Hi all,

Are we talking of promoting GNU/Linux within the government or is the Government going to promote GNU/Linux. In a way governmentss are the problem. Read the attachment.

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On Sun, Mar 31, 2002 at 02:00:30PM +0530, Nikhil Joshi wrote:

Ah.. I would like to clear this doubt once and for all. Can anyone please give a definition of Linux? Please give a technical definition (highlighting its licensing policy and features) and not like Linux: The best OS around

Keyur Shroff wrote

It seems to me that not many people on this list are really interested in promoting Linux. Or that they have not taken this very seriously. But let me make it very clear to you luggers that our Government is really very keen in promoting Linux. The only hurdle in this entire exercise is that some proprietary software developers are trying (and will try continuously) to change the thinking of our Government. We, as luggers, should try our level best to send our message to the government.

Hi all, Others have already explained the technical aspects of GNU/Linux. However the GNU philosophy raises many other ethical issues about the nature of knowledge and it's mis / exploitation by modern society. Orginizations and individuals today presume that the products they develop are mostly due to some extraordinary flash of genius which came about because of their uniqe and exclusive ability. The reality is that every product existing is based on prior knowledge created by all members of society. The contributions can be direct eg chemical processes for mfg. of LSI or indirect - mathematical algos for modelling chemical processes for creating LSI which are used in computers and networks on which various types of useless and useful software may run. Things start getting very complicated when the mathematician uses software and recurses through the above cycle. One of the characters decides rather pompously that he is the God and creator of the above positive spiral and therfore must be paid by all and sundry. Of course nobody pays any attention to this God's twisted logic except the local politician who is very worried that he is completely redundant in the above cycle. He designs a devilish piece of legislation which makes it compulsory to pay a toll to "God" (license fees) if you are part of the above cycle or derive benefits as part of the above cycle. Very quickly all participants with poltical friends are scrambling with pieces of legislation to grab a slice of the pie. Very soon this microscopic minority band together (while trading punches with each other) and form promotional bodies whose sole aim is to restrict others from working with and reaping the same benefits as the members of the body. New legislations and restricitions are put in place, all clothed in sanctminous propoganda which will eventually make thinking a crime. This sceneario is being played out every second and ordinary people are affected. Unfortunately most of society is completely ignorant about these issues. Using GNU software made me (and i am sure many others) aware of these issues (I started using it because of robustness, ease of use and stability though). Software and computers being the new tools of todays society offer plenty of opportunity for crooked legislation. This is mainly due to lack of prior precedence in law. In the past the medium for dispersal of knowledge was printed and spoken word, both had limitations, primarily of costs. Hence the patronage of wealthy and or selfless individuals / groups was absolutely essential to the creation and disbursement of knowledge. Computers offer a medium for distributing and collaborating on ideas and technologies at essentially zero cost. Placing restrictions on software and computers is akin to placing restricitons on the ability to think, create and use knowledge. This ability is the capital with which the bushmen in africa and Bills Gate's son is born with (not sure about Bill gates tho). Governments and powerful individuals have always sought to place direct and indirect Legislative restricitions on use of knowledge. India still abounds in such legislations. (However until recently India's stand on patents and IPR was very correct (a complete lack of proper mechanism to implement any patent regime is another story)). As individuals who are fortunate to be aware of these issues, we must propogate these issues too as much as possible, particulary to individuals who have a typical Pavlovian "bread and butter" reaction.

In the noise about "mine is better than yours" we tend to forget the most fundamental reason for using GNU/Linux.

rgds jtdesouza@yahoo.com