My replies below:
On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 2:17 PM, scrapo scrapo@saswatabanerjee.com wrote:
Pravin Dhayfule wrote:
I dont trust Politicians. Previously Caste and Religion was used as Election manifesto, and its a pity now that the Opensource community is being dragged into politics.... Its not politicians, but we IT professionals who have promoted Open source Applications... Open Source Platform is for all and not a dependent on political promotion...
Yes, i do not know why we are wasting time talking of manifestos of political parties, which are not worth the paper they are written on and forgotten for the next 5 years till the next election. When in power, they have always supported windows as the software vendors are going to give them money.
There are plenty of politicians within each of the major political parties who understand and support free/open source software. Manifestos indicate the thinking of the political parties. The CPI(M)'s manifesto indicates that its support for FOSS is driven by a strong anti-monopoly stance, while the BJP's manifesto reveals that they see FOSS as a means to an end (of making IT widely available and bridging the digital divide).
FOSS will have to work on its own, grow on its own and in spite of the government (not because of the government).
The government can make an enormous difference to FOSS by either supporting or opposing our stance on open standards, software patents and many other policy issues. Do we want them with us or against us? For example, would you be happy if the government sent you documents in proprietary formats? Would you be happy if the government imposed software patents, which means that you would have to consult a lawyer before you write even a single line of code?
In all the issues I have listed above, the open source community is bringing fresh ideas to the table. That takes time to understand because the dominant mindset is that of proprietary software, simply because it has been around for so many years. The only way this mindset can be overcome is through dialogue. Luckily, in the last four and half years I have spent on FOSS policy issues, there are plenty of politicians and bureaucrats who are willing to listen.
The left is not going to do anything more for FOSS than the congress or BJP or BSP or whoever.
The facts are wrong here. The left has implemented FOSS in Kerala and WB and has strongly supported the community in its fight for open standards and software patents. The BJP has implemented FOSS for its internal use and has a strong grasp of the capabilities of FOSS.
Let this forum be for what it was created - a user community which will help with problems and technical matters that we all face and for sharing of knowledge.
If the purpose of this forum is purely technical, then a post like this does not make sense. However, if the purpose of this mailing list also includes making FOSS widely prevalent in society, then this post is indeed appropriate.
Politics and Political parties are not of any use to us.
They are our representatives and we have to make them work for us, the people of India. We are lucky that we live in a democracy that has many checks and balances and it is our responsibility to be engaged in the democratic process.
Venky