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Memorandum requesting Freedom of Knowledge and usage of Free Software at CSIR
by Dileep M. Kumar 28 Sep '04

28 Sep '04

Hello, Memorandum requesting Freedom of Knowledge and usage of Free Software at CSIR . More details -> http://www.gnu.org.in/csir_memo.pdf Regards -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dileep M. Kumar || dileep AT kumarayil DOT net || www.kumarayil.net Our future depends on our philosophy - Richard M Stallman -------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics......
by Sriharsha Vedurmudi 26 Sep '04

26 Sep '04

Joe Steeve wrote: >Free software is not developed by careless developers. It is developed by >volunteers. Volunteers who love to program. Who love computing. These >volunteers cannot be compared with regular programmers employed in software >production houses. Here, the programmers are usually forced to do something >that they probably dont like. One of my friends working in Infosys hates >computers (He is a EEE engineer). > Ok, that clarifies my point. > He is programming today for a living. >Please note., there is a difference in programming for a living and >programming for passion. A passionate programmer puts his best effort to >make beautiful programs. He knows the trade very well. > > Exactly. A person who loves programming and passionate about it always strives for improving it and (I know) really does not mind sharing his/her software unrestricted in any form with his/her like-minded friends. >Have you ever used gcc + binutils + gdb. Do you think the people who >programmed that are "careless developers??". Please look into the autotools >(Autoconf + Automake + Libtool). That is not some mediocre joke. It is so >professional that even propreitary production houses shamelessly use it. Can >someone think of having a network of GUIs?? Did a "careless developer" think >of making the X so powerful that I can actually open two GUI applications on >a remote machine whose display comes on my terminal? Did a "careless >developer" develop Guile.. I dont see even one single "heavily funded" >proprietary software development house bring out something so smart and neat >as Guile. > > Looks like I am facing fury, I did not intend to offend anyone. All I said was there is a fairly good chance of computer-illiterate people getting cheated by malicious people. Coming to the concept of Digital Signatures, I have not seen for myself nor seen my administrators bother anything about digital certificates/signatures. "Find a link, download, install and use...." is a very common concept among the vast majority of non-software companies who are interested in using a popular software, if it is free. Now, dont you think that cheating such a company is easy? Honestly, one can mutate a program (atleast the C source code is in plain ASCII?) and then take the CD to that company saying he/she has downloaded that software and install it (and the company feels happy that their time and money is saved from getting used for downloading it, esp. if its large). The above is just one possibility (and I say so after having witnessed disasters caused by similar methods). My point here was that apart from promoting free software, it is also our responsibility (the free software community) to see that the public (i again mean the non computer literate) are not cheated by such people, therby creating a false notion about free software (which in-turn reduces the support for the struggle) I wrote all the above based on my personal observations and mindset of many people in business (non-computer-related) that I came across. I am very much in support of Free Software. I have just started working with gcc toolchain (after an initial port of it to one of our companies custom processor architecture) and it truely represents the Spirit of Programming. Honestly, I accept, I've never seen such beautiful software ever released from the software mafia (proprietory companies). I do hope to be of some help to the community that I love (even if my comments, out of ignorance sometimes, seem to raise brows of the guru's). Cheers and Wishes, Harsha.

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[Fsf-friends] Translation of "Free Software, Free Society" to malayalam
by Vivek Varghese Cherian 25 Sep '04

25 Sep '04

Hello Hackers, Iam presently translating Richard Stallman's collection of selected essays titled "Free Software, Free Society" to malayalam. Presently it is being manually translated, but we would like it to use fonts released under Free Software when it goes to print. This work will be released under the GNU FDL. The first section of translation is already underway and i would like to have the Free Software community's feedback on the same. My contact Phone Number is 0484-2780714. I will be available only after 9.00 PM these days on this number, and round the clock on weekends. In highest regards, Vivek Varghese Cherian Postal Address: 143,Girinagar,Kadavanthara, Kochi-682020,Kerala,India.

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Random Reflections by Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer
by Ramanraj K 25 Sep '04

25 Sep '04

I was delighted to read Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer's new book titled "Random Reflections", recently published by Universal Law Publishing. Some of the chapters issue out stern warnings that need to be heeded. In the chapter titled "People's Commission on Perversion of our Patent Laws", Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer writes in his inimitable style: "...the subversion of our national interest through GATT treaties will be condemned as brazen betrayal of people's concerns committing the country to global corporate commands. This humiliating syndrome has been called GATTastrophe and Operation Recolonisation ..... Patents are monopolies and monopolies are evil ..." Justice Iyer calls for shorter patent terms and regulation of prices of patented products, in public interest, particularly with sharp focus on food and medicine. He declares: "All our ayurvedic wealth, herbal medicines and tribal recipies involve no novelty to an Indian and should not be available for patentisation under the western illusion of glittering packages and trivial tampering". Justice Iyer finishes the chapter with the words: "People first, TRIPS next." I may add here that a clarion call to halt software patents from gaining patentability is also now becoming necessary even in India. At the end of the book, Justice Iyer pays rich tributes to Rabindranath Tagore, "a univerasal man, the humanist whose heart had no boundaries". The dangers of software patents have been voiced by RMS, and there is another voice from the distant past that is quoted by Justice Iyer in the book, that helps to visualise the dangers of software patents more graphically: <quote from Gitanjali of Rabindranath Tagore> `Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?' `It was I,' said the prisoner, `who forged this chain very carefully. I thought my invicible power would hold the world captive leaving me in a freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip. </quote> NASSCOM is working to strengthen "IPR" assuming that it will make the Indian software companies an invicible power that can hold the world captive. The folly of the prisoner should serve as a good lesson to pre-empt inviting dangers home. [ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/%3E/articleshow/829092.cms http://www.products.nasscom.org/artdisplay.aspx?cat_id=486 ] Let us never see the story of the prisoner enacted in real life. Justice Iyer takes us to the depths of vital issues facing us today, and gently guides the reader to the plane of clarity and denouement. The profound "Random Reflections" of Justice Iyer are very relevant, pertinent and timely to all who cherish freedom, liberty and universality. A profile of Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, is available at http://www.vrkrishnaiyer.org/profile.htm -Ramanraj.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics......]
by Sriharsha Vedurmudi 24 Sep '04

24 Sep '04

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics...... Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 18:14:53 +0530 From: Joe Steeve <joe_steeve(a)gmx.net> To: Sriharsha Vedurmudi <sriharsha.v(a)redpinesignals.com> CC: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in References: <4152CE02.1040805(a)redpinesignals.com> <26026.1095965308(a)www1.gmx.net> <4153C2C7.60309(a)redpinesignals.com> Sriharsha Vedurmudi <sriharsha.v(a)redpinesignals.com> writes: > Looks like I am facing fury, I did not intend to offend > anyone. All I said was there is a fairly good chance of > computer-illiterate people getting cheated by malicious people. Hmm.. I'm sorry if it sounded harsh. But i wanted to make a point clear that these Free Software developers are usually researchers who are good in their respective areas. There is no way that people will get cheated. Even if a malicious programmer puts malicious code hidden in his program other community programmers will see this and warn the community. This is not a thing to be worried about with Free Software. > Coming to the concept of Digital Signatures, I have not seen for > myself nor seen my administrators bother anything about digital > certificates/signatures. Well, it is a sad issue. Coz, every administrator is supposed to know about Digital signatures. Its such a common thing today. See, my mail has a Digital signature attached to it which authenticates that this mail was indeed sent by me. > "Find a link, download, install and use...." is a very common > concept among the vast majority of non-software companies who > are interested in using a popular software, if it is free. Now, > dont you think that cheating such a company is easy? Honestly, > one can mutate a program (atleast the C source code is in plain > ASCII?) and then take the CD to that company saying he/she has In this case, no matter whether the software is a Free Software or a proprietary one, they will still suffer. I can take a proprietary program and modify it binarily and then give it to you. Again the criteria is that your company is believing me. In that scenario, you have no other go.. so, no matter whether you are using Free Software or Proprietary software, under these conditions you are doomed. > computer literate) are not cheated by such people, therby > creating a false notion about free software (which in-turn > reduces the support for the struggle) The Free Software people can warn about imposters. But they cannot stop them. I know of a company in my locality which tried creating a LUG to pull students into their training programme. The LUG creation was simply a joke to advertise to the students. The funny thing is people go for it. They need awareness. This awareness can be brought about only by making changes in the granule levels. I know how much has changed in my college after I stepped in. I'm not boasting. I want to tell that my choice has helped a lot of people around me. So will your choice. > gcc toolchain (after an initial port of it to one of our companies > custom processor architecture) and it truely represents the Spirit of If your company is going to release the processor in some product., please release the ported GCC. That would help a lot of people. :) Cheers, Joe PS: I'm not sure whether this mail will reach FSF-Friends. My mailserver is being blocked by the TIFR mailservers :( So, if it does not make it to the mailing list., please repost it on my behalf. -- A proud GNU user Homepage : http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Free Software [~Solutions [was So what is the problem?]
by Ramanraj K 24 Sep '04

24 Sep '04

Ragavan Srinivasan wrote: > [snip] "Open Source" terminology is more troublesome than what the OSI can handle ;) Someone at ILUGC pointed to the link: http://www.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/09/19/microsoft.program.ap/index.html "Microsoft opens up code program" is not the same as "Microsoft frees up program code" "Open Source" is an hopeless expression that cannot legally, correctly or directly distinguish free from non-free software, without elaborate and contrived definitions. Of course, we cannot expect OSI people to abandon their "Open Source" terminology this evening, but they would have to write long essays why MS is not "Open Source", and hope OSI thinks of some other better expression . Have fun :) "Free Software" is without ambiguity or overapplicability: http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2003-November/001255.html http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2003-November/001261.html

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Fwd: funds wanted for bangla book on gnu/linux
by Tathagata Banerjee 24 Sep '04

24 Sep '04

forwarding a slightly revised form of the mail posted by me on fsf-wb and ilug-cal lists. ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: [ilug-cal] "Free Software Foundation - West Bengal" <fsf-westbengal(a)gnu.org.in> Date: Tuesday 14 September 2004 13:06 From: tathagatabanerjee(a)softhome.net To: "Free Software Foundation - West Bengal" <fsf-westbengal(a)gnu.org.in>, ilug-cal(a)ilug-cal.org dear all, as many of you may already know, dipankar-da (known to some as prof.dipankar das since he teaches economics at jaipuria college, but he has strong objections to this salutation) has written a book for teaching gnu/linux for the beginners-to-intermediate level. i have been one of the first readers of the book through its many revisions and fine-tunings, and know it to be a unique work not only because it is (as far as i know) the only substantial (a little less than 400 A4 pages) bangla book on this subject, but also because of its friendly and unconventional approach that simulates the average learner's first steps in learning gnu/linux. his tone is humorous, semi-serious and conversational, and his material is carefully researched and well-presented. as and when it is publicly available, this book should be a priceless possession to all who have been wanting to learn gnu/linux, but were rebuffed by language barriers or by the beginner-unfriendliness of texts commonly available. dipankar-da has decided to release the book under the GNU Free Documentation License, or some similar free licensing scheme, and the Free Software Foundation of India has agreed to publish the work. but this has become difficult because of a shortage of funds. it is estimated that it will cost somewhat more than Rs.1,00,000/- to print 1000 copies without compromising too much on quality. it was possible to cut the cost to this level mainly because dipankar-da has given up all royalty claims to the work. but even of this amount, only a fraction has been promised to FSFI by a certain sponsor. we need to generate funds of our own if we want to see this work published. the West Bengal Chapter of FSFI has taken on itself the task of organising the collection of funds to the extent that its limited capcity permits. on behalf of FSFI and FSFI-WB, i appeal to all supporters of 'linux', gnu/linux and Free Software on these lists to donate to the cause. modalities of payment and receipt can be worked out on a person-to-person basis, as soon as interested people contact me by e-mail or telephone. my contact details are given below. please DO NOT reply to the ilug-cal list but write/call me directly. fsf-wb listers, however, are welcome to discuss this on their list. also please note that we shall make every effort to repay the sponsors as we recover the cost, and given the unique placement of the book we can expect this to be a fairly rapid process. but of course nothing can be promised. profits, if any after repaying the sponsors, shall go to the FSFI. thank you. Tathagata Banerjee Co-ordinator, FSFI West Bengal Chapter. Lecturer in English Bangabasi College 19, Scott Lane, Calcutta - 700009. e-mail: tathagatabanerjee at gmx dot net tathagatab at gmail dot com phone: (+9133) 98301-66313 addenda: 1. a few chapters of the book are available for free d/l in pdf form at www.geocities.com/ddipankardas 2. a (full) pre-release version of the book is available on cdrom at cost price + shipping. you have to write to glt-mad(a)ilug-cal.org 3. an attempt is on to make the book available for free d/l at fsf india's website. 4. dipankar das makes the apology that the book was written and pdf-ed with the help of proprietary software, because of the unavailibility or poor usability of current bangla writing technologies using Free Software. - t. -- cogito, ergo es.

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Sasthrasayahnam - Science eve on C-DIT
by Manilal 24 Sep '04

24 Sep '04

Hello friends, Centre for Development of Imaging Technology(C-DIT) organizes "Sasthrasayahnam" on 25th September 2004. "Sandesamitra" - the IVRS software developed by Open Software Solutions Industrial Co-operative Society, Kochi will be introduced on this evening. Sandesamitra is completely developed in Free Software which will be a replacement for the much expensive commercial IVR(Interactve Voice Response) System. Software Demonstration by: OSS ICS, Kochi Venue: Freedom Hall, C-DIT City Centre, Statue, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Time : 5:30 PM All are welocme !!! regards Manilal

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Sensitivity to language
by Ramanraj K 24 Sep '04

24 Sep '04

Ragavan Srinivasan wrote: > While I would have loved to engage in a pedantic debate on the right > terminology and talk about the nuances of the english language, I > believe it to be more constructive to work toward understanding and > defining a process to foster the spirit of free/open source software > in India. I have seen many debates degenerate into name calling and > finger-pointing, and finally ending up missing the end goal (and > indirectly contributing to the FUD mongers). Nuances of the English language, or any language for that matter, are of deep interest to software developers in particular. Many programming languages, lexical parsers, tools and standards center around use of language, and fine sensitivity to language is an important pre-requisite for any kind of understanding. Using "Open Source" terminology to refer to Free Software in the principal support list of the FSF-I may be excusable, but for heaven sake, please use only "Free Software" terminology in legislation or other documents that qualify as records for posterity. To avoid needless confusion and errors, it is important to use the right terminology, but if this is such an unimportant and trivial issue for you, could you not gracefully accept the requests made to use "Free Software" terminology, and proceed with your "constructive" work? > That said, I just joined this mailing list and do realize the list is > for free software advocates, and if the majority are religious about > the necessity to restrict the discussions/debates to conform to the > strictest definitions of free, then I will refrain from posting here > on issues that may not lend themselves well to that definition. Should the word "free" itself be chained and locked up? Respecting the purposes, goals and objectives of this list is easy and not onerous. > Further, I have a simple goal in mind -- to educate, advocate, inform > and hopefully influence the decision making authorities in the Indian > educational and government sectors on the benefits and virtues of > considering and using free and open source software. I would like to > find like minded people to do this, and if this is not the forum to do > so, please let me know. We are a bunch of volunteers sharing ideas, hoping for positive changes around us. You may get lucky in finding like minded people here, just as the rest us who belive and practise the philosophy of love and sharing behind Free Software have already found.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Basics...
by Joe Steeve 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

> All through these phases, not a single person gains anything in > terms of money (Im not in favor of minting money, per se). So, our Hmm.. You can sell the software. Who is stopping you from it. Even software production houses can make software and distribute the software under a non-restrictive license., I mean can sell the software. Many establishments ask for "support service". You can provide them support and hence charge for that. In fact when your company develops a Free Software the production is high. You dont have to start from scratch. You'll definitely have a project to start with. And the community will do the testing for you. > develop their own s/w for customers. Is this the essence of Free > Software in a nut shell? No. This is a business model. But it is not the essence of Free Software. Its not the only way to raise funds. Companies can do really well by producing Free Software. Cheers, Joe -- A proud GNU user. Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ GMX ProMail mit bestem Virenschutz http://www.gmx.net/de/go/mail +++ Empfehlung der Redaktion +++ Internet Professionell 10/04 +++ -- Free the code; Free the user [Copying allowed under GFDL (C) Vijaykumar] Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ +++ GMX DSL Premiumtarife 3 Monate gratis* + WLAN-Router 0,- EUR* +++ Clevere DSL-Nutzer wechseln jetzt zu GMX: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics......
by Joe Steeve 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

> 2. With non-free softwares, you can be sure of what features are present > and what are not and what are the known bugs (as the company producing > it is bound to make those details available to its customers). But with Really? Please check your facts. Almost every bug with the Windows Operating System is patched after some one writes a exploit virus for it. (Melissa, w32Blaster, Sazzer,..) > free s/w, Careless developers might not feel the same responsibility to Free software is not developed by careless developers. It is developed by volunteers. Volunteers who love to program. Who love computing. These volunteers cannot be compared with regular programmers employed in software production houses. Here, the programmers are usually forced to do something that they probably dont like. One of my friends working in Infosys hates computers (He is a EEE engineer). He is programming today for a living. Please note., there is a difference in programming for a living and programming for passion. A passionate programmer puts his best effort to make beautiful programs. He knows the trade very well. Have you ever used gcc + binutils + gdb. Do you think the people who programmed that are "careless developers??". Please look into the autotools (Autoconf + Automake + Libtool). That is not some mediocre joke. It is so professional that even propreitary production houses shamelessly use it. Can someone think of having a network of GUIs?? Did a "careless developer" think of making the X so powerful that I can actually open two GUI applications on a remote machine whose display comes on my terminal? Did a "careless developer" develop Guile.. I dont see even one single "heavily funded" proprietary software development house bring out something so smart and neat as Guile. Cheers, Joe -- A proud GNU user. Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ -- Free the code; Free the user [Copying allowed under GFDL (C) Vijaykumar] Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ +++ GMX DSL Premiumtarife 3 Monate gratis* + WLAN-Router 0,- EUR* +++ Clevere DSL-Nutzer wechseln jetzt zu GMX: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl

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Fwd: Re: [Fsf-friends] Continuation....of Basics......
by Joe Steeve 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

> You are a talented literate here my friend, But there are THOUSANDS > (literally) who can trust a person who poses to be trust-worthy for > sometime before he delivers the package, and hence can easily be cheated Well. You fail to see the point. Suppose I'm the author of a software package. Supposing I'm a malicious person, and that I put some loopholes into the software., and release it as Free Software. Then, the source code is going to be seen by scores of people who'll figure within a shortwhile that I'm a `fake'. That is the advantage here. > (atleast in India). Some of the greatest laws in India have cute loop > holes, so how tough is it to forge software signatures (esp. if its only > the ASCII text). Im not against anything per se. Try forging a digital signature.. ;-) If you are successful then you should probably apply for a PhD at MIT (Massachusettes Institute of Technology) Its not ascii text. It is a encrypted hash of the original message. Which cannot be created without the public key of the author. > Sorry for typo, ya, its "GNU Not Unix"... but what does the first word > "GNU" stands for in "GNU Not Unix" (obviously its not a recursion)? And It is a recursive acronym. > yes, I've visited www.gnu.org scores of times, but couldnt locate it > there too..... The first paragraph on http://www.gnu.org/ says about GNU. Tell me you did not bother to read it. Cheers, Joe -- A proud GNU user. Homepage: http://www.joesteeve.tk/ Weblog : http://gnukid.blogspot.com/ GMX ProMail mit bestem Virenschutz http://www.gmx.net/de/go/mail +++ Empfehlung der Redaktion +++ Internet Professionell 10/04 +++

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Continuation....of Basics......
by Sriharsha Vedurmudi 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

Again, 2. With non-free softwares, you can be sure of what features are present and what are not and what are the known bugs (as the company producing it is bound to make those details available to its customers). But with free s/w, Careless developers might not feel the same responsibility to update the documentation of the software or even the program description comments. So, a user downloading the software, can only trust God that what he/she is downloading is what he/she is expecting. How is this problem solved? 3. Will the developers with malicious intent not play around with free software and trick many unsuspecting people into loading the software (that has been maliciously modified by them), therby compromising heavily on the security of the companies confidential data. How is this countered? 4. Ultimately, is there any place for Responsibility / Answerablity in Free Software (unless voluntarily taken up by individuals)? _Sriharsha_ PS: I never know till date the expansion of GNU (ya, I've been told its GNU Not Free, but what that first word GNU stands for is unknown. Is it proprietary? :-) )

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So what is the problem?
by M Sasikumar 23 Sep '04

23 Sep '04

I am amazed at this kind of mails. Is this the way to promote Open source? Is CDAC Mumbai (ex-NCST) the only place with Windows machines? How long has NCST been around? How long has it been since Linux machines got to be comparable in user friendliness? How much of industry is using Linux even today? Does the guy posting know why we use the particular setup for work? It has nothing to do with his "smart" observation. Bashing some institution is not the way to promote Open source. - Sasi Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:07:13 +0530 From: Anurag <anurag(a)hbcse.tifr.res.in> To: fsf-friends(a)gnu.org.in Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] [Fwd: Proforma for membership records] V. Sasi Kumar wrote: >Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a>document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two >weeks back. No response as yet. For that matter, I'd like to point out the infrastructure that is available at C-DAC Mumbai (formely NCST). They have something like 75 computers with Windows 2000 installed. Now the irony is that, for writing programs and compiling them, students are supposed to connect to a GNU/Linux server using a proprietary SSH client and write/compile programs there... This is called higher education! -Anurag -- M Sasikumar, KBCS/ETU Divisions, C-DAC Mumbai (formerly NCST) sasi(a)ncst.ernet.in; the.little.sasi(a)gmail.com; staff.ncst.ernet.in/sasi

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[Fwd: Proforma for membership records]
by V. Sasi Kumar 22 Sep '04

22 Sep '04

Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two weeks back. No response as yet. -----Forwarded Message----- From: V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com> To: alumni(a)admin.iisc.ernet.in Subject: Proforma for membership records Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:52:39 +0530 Sir, I find that the Proforma for membership records is given in a proprietary format (MS Word) which forces me to use a proprietary application. Indirectly you are promoting a particular company's software that uses a closed format for its files, which is not a very good practice for an internationally reputed institute like IISc. Instead, I suggest that the proforma be made available in open formats like Postscript, PDF, XML, etc. This would enable anyone using any word processor or any free application (like xpdf, Open Office, etc.) to read the file without loss of formatting. May I also point out that even our President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has prompted scientists and technologists to move from proprietary software to free software for several reasons, including national security and economics. Incidentally, I am an Alumni of IISc (1976-78). Best regards -- V. Sasi Kumar Centre for Earth Science Studies PB No. 7250, Thuruvikkal PO Thiruvananthapuram 695031 India -- V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com>

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GNU/LinuxIndia Sept 2004
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 Sep '04

21 Sep '04

############################################################################ e88~~\ 888b | 888 | / 888 888 ,e, d888 |Y88b | 888 | L 888 888-~88e e88~\888 " /~~~8e 8888 __ | Y88b | 888 | I 888 888 888 d888 888 888 88b 8888 | | Y88b | 888 | N 888 888 888 8888 888 888 e88~-888 Y888 | | Y88b| Y88 | U 888 888 888 Y888 888 888 C888 888 "88__/ | Y888 "8__/ X 888 888 888 "88_/888 888 "88_-888 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Compiled by: Frederick Noronha * Sept 20, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Software is the way to go if we desire to have a society where children are taught to be independent, resourceful, productive, co-operative, rational, intelligent and socially responsible. The Free Software Movement has contributed several thousand useful applications. With little effort from more volunteers, we could make the free software wealth reach everyone.-- Ramanraj K <ramanraj(a)md4.vsnl.net.in> ############################################################################ HACKERS WANTED, FSF CALLING: From the FSF-India mailing list http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-prog there's a word of advice from Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in>: "Yes I am need of developers for Free Software Projects. If you are new to FSF projects, (you can get started) like this * Setup a Debian GNU/Linux system (best distro for developers) * Create an account for yourself at http://savannah.gnu.org. * Take a look at current GNU Task List at https://savannah.gnu.org/people/?group=tasklist Choose one and start hacking. This process will help you prepare yourself with the GNU's way of hacking software. Then, when you feel you are ready for the main stream, you can jump into GNU Hurd kernel hacking (the most important pending task). Anand Babu <ab(a)gnu.org.in> said at another time: "Kernel hacking is too difficult for newbies. I need developers with sold experience in C and system programming with a Hacker's attitude. I would recommend newbies to start hacking at the applications level, submitting patches, getting familiar with GNU coding standards and Free Software development model." ############################################################################ [GNU]LINUX DEMO DAY IN DELHI: Raj Mathur <raju(a)linux-delhi.org> announced plans to hold a Linux Demo Day, organized by India Linux Users Group, Delhi (ILUGD, www.linux-delhi.org). Says Mathur: "We will be conducting Linux-related talks and presentations in the Hamdard Archives Auditorium, on Saturday, Sept 25, 2004, by some of our resident experts, and hopefully they will interest people who've already taken the plunge as well as those who are just about to. There'll be lots of demonstrations/talks throughout the day and plenty of opportunities to gain hands-on experience of different Linux distributions and applications for yourself. There is space outside the auditorium, which will be used for giving the demos. The demos and the talks will go on concurrently. We'll also be distributing Linux goodies at low or no cost. Venue: Jamia Hamdard Archives Auditorium Hamdard University, New Delhi 110062. Landmark: Adjacent to Batra Hospital. Entry from Gate 6 Date: September 25, 2004 Time: 10 am-6 pm (Registration at 9:30 am) Contact: ldd2k4(a)linux-delhi.org Entry: Free -- all are invited. ############################################################################ LINUX GURUS... IN BHOPAL: kvprashant(a)yahoo.com has set up the Linux_Gurus mailing list. He describes it as: "A new linux user group for people of Bhopal needs your help and guidence." Do support! To join, send a blank email to linux_gurus-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.com ############################################################################ SEPTEMBER 2004's issue of Developer IQ contains: * GCC 3.4.1, Tcl/Tk 8.5, Mono 1.0, Python 2.3.4, Visual Tcl 1.6.0, Mlton-Perl, PHP (among other programming tools). Apache HTTP server, XEmacs 21.4.5, GTK+ 2.4, PHP source code. * CD2 is dedicated to the Morphix Gamer. Games run from your CD ROM drive, regardless of the OS you run. A summary of the FLOSS-related content has been posted earlier to various GNU/Linux lists in India. ############################################################################ INDIA PRESIDENT'S VIEW ON FLOSS: http://news.com.com/Indian+president+calls+for+open+source+in+defense/2100-… ############################################################################ HINDI ET AL IN GNOME 2.0: Gnome 2.8 is released, with Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Tamil as supported languages. See http://www.gnome.org/start/2.8/ Source: Guntupalli Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> Indianisation work: http://www.indlinux.org ############################################################################ INDIC SOLUTIONS? Interested in this field, check out https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indlinux-group ############################################################################ JOIN THE 'FRIENDLY LUG' ILUG-GOA'S mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa MAIN LIST http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa-announce LOW VOLUME, ANNOUNCE http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teach-yourself-linux FOR NEWBIES http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linuxgoahelp TECH HELP LIST OR VISIT http://ilug-goa.notlong.com http://www.ilug-margao.org ############################################################################ FLOSS IDEAS SPREADING? Please take a look at http://www.feetus.org. V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com> describes it thus: " Open access here in India. An initiative worthy of promotion." ############################################################################ PROMOTING A PROPRIETARY FORMAT, FORCING A PROPRIETARY APPLICATION: V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi(a)hotpop.com> of the Centre for Earth Science Studies in Tvn writes: "Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two weeks back. No response as yet. "Sir, I find that the proforma for membership records is given in a proprietary format (MS Word) which forces me to use a proprietary application. Indirectly you are promoting a particular company's software that uses a closed format for its files, which is not a very good practice for an internationally reputed institute like IISc. "Instead, I suggest that the proforma be made available in open formats like Postscript, PDF, XML, etc. This would enable anyone using any word processor or any free application (like xpdf, Open Office, etc.) to read the file without loss of formatting. May I also point out that even our President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has prompted scientists and technologists to move from proprietary software to free software for several reasons, including national security and economics." ############################################################################ UPDATES FROM BANGALORE: Atul Chitnis <achitnis(a)exocore.com> recently announced the launch of the Linux Bangalore/2004 website at http://linux-bangalore.org/2004 Adds he: "On behalf of the managers of Linux Bangalore/2004 I invite all of you visit the site, read all it has to offer, then get onto the discussion list http://linux-bangalore.org/2004/discuss/ " ############################################################################ INTERNATIONAL OPEN SOURCE NETWORK: The International Open Source Network (IOSN - http://www.iosn.net) is a Centre of Excellence for Free / Open Source Software in the Asia-Pacific Region. IOSN is an initiative of the Asia-Pacific Information Development Programme (APDIP - http://www.apdip.net), which has been supporting the strategic and effective use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for poverty alleviation and sustainable human development in the Asia-Pacific region since 1997. Via a small secretariat, the IOSN is tasked specifically to facilitate and network Free / Open Source Software advocates and human resources in the region. Activities undertaken by IOSN is listed below: A. Free / Open Source Information Resource Facility 1. Collaborative Website: On-going Mapping of Free / Open Source activities in Asia-Pacific; Collaborative database of countries; languages, fonts,and organisations in Asia-Pacific; On-line Information/Clearing-house and Mailing Lists 2. Software Repository: A collection of FOSS software and GNU/Linux distributions specific to the Asia Pacific is being created. 3. Documentation of Best Practise 4. Open Source Primers: General FOSS by Kenneth Wong/Phet Sayo; Malaysia; Licensing by Shunling Chen-Taiwan; Policy by Kenneth Wong; Localisation by Anousak Souphavanh / Theppitak Karoonboonyanan - Thailand; Network/Security/Infrastructure by Gaurab Raj Upadhaya - Nepal; and Education by Wooi Tong Tan - Malaysia. B. Creation of a Database of Free / Open Source Experts and Human Resources in the Region 1. Networking of Experts 2. Technical Support C. Training and Workshops 1. FOSSAP 2004: More than 50 senior policy makers and open source practitioners from 20 countries attended this event. http://www.iosn.net/fossap/ 2. Training of Trainers: We are currently planning the first training in Vietnam in partnership with Linux Professional Institute D. Research and Development 1. Localisation Toolkit in collaboration with Centre for Advanced Computing [CDAC], India 2. End-user training material in Text and Multimedia format. Script by Dr. Nah Soo Hoe, Malaysia and production by GetIT multimedia, Singapore. 3. GNU/Linux Live CD Project by Colin Charles, Australia of the Fedora Project. 4. Q&A on FOSS R&D/Case Studies of implementations 5. Micro-grant Programme in collaboration with University of South Pacific ############################################################################ AN INDIAN IN MALAYSIA: Nice to note that Sunil Abraham sunil(a)apdip.net has taken on the responsibility of being the Manager of the International Open Source Network. He's located at UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme Wisma UN, Block C Kompleks Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Telephones: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 ############################################################################ LINDEC: Check plans for the Linux Desktop Conference -- http://www.gnomebangalore.org/lindec/ -- that happens on September 26 (Sunday), 2004. ############################################################################ DISCUSSION ON THE chillu character in Mayalayam Unicode. One well-informed discussant was Mahesh T. Pai * http://paivakil.port5.com ############################################################################ MORE ON INDIC ISSUES: Javier SOLA <javier(a)khmeros.info> says that discussion on some Indic issues in Unicode is available at http://www.unicode.org/~ecartis/indic/ Contact Javier for the required user-id and password needed to access. ############################################################################ GNU/LINUX EQUIVALENTS: Sreekiran <dwija(a)phreaker.net> drew attention to a file of GNU/Linux equivalents in software terms: http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml ############################################################################ INDIC LOCALIZERS MEET AT MUMBAI: G Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> announced the Indic Localizers Meet that was held on Sept 18-19 in Mumbai. For more details see http://www.indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/IndicMeet Languagewise participants expected were: * Bengali - Ankur group - Sayamindu Dasgupta, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay/Runa Bhattacharjee, Indranil Das Gupta * Gujarati - Utkarsh - Nirav Mehta, Ankur Patel * Hindi - IndLinux - G Karunakar, Ravishankar Shrivastava * Kannada - Pramod Raghavendra, Hari Prasad Nadig * Marathi - Indictrans - Jitendra Shah, Swapnil Hajare * Malayalam - SMC group - Mahesh T Pai , Arun M * Punjabi - Punlinux, Amampreet Singh Alam * Oriya - oriya.sarovar.org - Gora Mohanty * Telugu - ? * Tamil - Tamillinux team - R Hariram Aatreya, N Jayaradha * Urdu - Ravikant Sharma Others * Nagarjuna G - FSF India, TIFR * Prakash Advani - Onward Novell India * Venky Hariharan - Red Hat India * Abhijit Dutta - IBM India * Dr Om Vikas - TDIL, MIT, GOI * Hema Murthy - ?TeNet, IIT Chennai * Alka Irani - CDAC * M Sasikumar - CDAC * Michael Sauntak - Burmese Localization ############################################################################ FROM PAKISTAN: The Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) [http://www.osrc.org.pk] had scheduled a seminar on Free and Open Source Software in Karachi on 14 September 2004. For registration and details, visit http://www.osrc.org.pk/seminar/ The Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) is a first such forum in Pakistan created by Pakistan Software Export Board (G) Ltd. [http://www.pseb.org.pk/] at Islamabad. The Resource Center aims to bring together wide range of expertise related to [Free/Libre and] Open Source Technologies and Resources at one place. The IT companies can access, share, and contribute the knowledge particular to the development and transformation of IT products on FLOSS. The Resource Center works to bring together established technology vendors, startups, open source community members and enterprise IT users/customers to jointly explore new opportunities for OSS deployment and how to capitalize on them. ############################################################################ FLOSS AND EDUCATION: Thanks to the IOSN-General mailing list for this, and Nandalal Gunaratne of the Lanka Linux User Group. http://www.schoolforge.net http://www.schoolforge.org.uk http://www.schooltool.org http://www.scholarpack.org http://www.theopencd.sunsite.dk http://www.lfsp.net (linux for schools project) http://http://www.affs.org.uk/education/index.html Free Software assn. http;//edu.kde.org kde edutainment http://www.tux4kids.com/tyx4kids http://www.debian,org/devel/debian-jr http://www.bluelinux.org http:/k12os.org http://www.osef.org/ http://richtex.ca/seul http://www.freeeduc.org ############################################################################ PRIMER ON FLOSS, VIA MALAYSIA: IOSN has produced a primer on Free/Open Source Software Licensing and an early pre-copyedited draft of the primer is now available for public review and feedback. This primer is an introductory summary of licensing issues involved with using the different FOSS licenses, primarily the GNU GPL license. It offers several scenarios, and proposes a framework for licensing of government sponsored software. The primer also addresses common questions and misconceptions regarding copyright and licensing issues. Further details from khairil(a)apdip.net http://www.iosn.net/licensing/foss-licensing-primer/ ############################################################################ IOSN mailing list. Join the International Open Source Network (Malaysia-based) mailing list iosn-general(a)iosn.net http://lists.apdip.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/iosn-general ############################################################################ SOME ASIAN G/LINKS AND GNU/LUGS: A query brought in some interesting links to LUGs in and around Asia. Here's a listing of some: Lanka Linux User Group (LK-LUG) has been operating since 1998.They also have a localization project: http://sinhala.linux.lk Check out more details at http://www.linux.lk or http://www.lug.lk Cambodia's English-language Majordomo-based mailing-list is at linux(a)forum.org.kh Once there, one can also have a look at their KhmerOS Initiative, to create UNICODE based Khmer language software -- in both the Windows and the Linux environments. Check out http://www.KhmerOS.info The Iranian LUG is pretty active: http://www.farsilinux.org Saudi's mailing list is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saudi_linux/ Outside this continent, but probably having shared interests is the http://fossfa.net This is the body working to promote Free and Open Source Software in Africa. It has some 53 member states. ############################################################################ THE STEPS AHEAD: Anand Babu wrote to friends from South Africa that the FSF-India working group is discussing initiatives on e-governance, localization and live CD distributions, super-computing grid and other core GNU tasks through Free Software Development Lab. Says he: "So far Government has hardly done anything for the Free Software Movement in India. Here is a three step approach they need to take: (1) Standardize on Free Software for all Governmental use. (2) Actively support and promote (educate) Free Software as #1 choice for the community (3) Fund Free Software initiatives. ############################################################################ OPEN OFFICE IN KANNADA: Pramod R <pramodleo(a)yahoo.co.uk> recently announced that OpenOffice.org in Kannada is nearing 100% translations. Said he: "We hope to have a review of the same during October 2nd & 3rd. For details: http://www.kannudi.org/wiki/index.php?title=Openoffice.org_First_Review_Meet ############################################################################ NEWSLETTER ON LOCALIZATION: Localization Newsletter Issue 6, Vol 1 ( 1st September 2004) is out, and available at http://www.indlinux.org/nl/issue6.html Highlights include * KDE Hindi translation review workshop at Sarai * New Pango releases * Mozilla supports Pango upstream * Indic printing to work from Gnome 2.8 (release mid-Sept) * Utkal - New Oriya Opentype font available - http://oriya.sarovar.org/download/utkalm.ttf.gz * Indic Unicode issues and updates on Indic list at Unicode. * Tamil PC team featured in Team watch For older issues of L10n Newsletter check http://www.indlinux.org/nl/ ############################################################################ USEFUL SCRIPT FOR STUDENTS: Robin Turner of Bilkent Universitesi in Ankara-Turkey <robin(a)bilkent.edu.tr> recently announced on the FSF-India list that he has just updated his script for enabling students to upload their work via a web page. Improvements: 1. Students choose which essay they are submitting and the program automatically renames the file to something appropriate ("this is because I am fed up with recieving files named 'My Essay.doc'"); 2. The program now runs in taint mode and untaints submitted variables ("I don't know if this really makes it any more secure, but it makes me feel righteous"). If anyone wants to use it, it's at <www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin/scripts/101upload.cgi>. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS NEWSLETTER IS EDITED and compiled by Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall dot org. Your inputs, feedback and brickbats are welcome. Contact us at fred at bytesforall dot org COPYLEFT 2003. May be freely circulated provided entire text and credits are left intact. You can subscribe to receive this FREE newsletter (free beer, free speech!) by subscribing directly at http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=linuxinindia -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki) http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa)

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Migratng from windows to Linux
by Manilal 21 Sep '04

21 Sep '04

Hello friends, Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) conducts the 17th batch of one day workshop on "Migrating from Windows to Linux". Those having PC familiarity can attend the workshop. The workshop introduces the social, economical and technical advantage of GNU/Linux OS. The participants will be given Kairali GNU/Linux CDs, a Documentation CD, Two books one in English and another in malayalam. The medium of the workshop will be Malayalam. Date: 25/09/2004, 9:30AM - 4:30PM Venue: Freedom hall, C-DIT City Centre. Those who wish to participate may contact at the following: Team Leader Open Source Technology Team, Centre for Development of Imaging Technology, C-DIT City Centre (Near Press Club), Statue, Thiruvananthapuram - 695001. Keralam,India Telephone: 0471-2339539 Fax: 0471-2335995 Email: ost(a)cdit.org Website: http://www.cdit.org/linux_application.pdf

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LB2004
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 19 Sep '04

19 Sep '04

Interesting to see LB2004 http://linux-bangalore.org/2004/ call iself an annual "Free & Open Source Event". Earlier, it was just Open Source, though in 2003, one of the speakers was also from Debian GNU/Linux. There still seems to be some reluctance in using the term Free/Libre and Open Source Software (and instead FOSS is preferred, minus the Libre). Just an observation. the spirit of freedom and sharing is what makes FLOSS different from being just another wannabe Microsoft. Others would see this differently, of course. FN ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net

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[Fsf-friends] Wiki, Gnoppix, Eclipse, Fedora updates... LFY in SEPT 2004
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Sep '04

17 Sep '04

Price in India: Rs 25 for LFY alone. Rs 100 with 2 CDs, LFY and LFY-Pro. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LINUX FOR YOU highlights, September 2004 http://www.linuxforu.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SaiPACS, A MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR AGRI-SOCIETIES: Himachal-based Sai Hertz and Control Systems has developed SaiPACS, a software management tool for primary agricultural credit societies (PACS). Linux was chosen due to its sturdiness, cost effectiveness and close fit with the business requirement. See pg 44. WIKI, AN OPEN EDITOR: The free wiki, often called an online database, allows you to create and edit Web page content. And if you want to launch your own wiki, this PHP-based software iswk a good choice that provides rich functionality and freedom to the user. (p 23) DISK-BASED BACKUP ON LINUX: Virtual tape library (VTL) technology is the de facto standard for backup and recovery. DRESS UP YOUR DESKTOP: With the latest versions of GNOME and KDE, there's a lot of exciting eye-candy to spice up your Linux desktop. Some tips (p 28) [GNU]LINUX promises to be the messiah for industry in the mobile handsets market. At least that's what Wipro believes.It's a heavy-duty OS, handles intensive applications, and has no runtime royalty charges. It is backed by a large developer community, and sticks to standards, apart from having an evolution that is not constrained by a single vendor. (p 32) MOBILE PENGUIN: If you haven't already brought a laptop, read about Ankur Rohatgi's triumphs and tears as he configured his to GNU/Linux. p 34 MERRY LAND HIGH SCHOOL in Ulsoor, Bangalore, is pushing FLOSS "in its own way". Students use DIA (diagram and flowchart program), Celestia (3D real-time, space simulation), Dr Geo (constructs interactive geometric figures, and turns maths into fun using 3D drawings), Open Admin for Schools (http://richtech.ca/openadmin/), etc. And grrrr, Free Software gets described as freeware! PRINTING MADE EASY: CUPS servers p 65 onwards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Some of the software on this month's CD: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Etherboot: FLOSS code for creating boot ROMs for network booting. * Windows Services for UNIX 3.0: * Forte * Eclipse, platform for developing integrated tools * SARA, Security Auditor's Research Assistant * Fedora Core 2 updates * Oscar 3.0 for building, programming and using clusters * MediaWiki collaborating editing software * Wine for using Windows apps * RPM Wizard, installation program for RPM packages * StarDEict, cross-platform international dictionary * MonkeyCity Rescue, to create a Linux rescue CD to recover data from Windows machines * RTAI, a kernel patch * Suse 9.1 updates GNOPPIX 0.8... a Live CD based on the Debian GNU/Linux distro. Uses GNOME. A *free* OS. Features cryptographic software, supports s/w developed for the LSB. Full Mono Develop environment also included. Looks and feels great! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S IN LFY-PRO ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * COMPIERE, an ERP-CRM business solution. * ETHEREAL, the FLOSS network protocol analyser * CONQUER Windows with Wine * REAL-TIME LINUX: Have fun with LEDs * LIDS, under the GPL, acts as a Linux Intrusion Detection System. * STRACE, a useful diagnostic, instructional and debugging tool. * SHARP ZAURUS is a geek's dream device. * KERNEL 2.6 has made Linux a serious contender in embedded domain. * PEAR, the PHP Extension and Application Repository * REVIEW of Knoppix 3.4 (note, 3.6 is just out -FN) * CREATE YOUR OWN packet sniffer. * TEXT processing in Python. * GENTOO 2004.2: great performance, configurability... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BRIEFS: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Linux tablet PCs can now recognise handwriting. * Linare offers professional edition Linux, at $40. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMERCIAL ADS: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * RTLinux Pro, a complete platform for developing your hard real time and embedded applications which support almost all architectures. Details: linuxsales(a)altosys.co.in Chennai * Lansmart Linux Training. Modularized high-end courses. Design your own courses from select modules lansmart(a)vsnl.net * 'I use Linux' teeshirts for Rs 200 (round neck) and Rs 300 (collared) from kits(a)efyindia.com * LinuxAsia2005, from Feb 9-11 at India Habitat Centre * INDIA'S FIRST directory of FLOSS players, coming soon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki) http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa) http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks (GoaLinks Blog) http://news.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.india.goa (Goanet)

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Computer Education @ School
by Ramanraj K 17 Sep '04

17 Sep '04

Mahesh T. Pai wrote: > Ramanraj K said on Wed, Sep 15, 2004 at 07:25:53PM +0530,: > > > I'll attend. We also need to present a memorandum. > > Please take a look at > http://puggy.symonds.net/~fsug-kochi/mass-memo.html Mahesh, please point to links that describe the current curriculum for computer science for IT@School. History is repeating itself again, in TN now :) While the Govt. of Kerala has provided the infrastructure required for IT@Schools, here in TN, Computer Science infrastructure _and_ teaching _may_ be handed over to proprietary concerns. Elcot should be asked to do what Keltron has already done for Kerala: <quote from www.keltron.org> Involved in the introduction of GNU History in curriculum of IT@School project. Involved in the introduction of GNU Linux Operating System to new Curriculum. Supplied Hardware with preloaded GNU Linux Operating system and other Applications to IT@ school project. Training in GNU LINUX platforms for government employees and other organisations Various training courses on GNU Linux and other free software tools Various training courses on GNU Linux and other free software tools like PHP, Perl, Python, MySQL, PostgreSQL etc. </quote> The proposed program schedule of Elcot is at: http://www.elcot.com/ncce/prog-schedule.htm http://www.elcot.com/ncce/prog-schedule-day2.htm <quote> Day 2, 25th September, Saturday, 2004 Venue : Hotel Trident Sheraton , Chennai 0930 to 1100 hrs International models in Computer Education Invited Presentations from 3 speakers of - INTEL / Microsoft / Apple </quote> It should be interesting to hear about the plans the special invitees from Microsoft and Apple have in mind for our school children. The whole idea appears to be to _give_ information to the delegates and I am not sure if the program schedule seriously allows delegates to address on the issues within the allotted two half hours of "moderated open discussion". Further, it has been reported that: "Private companies in computer education have brought in the hardware, software and the staff to teach the course framed by the State Government. Thus the schools get the benefit of computer education without the government bearing any recurring expenditure. This is a model that other States are hoping to follow." As you know, attempts like this in the US have been rejected as unethical and monopolistic. http://news.com.com/2100-1001-276058.html?legacy=cnet http://news.com.com/2100-1001-808241.html http://www.defenselink.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/2004_Advisories/ADV_0402.htm BTW, www.elcot.com has announced that: National Conference on Computer Education in Schools is being postponed & will be rescheduled to another date I hope that the plans change as well, for the better :) Meanwhile, we could send in a memorandum to the school authorities in TN, on the lines of your earlier memo to school authorities in Kerala, to pre-empt any decision allowing propreitary concerns to take over teaching of Computer Science.

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PERUVIAN EFFORT COULD BAN MICROSOFT ON GOV. COMPUTERS (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha 16 Sep '04

16 Sep '04

Thanks to George Lessard for posting this across. FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- PERUVIAN EFFORT COULD BAN MICROSOFT ON GOV. COMPUTERS Peruvian Congressman Edgar Villanueva is pushing legislation to obligate all public institutions to convert exclusively to open-source software. Open-source programs, embodied by the Linux operating system, have underlying code available to anyone who wants to modify or customize it. Such software, in unadorned form, can be downloaded from the Internet for free. Villanueva hopes his measure triggers activity in Peru's software industry by freeing programmers from the constraints of working with coding controlled by a few large companies. Open-source could take the expense out of software upgrades; which is important for a country like Peru that owes about $30 million in overdue software license fees. [SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Associated Press] (http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/3531007.htm)

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Don't block citizens out of your website using proprietorial technologies
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 15 Sep '04

15 Sep '04

Sir, The page below requires me to use Flash: http://rajyasabha.nic.in/bills-ls-rs/bills-ls-rs-main.htm and in this manner, the GoI is forcing me to utilise costly proprietorial software which I dislike using. I would request you to ensure that your website is accessible to everyone, even if they are not using Microsoft and other proprietorial technologies. Please base your website on open standards. FN ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki) http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa) http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks (GoaLinks Blog) http://news.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.india.goa (Goanet)

1 0

Computer Education @ School
by Bharathi S 15 Sep '04

15 Sep '04

Hello All, Tamil Nadu Government is conducting a conference in Chennai. The aim of this conference is finalize the syllabus for the Higher secondary school classes (11th and 12th Std). Organized by : Elcot Venue : Trident Hilton Date : 24th(Fri) and 25th(Sat) Sep 2004 Registration : Call Elcot Office @ Anna Salai, Chennai. Last Date : 20th(Mon) Sep 2004 Fee : Rs 500/- (For IT Professional) : Rs 750/- (For Govt and Edu Professional) NOTE: TN Govt is going to implement this syllabus during the next Edu year in (nearly) 1200 Schools. I hope, this right place to introduce the FSF/OSS to the TN Government. If anybody is going to attend this Conf, Plz inform to list. :) Bye :) -- Bharathi S

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Indic localisers' meet, Sept 18-19
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 14 Sep '04

14 Sep '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Indic Localizers Meet Date 18th-19th September, 2004 Venue - Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education, TIFR, Mankhurd, Mumbai, directions http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/Data/Objects/contact Planning for Indic L10n teams meet. Online meet on next Monday, 13th September, from 3pm - 9pm IST , at #indlinux on irc.freenode.net . Agenda: Discuss Agenda points and schedule IRC Logs (RAW) * IndicMeetLog <http://www.indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/IndicMeetLog> - 3pm-9pm (16th August) Minutes of meetings * IndicOnlineMeetMinutes <http://www.indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/IndicOnlineMeetMinutes> ( 16th August ) Meeting Agenda Get all Indic L10n teams to meet and * discuss current status * share individual roadmaps * discuss interaction and collaboration protocols with international bodies/maintainers * share experiences * chalk out a common roadmap based on consensus decision * work on l10n guide, status document * discuss and put in place Usability Metrics for L10n Projects * discuss the methodology of creating Test Cases for L10n Usability * discuss vertical domains where L10n customisation could be coming in handy * discuss and brainstorm and implementation aspects of L10n Projects * identify areas where implementation could be immediately visible * discuss and arrive at a consensus on formation of a common platform (see next bullet) * get onto forming a legal body , aka Indic computing consortium (something like that) along with charter and mandate for the same ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Meeting Schedule 17th September Evening - Outstation participants arrive in Mumbai - Dinner Day 1 - 18th September * 8AM - 9 AM - Breakfast Session I * 9 AM - 9:30 AM - Workshop starts, introductions, Initial address and objectives of workshop. * 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM - Presentation / Talk by Language teams ( 15 mins each ) o Teams to present: Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam * 11:15 - 11:30 - Tea/Coffee Break * 11:30 - 1 PM - Team presentations/Talks continue o Teams to present: Punjabi, Oriya, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, CDAC / TDIL * 1 PM - 2 PM - Lunch Session II * 2 PM - 5 PM* * 2PM - 2:45 PM Pending Issues o Locale definitions, Collation o Text rendering issues/bugs o Indic Unicode Issues o Input Methods o Fonts * 2:45pm - 3:30pm Prospective Issues o Spellchecker o Dictionary / Lexicon o Translation management tools * 3:30 - 3:45 - Tea/Coffee Break * 3:45 - 4:15pm Testing o Why and what need testing o Indic test framework * 4:15 - 5:00pm Usability o Usability studies o Workshops * 5:00 - 5:30 - Open discussion * 5:30 break for the day * 8:00 pm - Dinner ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Day 2 - 19th September * 8 AM - 9 AM - Breakfast Session III * 9 AM - 9:30 AM - Documentation o Indic Handbook docs - Language/Script info, Font docs o Howtos - for different tasks * 9:30 - 10:15 AM - Packaging and Distribution Issues o Packaging Indic stuff o Building an Indic distro - GRIND o Live CDs * 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM Deployment o Having Indic widely available and used. o Activities to increase awareness and usage. o Discussion * 11:00 - 11:15 AM - Tea/Coffee Break * 11:15 - 1 PM - Theme talks (15 mins each) o participants please propose if you want to talk on something, and which has not been covered in prev sessions * 1 PM - 2 PM - Lunch Session IV * 2 PM - 3 PM - Future Roadmap for GNULinux Localization * Task list / TODO list * Timelines for above * 3 PM - 3:30 PM - Consortium Meeting o The need and objectives of forming a consortium * 3:30 - 3:45 - Tea/Coffee Break * 3:45 - 4:45 - Consortium Discussion * 4:45 - 5:00 PM - Meet closing * Participants depart * 8:00 PM - Dinner 20th Morning - participants depart. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Participants (confirmed) Language wise list * Bengali - Ankur group - Sayamindu Dasgupta, Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay/Runa Bhattacharjee, Indranil Das Gupta * Gujarati - Utkarsh - Nirav Mehta, Ankur Patel * Hindi - IndLinux <http://www.indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/IndLinux> - G Karunakar, Ravishankar Shrivastava * Kannada - Pramod Raghavendra, Hari Prasad Nadig * Marathi - Indictrans - Jitendra Shah, Swapnil Hajare * Malayalam - SMC group - Mahesh T Pai , Arun M * Punjabi - Punlinux, Amampreet Singh Alam * Oriya - oriya.sarovar.org - Gora Mohanty * Telugu - ? * Tamil - Tamillinux team - R Hariram Aatreya, N Jayaradha * Urdu - Ravikant Sharma Others * Nagarjuna G - FSF India, TIFR * Prakash Advani - Onward Novell India * Venky Hariharan - Red Hat India * Abhijit Dutta - IBM India * Dr Om Vikas - TDIL, MIT, GOI * Hema Murthy - ? <http://www.indlinux.org/wiki/index.php/TeNet?action=create>_TeNet_, IIT Chennai * Alka Irani - CDAC * M Sasikumar - CDAC * Michael Sauntak - Burmese Localization ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki) http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa) http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks (GoaLinks Blog)

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FLOSS and education
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 12 Sep '04

12 Sep '04

Thanks to the IOSN-General mailing list for this... and Nandalal Gunaratne of the Lanka Linux User Group. -- FN http://www.schoolforge.net http://www.schoolforge.org.uk http://www.schooltool.org http://www.scholarpack.org http://www.theopencd.sunsite.dk http://www.lfsp.net (linux for schools project) http://http://www.affs.org.uk/education/index.html association for free software http;//edu.kde.org kde edutainment http://www.tux4kids.com/tyx4kids http://www.debian,org/devel/debian-jr http://www.bluelinux.org http:/k12os.org http://www.osef.org/ http://richtex.ca/seul http://www.freeeduc.org

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Seminar for teachers
by swathantra software 11 Sep '04

11 Sep '04

S2S2 in association with Science Park, Kannur is organising A Seminar plus Awareness program on Free Software & GNU/Linux for memebers of teachers association, KSTA. Date -12th Sept Sunday Venue- Science Park, Kannur Time - Afternoon. I have installed & tested the "Softexam" GNU/Linux version, released by directorate of education. It is found to be working O.K in Gnu/Linux. As root user it works, but in LTSP clients there are problems. Note that it is not a free software!!. Sujeevan S2S2. _____________________________________________________________ Linux.Net -->Open Source to everyone Powered by Linare Corporation http://www.linare.com/

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[Fsf-friends] GNU/LINUX IN... DeveloperIQ, Sept 2004 issue (Morphix gamer on CD)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 08 Sep '04

08 Sep '04

SUMMARY OF WHAT'S on the mag and CD... : * This month's CD includes GCC 3.4.1, Tcl/Tk 8.5, Mono 1.0, Python 2.3.4, Visual Tcl 1.6.0, Mlton-Perl, PHP (among other programming tools). Apache HTTP server, XEmacs 21.4.5, GTK+ 2.4, PHP source code. * CD2 is dedicated to the Morphix Gamer. Games run from your CD ROM drive, regardless of the OS you run. POST YOUR PROBLEM: Queries on booting from Windows NT bootloader after installing Linux, setting up the boot-time config, disabling graphic KDE boot with Suse 7.0, coping with a "weire" problem in Debian. GREAT LANGUAGE SHOOTOUT: Comparing 11 languages rated for 46 different parameters. An update of the Great Language Shootout pioneered by Douglas Bagley and Co, but which was abandoned since 2001. In terms of core technical tests, Borland Delphi is ranked at the top, followed by C (BC/VC), Java, VC++, C# and VB.NET. Only after that come in Python, Perl, Tcl, PHP and VBScript. If you disagree, write to ramdas(a)developeriq.com or produce better programs in FLOSS and prove them wrong! This topic is covered in a series of articles. FOR DEVELOPERS: India's largest CD ROM distribution and publishing company requires freelance developers and new products. "We require developers of games, education, edutainment, producitivity and utility software. Please mail demos of the products with your profiles to aladdin(a)vsnl.com or www.aladdinindia.com ECLIPSE 3.0, A QUICK RUN THROUGH: Eclipse is the darling of Open Source Java developers these days. In its latest avatar, it has outclassed itself, opines Debashish Bose. He explores the IDE, and does a bit of coding. CAN PHP MARRY IIS? Debashish Bose decides to play cupid and manages to marry off the server side scripting language of the FLOSS world with the Queen of the Microsoft web infrastructure, the IIS Server. CHECK OUT: New flaws found in XP SP2. Page 77. REVIEW: Beginning Red Hat Linux Fedora 2, Rs 429. Wrox/Wiley Dream Tech. PERL TUTORIAL: CGI and Perl -- the basics. The HTML form Tags and Perl * Selecting the right text format. * Linux installation paths * Security battle: Open Source versus closed source * Security issue: programmer's parameters * C language -- security primer * Library solutions in C/C++ CHINA JUMPS on the [GNU]Linux train. DEVELOPER IQ promises "an overwhelming [GNU]Linux section". If you feel they're not fulfiling the promise, write to the editor, Ramdas S at ramdas(a)developeriq.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki) http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa) http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks (GoaLinks Blog) http://news.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.india.goa (Goanet)

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SreenCam tools
by Arun M 08 Sep '04

08 Sep '04

Hi friends, We are in need of a tool like ScreenCam. This will help us in making tutorials for IT@School and similar projects. Some design work has been done. If any of the members interested in its development please write to me offlist. The complete project will include, 1. A screen capturing tool 2. Standalone player 3. Various output plugins 4. Editing suit for voice over and interaction. If some students wants to take this as collage project that will be useful. regards, arun.

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Kerala and free soft
by Arun M 08 Sep '04

08 Sep '04

Hi Friend, Sorry for not keeping you all updated. We are having lot of work in Kerala. Yesterday we organised a workshop for Journalists jointly with Working Journalists association. It was poorly attended due to other reasons like another parallel event and journalist here in Kerala were having lot of work for last few days. But those who came really enjoyed the workshop. They went back with a commitment to free software movement. They have demanded their association to have another workshop on free software. Kerala is now seeing strong debate on local body computerisation and free software. A study conducted by a group (i was also there) exposed the fact that local body computerisation pilot effort is a failure and state wide rollout based on this shouldnt happen. Government is planning for a state wide rollout of Rs 150 crore e-gov program on M$ platform. We have to stop this. Arun.

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FYI: DD - Technology
by Bharathi S 07 Sep '04

07 Sep '04

Hello All, DD - Telecasting a Technology Channel @ 535MHz. Mostly IIT, IISc Professors Video lectures from different department are going on. All lectures are simple and very useful for the students. But, Instead of showing slides on the screen, most of the time, Speaker's face is on the screen and poor picture quality. Bye :) -- Bharathi S

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Report from Kannur
by swathantra software 04 Sep '04

04 Sep '04

Hello to all. Here is the brief reports on Software Freedom activity at Kannur (*) The Software Freedom day was celebrated on 29th August at Parishat Bhavan Kannur. (*) It was attended by over 40 people. (*) The function was inaugurated by Shri Gangadharan, KSSP ( Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishath) member who spoke on the freedom matter elaborately. (*) It was followed by 3 hours of technical session. (*) live demo on free software OS & application packages were shown using OpenCd & Knoppix CD. (*) Few CDs of Knoppix & OpenCD were also distributed. (*) There was lively discussions on the subject. (*) More activities are planned Most of the audience were first timers, and not aware of the free software at all. The meeting was very successful and follow up actions are planned which will be conducted soon. The members are much impressed by the concepts of the freedom in using the software without any limits. All of them could become aware of the numerous applications available to use freely. Follow Up actions ----------------- (*)It was decided to form a group and work towards spreading the messages to wider section of the people. As part of the follow up actions, free software awareness programs will be conducted in few schools. (*) It was pointed out that teachers should be told and convinced about freedom of using the applications and distributing it. Though few schools wanted to try GNU/Linux in their schools ,they are reluctant to use it because, the softwares supplied by IT@SCHOOL project works only on windows platforms. One such package is the "softexam" software provided by the Govt. department. Softexam 1.0 prepared by the IT@School project works only on windows based platform.( see the link http://www.teamebiz.com/case_studies_soft_exam.htm). A GNU/Linux version of the software is not yet available to schools. (http://www.keralaeducation.net/local/more05june04.htm). So A GNU/Linux port of the software is an immediate requirement. (*) Next week, we plan to have Free Software seminar plus demo at one school near Kuthuparamba, Kannur. (*) Four sections of Kannur collectrate already migrated to GNU/Linux. This is a major milestone as far as govt department is concerned. Regards Sujeevan. P S2S2, Kannur ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Latest CDs available from our stock at very affordable prices. Please email for details Debian, Fedora, Mandrake,Gentoo,Slackware,GNU WIN II, OpenCD, KNOPPIX,Buffalo,GNU/HURD,FreeBSD,K12LTSP,HOWTO CD,SOftware packages for Education & Student Projects ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _____________________________________________________________ Linux.Net -->Open Source to everyone Powered by Linare Corporation http://www.linare.com/

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Source GPL, Binary Demo
by H S Rai 03 Sep '04

03 Sep '04

Is it right as per provision of GPL, to release source code under GPL and binary as nonGPL. This is the case of `Qcad', a 2-D CAD package. Its version 1.xx was GPL for Linux and nonGPL for MS-window. With 2.xx version, they say, source is under GPL and on their web-site demo versions are there for Linux as well as for MS-windows, which terminate after every 10 minutes. Then what sort of GPL is it for source code? -- H.S.Rai http://www.grex.org/~hsrai | Registered Linux User # 223684 http://counter.li.org/cgi-bin/runscript/display-person.cgi?user=223684 : ####[ GNU/Linux One Stanza Tip (LOST) ]####################### Sub : Monitoring disk usage on your system LOST #410 # cd / # du -S | sort -n > chksize.txt # less chksize.txt ####[bish (at) nde.vsnl.net.in]############################### :

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Secrets of getting your favourite Windows-based games run flawlessly on Linux...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 02 Sep '04

02 Sep '04

THAT'S WHAT the subtitle of an article in the latest issue of CHIP (Sept 2004) -- the Indian edition -- promises to its readers. Quote: "A word of caution though, before we find out how to get these games working under Linux. To get fragging in full glory, you will have to first configure your graphics card to use all its 3D features in Linux. 3D and OpenGL are some technologies that these games utilize to the maximum, in order to give the effects that you love so much. Today it is possible to run sophisticated 3D applications on a Linux system. But for many popular cards there are no open-source drivers available featuring appropriate OpenGL support... Fortunately, the leading manufacturers offer their own Linux drivers to be downloaded for free, be they ATI or Nvidia..." Article includes steps to work with Quake II, Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2004. Other content in this time's CHIP issue related to the FLOSS world of GNU/Linux (not just the kernel!) includes: COVER STORY: Windows vs Linux vs Mac Which OS protects your PC best of all? Some strange, pro-Windows results here. But then, GNU/Linux doesn't advertise, does it? Suse, given CHIP's German link, is tested as the representative of GNU/Linux. ON THE CD: Quake2 Linux binary. NEW FOREIGN BOOKS reprinted in India by Shroff Publishers in Mumbai spdorders(a)shroffpublishers.com * How Linux Works Rs 300 * The Official Gnome 2 Rs 475 * Wicked Cool Shell Scripts Rs 350 * Write Great Code Rs 475 * The Cathedral & The Bazaar Rs 550 (ESR) * Learning PHP5 Rs 300 * Code Hacking: Developers Guide to Network Security Rs 400 * Linux TCP/IP Stack Rs 400 and more Interesting article on non-IE browsers, on Page 90. But, if you go by the boxes, you might end up thinking that Mozilla Firefox works only with Windows XP/2000/98SE/ME and NT4.0! (The fine print below says Mozilla Firefox "provides support forWindows, Linux and Mac".). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki)

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Report of Software Freedom Day 2004 in Goa, India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Aug '04

30 Aug '04

Please visit http://softwarefreedomday.org/wiki/index.php/Goa ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa)

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Linux posters
by Puneet 30 Aug '04

30 Aug '04

Hi all, I am looking for some of the cool wall posters on Linux theme. I am putup in bangalore. any idea where i can get it ? regards, Puneet

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[Fsf-friends] Please see http://softwarefreedomday.org/wiki/index.php/Goa
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Aug '04

30 Aug '04

Please see the URL below for the report of Software Freedom Day event held at RIT-Shiroda, and also some photos from the scene: http://softwarefreedomday.org/wiki/index.php/Goa FN ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 fred at bytesforall.org fredericknoronha at vsnl.net http://fn.swiki.net (FN's swiki)

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Creating events for journalists
by doxa＠sancharnet.in 26 Aug '04

26 Aug '04

>> we focus more on inviting more people to join our mailing lists? >We should try to bring more people to the list. >Regarding journalists what i find is that they dont really understand >technology. Educating journalists can really help us. If we educate Arun, Perhaps it would be more better if we created localised "issues", "events" or "stories" for them to write. The journalists need to have some element of "activism" within themselves to carry on with their profession, which many have. In that sense, we are a gifted lot. We should really become a disintegrated lot here, and should be coming out with a multitude of ideas. Journalists only need to be informed. We will then see those journalists coming out with their creativity - and "those affected" coming out with their "defensive version" of the story. Rgds, Raju

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Re: [Fsf-friends] FLOSS in Parliament... (2003)
by Mayank Sharma 25 Aug '04

25 Aug '04

Interesting read Fred. But it makes me wonder. As far as I know the third answer is false unless just a few thousand rupees of public money is spent on institutions like CDAC. They also develop lots of non-GPLed stuff that remains that way till oblivion. Secondly, institutions like TDIL, although out of the educational institute arena as limited in the question, are investing in solutions on closed source architectures. I guess its time to ask the question again. Mayank On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 Frederick Noronha(FN) wrote : >http://164.100.24.219/rsq/quest.asp?qref=89320 > > GOVERNMENT OF INDIA >MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY >MINISTRY OF 69 >RAJYA SABHA >UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 976 >TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2003 > >PROMOTION OF FREE LIBRE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE > > >976. SHRI FALEIRO EDUARDO MARTINHO > >Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:- > > >(a) what steps have been taken since the announcement of the Linux India Initiative by Government on the issue of promoting free/libre and open source software within the country; > >(b) the level of usage of FLOSS products in Government and semi- Government organizations; and > >(c) whether the research benefits of publicly-funded computing institutions would be made sharable to all, by placing the same under the General Public Licence (GPL) or similar licences that do not restrict sharing of knowledge due to copyright restrictions? > >ANSWER > >MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(SU THIRUNAVUKKARASAR) > >(a): Two more consultative meetings have been held since then for in-depth discussion on projects and policy positions to be taken-one within the Government and associated agencies and another with NGOs/Civil Society. Various related initiatives, as planned, under Linux India Initiative exercise are also being pursued. > >(b): They are growing. > >(c): Research benefits of publicly funded computing institutions are being shared wherever appropriate. For instance, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) had added components relating to a number of Indian languages for Linux available under General Public Licence (GPL) in September, 2003. Similarly, open office solutions have been provided for Indian languages under GPL developed by C-DAC, CollabCAD software developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) package has also been put in a limited sharing mode within certain agencies of Government. C-DAC has also put its Indian fonts in public domain. Wherever appropriate, software developed under public funded efforts are being shared under GPL or similar licenses that do not restrict the sharing of knowledge due to copyright restrictions. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India >Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 >http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa) > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends

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FLOSS in Parliament... (2003)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 25 Aug '04

25 Aug '04

http://164.100.24.219/rsq/quest.asp?qref=89320 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MINISTRY OF 69 RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 976 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2003 PROMOTION OF FREE LIBRE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE 976. SHRI FALEIRO EDUARDO MARTINHO Will the Minister of COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:- (a) what steps have been taken since the announcement of the Linux India Initiative by Government on the issue of promoting free/libre and open source software within the country; (b) the level of usage of FLOSS products in Government and semi- Government organizations; and (c) whether the research benefits of publicly-funded computing institutions would be made sharable to all, by placing the same under the General Public Licence (GPL) or similar licences that do not restrict sharing of knowledge due to copyright restrictions? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(SU THIRUNAVUKKARASAR) (a): Two more consultative meetings have been held since then for in-depth discussion on projects and policy positions to be taken-one within the Government and associated agencies and another with NGOs/Civil Society. Various related initiatives, as planned, under Linux India Initiative exercise are also being pursued. (b): They are growing. (c): Research benefits of publicly funded computing institutions are being shared wherever appropriate. For instance, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) had added components relating to a number of Indian languages for Linux available under General Public Licence (GPL) in September, 2003. Similarly, open office solutions have been provided for Indian languages under GPL developed by C-DAC, CollabCAD software developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) package has also been put in a limited sharing mode within certain agencies of Government. C-DAC has also put its Indian fonts in public domain. Wherever appropriate, software developed under public funded efforts are being shared under GPL or similar licenses that do not restrict the sharing of knowledge due to copyright restrictions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha (FN) Near Convent, SALIGAO 403511 GOA India Freelance Journalist Tel: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 http://www.ilug-goa.tk (GNULinux Users Group Goa)

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Software Freedom Day
by swathantra software 24 Aug '04

24 Aug '04

Hello to all, Celebrating Software Freedom We are planning to celebrate Software Freedom day(SFD) on 29th August 2004 at Kannur. Though International Software freedom Day is celebrated on 28th August, People in Kerala celebrate ONAM festival on same Day; so we planned to organize the function to celebrate SFD on 29th. The function is being organized by KSSP( Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishath) Kannur unit & Swathantra Software Solutions & Support,(S2S2) Kanuur. There will be an Inauguration & Introductory speech followed by technical demos & presentations on Free Software products. The technical section will have Live GNU/Linux system presentation using Knoppix CD, Free Software applications on windows based on OpenCD & GNU WIN CD. Following CDs will be on display at the venue. 1) Fedoroa Core 2 2) Mandrake 10 3) Debian 3.02r 4) Slackware 10 5) FreeBSD 6) KNOPPIX 3.4 7) GNU/HURD 8) Gentoo CD 9) OpenCD 10)GNU WIN II 11)HOWTO CD 12) K12 LTSP The program schedule is given below Venue : Parishad Bhavan ,Near Chinmaya balabhavan,Kanuur, Kerala Date : Sunday,29th August 2004 Time : 2 PM Inaugural & introductory speech by Sri.T Gangadharan,KSSP national member : 3 PM Demo & Presentations on Free Software products followed by discussions Everybody is invited Regards Sujeevan.P S2S2, Kannur _____________________________________________________________ Linux.Net -->Open Source to everyone Powered by Linare Corporation http://www.linare.com/

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Samakaalika Malayalam Varika
by Manilal 24 Aug '04

24 Aug '04

Hello everybody, This week's Samakaalika Malayalam Varika(A publication of New Indian Express, Onam special, 2004 August 27, Page 188) carries a special section on Software Freedom and related issues. The articles written by three noted IT specialists viz Dr. Achuthsankar S Nair, Joseph Thomas and R.V.G Menon. The three articles projects the threat emerged from the proprietary world and discuss the issues from three different perspectives. regards Manilal

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From Madurai... forwarded.
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Aug '04

24 Aug '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Dear Joe, Also we should send an invitation to all Dailies. Hindu and express are must. Also, we shoud request them to send one of their reporters to our festival and to publish in the Engagements column. People should know something happening. Thanks -pandian --------Original Message ------- I've been away from the list for a while. Personal commitments. Well, I guess the threads I started about SFD had died out without response. Its ok. I've worked out a `Free Software Festival'. The GLUG-Mdu members of TCE and the GLUGOT members are conducting this. I want this to extend beyond the boundaries of TCE. We've started work on 'FStival', a Free Software Festival., on August 28., the Software Freedom Day. I've updated http://www.glug-madurai.org/ regarding this. We've sent out call letters to neighbouring Engineering Colleges. I'll sending another batch of call letters to the Arts & Sciences colleges in and around Madurai. The Hindu had announced about the FStival in their Friday issue (page 2). So, work has been happening. The agenda for the FStival is : 1. 9.30 - 10.30 : Inagural ceremony 2. 10.45 - 13.00 : Tutorials 3. 14.00 - 15.00 : Software contest 4. 11.00 - 17.00 : Free software exhibition Venue : Thiagarjar College of Engineering, Madurai. Tutorials: Currently I'm trying to fix a friend of mine from ILUGC to talk about UNIX and database programming. I've some student volunteers for PHP,and DotGNU. If any of you would be interested in taking a tutorial session of any topic please contact me or "fstival(a)tce.edu". We need to finalise this list by wednesday. So, if you have something in mind please tell us fast. The topic can be anything(technical) related to Free Software. Software Contest: I know this is coming as a shortnotice. This contest is open for all. You've to submit your entry before 26-08-2004. The rules are: ->The software should run on GNU/Linux. ->The software should not require a Non-Free library/compiler or any Non-Free Dependancy for execution. ->The source code of the software should be under a Free software license. () Free Software Exhibition: This is a collection of stalls showcasing Free Software from various areas. We've a number of stalls put up by GLUGOT volunteers. However, this is also open for all. If you want to show anything please contact me or fstival(a)tce.edu. We can work it out for you. We are planning to do CD distribution at the FStival. I have the following distributions with me. -> Debian Woody -> Debian Sarge (build: 07-08-2004) -> RedHat 9 -> KNOPPIX 3.4 -> Tamil KNOPPIX I'm in the process of downloading TheOpenCD which is a collection of FreeSoftware for M$Windows. Apart from these, I'd like to have Fedora, Mandrake and all the other distributions. I'll also get Debian GNU/Hurd. The CD distribution stall will have a CD-Burner. You'll be charged for the cost of the CD. Or you can bring in your own CDs and we'll burn it for you. Another highlight of the exhibition is we are planning to have a installation stall. We'll up a machine with a choice of distribution CDs. The visitor can try installing GNU/Linux here before trying at home. This is purely to help the new people clear out their doubts and to make sure they wont screw their exisiting system up. So this is it. The FStival is open for your participation. Cheers, Joe -- -Able was I eRe I saw elbA- Supergünstige DSL-Tarife + WLAN-Router für 0,- EUR* Jetzt zu GMX wechseln und sparen http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by Shop4tech.com-Lowest price on Blank Media 100pk Sonic DVD-R 4x for only $29 -100pk Sonic DVD+R for only $33 Save 50% off Retail on Ink & Toner - Free Shipping and Free Gift. http://www.shop4tech.com/z/Inkjet_Cartridges/9_108_r285 _______________________________________________ glug-madurai-discuss mailing list glug-madurai-discuss(a)lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/glug-madurai-discuss

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looking for Debian CDs
by Puneet 24 Aug '04

24 Aug '04

Hi all, I am put up in Bangalore and looking for following CDs. If someone out there has got any of these, please let know. -> Debian GNU/Linux 3.0r2 with sources -> Debian Latest build with sources regards, Puneet

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Anand Babu in Mumbai
by Nagarjuna G. 20 Aug '04

20 Aug '04

------------------------------------------- Please forward this to those in CDAC, Mumbai University, Puna, Nashik, BARC who will be interested in super computing. ------------------------------------------- Talk by Anand Babu on Thunder: Free Software and Super Computing Venue: TIFR, Colaba (www.tifr.res.in) 11am on Sunday 22nd. Venue: IIT Mumbai (Kresit Auditorium) 5:30pm on Sunday 22nd. All are welcome to attend at any of the above convenient venues. Anand Babu, the main hacker of Thunder, the second fastest super computer made with GNU/Linux, is visiting Mumbai on his way back to US. He will be talking about design and development of Thunder Super Computer and its associated Free Software stack. Thunder can perform 23 trillion floating point operations per second (peak) yielding the best price/performance ratio at 86.7% efficiency. (highest efficiency rating recorded at this scale). Presentation material: bzip2 compressed PDF document: http://www.gnu-india.org/ab/thunder/thunder-experience.pdf.bz2 Picture of Thunder Super Computer: http://gnu-india.org/ab/thunder/ThunderApril2004_300dpi.jpg You can find a brief intro about Anand Babu at http://chennailug.org/ web site - main page. -- Nagarjuna

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test - pls ignore
by Joe Steeve 19 Aug '04

19 Aug '04

-- -Able was I eRe I saw elbA- Superg�nstige DSL-Tarife + WLAN-Router f�r 0,- EUR* Jetzt zu GMX wechseln und sparen http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl

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One More Turn In Software Story.htm (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 19 Aug '04

19 Aug '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- One More Turn In Software Story People's Democracy (Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vol. XXVIII No. 28 July 11, 2004 One More Turn In Software Story C P Chandrasekhar Microsoft's attempt to buy the biggest maker of corporate applications represents an attempt at vertical integration as a competitive response. EARLY in June, Microsoft shocked the global software industry once more. The company revealed that for months starting some time last year it was engaged in takeover talks with German software major SAP. The German company is no new kid on the block. Valued at more than 50 billion dollars, it is the third ranking independent software company. Besides, it is a company unlike Microsoft. While Microsoft is technically a "hybrid solutions" company offering both software products and services, it is primarily into products that run the now ubiquitous personal computer. On the other hand, SAP specialises in enterprise services such as systems integration and maintenance and is a dominant player, along with Oracle and IBM, in the low profile but high spending world of corporate back offices. MONOPOLISING THE SOFTWARE BUSINESS Although the talks were reportedly called off this spring, analysts are hard put to understand why SAP considered the option for as long as it did. The explanation offered by Henning Kagermann, SAP's chief executive officer, that SAP "routinely evaluates" mergers that would improve its competitive position, hardly clears the mist. What is obvious though is the set of factors driving Microsoft --- an aggressive player hell bent on monopolising the software business. On the surface, the attempt at acquiring a major like SAP seems to be a continuation of Microsoft's aggressive expansion that transformed it from a garage adventure into the world's largest independent software company. As its pockets deepened in the course of that expansion, Microsoft used its surpluses, estimated at 56 billion dollars of cash-in-hand at the end of March 2004, to aggressively defend and extend its control over the market for PC software and direct-to-consumer accessories. The evidence of such aggression is, to say the least, excessive. Examples include the use of threats of destructive competition to acquire innovative products and technologies generated by small start-ups. Thus the web-publishing software, Frontpage, was acquired from Vermeer Technologies and subsequently packaged with versions of Microsoft Office. In other instances, acquisition came after alleged infringement of patents on innovative technologies developed by small firms. Thus, it is alleged that Microsoft adopted without licence the touch-based technology used in video game consoles, including Microsoft's Xbox, developed by Immersion. Microsoft chose to go in for an out-of-court settlement with Immersion on a patent infringement case filed in February 2002. Interestingly, Microsoft paid 26 million dollars to acquire a minority stake in Immersion along with licensing rights over the company's patent portfolio. This is one of many cases that Microsoft has settled out of court, and yet there are a few dozen patent-related lawsuits reportedly pending against Microsoft. The interesting feature of this trajectory, however, is not the aggression that has always been visible, but the more conciliatory moves that Microsoft has been making ever since its extremely favourable "settlement" with the United States Department of Justice in 2002. Recently, in fact, the pace at which high-profile cases challenging the company are being settled out of court has accelerated. In April 2004, for example, a private anti-trust suit filed by Sun Microsystems was settled for nearly 2 billion dollars, including a payment of 350 million dollars in licensing fees. Similarly, a patent infringement complaint by InterTrust, which first developed the technology used to protect music, movies and other digital "content" on the Internet, was settled for 440 million dollars. But it is not always that Microsoft chooses to opt for quick resolution once the case is seen as unwinnable. In other instances, where the cost of settlement is seen as high, the case is dragged on so as to exploit a pre-existing position in the market and allow technology to make the issues on which anti-trust complaints have been filed irrelevant. Two cases where Microsoft has adopted this strategy with some effect have received quite some attention. These are its efforts to monopolise the market for browsers and media players, by bundling its own version of the required software with the Windows operating system. In the first case, Microsoft fought a hard battle against the US Department of Justice and managed a settlement that was far weaker than the outcome that was originally expected - a decision to break up the company and force it to license a stripped-down version of Windows to competitors so that they could offer it along with their own supportive software. The settlement came after Microsoft was indicted in 2000 for maintaining through illegal means its monopoly in personal computer operating systems. Although that decision was upheld in a Court of Appeal, the court watered down the original remedy to break up the company. However, the court granted 17 US states the right to pursue class-action cases on the grounds that the company had abused its Windows monopoly. Microsoft has been working on settlements with most of these states, nine of which accepted one without pursuing the case. To Microsoft's discomfiture, some states chose to pursue the case and demand disclosure by Microsoft of software interfaces, which would allow competitors to write programmes that inter-operate directly with Windows. ATTITUDE OF CONCILIATION Although most of these cases are yet to be resolved, Microsoft's attitude of conciliation is already visible. A Minnesota lawsuit went before a jury in March this year. However, soon thereafter, the software company arrived at a settlement with the state. These settlements with or without a case have cost the company a packet, touching an estimated 1.1 billion dollars in California and 202 million dollars in Florida. Outside the US too Microsoft has been the target of a European Union (E U) anti-trust investigation over the last five years, triggered by Sun Microsystems and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA). The EU's case also deals with Microsoft's tactic of "bundling" new software with its Windows operating system. In this case, the software concerned is Media Player, which the European Commission (EC) believes has been bundled with Windows to tilt unfairly competition against rival products, especially RealNetworks' RealPlayer. Recently, the EC ruled against Microsoft on both these counts and imposed a heavy penalty. Microsoft has chosen to go on appeal. But here too, efforts at conciliation are visible. A recent legal settlement with Sun Microsystems is seen as part of an effort to reverse the EC ruling. This is because the settlement with Sun, under which Microsoft agreed to pay 1.6 billion dollars to end anti-trust and patent infringement claims, silences the company's most vocal critic which had directed the attention of Europe's anti-trust regulators at Microsoft and triggered the EU investigation when it filed an official complaint in Brussels five years ago. Sun is also a leading member of the CCIA that had also lodged a complaint against Microsoft in Europe. Not surprisingly, Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, reportedly said that the Sun settlement "means that the only company that has had a formal complaint against us for the past five years has said that it is entirely satisfied". This, in his view, indicated that antitrust and patent disputes could be resolved through private agreements and did not require broad regulatory action. Although as of now the EC is not willing to relent and sees its actions as being part of a wider strategy of promoting competition and protecting consumers, Microsoft's own strategy of conciliatory bargaining is clear. Microsoft's view is reflected in Brad Smith's statement that if a private settlement with Sun had been reached last year, it could have set the stage for a settlement of the EU's case instead of last month's formal anti-trust ruling. What explains this conciliatory edge on the part of Microsoft, which has been the industry's most aggressive and disliked player? An analysis of software business trends indicate that the explanation lies in the changing nature of the business itself, which warrants both a closer link with rival players as well as a degree of consolidation that cannot occur if current anti-trust tendencies persist. MICROSOFT’S LOOSENING STANCE There are three trends that are significant for understanding Microsoft's loosening stance. The first is that despite Microsoft's efforts at dominating the PC software market linked to the Windows operating system, it is under threat because of the growing popularity of the Linux operating system. Microsoft sees the need to diversify away from software products that run PCs if it is to maintain growth and profitability. Second, such diversification is also warranted by the fact that the software market is moving up "the stack", away from the operating systems and towards the "middleware" that ties different systems together and the applications that run on them. This is seen as the result of the emergence of a new generation in technology resulting from the growth of the Internet that requires far greater integration between software technologies than we had before. It is, therefore, an area where a greater degree of interoperability between software products is important, necessitating more cooperation and less rivalry between competing firms. Third, in the search for dominance in the new technological context, firms are trying to restructure their operations. Thus, IBM is seen as having abandoned the applications business a few years ago in order to focus on middleware. On the other hand, Oracle is seen as seeking to extend its reach from middleware into applications, both through developing its own products and more recently through acquisitions, as its failed effort to take over PeopleSoft illustrates. Any firm planning to enter the middleware business must respond to these tendencies. Clearly, Microsoft has responded to all these trends. It is choosing to move away from products. It is willing to "deal" with its rivals. And it is considering acquisitions to strengthen its position. Initially, it developed its own Dotnet technology to generate the "web" for a more decentralised computing world. This signalled rivalry, since its competitors were using the Java software standard developed by Sun Microsystems for the purpose. But such rivalry has been tempered in recent years with the company willing to work with competitors. The evidence quoted earlier indicates this new mood of cooperation. The Microsoft effort to negotiate a takeover deal with SAP is a corollary of this new strategy of Microsoft. SAP invented enterprise resource planning software, with which a large number of companies manage back-office functions. For Microsoft, which sells most of its software to customers through computer makers and resellers, entering this area on its own would have involved a major shift in the direction of an engineering-centric culture and a process of learning the rules of a new business. Firms in the "enterprise" market rely on direct sales and extensive maintenance and service operations. Seen in this light, Microsoft's attempt to buy the biggest maker of corporate applications represents an attempt at vertical integration as a competitive response. It is another matter that the deal if worked out would have run into regulatory barriers that even Microsoft would have found difficult to break down. But the fact that it was even contemplated points to the process of transformation of the software business.

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Re: [Arun M] Re: Fwd: [Fsf-friends] hi
by Anand Babu 19 Aug '04

19 Aug '04

,----[ Sandip Bhattacharya <sandip(a)lug-delhi.org> ] | On Thursday 19 Aug 2004 4:41 pm, Anand Babu wrote: | > Hi Satyakam, | > Do you know if there are some more people interested in FSF | > Hyderabad chapter? | | An unrelated question here, but has there been any initiative to | form an EFF chapter in India? | | - Sandip `---- Now there is a need to start EFF-India chapter. Please write to Raj Mathur, Mahesh T. Pai and Raman Raj -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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[semi-ot] event@sls.cusat
by Mahesh T. Pai 19 Aug '04

19 Aug '04

Hi!! All. The School of Legal Studies, Cochin University, is hosting a national event for Law Students. More than 250 law students from various law schools around the country are expected. Details are at :- http://sls.cusat.ac.in/law_fest.shtml This is an occassion to take the message of free software to the budding lawyers of the nation who will be at the top levels in the legal system. Can somebody sponsor CDs as give aways / prizes? Any other ideas? Of course, corporate sponsorship (preferably from vendors of free s/w or h/w vendors who are proud to tell that they support free s/w) is always welcome!!! Disclosure:- I am a guest faculty here. TIA. -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Distribute Free Software -- Help stamp out Software Hoarding!

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Re: how are u
by Anand Babu 19 Aug '04

19 Aug '04

,----[ satyakam goswami <satyakam_goswami(a)yahoo.com> ] | What kind of resposibilities FSF wants from people like me can you | eloborate on that , can i start something in delhi itself or is | there somebody already taking care of those activities. | | cheers | Satyakam `---- Raj Mathur - a long time Free Software activist (and a Hacker himself) is co-ordinating the GNU/Linux Delhi chapter. Raj has been a model for many Free Software contributors from Delhi. Let us seek his guidance and support. Nagarjuna and Arun.M will elaborate the responsibilities for forming the FSF-Delhi chapter. -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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Re: how are u
by Anand Babu 19 Aug '04

19 Aug '04

,----[ satyakam goswami <satyakam_goswami(a)yahoo.com> ] | What kind of resposibilities FSF wants from people like me can you | eloborate on that , can i start something in delhi itself or is | there somebody already taking care of those activities. | | cheers | Satyakam `---- Raj Mathur - a long time Free Software activist (and a Hacker himself) is co-ordinating the GNU/Linux Delhi chapter. Raj has been a model for many Free Software contributors from Delhi. Let us seek his guidance and support. Nagarjuna and Arun.M will elaborate the responsibilities for forming the FSF-Delhi chapter. -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org>

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