2008/9/29 Anilkumar KV anilankv@gmail.com:

Anil,

This would be my last mail on my thread. As Arun said on fsf-friends, lets wait for the official position of the FSF India.

2008/9/29 Praveen A pravi.a@gmail.com

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Kiran Chandra's active role in organising the event will not count? Or are you claiming Kiran Chandra did not take leadership in organising the event?

Yes, Kiran Chandra had involved in organising the Hyderabad event. In

fact he was the main organiser of that event. He had involved in it as an activists of swetcha.in, and not in his capacity as FSF-India director. The Organisers of Kochi event are constantly in touch with Kiran and other organisers of Hyderabad event, and it is as per their decision, Kerala and subsequently Kochi was selected as the venue for the second meet. The organisers in Kochi has been now assigned to organise the next meet as a result of the discussion which Hyderabad organisers initiated.

I was not aware that Kiran was not representing FSF India but just Swecha. This was the major reason for my confusion. But isn't Swetcha a project by FSF AP? (Swecha.org has FSF Andhra Pradesh written below the logo). I am curious why FSF India was not involved in organising this time when one of its board of directors was actively involved in organising both events.

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'm amazed at the tone of the organizers of this event in discredit the FSF India's role of supporting the Free Software community for such a long time and also discrediting the role played by many individuals in the Free Software community by claiming the only effort to promote Free Software happened was last year in Hyderabad. Now the concerns are getting even beiiger about the motives of the organisers about this event.

As far as I know, none of the mails from Kochi organisers had any intention to denounce or discredit activities undertaken by any other free software organisers or activists. If you sensed like that, please let me know, corrective action is always ensured. No where it is claimed by any of the Kochi organisers that efforts to promote Free Software happened last year.

I was referring to the claim by the organisers that the only National Level conference on Free Software after FSF India formed was the Hyderabad event. I felt it was discrediting the efforts of so many of the events that happened in time time. I hope the organisers would acknowledge the contributions of other events and communities in helping promote Software Freedom.

In fact it is your message that is making confusion among the free software friends, which comes without collecting actual facts. You could have at least get information from Kiran before you accusing the Kochi organisers. Please confirm with him whether the proposed Kochi event have any legacy of Hyderabad event.

I am sorry for creating this confusion. I was not expecting an FSF India board member leading a Free Software conference not in his capacity as a FSF India representative. I was also mistaken that Swecha is not independent of FSF AP. Thanks for all the clarifications. It helps to keep things in perspective.

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Why would they not consult with the community? Why would they discredit Free Software community's efforts for such a long time? Why would they be blind to so many of the Free Software conferences that has happened and happening all over the country?

The assumptions prompted you to ask these questions itself is based on wrong facts. Hence they stands void.

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I would like to know who suggested not to involve the orginal organisers and who suggested the name?

Nobody suggested any exclusions. In fact there is no exclusions indented at all. The organisers of of the Hyderabad event are part of the decision by which the next venue and organisers are selected.

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This is the whole problem. Free Software community does not work this way. This is like telling Linus Torvalds that he can join hacking the Linux kernel by a newbie without any clue about the Linux kernel.

You feel it as a problem because you still assume that FSF-India organised the Hyderabad event, which is not true.

Your interpretation with example is also wrong due to your ignorance on organisers of Hyderabad event. It may more resembles on seeking support from Linus, or whoever it may be, for a second stage of a project, for which he has extended support for the first stage.

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I'm expressing the concerns of the Free Software community in a manner that is common in the community. We always raise our objections in public mailing lists.

Ok. I appreciate your spirit, however whenever such concern arises please confirm the base facts with the concerned, otherwise it will create unwanted confusion among the Free Software community.

Even then to clear these confusions, let FSF-India directors or secretary respond to this debate.

OK. Lets wait and see what is the official response of FSF India. I apologise for any confusions I have created because of my misunderstandings about Kiran Chandra's role in organising Hyderabad event.

I hope the suggestions are taken positively and I wish all the best for the event.

Cheers Praveen