Hi All,
We had what is called a 'Nerd Lunch' session at Cisco. About 40-50 engineers were there and the session was recorded on video by cisco..also folks joined over the phone. Jotted down some interesting aspects...abhas do add stuff about what u felt is interesting and upload the photos if u get a chance.
Some of them wrote back wanting to start a interest group at Cisco . We will do this soon..
-S
Interesting aspects .. which came out in the discussion / What the regular software crowd thinks about us ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----------
- Cisco is a very proprietary software company - however - is looking at a lot of free software for its small and medium routers - for inevitable reasons : both technical and cost
- There are lot of folks @ cisco who use a lot of free software - gdb - gcc - emacs - firefox - there are many initiatives to use gnu-linux desktops and so on - and folks have a lot of respect for free software - for its technical qualities - rather than the freedom foundation - which is something we were trying to discuss in the session...
- Cisco is very careful about GPLv3 and this was brought up multiple times in the disucssion by the hosts - on how develpers need to be very careful when trying to bring in - COOL GPLv3 FREE SOFTWARE
- the aspect of RESPECTING users freedom gives one a lot of respect - however giving away code to build another persons business - is looked at as SACRIFICE . The interesting aspect is to have a live business example to show that this is COOL and works.
-Abhas said that 95% of folks download their software for free : Some body asked - ARE YOU DOING SOCIAL SERVICE or BUSINESS - abhas had to explain of how - this can be good business - how this can be good ethics - how this can be good technically and so on
- One more point which came up at Cisco as well as Chirst : Free software is a smart conspiracy to make money !! You make difficult software - Then you charge a lot for it like - REDHAT - so you guys speak about all freedom - but behind it - it is all MONEY !!
Though one can understand this comes from a not very clear understanding - however people seem to suspect when BIG CAPITAL and FREE SOFTWARE work together - KNOWLEDGE CAN BE FREER THAN NOW with FREE SOFTWARE - BUT CAN IT BE REALLY FREE when working with BIG CAPITAL seems to be a question folks are asking...
- GNU/LINUX Desktops : "GNU/Linux is still not good as Windows" - I thing this comes from user habbits - I see a lot of fresh software engineers - unable to change from this addiction
- Free Software vs Open Source : was a question too
------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 for Nerdlunch on "Free/Open Source Software"
Speaker - Mr. Abhas Abhinav, Deeproot Linux
Date - 30th July, 2008 , Time - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location - Bangalore Cisco Campus (Cessna Business Park)
Abstract -
The presentation will focus upon the following issues:
* What is Free / Open Source Software?
* What are the guiding values of the Free Software movement?
* Why is Freedom good for software?
* Who's using Free Software today: A case for users and developer's?
* The Indian Free / Open Source Software scenario
* Getting involved with the Free Software movement: as a user, developer, contributor, advocate, business
Hi Senthil, I think that the points brought up in the discussion reflect the currently promoted thinking in various institutions. We have to underline that economics does play a huge role in the Free Software Movement and that the FSM must be able to generate a good local economy and only then will be useful to the last man/woman/child. Congrats to you and Abhas and others for organising the session. Wishes, Vikram Vincent
Hi Senthil,
Kudos to you for organizing the said event.
regards Jaykumar
On 8/1/08, Senthil Sundaram (sensunda) sensunda@cisco.com wrote:
Hi All,
We had what is called a 'Nerd Lunch' session at Cisco. About 40-50 engineers were there and the session was recorded on video by cisco..also folks joined over the phone. Jotted down some interesting aspects...abhas do add stuff about what u felt is interesting and upload the photos if u get a chance.
Some of them wrote back wanting to start a interest group at Cisco . We will do this soon..
-S
Interesting aspects .. which came out in the discussion / What the regular software crowd thinks about us
- Cisco is a very proprietary software company - however - is looking at a
lot of free software for its small and medium routers - for inevitable reasons : both technical and cost
- There are lot of folks @ cisco who use a lot of free software - gdb - gcc
- emacs - firefox - there are many initiatives to use gnu-linux desktops and
so on - and folks have a lot of respect for free software - for its technical qualities - rather than the freedom foundation - which is something we were trying to discuss in the session...
- Cisco is very *careful about GPLv3* and this was brought up multiple
times in the disucssion by the hosts - on how develpers need to be very careful when trying to bring in - COOL GPLv3 FREE SOFTWARE
- the aspect of RESPECTING users freedom gives one a lot of respect -
however giving away code to build another persons business - is looked at as SACRIFICE . The interesting aspect is to have a live business example to show that this is COOL and works.
-Abhas said that 95% of folks download their software for free : Some body asked - *ARE YOU DOING SOCIAL SERVICE* or BUSINESS - abhas had to explain of how - this can be good business - how this can be good ethics - how this can be good technically and so on
- One more point which came up at Cisco as well as Chirst : Free software
is a smart conspiracy to make money !! You make difficult software - Then you charge a lot for it like - REDHAT - so you guys speak about all freedom
- but behind it - it is all MONEY !!
Though one can understand this comes from a not very clear understanding - however people seem to suspect when BIG CAPITAL and FREE SOFTWARE work together - KNOWLEDGE CAN BE FREER THAN NOW with FREE SOFTWARE - *BUT CAN IT BE REALLY FREE* when working with BIG CAPITAL seems to be a question folks are asking...
- *GNU/LINUX Desktops* : "GNU/Linux is still not good as Windows" - I
thing this comes from user habbits - I see a lot of fresh software engineers
unable to change from this addiction
Free Software vs Open Source : was a question too
*Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 for Nerdlunch on "Free/Open Source Software"*
- **Speaker - Mr. Abhas Abhinav, Deeproot Linux*
Date - 30th July, 2008 , Time
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Location - Bangalore Cisco Campus (Cessna Business Park)
Abstract -
The presentation will focus upon the following issues:
What is Free / Open Source Software?
What are the guiding values of the Free Software movement?
Why is Freedom good for software?
Who's using Free Software today: A case for users and developer's?
The Indian Free / Open Source Software scenario
Getting involved with the Free Software movement: as a user, developer,
contributor, advocate, business
FSUG-Bangalore mailing list FSUG-Bangalore@mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore