. Speaking from Germany, Dr. Shiva — one of the three parties to oppose the patent — said: "It was pure and simple piracy. The oil from neem has been used traditionally by farmers to prevent fungus. It was neither a novel idea nor was it invented. It is a major victory that the appeal has been finally dismissed." The patent was granted by the European Patent Office to the United States Department of Agriculture and the chemical multinational, W.R. Grace, in 1995. Since then, Dr. Shiva, along with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement and the Green Party in European Parliament, had been opposing it. Evidence presented In 2000, the European Patent Office revoked the patent but the victory was short-lived as the revocation was followed by an appeal. At the hearing today, this appeal was dismissed, Dr. Shiva said. "We gave them evidence of farmers using this knowledge for a long time and also gave them information about the two scientists who had conducted research on neem before the patent had been granted. During the hearing today, they dismissed the appeal and upheld the earlier revocation of the patent." Calling it a historic moment, she added: "Patenting is one of the ways through which traditional users can be threatened. But now, such patents will no longer be a threat for traditional users." The story is in todays edition of The Hindu http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/09/stories/2005030902381300.htm References: NEEM PATENT REVOKED BY EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/revoked.htm India wins patent war over neem http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2000/05/12/stories/02120007.htm -- "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." A proud GNU user http://www.gnu.org http://www.edathanattukara.com My Weblog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/pravi Visit me at http://www.pravi.tk 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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