I have been seeing that off and on this list keeps talking about Tally and how to run this on GNU/Linux? Tally is not a free software, and I dont see why users should discuss this on this list.
On the other hand availability of accounting packages is a big problem and several hackers are addressing this issue, including some of our own list members. We should discuss those issues.
This list is not for discussing propreitary software, but free software. In fact we should be discussing the issue of how to boycott the distributions that ship propreitary software and have explicit tieups with such agencies. This clearly shows that these distribution companies do not have any interest other than being in business.
BTW, those of you who have some knowledge of this application, can you do some research about how the data is stored in Tally? Is this encoding a standard? Does this application support Export of data to any other standards? What freedom users have? Are the users locked in? etc.
Nagarjuna
Sometime Today, NG cobbled together some glyphs to say:
This list is not for discussing propreitary software, but free software. In fact we should be discussing the
I think the list is to discuss all of the following: - linux - free software on all platforms - supporting the linux side of software that runs on linux - limited support of free software even if a specialised support channel exists.
this list is NOT for: - supporting non-free packages that run on linux. Use that package's support line for that - supporting OS issues on non-free OSes even if you have some free software installed
In the case of tally:
- we can support any problems you have specifically with the OS portion provided it is a free OS - we cannot provide support for tally itself
Finally, I don't believe in boycotting distros that provide non-free software. That would be just as fascist as boycotting all free software as viral. Each person is intelligent enough to make their own choice. Our job as free software advocates is to educate people and not to force them to do our bidding. If someone chooses to make the wrong choices, we have to think about whether we want him on our side or not.
On Tue, Apr 12, 2005 at 03:28:51PM +0530, Philip Tellis wrote:
Sometime Today, NG cobbled together some glyphs to say:
Finally, I don't believe in boycotting distros that provide non-free software. That would be just as fascist as boycotting all free software as viral. Each person is intelligent enough to make their own choice. Our job as free software advocates is to educate people and not to force them to do our bidding. If someone chooses to make the wrong choices, we have to think about whether we want him on our side or not.
when we ask someone to boycott, we dont force with a gun point. we inform them of the dangers and campaign. Ultimately, it left to the users. When Mahatma called for boycotting British goods, it was an expression of protest. If free software community doesnt protest, freedom is never possible. This is a relentless job, because there is always someone who wants to take away our freedom. A protest will make the distribution company think twice before signing agreements with proprietary companies.
My worry with Tally is that unlike even the proprietary databases like Oracle, (where the data is always available for you to take out of it, since the data is encoded in a standard), the data in Tally is entirely in a private form. I think that no country should let any company do business if export to an openstandard is not possible. This is a very serious issue. Who else will take notice of this and alert the users if not lists of this kind? Just informing people is not enough, we need to generate public opinion. Protest is one form of doing this.
Nagarjuna
Nagarjuna G. wrote:
Does this application support Export of data to any other standards? What freedom users have? Are the users locked in? etc.
Asked my aunt to check with the accounts department to verify if there is a way to export data /use the data with anything else.
The answer was a firm "NO".
could others please verify the same. Erle
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Erle Pereira -
Nagarjuna G. -
Philip Tellis