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Fwd: [IndiChix] [ann] Free Software Foundation's Women in Free Software
by Anivar Aravind 25 Sep '09

25 Sep '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: vid <vid(a)svaksha.com> Date: Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 11:18 AM Subject: [IndiChix] [ann] Free Software Foundation's Women in Free Software To: LinuxChix - India <indichix(a)linuxchix.org> Folks, Earlier FSF had announced a mini-summit[0] on Women in Free Software. The MoM[1] has been released and they have also created a mailing list (Yeah, YAML :)) for women in free software[2]. [0] http://www.fsf.org/news/summit-on-women-in-free-software [1] http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Womenscaucus/9.19.2009 [2] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/womeninfreesoftware -- vid http://vid.svaksha.com || _______________________________________________ IndiChix mailing list IndiChix(a)linuxchix.org http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/indichix -- "The resources of the world are for us all to share. Let us affirm our faith in that common cause" - Dr. Ilina Sen

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Petition to Cancel Proprietary Tender by NIC
by Siva Kumar Epari 24 Sep '09

24 Sep '09

Swecha appeals to the community, organizations and individuals to sign the following petition to cancel the proprietary tender issued by the NIC for procuring laptops for the Supreme Court of India. Organizations can add their name in the wiki<http://www.swecha.org/wiki/index.php?title=Petition>page provided and individuals can sign the petition <http://www.swecha.org/node/23#form>. All the respective organizations are requested to host the petition and gather the signatures of members associated with them. Swecha would gladly provide the space for petitions of the respective organizations. The tender is available at http://tenders.gov.in/ <http://tenders.gov.in/details.asp?tempid=1&tid=del242328&work=1&cno=0> Regards Siva Swecha

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FOSS implementation @ University of Calicut
by Vimal Joseph 24 Sep '09

24 Sep '09

The Univeristy of Calicut, Kerala set a model by implementing their software in FOSS and later sharing it with other universities. http://www.thehindu.com/edu/2009/09/08/stories/2009090850120300.htm contact: madhuvt at gmail dot com Note: They use GNU/Linux/Python/postgresql combination. Details are available in the book "Free Software Projects in Public Enterprises of Kerala" http://space-kerala.org/downloads/foss.pdf Another interesting news is that the university is also including Free Software in their curriculum. See : http://pramode.net/2009/09/19/report-on-python-and-free-software-for-scient… regards, ~vimal

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[ANN][X-Post] Two Day Workshop on Python
by Kadambari Devarajan 23 Sep '09

23 Sep '09

Hello, As part of the MHRD funded open source mission at IITB, Asokan P and Prabhu Ramachandran are planning a 2 day Python workshop, along with Bhaskaracharya Pratishthan: Topic: Programming with Python Date : Oct 10th and 11th, 2009 Time : 10 am to 5 pm Venue : Bhaskaracharya Pratishthan Instructors: Prabhu Ramachandran and Asokan P. Website : http://www.bprim.org/mathsoftwk/python/pythonwk09.php Intended audience: College and University Teachers/Professors/Lecturers from any Engineering or Science domain, and Engineering students who would like to use Python for their basic computing and plotting needs. Prerequisites: Participants should be comfortable computer users and be familiar with programming constructs such as loops, conditionals. Familiarity with programming editors-- scite, notepad++, vi, emacs- will be a plus. Familiarity with using the commandline will be another plus. Objectives: At the end of the program the participants will have a good understanding of the Python language, and selected libraries. They will be able to write good modular procedural code and use objects. They will get a overview of the other major topics, features and libraries and be able to learn these on their own if required. Coverage: * Motivation, background and design philosophy. * Basic data types: int, float and string * Core data structures: lists, tuples and dictionaries * Functions * Tool chain * Overview of the standard library * Matplotlib * NumPy and Scipy * 3D plotting * Debugging and testing Methodology: Completely hands on, exploratory mode with minimal lectures introducing essential concepts and techniques. Typically we will have short 10-15 minute lectures, followed by series of graduated problems. The participants will solve them exploring the documentation to do so and the solutions will be discussed. Laptops can be brought by participants, and additional laptops/computers can be provided for use for those required. Charging points will be available. As far as installations go, you would require the following: -- For Debian/ Ubuntu and the like: (a) IPython (b) Python doc (c) the Python Profiler (d) Scipy/Numpy (e) Matplotlib (f) Mayavi2 (optional) -- For Windows XP (x86), Windows Vista (x86), Mac OS X 10.4+ (x86), RedHat 3 (x86, amd64), RedHat 4 (x86, amd64), RedHat 5 (x86, amd64), and Solaris 10 (x86, amd64) : (a) get the EPD (http://www.enthought.com/products/epd.php) bundle and you'll have everything you need! This is available for free for those in academia and others can utilize the free 30 day trial version for now. In any case, we will be providing live DVDs containing all the required installations and some additional tools on site. Registration : You are requested to fill up the form on the website with signature and a stamp from your college. Alternatively you can mail the form by email and submit the hard copy at the time of the workshop. There is no registration fee. Admission will be on first come first serve basis. The number of seats is limited. Travel and Accommodation : Travel support will also be provided for second class train fare/bus for outstation participants who are college teachers. Accommodation will be provided at the venue. Lodging and boarding will be provided free of charge for outstation participants. Arrangement of lunch for all participants will be taken care of by the organisers. All participants will get a DVD containing Python and other Open Source software. Details of the workshop will be updated on the website periodically. The number of seats is limited. Contact: Those who intend to participate should send an e-mail to bhaskara_p(a)vsnl.com, or call Mrs. Manjusha Joshi, Coordinator, Ph. No. 9822 319328 (4 pm - 7 pm) or the Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana Office (020- 25434547,25410724) between (12-6). Thank you. Regards, Kadambari Devarajan. -- Check out my blog at http://kadambarid.livejournal.com

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FSUG-Goa, a new network...
by Frederick Noronha [फ़रेदरिक नोरो नया] 23 Sep '09

23 Sep '09

Free Software User Group-Goa This group is dedicated to discussions on the philosophy, politics and technical aspects of free software. It is an attempt to create a community space for GNU/Linux users in Goa to discuss and share information and expertise on this subject. An important objective of the group shall also be to spread the message of free software and the principle governing its development and usage. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/fsug-goa/ -- FN +91-9822122436 P +91-832-2409490 Updated: http://goabooks.wordpress.com

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Fwd: FSMK NewsLetter Volume 4
by Vikram Vincent 22 Sep '09

22 Sep '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rameez Thonnakkal <ssrameez(a)gmail.com> Date: 2009/9/22 Subject: [Fsmk-discuss] FSMK NewsLetter Volume 4 Dear Friend, FSMK saga continues.. FSMK News Letter Volume 4 <http://fsmk.org/node/42> The fourth Newsletter from FSMK is here.. FSMK is greatful to its readers of all walks of life and likes. We are glad to receive your comments whether it is a criticism or praise.. Write to us and distribute this edition to as much of your contacts as possible. We welcome you to have your name on one of the articles in the forthcoming editions. Thanks and Regards, FSMK EB Team. _______________________________________________ fsmk-discuss mailing list fsmk-discuss(a)lists.fsmk.in http://lists.fsmk.in/listinfo.cgi/fsmk-discuss-fsmk.in

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Fwd: [fosscomm] Submissions to ODF Olympiad 2009 open today 20th September 2009
by Nagarjuna G. 20 Sep '09

20 Sep '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ritu ghosh <ritu.ghosh(a)knowledgecommons.in> Date: Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 8:25 PM Subject: [fosscomm] Submissions to ODF Olympiad 2009 open today 20th September 2009 To: network(a)lists.fosscom.in Dear All, As you are all well aware , Open Document Format is an important standard for ensuring computer literacy and is fundamental to enabling computer education globally. ODF Olympiad was started on the advice of the then President of India, Shri Abdul Kalam, with the view to bring awareness regarding the open source amongst the schools. We have been receiving overwhelming response from schools across the globe including countries like India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal . We strongly believe that this contest will help the government and the schools in faster adoption of ODF . (The new FOSS based Informatics Practices curriculum, introduced by CBSE this year is one of the examples of the step towards this initiative. ) Knowledge Commons along with ODF Alliance and Sun Microsystems will be conducting the *third annual ODF Olympiad* with the view to bring awareness regarding the open source amongst the schools. Other institutes supporting us in this initiative are IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad, Free Software Foundation and ODF Alliance (www.odfalliance.org). The ODF Olympiad rolls out from *September 20th on the Software Freedom Day*. ODF Olympiad 2009 will be conducted in schools across India, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia (this contest is open to all other countries as well). The winners from each of the countries will compete with each other to win the prestigious Software Freedom Trophy for their school. The students are required to submit presentations using ODF format on specific topics which will be evaluated by an eminent jury based on specific parameters. The posters and letters inviting participation will be sent to schools as a part of communication. The OpenOffice CD (OpenOffice.org) will be available with the October issue of "Linux For You" magazine. For more information can visit the site *www.odfolympiad.org* Looking forward to your support and participation for this initiative. Regards Ritu Ghosh _______________________________________________ network mailing list network(a)lists.fosscom.in http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/

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Fwd: [FSF] Sugar Labs and FSF announce joint efforts to promote learning platform for children worldwide
by Nagarjuna G. 19 Sep '09

19 Sep '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Peter Brown <peterb(a)fsf.org> Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 10:37 PM Subject: [FSF] Sugar Labs and FSF announce joint efforts to promote learning platform for children worldwide To: info-fsf(a)fsf.org Sugar Labs and Free Software Foundation Celebrate Software Freedom Day, Announce Joint Efforts to Promote the Sugar Learning Platform for Children Worldwide http://www.fsf.org/news/sugar-labs CAMBRIDGE, MA, September 18, 2009 - Sugar Labs, nonprofit provider of the Sugar Learning Platform for children, and the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which promotes computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs, have announced joint efforts to collaborate and promote Sugar on the occasion of Software Freedom Day, September 19th. The FSF will host an event in Boston featuring Sugar Labs Executive Director Walter Bender, FSF president Richard Stallman, and other speakers. Peter Brown, FSF's executive director, said, "The Sugar Learning Platform is fast becoming an essential route to computer user freedom for children around the world. The international free software movement is getting behind Sugar, and we want to use Software Freedom Day as an opportunity to help draw community attention, developer resources, and external funders to the important work going on at Sugar Labs." The FSF has upgraded its hosting services support of Sugar Labs to keep pace with its growth. As part of the ongoing relationship, Bernardo Innocenti, a member of the Sugar Labs Oversight Board, is working at the FSF offices. Mr. Innocenti stated: "The FSF and Sugar Labs are pursuing distinct, but interdependent goals; Free (as in Freedom) Software is a fundamental part of globally accessible education, and good education enables critical thought, a pre-requisite for appreciating the value of Freedom." Sugar is a global project. Translated into 25 languages, it is used in classrooms in 40 countries by over 1 million children as part of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) nonprofit program. Sugar's simple interface, built-in collaboration, and automatic backup through each student's Journal have been designed to interest young learners. The recently released Sugar on a Stick (SoaS) project brings Sugar to even more children, allowing young learners to keep a working copy of Sugar on a simple USB stick, ready to start up any PC or netbook with the child's environment and data. Pilot projects in schools with Sugar on a Stick are underway in Boston, Berlin, and elsewhere. SoaS is free software available under the General Public License (GPL) and is available for download without charge at sugarlabs.org. According to Walter Bender, "Sugar is running on over 99% of all of the OLPC-XO laptops around the world because governments prefer its quality, openness, built-in collaboration, and easy localization to indigenous languages. Teachers and students are exercising their freedom by modifying and improving Sugar and its Activities. With Sugar on a Stick, access to Sugar is even more widespread." For example, Uruguay has distributed a Sugar-equipped OLPC laptop to every student in the country. Alexandre Oliva of FSF's sister organisation Free Software Foundation Latin America (http://www.fsfla.org) said, "I was amazed when I first saw Sugar in action in Peru two years ago; shortly thereafter, my daughter tasted Sugar and loved it. She's going to elementary school next year, and I'm very happy she can now easily carry Sugar with her, and share it with her friends. Myself, I'm going to spread its freedom into as many schools as I can." Karsten Gerloff, President of Free Software Foundation Europe (http://fsfe.org), added: "Education and Free Software are both all about sharing knowledge. Through projects like Sugar, young people around the world can discover the creativity that freedom makes possible. Together with the political backing that FSFE's Edu-Team and others are building, Sugar puts Free Software in its rightful place in education." Sugar Labs relies on the efforts of software developers who donate their skills to the project. Mr. Bender continued, "We are looking for developers with experience in GNU/Linux, Python and/or Gtk+ for contributing to the Sugar shell and educational Activities for children. We also need testers, experienced packagers, and educators willing to contribute their ideas for Sugar in the classroom." About Sugar Labs Sugar Labs, a volunteer-driven, nonprofit organization, is a member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy (http://conservancy.softwarefreedom.org). Originally part of the One Laptop Per Child project (http://www.laptop.org), Sugar Labs coordinates volunteers around the world who are passionate about providing educational opportunities to children through the Sugar Learning Platform. Sugar Labs is supported by donations and is seeking funding to accelerate development. For more information, please visit http://www.sugarlabs.org. Sugar Labs is a registered trademark of the Software Freedom Conservancy. Other names are trademarks of their respective owners. About the Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA. ### For more information, please contact: Sugar Labs: Sean Daly, Marketing Coordinator website: http://www.sugarlabs.org e-mail: pr(a)sugarlabs.org Free Software Foundation: Peter Brown, Executive Director website: http://www.fsf.org e-mail: campaigns(a)fsf.org info-fsf mailing list info-fsf(a)gnu.org Unsubscribe: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/

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Report on Python/Free Software for mathematics seminar at CKGM College
by Pramode C.E. 19 Sep '09

19 Sep '09

http://pramode.net/2009/09/19/report-on-python-and-free-software-for-scient… Keep up with people you care about with Yahoo! India Mail. Learn how. http://in.overview.mail.yahoo.com/connectmore

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National Workshop on Web Accessibility at Trivandrum on September 25-26, 2009
by Arky 18 Sep '09

18 Sep '09

Announcement of National Workshop on workshop on Web Accessibility The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment (SPACE) are organizing a workshop on web accessibility for web developers from the public and private sector from September 25 to 26, 2009. The workshop will take place at Christ Nagar International School, Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram, between 09:30-17:30 hours each day. The workshop seeks to bring together practitioners from Government Departments, as well as from small and medium enterprises across the country. The primary aim of this workshop is to demonstrate the importance of creating accessible web sites and to educate the developers of government and private web sites on how to incorporate accessibility features into new as well as existing web sites. The training comprises both theory-oriented and practical sessions.The trainers are specialists in various aspects of web accessibility. The main focus will be on WCAG 2.0 guidelines. The workshop is for persons already involved in developing web sites with good knowledge of HTML, XML, CSS, etc. In addition to training web developers in accessibility, the workshop will also serve as a platform for capacity building by training potential accessibility trainers. The programme is supported by Kerala State IT Mission, which runs INSIGHT - ICT Centre for the differently abled in association with SPACE. Hurry! Interested persons are requested to register immediately as seats are limited. Candidates may register directly on the website at http://c11.space-kerala.org/webw/ SPACE Office Address Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment C-11, Elankom Gardens, Vellayambalam, Thiruvananthapuram Kerala, India email - contact(a)space-kerala.org, thomas(a)space-kerala.org Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment C-11, Elankom Gardens, Vellayambalam, Thiruvananthapuram Kerala, India Mobile: +91 94964 13317 Office Phone: +91 47123 18997 ~~~ Rakesh 'arky' Ambati| IT Consultant| http://www.braillewithoutborders.org | Blog: http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com Add whatever you love to the Yahoo! India homepage. Try now! http://in.yahoo.com/trynew

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SFD 2009, Ernakulam Live@giss.tv
by Vimal Joseph 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

http://giss.tv/interface/?mp=space.ogg you can use VLC player <http://videolan.org/>. The address of the stream is: *http://giss.tv:8000/space.ogg*<http://giss.tv:8000/space.ogg> http://softwarefreedomday.org/ernakulam -- Free Software, Free Society സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയര്‍, സ്വതന്ത്ര സമൂഹം <http://fsfs.in>

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Need Ubuntu CD/DVD :: Blind People Association , Ahmedabad
by Arky 11 Sep '09

11 Sep '09

Hi, Blind People Association (http://www.bpaindia.org/) needs a Ubuntu gnu/Linux CD/DVD. Can anyone from Ahmedabad help them out. Contact: Khom Sharma (Intern) <krsharmaatiise(a)gmail.com>, Blind People's association Vastrapur Jagadish patel chok Ahmedabad --arky Rakesh 'arky' Ambati| IT Consultant| http://www.braillewithoutborders.org | Blog: http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com See the Web's breaking stories, chosen by people like you. Check out Yahoo! Buzz. http://in.buzz.yahoo.com/

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Microsoft's Killer Formula on Indian Establishments
by ck raju 11 Sep '09

11 Sep '09

The inspiration for this writing is the recent public applauding of the computerisation efforts of Information Kerala Mission by a person heading a political estabilshment in Kerala. The audience is reported to be a trade-union organisation formed by the employees of IKM. There's hardly any doubt about the ingenuity of the plan that IKM unfolded in Kerala through its operations meant for networking the 1200+ local self-government institutions to the State Planning Board. Microsoft services were designed and developed, for its usage here. IKM being a technical body created entirely for this purpose, thus became a monopoly consultant for the government on most of its matters pertaining to applications in Information Technology. The State now, needn't require any external flow of queries for the purpose of initial consultations. Everything to the minutest detail would be provided by IKM. Once IKM decided on the solutions, wherever public participation is needed, quotations would be solicited. Owing to the secrecy of its operations and the extreme delicate nature of its implications, the biggest need for the successful design of a proprietary solution was thus identified not as the developers, but the consultant itself. This genuine and highly imaginative move was to be later replicated by Microsoft Inc at a number of other establishments in India, many of them in other State Governments, Public Sector Establishments like Banks etc and the Central Government. Microsoft's novel entry into National Informatics Center which controlled most of the technological activities of the Central government helped it in identifying the IKM-like establishment for the Central Government - in this case it were identified as NIC. The NIC's clout and its huge presence in almost all departments made it the biggest catch of Microsoft. NIC were to act like the monopoly consultant to Central government, much like the role IKM played for Government of Kerala. In the Ministry of Rural Development, NIC's consultation services are at its imaginative best. For the network of over 3,00,000 gram panchayats and block panchayats of our nation, NIC consultants have offered Microsoft-based services, which would require among other things, Microsoft tools and accessories. A single software application what would have been worth a few lakh of rupees at the most, now runs into at least Rs 20 billion when the project gets matured. Unsatisfied at this, the NREGS monitoring system now tries to rope in as many proprietary technologies as possible to make it appear complex - the latest experiment is also participated by some of the tribal panchayats in Wayanad - to make the whole ICT venture give a "pro-poor people" appeal and a sanction of the left-supported Government (so that it can be replicated in West Bengal and Tripura and at all other states where there is a Left political presence!). The people there are planned to be supplied with Smart Cards to record their attendance at NREGS ! Similar applications would also be run as pilot projects of NREGA monitoring system in villages of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar. The ingenuity of the formula that IKM proved for Microsoft doesn't end with governments. In scientific and research establishments like ISRO, an application which mimics googleearth - the Bhuvan experiment - now requires citizens of this country to have Microsoft Operating Systems on their boxes ! What IKM couldn't do Kerala, a single Madhavan Nair could do for the whole country !! Imagine the extent of Microsoft's imagination !! Imagination is indeed more important than Knowledge - how right was Einstein !! In the banking sector, where citizens have to necessarily trust all their personal financial transactions and savings, Infosys-applications act like IKM - insisting that the core-banking applications should be run only on "Internet Explorer based Windows", for many critical online applications like railway ticketing etc. A "regret" is the most what one can expect from the banks !! If one tried to appeal to the Banking Ombudsman, the shock continues as most of the applications there are also Microsoft-ised. NIC's foray into all the parliament activities, all individual departments or ministries, even the President of India's web-services made this Microsoft-isation complete.While the entire world struggled for decades to make Bill Gates the richest person on this planet for his stupid software, the Governments and Public Institutions in India have achieved in a few months !! That's the power of the genuinity of the consultative-trick - one that IKM experiment helped in opening up of the third-eye of Microsoft !! This killer formula is continuing with its trickery and will continue to do so in the near future. The Corporates know that Indians are there for their buying - what they didn't know is how cheaply they can get through !! With a "Government for the Corporates, Police for the people" democracy, sky is the limit. CK Raju, IIT Kharagpur

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Hyderabad based NGO needs help
by Arky 29 Aug '09

29 Aug '09

Hi, Hyderabad based NGO Devnar Foundation would like to try free software. Can anyone in Hyderabad help this organsation adopt gnu/Linux. You can contact Eric Ofori (Intern) #040-27536600 Cheers --arky Rakesh 'arky' Ambati| IT Consultant| http://www.braillewithoutborders..org | Blog: http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com Love Cricket? Check out live scores, photos, video highlights and more. Click here http://cricket.yahoo.com

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GNU/Linux Preloaded Laptops to Kerala MLAs
by Anivar Aravind 27 Aug '09

27 Aug '09

http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/2009/gnulinuxlaptops-to-kerala-mla Kerala NiyamaSabha Website published Tender for Purchasing GNU/Linux Preloaded Laptops to 141 Members of Kerala Legislative assembly The Tender Demands Ubuntu 9.04 Preloaded & Ubuntu compatible / Certified Laptops as Requirements We Must Congratulate TD Kuriachan, Network Administrator, Kerala Legislative Assembly IT Section (cc'd) for Making it as a Free Software Preloaded Purchase. Anivar Aravind -- "The resources of the world are for us all to share. Let us affirm our faith in that common cause" - Dr. Ilina Sen

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[X-Post][Commercial] Job Posting for FOSS Project at IITB
by punchagan 27 Aug '09

27 Aug '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kadambari Devarajan <kadambari.devarajan(a)gmail.com> Subject: [X-Post][Commercial] Job Posting for FOSS Project at IITB Hello, Project positions are open at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) for a new government funded project on adoption of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) in science and engineering education in India. For details regarding the project, visit : http://fossee.in/ For details regarding applying, please refer the following advertisement / job posting : http://www.ircc.iitb.ac.in/IRCC-Webpage/RecruitmentGenerateAdvertisement.js… (Refer the section under Aerospace Engineering in the advertisement link for the project "Assimilation of Open Source Software in Science and Engineering Education" with code "P(06-1)") Interested candidates should fill and submit the application forms provided here: http://www.ircc.iitb.ac.in/IRCC-Webpage/PDF/Application_online.pdf The last date for receipt of applications is August 31st, 2009. Interested candidates may send in their filled applications by email to : recruit(a)ircc.iitb.ac.in explicitly mentioning the job code.It is mandatory to also send the filled application forms by postal mail to the address mentioned in the advertisement. The email submission is simply to accelerate the process of evaluation since we are close to the deadline. Regards, Kadambari Devarajan, Research Assistant, IITB. -- Puneeth Chaganti

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Fwd: [FSF] Free Software Foundation launches public awareness campaign against Microsoft and proprietary software
by Nagarjuna G. 26 Aug '09

26 Aug '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <peterb(a)fsf.org> Date: Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 12:38 PM Subject: [FSF] Free Software Foundation launches public awareness campaign against Microsoft and proprietary software To: info-press(a)gnu.org, info-member(a)fsf.org, info-fsf(a)gnu.org Windows 7 Sins: Free Software Foundation launches public awareness campaign against Microsoft and proprietary software BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today launched its "Windows 7 Sins" campaign at http://windows7sins.org, making the case against Microsoft and proprietary software. Preceding the upcoming release of Microsoft Windows 7, the campaign's first public action will also be today -- a freedom rally at 12:00pm on the historic Boston Common. The campaign outlines seven major areas where proprietary software in general and Microsoft Windows in particular hurt all computer users: invading privacy, poisoning education, locking users in, abusing standards, leveraging monopolistic behavior, enforcing Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), and threatening user security. These points are outlined in the text of a letter the campaign mailed to the leaders of the Fortune 500 companies, now published on its Web site. The letter warns "Windows 7 decision makers" about the "lack of privacy, freedom, and security" they will suffer should they adopt Windows 7, and makes the case that they should instead adopt free software such as the GNU/Linux operating system and the office productivity suite OpenOffice.org. FSF executive director Peter Brown said, "Free software is about freedom, not price. Our growing dependence on computers and software requires our society to reevaluate its obsession with proprietary software that spies on citizens' activities and limits their freedom to be in control of their computing. There is free software available right now for any activity you or your business needs, and it is better in the most important aspect -- it respects your freedom." The FSF is asking concerned citizens to help get this message out by nominating other organizational leaders who are also "Windows 7 decision makers" to receive a version of the letter. Brown continued, "Many people are frustrated by the organizations they interact with and their support for a software industry that works against the freedom of citizens. Our national and local governments, NGOs, and our universities and schools that use proprietary software are undertaking bad public policy, often through ignorance or misplaced values. We hope to alert these decision makers to the positive contribution they can make to society by switching their organizations to free software." FSF campaigns manager Matt Lee added, "With |windows7sins.org|, we hope to make businesses and computer users aware of the growing dangers of proprietary software from both Microsoft and other companies such as Apple and Adobe. With the release of Microsoft's updated operating system, business leaders have the opportunity to escape to freedom and join a growing list of leaders who understand that sinking money and time into proprietary software is a dead-end inconsistent with their best interests." More information about the campaign, including the text of the Fortune 500 letter and a mailing list that will provide subscribers with information updates and action alerts, is online at http://windows7sins.org. About the Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA. About Free Software and Open Source The free software movement's goal is freedom for computer users. Some, especially corporations, advocate a different viewpoint, known as "open source," which cites only practical goals such as making software powerful and reliable, focuses on development models, and avoids discussion of ethics and freedom. These two viewpoints are different at the deepest level. For more explanation, see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html. Media Contacts Matt Lee Campaigns Manager Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 x24 campaigns(a)fsf.org <mailto:campaigns@fsf.org> Peter Brown Executive Director Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 campaigns(a)fsf.org <mailto:campaigns@fsf.org> info-fsf mailing list info-fsf(a)gnu.org Unsubscribe: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/

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Windows 7 Sins: Can FSF India take this up?
by justin joseph 26 Aug '09

26 Aug '09

Can FSFIndia take the initiative and mail the letter to companies in India. Also please mail it to the PSU's. http://windows7sins.org/letter/

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[Fwd: [FSF] Launching the Windows7sins Campaign - Join us Wednesday in Boston]
by V. Sasi Kumar 23 Aug '09

23 Aug '09

An interesting campaign. Maybe we could think of something similar for another day, say the Software Freedom Day? Best Sasi -------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Peter Brown <peterb(a)fsf.org> To: info-member(a)fsf.org, info-fsf(a)gnu.org Subject: [FSF] Launching the Windows7sins Campaign - Join us Wednesday in Boston Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:28:42 -0400 Hi everyone, This Wednesday, August 26 at 11am, the Free Software Foundation will be launching its Windows7sins.org public awareness campaign, drawing attention to the threats posed by the adoption of Microsoft's proprietary operating system. We have a launch event here in Boston on the Boston Commons from noon until 3pm, and we need everyone in the area to come along and help out and join in the ceremony as we conduct a ceremonial trashing of proprietary software. **We'll be launching our Windows 7 campaign with pomp and fanfare, with a giant 12 foot trashcan being filled with boxes of proprietary software.** The event promises to be lots of fun, and with thousands of people passing through the Boston Commons every day we hope you will help us connect with the public by handing out information and explaining the benefits of free software. There will be camera crews and photographers capturing the event and we will be getting these images up online as soon as possible on the day. Let us know you're coming and bring along your friends and work colleagues - mail campaigns(a)fsf.org if you have time to help us set up, or just turn up at the Boston Commons near the entrance to the Public Gardens from noon. If you're not in the Boston area, there will be plenty for you to do to help us launch the campaign and get the message out. Stay tuned for upcoming instructions... Thanks for your support! -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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FSMK- newsletter3 -editorial.
by naveen mudunuru 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

In this edition we choose to write about an important topic concerning each citizen of India. Let us start this with a simple question. Why do we endorse free software? Free software is 'freedom' software. The user has the full freedom to understand the software (by analyzing the source code), has complete freedom to upgrade or customize according to his need, and can also fix the bugs without any dependency. So freedom to understand a piece of source code is very crucial as far as an individual is concerned. *We know this, then why are we reiterating this basic question?* The union budget '09 proposed to provide a Unique Identifier (UID) number to each citizen in this country. It is argued that this UID number would help the Government in identifying targeted beneficiaries for various welfare schemes. Various departments based on their needs, would be using this number. Going forward, this UID number would avert the need for multiple proof of identity for citizens like, ration card, electoral card, pan card, etc.(Apart from availing Government services, it would be used for private needs also, such as opening bank accounts or seeking telephone connections). Hence no doubt, the role of this number is very crucial. Taking all these arguments into consideration, the implementation of this project has to take place with utmost care as it carries a very important projected role as far as society's progress, justice and welfare is concerned. Another important aspect is security. The UID database hold very crucial information and is very much important as far as National Security is concerned. Virtually this UID Database holds the key for all kinds ofinformation. Considering the global and national scenarios, this project is of prime importance. The project is very huge. Initial budget estimation is of Rs 120 crores. And for sure it would be revised multiple times before implementation (and can end up 3 to 5 times above budget estimation considering our practical experiences from the industry.) Any one can oversee the complexity of the work which includes construction of a new online database with identity and biometric details of each citizen of India. We feel this includes development of sophisticated applications which may include many tiers, huge databases, different types of reports, packages etc. It may also include interaction with different existing systems, and migration of data from those system. *So, what has happened? * Well, some disturbing news is heard. “*Microsoft is keen to partner in this project.” *We have serious reservations on the involvement of Microsoft in this crucial project. Freedom is each individual's fundamental right. He cannot allow infiltration to his privacy or dictating terms to him. What about a society? A society can be termed as progressive only when each individual's right and freedom is protected. This is exactly the State's role. It should ensure the freedom and well being of each of its citizens. Microsoft is notorious on denial of the freedom (in digital world). Restricting access to source code and not allowing modifications from users is denial of his fundamental right - freedom to know – which is the corner stone of any society's progress. Denial of freedom to know (for a user and in this context the user is Indian government) gives freedom for Proprietary Software companies to infiltrate his(user's) privacy. The sheer number of anti- rust suits against Microsoft and other Proprietary Software makers is a testimony to the monopolistic tendencies of corporates and their utter disregard to the laws of the land, in pursuit of making money by hook or crook. In one of those cases, Microsoft argued that it cannot continue revealing further information to the judge, as the information is closely related to US national security. In short Microsoft is bound by the US Laws and is having strong strategic alliance with US Government, obviously this is in conflict with our national interest as USA can use this alliance for achieving any objectives they wanted (they have also announced Cyber warfare NSPD 16 for crippling any networks across the world, which makes the whole scenario more complicated). All these facts suggests an impending danger is looming on the sovereignty of India if we allow Microsoft in implementing this project. Just imagine how terrible it will be if the presence of malicious code or bugs in Microsoft's proprietary closed source crashes or corrupts the database, where future ofmillions depends. The source code of a project which is having tremendous importance to India, should be owned solely by the Govt. of India and not by Microsoft or any other corporates. A software can be termed as secure only if the freedom to examine or modify the code lies with its user, in this case Govt. of India. As per IT Act 2000, public systems cannot have malicious code inside. IT Act further says, public systems should not cause leakage of sensitive information relating to "privileges of parliament, trade, or other sensitive information". This can only be ensured if public systems are only on Free Software. Besides this, what if Microsoft resorts to steal the most vital and crucial information (as Satyam computers did to World-bank) and thereby destabilizing the country as part of USA's global imperial agenda? It is unimaginable. Another classic example is the case of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, which demonstrated how Proprietary Software is a threat to the sovereignty of a country. ( http://news.northxsouth.com/2008/11/18/protecting-sovereignty-with-free-sof… idea-and-the-duty-of-governmentssays- stallman/). Apart from the security concerns shared above, we identify Microsoft's attempt as a crooked one! Microsoft sees the huge benefits it could accomplish by involving in this project. Huge budget involvement, support work (in software industry, majority of revenue is churned from the support work, and one can not deny the possibility of introducing bugs in the software for getting the support work!), upgradation work, backward entry to National E-commerce project implementations, increased market penetration and forcing of the implementation of IPR and copy right laws by close association with the policy makers etc are few of the advantages they could easily get! Adding to above, storage, distribution and display formats of this crucial data is very important. Openness andInteroperability are two vital and basic requirements for any standard. It is often correctly noted that the closed standards would drive one in to the folds of proprietaryrealm and thereby much serious patent complications. We must ensure that vital data of this stature is stored in formats that are open and free of all constraints like royalties, patent claims etc and there by should not allow to be controlled by anyone. Incidentally,this is also time where India's Draft Policy on Open Standards close to finalization, and in a surprise move, Nasscom – a representing body of the industry and MAIT recommended inclusion of standards under RAND terms and the usage of multiple standards in the same domain. Both of these recommendations have serious implications as far as India's interest is concerned. Issues of interoperability (between different standards), complications (on adhering to multiple standards) and high cost (of proprietary standards and bringing one in to the fold of patent issues) are few of the major issues. We suspect Microsoft's role and motivation on Nasscom and MAIT's recommendation. Another disturbing fact is Nandan Nilakeni whom our union ministry entrusted to implement this crucial project. This project can be handled easily by any senior administrative officer who is having prior experience of implementing complexecommerce applications. He could be biased as his previous company shares, business interest with Microsoft and also they voted for OOXML, much against national interest. Considering his links and role he played in Infosys, the possibility of Infosys being promoted cannot be overruled (and obviously going with the proprietary realm). All indications are that Microsoft is directing heavy lobbying in India for accomplishing its vested interests. Different studies have shown the superiority of Free Software when compared with Proprietary Software. Robert Francis Group (IBM-sponsored research) found securitylevels in GNU/Linux generally exceeded those in Windows, providing a more secure and manageable environment out of the box with significantly more functionality in terms of security integration and management. The Linux kernel programming code is better and more secure than the programming code of most Proprietary Software - based on a four-year analysis of the 5.7 million lines of Linux kernal source code conducted by five Stanford University researchers. So we should use only Free Software for the implementation of this crucial project. It is the only way for developing a superior implementation, in a very economical way which is important for a country like India where majority of population is in poverty and destitution. We are afraid that this project may lead to giving pathway for the Proprietary Software companies and their products to the ecommerce projects, which is against National interest in different ways – Huge economic loss for the national exchequer, inferior quality products, with future liabilities and the most important one - invoking gross vulnerability to National Security and stability. This needed to be countered at any cost. State should have control on the software products it purchases or develops. We cannot allow these proprietary s/w companies to loot public money for inferior quality products and allowing them to infiltrate in to the freedom of our fellow citizens. We appeal our readers to raise your voice against the infiltration attempts of Microsoft(and other companies who endorse proprietary realm in software industry) and to endorse Free Software for keeping nation's interest forefront. “*The most unfortunate thing is that India still* *seems to believe in proprietary solutions”* Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India, May 28, 2003 For Other Articles in the new letter. Click on the link http://fsmk.org/node/41 -- regards naveen Be Free, Speak Free, Work Free. Advocate "FREE SOFTWARE", FREE as in FREE SPEECH, not as in FREE BEER

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Fwd: [Fsmk-discuss] FSMK Newsletter Volume3
by Vikram Vincent 20 Aug '09

20 Aug '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rameez Thonnakkal <ssrameez(a)gmail.com> Date: 2009/8/19 Subject: [Fsmk-discuss] FSMK Newsletter Volume3 To: Dear Friend, FSMK Newsletter Volume3 <http://fsmk.org/node/41> We are proud to say this because of the responses and encouragement you gave us. This time also there are enough and more reasons to read the complete news letter in single attempt. We are raising some serious issues in the Indian context through the Editorial. Dr. Sabyasachi Chatterjee is talking about patent issues. Ranjan an FSMK activist is talking about the free-software Philosophy. Mayank, Rahul and Praveen have come up with some Technical articles. Many items on News section from the free-software world. Still we are expecting the critical comments from you to make this venture a success. Regards, FSMK EB Team. _______________________________________________ fsmk-discuss mailing list fsmk-discuss(a)lists.fsmk.in http://lists.fsmk.in/listinfo.cgi/fsmk-discuss-fsmk.in -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/ http://fsmk.org/

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Maharastra signs MoU with M$
by Nagarjuna G. 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

Alert! let us send a strong letter to the ministers, education dept. as soon as possible. Check out several stories that appeared in all news papers. I have read on page3 in DNA. http://ur1.ca/9n8q -- Nagarjuna G.

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FSMK- news letter 3
by naveen mudunuru 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

Dear Friend, FSMK releasing its third consecutive news letter. We are proud to say this because of the responses and encouragement you gave us. This time also there are enough and more reasons to read the complete news letter in single attempt. We are raising some serious issues in the Indian context through the Editorial. Dr. Sabyasachi Chatterjee is talking about patent issues. Ranjan an FSMK activist is talking about the free-software Philosophy. Mayank, Rahul and Praveen have come up with some Technical articles. Many items on News section from the free-software world. Still we are expecting the critical comments from you to make this venture a success. Regards, FSMK EB Team. -- regards naveen Be Free, Speak Free, Work Free. Advocate "FREE SOFTWARE", FREE as in FREE SPEECH, not as in FREE BEER

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Fwd: [gnu-prog-discuss] GNU Generation
by Nagarjuna G. 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Matt Lee <mattl(a)gnu.org> Date: Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 7:59 PM Subject: [gnu-prog-discuss] GNU Generation To: gnu-prog-discuss(a)gnu.org GNU Generation is a program by the FSF to involve young people (approx. aged 13-18) in free software. It is provided as a service to projects to find new young contributors, and to students to get interested in free software and start contributing to projects. Developers can create tasks, or projects, for students to complete on the GNU Generation page (http://fsf.org/gnugeneration). These projects can be incredibly specific, giving instruction on exactly what is to be completed, or more broad, offering only some general information about the task and how to get started. The goal for GNU Generation is for these students to become regular contributors to your project. There are a wide range of talents in the GNU Generation program already. Projects can include coding of any difficulty, from simple scripting to advanced C. They can include art, documentation, translation or other areas as well. Projects can even be solely advocacy; it is completely up to whoever creates them. If you do not have any specific ideas for projects, but would prefer to have students think of their own projects related to your application, you can leave your contact information and an overview of your free software application under the "Project specific" section of the brainstorming page on the site (http://groups.fsf.org/wiki/Group:GNU_Generation/Project_brainstorming). Chances are few participants will take the time to look into your project more deeply, but this will at least provide them with a place to start if they already use and love your application. If you have any ideas unrelated to a specific free software application, you can feel free to add them to the top part of this page as well. There is no guarantee that any particular project will be taken, though either way, projects represented here will definitely gain more exposure to participants. If you are interested, please see the website (http://www.fsf.org/gnugeneration) for more information on how GNU Generation can help students while helping your free software project. -- Nagarjuna G. http://www.gnowledge.org/

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd: [en] Caracas Declaration
by Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez 07 Aug '09

07 Aug '09

Helo I think this is better to go public, since i'm answering to you and forwarding some the persons that also were in the original mail. On Friday 07 August 2009 07:27:13 am you wrote: >Hi > >My name is Senthil and I volunteer for fsmk.org. This is just a question > out of curiosity. Nice to meet you and to try to satisfy your curiosity (I'll add at the bottom the original mail i answered to Nagarjuna, since that is also an important topic. Also I have a curiosity , do you work for cisco? hmm. > >I was interested in the tensions between Marxist groups in Venzuela and > free software. here i have a second curiosity. Is that what you think in India? Can you give me some information? This is the first time i hear something like that. And in my personal experience working as adviser in pdvsa for the migration, I have the oposite experience. Are normally the right wing persons that are going against the movement. Do you know president Chavez? He is left. He did the decree 3390. Did you know that? Maybe you are lacking of information. Do you know president Rafael Correa from Ecuador? Well that is also the left wing and he is absolutely commited with free software. Do you know also Fernando Lugo from Paraguay? He is also from the left wing, and also commited with free software. In my personal experience the groups stopping the real thing are the right wing groups. Let me explain something. Who knows about free software in Venezuela is mainly a rich person, to know something about fs you need to have networking and so on specially in this countries. Then before Chavez who had network was what today is 'opposition'. In fact this right wing persons don't like too much that was Chavez from left wing that really took care of Free Software. Then this kind of community don't want to spread knowledge to the poors (the poors normally are left wing - at least in this countries :) In fact they try to keep the important positions also in the government being deeply inside oposition, then doing nasty things. Many ministeries bought oracle, cisco and so on. That is very bad. > >Do the Marxist groups really contribute to free software and have they > adopted strong positions. Do they really help the free software movement. Lets say the right wing groups had damage a lot and continue doing this. Read my answer to nagarjuna asking him a very important thing for us. TO PUT ATTENTION TO WHAT HE IS DOING SPEAKING. > >We see a lot of tension in India between these groups and was wondering if > there is a pattern in the way these things work worldwide. Maybe the patern is the one of fight for freedom and equality between humans. At least that is are the left groups from the south. I hope to have answered to you, because this is the first time i've seen a question like that -> l " was interested in the tensions between Marxist groups in Venzuela and free software". Please send me information since if this is what arrives to India as new, many things are wrong. There will be some part some cracking to the information. warm regards juan > >Thanks >senthil ---------------- my answer to nagarjuna before --------------------- Dear Nagarjuna, you are missing the point forwarding this 'noisy declaration' This declaration was signed where? by 5 6 man? what is that?, the comunities in south-america are only this ammount of persons? hmmm Remember, South-America where you've been once or twice, is far from India, they dont speak english. You remember me when I try to understand malayalam. I can not. Will be better to be very informed how are things in the south. I put in cc some man that i think you should meet, or not depending if you want or not to understand how things are. Martin Olivera -> president of solar.org.ar Free Software Association of Argentina Diego Saravia -> author of ututo, the most important project on free software in South- America. He also gave to rms a honoris causa by the salta university. Also Diego has been one of the creators of solar itself, and more, also helped create ASLE , the ecuatorian Free Software Asociation, and also SOLVE in venezuela. AS you see, he was one of the creators of the 80 per cent of the Free Software Associations and also the important ones (of course Brasil is not there). Rafael Bonifaz -> worked for the Ecuatorian Government very commited with free software, one of the creators of ASLE. Then I think will be interesting to talk to the communities thanks very much regards juan -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gutta cavat lapidem --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hipatia.net - http://aty.hipatia.net - http://guri.c-o-d-e-x.net Italia - tel: +39 3929657778 +39 3384192487 - India - +91 9633621956 jabber: jucar(a)hipatia.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fingerprint: 7464 DDDE 9D5D 3B6C CBF9 7699 A021 CE74 EA7A D95A Public key 0xEA7AD95A at http://pgp.mit.edu

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site inspired on Sasi's article
by Juan Carlos Gentile Fagundez 07 Aug '09

07 Aug '09

I'll really like to say thanks to Sasi Kumar, who inspired us to do a website to start collectivelly writing the history of free software free knowledge in south-america (to start). There is also the translation of Sasi's article to spanish. We started it 2 days ago. http://marroncito.hipatia.net marroncito means brown. In this site we aim to put all the things we remember from history, the good ones and the bad ones. thanks Sasi again juan -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gutta cavat lapidem --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hipatia.net - http://aty.hipatia.net - http://guri.c-o-d-e-x.net Italia - tel: +39 3929657778 +39 3384192487 - India - +91 9633621956 jabber: jucar(a)hipatia.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fingerprint: 7464 DDDE 9D5D 3B6C CBF9 7699 A021 CE74 EA7A D95A Public key 0xEA7AD95A at http://pgp.mit.edu

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Fwd: [en] Caracas Declaration
by Nagarjuna G. 07 Aug '09

07 Aug '09

-- Nagarjuna G. gnowledge lab, HBCSE, TIFR. India.

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Microsoft, Yahoo agree on ad partnership
by justin joseph 29 Jul '09

29 Jul '09

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Microsoft-Yahoo-agree-on-ad-rb-909225241.html… "SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have agreed to an online search and advertising partnership, in an attempt to rival Google Inc, that will be announced within 24 hours, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday."

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FSMK-News Letter2
by naveen mudunuru 27 Jul '09

27 Jul '09

Dear all, We welcome all the members, sympathizers and critics of FSMK to the second edition of our News Letter. This edition discusses different topics that ranges from technical, philosophical, free software politics and activism in depth and breadth. Please find the News Letter at the Below Link. http://fsmk.org/sites/default/files/FSMK%20Newsletter%20Volume%202.pdf http://fsmk.org/node/39 With warm regards, Naveen Mudunuru FSMK Editorial Board -- regards naveen Be Free, Speak Free, Work Free. Advocate "FREE SOFTWARE", FREE as in FREE SPEECH, not as in FREE BEER

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Fwd: [Fsmk-discuss] FSMK Newsletter Volume 2
by Vikram Vincent 25 Jul '09

25 Jul '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rameez Thonnakkal <ssrameez(a)gmail.com> Date: 2009/7/25 Subject: [Fsmk-discuss] FSMK Newsletter Volume 2 Hi All, Presenting the second edition of FSMK News Letter. FSMK News Letter Volume 2 <http://fsmk.org/node/39> Thanks a lot for accepting the first news letter and letting us know your valuables suggestions and criticisms. We have tried our best to improve based on those inputs. Improvement is a continuous process and we assure you the same with our current News Letter. We discuss everything related to free software. It includes technology, news, free-software politics, philosophy,etc.. We are sure that this is a stepping stone to get well equipped on free software movement. Through this News letter, Know about the Free Software Movement Karnataka and Join the Movement... We are expecting your valuable comments.. Write to us editor(a)fsmk.org. Regards, FSMK Editorial Board _______________________________________________ fsmk-discuss mailing list fsmk-discuss(a)lists.fsmk.in http://lists.fsmk.in/listinfo.cgi/fsmk-discuss-fsmk.in -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/ http://fsmk.org/

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Article on Free Software Workshop for Govt. School Teachers - 2
by Vikram Vincent 20 Jul '09

20 Jul '09

First they ignore you Then they laugh at you Then they they fight you Then you win - Gandhi Neat quote on the FSMK T-shirt! :) "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi With this message a few geeks at Free Software Movement Karnataka (FSMK) have been working on popularizing the open source software in the government schools and offices. "Karnataka Government decided to use free software for 8th 9th and 10th standards as a part of their ICT@Schools project(Information and Communication Technology). As of now It is vendor controlled project (Educom, EVeron, etc are implementing it) under BOOT (Build Operate Own & Transfer)scheme. For making it more accessible to teachers & students(IT enabled learning), we are initiating this training as a pilot project in bangalore. This is organised by DSERT and a Consortium of Free Software Organisations in Bangalore (FSUG Bangalore, Sampada, FSMK, ITfC, DeepRoot Linux, IT4Change & Moving Republic are the organisations associated.)", said Naveen Mudunuru, an active volunteer with FSMK. 1. A session on FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) philosophy. 2. Basic usage of the desktop explaining the various hardware components. 3. Use of Open Office. 4. Educational games on the distro. 5. Use of Internet. The team comprised of volunteers from various groups typically software techies from various companies some of who have moved to social sector for good. The hall was packed with almost every system occupied with about 25 teachers. The teachers very pretty enthusiastic about the training and sat patiently for the long sessions absorbing as much as they could. One teacher in particular didn't mind delayed lunch as they were in middle of something. The first day was mostly basic stuff covering the different components like mouse (why it is so called?), CPU, etc. Many teachers were curious about typing and use of kannada. Ktouch, gtypist, gcompris, etc were suggested to the them. The afternoon session Naveen introduced the teachers to the concept of FLOSS. Naveen used the analogy of a bike. When someone buys a bike (s)he expects to use it the way (s)he wishes. If a neighbor is in need and comes ask for the bike for some work (s)he is free to lend the bike which may not be the cased with a product from Microsoft or Apple or such. If it has some problem one would like to have a look at the bike himself or herself first and only then goto a shop. Even if (s)he has to goto a shop the person is free to go to a local shop and doesn't have to go to the same vendor who sold the bike. This 'freedom' is not there in closed source software. There was a mention of how Einstein was able to come up with concepts like theory of relativity as Newton, who said, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.", didn't keep his knowledge to himself. The way to go ahead in technology is to share and exchange knowledge. Reminds one of the words from George Bernard Shaw - "If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." The second day was entirely spent on Open Office where equivalents of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. People who were familiar with the office suite asked how they could do certain things they did in the MS counterparts. The sessions were exhaustive and covered most of the things the teachers would need. The day ended in a presentation on a one of the schools made by the Teacher from that school. Looked pretty well done. The teachers were briefly introduced to the use of Kannada - the idea was to encourage them to use English. The detailed coverage on the same is planned in the subsequent sessions. The third day was devoted to the Internet. The teachers were also requested to work in groups to infuse in them idea of sharing and helping each other which is the basis for most development in FLOSS. The idea behind the sessions was to equip the teachers to help themselves by looking for help on the net. They were introduced to checking emails, google, wikipedia, youtbue, etc. An email was created for each teacher and also a mailing list containing all of them for future queries and discussions. The teachers expressed their heart felt gratitude. If this initiative interests you please get in touch with Naveen: naveenmudunuru(a)gmail.com 998640 3928 Vikram: vincentvikram(a)gmail.com 94488 10822 Software _must_ be accessible to people who could use it to bring about a positive change in their lives. Such programs are only making this a reality by touching the needier sections. -- Mayank Rungta -- article released under creative commons

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Article on Free Software Workshop for Govt. School Teachers - 1
by Vikram Vincent 19 Jul '09

19 Jul '09

We,the FSMK(Free Software Movement Karnataka) volunteers cum trainers, along with members from few other organizations trained Government School teachers to use and get comfortable with Free Software,in a step towards scaling a steep task of setting the binary knowledge free. These training sessions happened on the 16th, 17th and 18th of July,2009. I was expecting reluctance,hesitation,mild levels of ego and confusion from the participants...But all that emerged out of these teachers was an extremely high level of enthusiasm, an equaling curiosity and tireless efforts for the first two days...Witnessing this in person and being a part all three days has been all together a new kind of an experience.... We were able to break the dogma of The Cyberphobia (Fear of working with computers) from these people the very first day....The joy they subsequently found working on the basics which we taught them was just heart warming.... The ultimate goal of this workshop has been making the teachers self sufficient in handling computers for basic purposes, so that the kids are benefited. The second day was more about trying to make them feel more independent. The interest and the curiosity levels in the teachers remained still the same, while the extent of apprehension and inhibitions from their side were mellowing down. The third day was to introduce them to an entirely new world, as seen by them, through Internet and the various possibilities using it like mailing, searching, browsing useful sites, copying content from net, file downloads etc... The Internet really hooked them on,making most of them pledge that they would want to use it more even after the sessions. But,the kind of awe they were in, while undergoing these sessions puts a big question about the IT revolution India is supposedly going through...In a city where all the major IT players of the world have at least one establishment is ridiculously unbalanced. Its own teachers are literally scared to work with computers... Blaming the Government is something which is eternal...And we've got used to it... The question is what each of us can do? I genuinely feel that we as a literate community have a lot to do with a sense of sincere concern towards the society we are a part of.... If you feel that you can do your part in bridging the divide, join us at fsmk.org. - Raghavendra S Volunteer FSMK ( fsmk.org)

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MSME is also pushing IPR?
by renuka prasad 17 Jul '09

17 Jul '09

i do not know whether i am sharing a very old news or a new one , but could not stop me sharing this link http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/schemes/ipr.htm with regards renuka prasad

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Fwd: Blog about the Teachers workshop
by Vikram Vincent 17 Jul '09

17 Jul '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Raghavendra S Date: 2009/7/17 Subject:Blog about the Teachers workshop Dear all, read thru the post on my blog abt the first 2 days of the workshop.... http://ideasareimmortal.blogspot.com/2009/07/free-software-workshop-for.html -- Raghavendra S http://ideasareimmortal.blogspot.com/ http://fsmk.org/

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Two day Python workshop at CDEEP
by Puneeth Chaganti 17 Jul '09

17 Jul '09

Hello, As part of the MHRD funded open source mission at IITB, Asokan and I are planning a 2 day Python workshop: Topic: Programming with Python Date: 25, 26th July 2009 (weekend) Time: 1400 hrs to 1800 hrs Venue: CDEEP seminar hall Instructors: Asokan P and Prabhu Ramachandran This is targeted at students of engineering who will be able to use Python as their core language for scientific and engineering computing. The course will be done at CDEEP and will be broadcast live via EDUSAT and also webcast (http://www.cdeep.iitb.ac.in/). Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring along laptops since the instruction is entirely hands on. We will be able to provide some extra laptops for use but the numbers will be limited. Please send: Kadambari Devarajan <kadambari.devarajan(a)gmail.com> a confirmation email regarding your participation and she will get back to you on what you need to install, prerequisites etc. Please forward this to any others who may be interested. regards, -- Prabhu Ramachandran http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu

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Nginx for heavily loaded web-servers
by ck raju 16 Jul '09

16 Jul '09

.."nginx continues to grow strongly, increasing its market share by 1 percentage point. It gains around 2.5 million sites this month, mostly due to more activity seen by the survey on blogging provider NetEase. nginx is also used by Wordpress.com, where Netcraft saw 180,000 more active blogs this month..." Story at http://news.netcraft.com/ "What is nginx? Nginx [engine x] — it’s HTTP-server and IMAP/POP3-proxy server written by Igor Sysoev. According to Netcraft in May 2009 nginx served or proxied 3.25% busiest sites. Nginx has been running for more than four years on many heavily loaded Russian sites like vkontakte.ru or rambler.ru. I think it’s enough. You can find a lot of theoretical information below in useful links. .." http://www.linuxspace.org/archives/1576 Released under http://www.nginx.org/LICENSE CK Raju

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Income tax e-filing is all about editing in MS-Excel?
by mail＠swathanthran.in 15 Jul '09

15 Jul '09

Hi, May be this is a bit old issue, but I just saw it now, that the e-filing of income tax returns is all about filling things in MS-Excel. The site offers .xls files[1] with macros and all that, which has the specified forms of filing the data in MS-Excel. and uploading it. The ideal way to respond would be with the .ods files with all those things as in .xls . Now the .xls files are opening correctly on openoffice and hopefully it should be ok to convert it to .ods. But it would be great if some one familiar with the tax forms can check and make sure .ods too works fine. The site offers the schema too[2]. Even if we could convert those to .ods successfully, the government should be ready to accept the .ods files too. I haven't yet checked the whole process of efiling. Has this been on discussion before? the site is offering "Excel Utility" and "Pdf Utility" even for the Assessment year 2007-2008. Also i heard the last date for this year 09-10 is july end or so.. pretty late it seems. Moreover i see the "Pdf Utility" given there(for eg:[3]) is even un-viewable on all the pdf viewers i have. As i open it says to use a later version of adobe pdf viewer. Hope to know more about anything that can be done. Regards Shyam K [1]-- https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/individual_huf.do [2]-- https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/advanced_users.do [3]-- https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads07-08/itr/ITR2_Version…

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Re: [Fsf-friends] [fosscomm] Redmond Codelifter all set to enter FOSSCOMM?
by ck raju 15 Jul '09

15 Jul '09

On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 12:20 AM, Mohit Singh<gmohitsingh(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I have said it earlier and this is my second reminder that the Redmond > Codelifter has started 'open source' and can very well be on this > mailing list with full right to be here! PLEASE draft a policy to keep > it out or stop bashing it! "Over the years, Microsoft statements toward open-source software have ranged from derision and threats to mollification and even cautious praise. Microsoft's Thursday announcement of a significantly more accommodating approach to open-source programmers is just the latest refinement of the company's ambivalence. At the same time that Microsoft's new arrangement opens up previously secret specifications and protocols for use in open-source software, it also insists that companies planning on distributing or using that software need a patent license." Story at http://news.cnet.com/8301-13580_3-9876187-39.html So long as it promotes or reproduces proprietary, non-free licenses, many of us should refresh our pledge to fight against the corporate. If Open Source/Free Software champions have succeeded in impressing upon the corporate to work in favour of Free Software or Open Source, we would be doing them a disservice by preferring to keep quiet !! CK Raju

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Hall of Shame
by ck raju 14 Jul '09

14 Jul '09

Praveen, http://fosscomm.in/HallOfShame needs to enlarge its scope. For instance, http://nrega.nic.in/ is the portal designed and developed by NIC for Ministry of Rural Development. http://nrega.nic.in/user_manual_nrega.pdf is its user manual, where, even MoRD tries to explain what is meant by "Microsoft technologies and open technologies". Examples like these not only expose the linkages that Microsoft have with NIC and MoRD, but also intimates us the ineffectiveness of Ministry of Information Technology in endorsing open standards, even for public utilities that have a national presence. I am afraid whether appeals before MIT would remain appeals only, as these kind of stealth-actions go undisturbed with the help of national public agencies. How do we counter these kind of subversive activities in the most effective manner ? Whom are we going to approach ? Most importantly, how are we going to document these subversive activities in our Hall of Shame ? CK Raju

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Fwd: [FSUG-Bangalore] Material from West Bengal's FOSS Training initiative
by Arun M 08 Jul '09

08 Jul '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Debayan Banerjee <debayanin(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 3:24 AM Subject: [FSUG-Bangalore] Material from West Bengal's FOSS Training initiative To: karnatakaschools(a)lists.fosscomm.in, Free Software Users Group - Bangalore <fsug-bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in> Hi, As discussed in the meeting held at IT4change last week, here are the links to the materials used in West Bengal's FOSS Teacher's Training program I tried to add them to the FSUG wiki but had some problems with the table at http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/index.php/Karanataka_Schools . Here are the links: http://debayanin.googlepages.com/foss-workshop-outline.pdf (Syllabus) http://debayanin.googlepages.com/finished.pdf (Training Manual / 5 MB) http://debayanin.googlepages.com/Certificate-of-participation.odt http://debayanin.googlepages.com/feedbackform.odt http://debayanin.googlepages.com/FOSSResources.odt http://debayanin.googlepages.com/ILUG-CAL-List-of-apps-for-IOTA-train.pdf http://debayanin.googlepages.com/Regform.pdf http://debayan.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/first-iota-teachers-training-progra… (A blog post about the program) http://picasaweb.google.com/debayanin/IOTATTP1 (Pictures from the program) The Government agency which is behind this effort is IOTA <http://www.iotawb.org/> -- Regards, Debayan Banerjee Support Free Software http://deeproot.in _______________________________________________ FSUG-Bangalore mailing list FSUG-Bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore

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[Fwd: [FOSS-in-Science] Workshop on Scilab between 4 - 7 th July, 09]
by V. Sasi Kumar 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Manjusha Joshi <msj(a)bprim.org> To: foss-in-science(a)mm.gnu.org.in Cc: @mail.bprim.org Subject: [FOSS-in-Science] Workshop on Scilab between 4 - 7 th July, 09 Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:16:24 +0530 Hello, Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana and IIT Bombay are jointly organising a four day workshop on the Open source Mathematical software Scilab from 4th July to 7th July 2009 at Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana, Pune. The workshop is a part of the National mission for the use of Open Source software in Education. More details at http://www.bprim.org/mathsoftwk/scilabjuly09.php Thanks, -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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A project for Inclusive Education of the Disabled recommends proprietary software
by Vimal Joseph 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

Dear All, Here is a link to the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of ‘Inclusive Education of the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS)’ http://education.nic.in/secedu/sec_iedc.asp This scheme is approved by the cabinet committee on september 2008 http://pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page.asp?relid=42926 The document says: The use of ICT: Access to technology is especially relevant for the disabled as it increases their access to a vast amount of information not otherwise available. Computers provided to students in secondary schools will also be made accessible to those with disabilities. The scheme will provide for the purchase of appropriate technology by way of special software such as Screen Reading software like JAWS, SAFA, etc. for the visually impaired and speech recognition software for the hearing impaired to develop computer vocabulary for the hearing impaired and modified hardware like adapted keyboards. (Sr. No. I.13 of Appendix-I). The scheme will provide the money to purchase proprietary software like JAWS. They have mentioned about SAFA also. It is a screen reading software for windows available at safa.sf.net. But its licence is not clear and seems to be a dead project. Last commit to the code repository was on 2004. No school will bother about the "etc.." part. So the obvious choice of software under this scheme will be JAWS. As part of the Insight project, we are using GNU/Linux with orca screen reader for the last 2 years and it works very well. It is really a waste of money if the schools are going to purchase JAWS. If they use Free Software, the money they have to purchase JAWS can be used for the development of orca or even used for purchasing more computers. This is definitely an project we should get involved. regards, ~vimal http://insight.kerala.gov.in

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Red Hat protests Swiss govt. support to M$
by V. Sasi Kumar 26 May '09

26 May '09

"Linux vendor Red Hat, and 17 other vendors, have protested a Swiss government contract given to Microsoft without any public bidding. The move exposes a wider Microsoft monopoly that European governments accept, despite their lip service for open source, according to commentators." See: http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/red-hat-sues-switzerland-over-microsoft-m… Best -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Govt gearing up to gag websites
by Harish Singh 23 May '09

23 May '09

It appears that the Union government is getting ready to throw free speech and due process provisions into the pit. The provisions in the act don't just specify news articles, but a broad range of information like blogs. From article by Manoj Mitta,Times of India, 22nd May 2009, "Under the draft rules framed under section 69A of the IT amendment Act, every state or Central government department will be empowered to decide whether a certain news item, article, blog or advertisement relating to its jurisdiction is safe to remain on the Net. Once somebody sends a "complaint" against any information displayed on the Net, the department concerned will take a call on whether the matter in question affects any of the six concerns mentioned in section 69A: interest of sovereignty or integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or incitement to commit any cognizable offense relating to the other five reasons." See more here : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Govt-gearing-up-to-gag-news-websit… - Harish

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[Fwd: [FSF] FSF Settles Suit Against Cisco]
by V. Sasi Kumar 21 May '09

21 May '09

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Brett Smith <brett(a)fsf.org> To: info-press(a)gnu.org, info-fsf(a)gnu.org Subject: [FSF] FSF Settles Suit Against Cisco Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 13:04:47 -0400 [This press release is available on the web at <http://www.fsf.org/news/2009-05-cisco-settlement.html>. FSF Compliance Engineer Brett Smith has written about what we can learn from this settlement at <http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/2009-05-settlement>.] BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, May 20, 2009 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Cisco Systems, Inc. are pleased to announce that they have reached a joint agreement. Under the agreement, the FSF has agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Cisco. Cisco has agreed to appoint a Free Software Director for Linksys, a subsidiary of Cisco, to supervise Linksys' compliance with the requirements of free software licenses such as the GPL (the GNU General Public License). The Free Software Director will report periodically to the FSF regarding Linksys' compliance efforts. Cisco has further agreed to take certain steps to notify previous recipients of Linksys products containing FSF programs of their rights under the GPL and other applicable licenses, to publish a licensing notice on the Linksys website, and to provide additional notices in a separate publication. In addition, Cisco will continue to make the complete and corresponding source code for versions of FSF programs used with current Linksys products freely available on its website. Cisco will also make a monetary contribution to the FSF. The parties recognize Cisco's ongoing obligations under the GPL and other free software licenses. The FSF will continue to independently monitor Linksys' compliance with these licenses, and work with Linksys to resolve any new issues that may arise. "We are glad that Cisco has affirmed its commitment to the free software community by implementing additional measures within its compliance program and dedicating appropriate resources to them, further reassuring the users' freedoms under the GPL," said Peter Brown, Executive Director of the FSF. "Our agreement results in making all of the relevant source code available in the fastest way possible." ### About the FSF The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at <http://donate.fsf.org>. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA. ### Media Contacts Brett Smith Licensing Compliance Engineer Free Software Foundation +1 (617) 542 5942 x18 <brett(a)fsf.org> ### info-fsf mailing list info-fsf(a)gnu.org Unsubscribe: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Intel beats Microsoft in EU fines
by V. Sasi Kumar 13 May '09

13 May '09

Intel has been fined a record Euro 1.04 billion for anti-competitive practices, beating Euro 497 million fined on Microsoft in 2004. They paid retailers to avoid AMD products. So, it seems, these giants become giants through trickery only! See http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10239487-92.html?tag=nl.e703 Best -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India Please visit http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

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Fwd: [FSF] ESP launches en.swpat.org: A Wiki for Anti-Software Patent Campaigns
by Nagarjuna G. 05 May '09

05 May '09

-- Nagarjuna G. gnowledge lab, HBCSE, TIFR. India.

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IEEE tutorial on GNU / Linux
by Vikram Vincent 04 May '09

04 May '09

Free Software Movement Karnataka(FSMK)<http://fsmk.org/> in coordination with IEEE Bangalore section, IBM Linux Technology Centre and BMSCE announces a Linux kernel tutorial. IEEE announcement follows. IEEE Bangalore Section in association with BMS College of Engineering and Free Software Movement, Karnataka (FSMK) announces TWO DAY TUTORIAL ON GNU/LINUX Kernel Workshop By Eminent & Experienced Faculty from FSMK and IBM Date: May, 9th and 10th (Saturday, Sunday) Venue: BMS College of Engineering, Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi Bangalore - 560 019 Prerequisites: Its expected that all participants will have: 1. Basic knowledge of Operating Systems 2. Good working knowledge of C 3. Hands-on experience desirable 4. Kernel programming experience is a bonus 5. Basic scripting knowledge (ex: shell scripts) 6. Working knowledge of Gnu/ Linux. Ex: 7. Booting a Gnu/ Linux system 8. Basic system administration (adding/removing users etc) 9. Basic commands (ls, ps, chmod, mkdir, vi, etc) We have planned to provide computer system for as many participants as possible, but would encourage, especially non-student participants ,to bring their own laptops so we can accommodate more numbers. Program: May 9th, (DAY 1) 8:30AM onwards: Registration 9:30 -10:30 AM: Inauguration: (Venue: Auditorium, BMS College of Engineering) Chair: Mr. K.. Ramakrishna , POWERGRID, Bangalore, Chairman, IEEE Bangalore Section Chief Guest: Dr. S. Bisalaiah, M.A , Ph.D, Former Vice- Chancellor, UAS, Bangalore, Member, Managing Body, BMSET, Chairman, Board of Management, BMSCE Guest of Honour: Dr. K Mallikharjuna Babu Ph.D., Principal, BMS College of Engineering 10:30-11:00 AM: Tea 11:00AM to 1:00 PM: SESSION 1 Basics of Gnu/ Linux Programming & Tools 1. Simple C programs 2. Simple Makefiles 3. gcc, stace, ltrace, gdb, objdump, nm, LD_PRELOAD [EXERCISE] 4. Quick overview of a typical hardware on which Gnu/ Linux runs (CPU, Memory, Interrupt controller, IO Bus etc) 5. Overview of the Linux Kernel 6. Kernel Layout 7. CodingStyle 8. Important subsystems 9. Kernel configuration 10. Building and booting a new kernel [EXERCISE] 1:00PM to 2:00 PM: LUNCH 2:00PM to 5:00PM SESSION 2 Linux Kernel Internals: An Overview (3 hours) 1. Process and threads [EXERCISE] 2. Memory Management [EXERCISE] 3. Filesystems [EXERCISE] 4. Interrupts and exceptions & System Calls [EXERCISE] 5. Kernel synchronization 4. How is the operating system changing [DISCUSSION] 5. What are the key areas of focus [DISCUSSION] 6. Generic questions and answers May 10th, (DAY 2) 9:30-10:30 PM SESSION 3 Device Drivers (1 hour) 1. Kernel module programming 2. Char and block drivers 3. ioctls 4. Writing simple char device driver [EXERCISE] 10:30:10:45 Tea 10:45-1:00PM SESSION 4 Kernel Debugging (2 hours , 15 Minutes) 1. printk 2. Dynamic instrumentation techniques 3. SystemTap and tracing (ftrace and markers) [EXERCISE] 4. kexec/kdump/crash analysis [EXERCISE] 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM LUNCH 2:00PM to 5:00PM How You can contribute 1. Introduction to the free software community 2. How to contribute 3. New exciting areas of work in the kernel 4. Generic questions and answers Tutorial is organized in various sessions as above. Lunch and Tea are provided. Please report at 9am at the venue. Course Fee per participant: Non-member: Rs. 1500/-; Student Rs. 700/- IEEE member Rs. 1200/- ; IEEE Student member Rs.550/- Organizing Committee: Sethuraman Ganesan Chair,PAC, IEEE Bangalore Section Hitesh Mehta, Secretary, IEEE Bangalore Section Dr. T.Srinivas, SAC,IEEE Bangalore Section Ravi Kiran A.,MDC, IEEE Bangalore Setion V V Srinivasan,Treasurer, IEEE Bangalore Section Please send your registration to: Mr. Sethuraman Ganesan Chair - Professional Activities IEEE Bangalore Section ABB Ltd, Khanija Bhavan, 5th Floor, West Wing, 49, Race Course Road Bangalore 560001 Phone: +91 99014 99033 e-mail: sganesans(a)yahoo.com Visit IEEE Bangalore Section at http://www.ieee.org/bangalore.

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Fwd: [JOB] Project on FOSS adoption in Indian education
by Vikram Vincent 04 May '09

04 May '09

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Prabhu Ramachandran <prabhu(a)aero.iitb.ac.in> Date: Mon, May 4, 2009 at 3:51 PM Subject: [JOB] Project on FOSS adoption in Indian education Hello, Project positions are open at IIT Bombay for a new government funded project on adoption of Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) in Indian science and engineering education. Applicants may email their resumes along with a one page writeup on why they think they are well suited for the project to: admin.foss[at]iitb.ac.in News, announcements and details regarding the project are available here: http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu/Projects/FOSSEducation Overview of the project ----------------------- The eventual goal is to replace the use of commercial tools in Indian science and engineering education at the college level. Towards this we are working on the following broad themes: - Python for scientific computing. - Scilab (http://www.scilab.org, http://www.scilab.in). - Multimedia authoring tool suited for Indian languages with a LaTeX backend. - Other projects related to the above. I will be personally involved with the "Python for scientific computing" component. This will broadly involve: - NumPy (http://numpy.scipy.org), - SciPy (http://www.scipy.org), - matplotlib (http://matplotlib.sf.net), - Sage (http://www.sagemath.org), - Mayavi (http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi), - ETS (http://code.enthought.com/projects), - SymPy (http://code.google.com/p/sympy), and various other packages of interest. As part of the project you will have opportunity to work with the core developers of these major projects. Requirements ------------ The positions are all for a maximum duration of 3 years. The initial appointment will be for a period of 1 year which will be extended based on performance. - Project manager: 1 position - Technical writer: 1 position - Software Developers/content generators: - Python: 4 positions - Scilab: 3 positions - LaTeX: 2 positions You will need to stay on campus or commute to IITB. Accommodation will be provided if available, otherwise HRA will be provided. Qualifications --------------- Project manager: - Good knowledge of programming and open source software community - People management - Communication - Organizational skills Technical writer: - Excellent language and communication skills (spoken and written) - Familiarity with computers - Willingness to learn Programmers/content generators: - Willingness to learn - Good programming skills - Passion for FOSS - Experience with FOSS - Good math and science skills System administration and web development skills are also required so strong applications with those skills would also be considered. Experience with Python/Scilab/LaTeX is a plus. Experience with working on a FOSS project is a big plus. Job description --------------- As part of this project you will work towards creating material for adoption of the various existing FOSS tools in the science and engineering curriculum. This will involve generation of a significant amount of documentation in the form of tutorials, audio/video demonstrations, written material, and lectures. The material will often go towards augmenting existing courses. The project will involve working with several well known packages and improving them both in terms of documentation and code to add features or fix bugs. We will be hosting several workshops, sprints and conferences where you will get to meet the developers of many important packages. Remuneration ------------- The pay will be in the range Rs. 10000 to 30000 depending on the qualifications and experience. For extra-ordinary people the upper limit is flexible. Accommodation will be provided on campus if available. Why you should apply -------------------- - You get paid to improve and write FOSS. - You get to do really meaningful work -- your work will influence generations of future students all over India and potentially elsewhere. - You get to work on some of the most important projects that will influence the future of science and engineering. - You get to meet and work with the authors of various important packages. - You will be at IIT Bombay and will have best of both worlds -- good pay and an academic environment. Thanks. Prabhu Ramachandran http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/~prabhu -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/ http://fsmk.org/

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[gNewSense-users] DeltaH CD 2.2 gNewSense Release
by mail＠swathanthran.in 15 Apr '09

15 Apr '09

Karl Goetz <karl(a)kgoetz.id.au> writes: > Hi all, >> systems, using GNOME as the default desktop environment (others such as > XFCE or KDE are available post installation). > > Download links: > Live CD: > http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-i386-2.2.iso > Source tarball: > http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-cdsource-deltah-i386-2.2.tar > Torrent: > http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-i386-2.2.iso.torrent > > > Short list of changes (full list available via SVN log): > gNewSense: > - Installer now supports two more filesystems > - GLX re-introduced > - changed description of -updates and -backports in "Software Sources" > - use linux-image-generic instead of linux-image-386 > - lsb_release output corrected > - GNU Icecat repo available via Software Sources > > Builder: > - Substantial code restructuring > - CD isos have had their naming format changed > - Usplash packaging cleaned up, helping portability > - Contents-$ARCH.gz files are generated > > - Website: > To coincide with this release, a new skin has been applied; we hope you > like it. > > > As always, we're in #gnewsense on irc://chat.freenode.net. > More details about gNewSense can be found at http://www.gnewsense.org > > Thanks, > > Karl Goetz, on behalf of the gNewSense dev, art and web teams. > > PS. > On a personal note, I'd like to ask you not to find major regressions > in my first release. > :P

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