2007/10/19, Vikram Vincent vincentvikram@swatantra.org:

I was a bit tied up for the last few days and could not give my

attention to this >issue and hence the late reply.

I am a bit surprised that FSF-I has sent out a press release with a title that is nothing short of promoting linguistic chauvinism. When the draft was released by Omshivaprakash I raised the following points:

I don't understand it at all, the campaign is not by FSF India so we cannot change the title to something that the campaign is not or change the focus to something that the campaigners are not covering. I don't understand why you are not joining the campaign and help them correct rather than pointing fingers. Or if you think the campaign is not in the right direction, why not start one with the goals that you think is important? As you mentioned earlier you were tied up with work and you just came out to point fingers at those who were working tirelessly on this campaign. I don't see it as anything that is constructive or helping the cause. You can send whatever you think is important to the governor.

<quote> A few thoughts about the letter: 1. The main points of the letter - gives adequate focus on the Kannada language aspects, talks about "lock-in" and benefit of free software.

you can send your suggestions to them.

2. Can a few point about the ODF vs. OOXML and India's stand on the issue be

added? I think this is very relevant to the situation.

What you have done about it? Vikram, It is easy to point fingers at other people and tought to do something yourself.

3. Can we increase the emphasis of quality of localisation with free

software.

If you think that is important you can focus on that and take a lead. Every one comes to Free Software with their own priorities and ideas. You can't push anything to anyone but seek if anyone shares your ideas and join hands with them and if you don't find anyone you have to take a lead if you want it to b done. You can't expect other people to do it for you.

4. Maybe quote a few points from the IOSN webpage

http://www.iosn.net/ on why developing countries such as India would find it more advantageous to use FOSS based solutions.

Add it yourself and send it to the governemnt or to the campaigners.

While the language issue would stir our passions, on its own it would not present a compelling case since Free s/w Kannada localisation is also still backward.

It is the campaigners - who thought about it and who worked on it - decides what should be the priority not those who just look from the gallery and pass comments on it.

Hope these points are taken into consideration when finalising the letter(if this a draft).

this letter was to focus on the campaign and if you want something different you have to join it.

</quote>

The issue at hand is more related to the 'ISO standards' and 'healthy business practises' rather than 'language' and FSF-I's press release should have reflected that. The FSF should always ensure that its stand on any issue conforms to certain scientific rationale and cannot and should not promote any petty interests but should focus on convincing people logically. The language argument that has been raised does not hold water because the free software localisation to Kannada also is still very backward. Our only hope is that free software promotes a healthy evolution of the system with quality and quantity.

please keep any personal difference you have with the campaigners from the issue.

While the "Save Kannada campaign" is not under FSF-I, I would like to urge them too to address the intellect rather than the baser human emotions. The only was to protect any language is to ensure that a strong local economy is generated around it. This can happen only when the knowledge is localised and sufficient trained labour can be developed around it. Then, capital by the businesses along with pro-people government policies along with constant pressure by the people will ensure that the economy grows healthily and only then will that language survive else it will end up like Sanskrit, Latin, Pali and others.

Why don't you start up and lead such a campaign yourself, rather than expecting other people to do it?

Cheers Praveen

Thank you, Regards