Fsf-friends December 2002

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

37 participants
77 discussions

Re: [ilug-goa] My thoughts on the IP and Software
by Frederick Noronha 10 Dec '02

10 Dec '02

A young friend from Goa has circulated his views. If you have any comments, please free to send them to him. Thanks, FN On Sat, 7 Dec 2002, Sanil Talaulikar wrote: > Dear ilugers, > There have been a no. of arguments put forth and back > on the issue of IP and its implications.My > understanding of these issues is very limited.This is > a humble attempt by me to improve my understanding of > these issues.What actually happened was i was trying > to study for my exams when all these thoughts occured > to me and the only way i could clear my mind of them > was to type them down. > > Feel free to comment/critisize the various points i > have raised because thats the only way i can further > improve my understanding of these complex > topics.(invitation to crucify me ;-) ) > > regards, > Sanil > > My thoughts on the IP and Software > > > > The question i feel should be asked is not whether > knowledge should be proprietory or free > but whether the possesion of that knowledge puts that > person in a position to exploit society. > > I see nothing wrong in a person making money out of > intellectual property that he has created as the > person who creates IP is creating value which did not > exist before.The idea is similar to a farmer who uses > land and freely available rain and sunlight to grow > new crops. > > The real issue here is whether the possession of IP > puts the person in a position to exploit others. > For example,An Operating System such as Windows makes > a computer usable,It is a driver for productivity in > the modern world.computer knowledge is becoming almost > a necessity and something one cannot almost do > without.Thus by selling proprietory windows(and > restricting freedoms) at a price which people of > developing countries cannot afford The gap between the > haves and havenot's further increases > > This the society should not allow to happen.The GPL is > a great way to prevent this exploitation.The great > thing about GPL(GNU Public Lisence) > is that it assures contributing members that their > contributions remain protected.People will only > contribute freely when they feel that their > contributions will not be commercially exploited.I > consider GPL an ingenious tool in the hands of the > society to prevent its exploitation(and its creator a > genius). > > But i dont subscribe to the extreme view that all > software should be GPl'ed.This is because the only way > a person can make money from GPl'ed software is by > 1)training people to use it and > 2) distributing it . > As regards to 1), according to me software should be > so easy to use that it should not require training at > all.If i want to make money out of GPL'ed software i > have to make my software > difficult to use so that i can earn from it.This again > puts the creator and contributors of Gpl'ed software > in a unique position to exploit user's by charging a > high fee. > > Ideally GNU/Linux should be so easy to use that it > empowers people so that more and more people can take > part in the digital revolution and contribute to > it(and we are getting there). > > > As regards to 2) How much money can you actually make > by distributing GPL'ed software?The problem is that it > costs nothing for a person who has obtained the > software directly through me to make one copy of it or > a million copies of it or distribute it on the > Internet. This is a crucial point on which software > differs from other products.If have bought a car or > any other tangible product i need to own the means to > produce/modify it before i can think of reproducing > it.Even then i will incurr a cost on every item i > produce. > > > The only way the software creator can earn from his > creation is by restricting certain freedoms The Open > source licensces allow this. > > According to me even creating proprietory software is > not bad as long as the creator does'nt intend to > exploit users or divide society.for example,i need not > provide the source code for software i developed for a > commercial store because the owner of commercial store > is unlikely to be interested in it as long as it > increases his productivity.In fact, the commercial > store is in > a position to exploit me if i provide provide him with > freedoms to distribute, copy and modify the software > and its source. > > One may point out,if i have bought a car i am not > forced to go to the car manufacturer for service or > modifications, i have the freedom to choose to who > services or modifies my car. > But again it is the nature of software that forces its > creator to put these restrictions.When i go to a > service station i dont provide the blueprint of the > car to him.Even if he has the blueprint he still does > not have means to reproduce it. > > Finally it all comes down to what purpose the software > is being used and the intentions of its creator. > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. > http://mailplus.yahoo.com > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > Get 128 Bit SSL Encryption! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/CBxunD/vN2EAA/xGHJAA/0XFolB/TM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > To Post a message, send it to: ilug-goa(a)yahoogroups.com > To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: ilug-goa-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > >

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Web server cries @ Linux Localisation Initiative @ india !!!!!!
by manjush_menon＠rediffmail.com 10 Dec '02

10 Dec '02

hey guys check out this link http://www.vaibhavsharma.com/lli/ <Mj>

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Fwd: Waikato Indian CommunityCentre
by klak＠giasbm01.vsnl.net.in 10 Dec '02

10 Dec '02

-- Khuzaima A. Lakdawala

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Non-free software is wrong says Stallman
by Soundara Rajan N.S. 08 Dec '02

08 Dec '02

Non-free software is wrong says Stallman By Mark Ward Every time you buy software from companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Sun and Adobe you hand over much more than just money, you also give up basic freedoms and human rights. So says Richard Stallman, president of the Free Software Foundation, and long-time campaigner against the proprietary programs produced and owned by many software companies. The assumed ownership of software by Microsoft and many others irks Mr Stallman and is something he wants stopped. "Non-free software is wrong and we do not want it in our lives," he told BBC News Online. Fighting force He has been campaigning since 1984 for the end of proprietary software. As an alternative the Free Software Foundation he heads is developing an operating system, called Gnu, that can be used without restriction. A whole generation has grown up with the idea that it is normal for them to have no freedom Richard Stallman His tireless campaigning has inspired the open source movement which gives people more freedom to tinker with software, albeit not as much as Mr Stallman would like. For him the FSF is the "militant wing" and open source advocates "spineless" because they forget that using software is a matter of ethics. The Open Source movement owes a huge creative debt to Mr Stallman. How much do you know about Gnu/Linux? Take the quiz Linux, the operating system many people associate with Open Source, should properly be called Gnu/Linux to properly reflect its heritage. Patent games The Free Software Foundation stands in opposition to forces of software ownership. The sense of "free" it believes in does not mean that people cannot charge for their work to produce programs. Instead "free" means the liberty to tinker with software, find out how it works and share it with other people without restriction. Unlike many other countries the US has laws permitting the patenting of features in software. As a result, says Mr Stallman, the freedom that programmers have to tinker, experiment and innovate is gradually shrinking. Often, he says, patents are used to protect markets software companies dominate and shut out competition. So far almost 100,000 software patents have been granted in the US, he points out. Patents protect Microsoft's ASF streaming file format and others protect colour separation techniques, widely used image and music formats and many other features and programming techniques. Ethical effects But the problem with proprietary software does not stop with its stunting of innovation or with helping maintain monopolies, says Mr Stallman. If I cannot share it then I will not install it. If it requires me to mistreat others I would say no to it Richard Stallman The larger point, he believes, is that these companies trample over basic human freedoms and force people to trade cherished autonomy for convenience. "Proprietary software is not designed to serve you but it is designed to control you," he says. "It is designed to serve someone else." And it is not just software companies that are trying to limit rights to tinker and copy. Record companies and film makers are joining in and stopping people freely copying music and movies. "A whole generation has grown up with the idea that it is normal for them to have no freedom," says Mr Stallman. "We should destroy the record companies and put an end to institutions that are this arrogant and trying to take away our freedom," he says. All that musicians get from signing up with a record company is publicity, believes Mr Stallman. While agreeing that record companies are effective marketers of music, he says the social costs of this are very high. "It's better if we have a little bit less effective publicity and freedom to share with each other," he says. "The end point is that all published software should be free, you should always have the freedom to study, change and share software," he says. "These should be inalienable rights." "If I cannot share it then I will not install it," he says, "if it requires me to mistreat others I would say no to it." _______________________________________________________________________________ Posted by N.S. Soundara Rajan, freelance IT journalist and Knowledge networker, based at Mysore, India ...connecting people to people, and people to knowledge

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Posters on Free Sofware
by Arun M 08 Dec '02

08 Dec '02

Hi, We need to prepare some posters on Free Software. If there is any good ideas please mail. regards arun.

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IP, Software, Solutions and Services
by Tarun Gaur 08 Dec '02

08 Dec '02

Hi Sanil, Its an interesting discussion that you have initiated. In my view, Open source movement gives a whole new meaning to IP and software. Yes, i agree with you that there is no need to GPL all the software of the world, but it really helps to have good quality software available that can be moulded and modified to meet your solutions. Computer industry is still in its first phase of evolution along with internet. What the industry has been creating is operating systems, graphics capabilities, communications, open standards, multimedia, data storage, network architectures etc etc. Now, all these tools are basic ingredients to provide solutions to the connected world. my point of view is that all these basic capabilities and tools should be GPLed. now you can pick up these tools, modify them to your requirements and provide SOLUTIONS. If these basic tools are properietary, then you are not in a position to match the might/muscle and money power or the megacorps riding high by charging (rather duping people for basic tools) heavy amounts for these tools. Look at what GPLed software has given to you. Tools as good as properietary tools (if there is something left, we all are closing in fast), now you are free to create your solutions and charge for the services. Thats how it should be: carpenter does not charge for his tools, he charges for the solutions he gives you. doctors dont charge for a stethoscope but for what they do with it. Time is not far away when we will have very easy to use tools at hand that can be taken for granted, then the focus is bound to shift to SERVICES and SOLUTIONS. For the above to be true we need to have a distinction between SOFTWARE and SOLUTIONS. It is anybody's guess. Believe me, today because of what i have learnt from open Source software has enabled me to dream of outwitting the megacorps with GPLed software. GPLed software also helps us move ahead fast. We cant sit on the IP that we have created, we have to innovate else our work is rendered obsolete by another genius from the brave GNU world. IT LEADS TO AN ENVIRONMENT OF CONSTANT INNOVATION. And innovation is good for the world. I would close with this: ALL THE SOFTWARE SHOULD BE GPLed, ALL THE SOLUTIONS MAY OR MAY NOT BE, ALL THE SERVICES SHOULD BE CHARGED FOR. leave you with this thought, regards, tarun gaur In support of Sanil's view !! _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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[Fwd: Linux in Government list]
by KG Kumar 07 Dec '02

07 Dec '02

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Query: Free font for Malayalam...
by Frederick Noronha 07 Dec '02

07 Dec '02

Any reports on how this is progressing? FN http://www.apdip.net/news/malayalam/index.htm Free Font For Malayalam Abstract The role of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in common man^�s life is increasing. However, only a small fraction of people are able to utilize the benefits. A major barrier in the promotion of computer usage in a country like India is largely due to the fact that there are hardly any software in any of the Indian scripts. In a country where nearly one third of the population lives below $1/day, the cost of ICT applications is still prohibitively expensive. The cost of ICT applications is primarily due to two costs; the hardware cost and the software costs. While hardware costs have been coming down and are inevitable to a certain extent, software costs have not acted as a major constraint in applying ICT applications in developing countries. The free software movement has been addressing the issue of making available information to all as a basic right. While some basic software are today available in free downloadable forms over the Internet, these software do not cater to the fonts in Malayalam, which is the language of 30 million Keralites in Kerala and at least 10 million outside. The project proposes to create free software with local language (Malayalam) support in accordance with the established standards so that ICT applications can be made available at low cost in the language of the people. Further, the developed codes are proposed to be made available on the Internet so that people can not only freely use them but also develop on them. Specifically, the project aims to create Free Font for Malayalam, create toolkit (toolkits are basic building blocks in creating Graphical User Interface based applications) with Malayalam support, and create a localised desktop and office productivity applications and documentation in Malayalam. This will surely help in ICT penetration in Kerala, spur development of similar fonts on free software for other local languages in India and other parts of Asia Pacific, create the base for further development in software with local language support thus enabling a larger segment of the population to enjoy the benefits of information technology. Background and Justification of the Project ICT has potential to play an important role in improving the life of common man in a developing country. Many initiatives have already been taken in this regard. At the same time it is also true that only very few people are able to take advantage of ICT and the high costs of hardware and software are in certain ways perpetuating the development divide through a digital divide. A minority population, that is able to afford the high cost, are able to benefit from the ICT revolution and a large majority is getting further marginalized in the process. Two major reasons for this digital divide are: Non availability of content in regional languages The high cost of software. Kerala is one of the southern states of India lying nearly 9 to 13 degrees North and having a population of nearly 30 million out of which nearly 74% live in rural area (2001 census). It is important to note that the rural population has gone up from 73.5% to 74% during 1991 to 2001. Apart from an elected State Legislature, the State also has multi-layered elected local bodies. There are 992 Grama Panchayats (Village level councils) and 58 Municipal Councils and Corporations representing the rural and urban areas respectively. Kerala, known as ^�God^�s own country^� for its natural beauty and which makes it one of the top tourist destinations of the world, has also initiated various programs/steps to make the benefits of information technology reach common people through innovative projects. Although Kerala has a literacy level of 90.92% (2001 census) (male 94.20% and female 87.86%), the population connected to Internet remain shockingly below 1%, the issues relating to lack of connectivity remain a big problem. Today, Malayalam enabled software is scarce. Those available are for Word Processing alone. Malayalam usage in computers is limited to using the computer as an electronic typewriter and for publishing. The major reason for this is the lack of Operating Systems supporting Malayalam. To add to this, the Malayalam font system for the global standard ^� the Unicode - has not been built. As a result, it is not possible to have an ICT infrastructure with Malayalam support. Another issue is the very high cost of proprietary software. If Malayalam font is developed in proprietary software, the cost of the same will make it prohibitively costly for using it on a larger scale. Low income populations will in particular, find it exceedingly difficult to use the resulting system, thus making the digital divide even more dominant. The alternative proposed is the development of local content in free Software. Freedom associated with free software enables one to make modifications to it (to support Malayalam) and make it available to people around the world. Project Objectives The benefits of Information Technology are reaching only a very small minority, thus creating a digital divide. The two major issues here are lack of availability of software with local language support and the very high cost of software. This Project aims to reduce this digital divide by creating localised versions of free software. This project will create Free Font for Malayalam, create a toolkit (toolkits are basic building blocks in creating GUI based applications) with Malayalam support, create localised desktop and office productivity applications and documentation in Malayalam. This will create the base for further development in software with local language support, thus enabling a larger segment of the population to enjoy the benefits of information technology. Further, the developed codes are proposed to be made available on the Internet so that people can not only freely use them but also develop on them. Project Benefits/ Beneficiaries The project foresees various benefits arising out of it. The direct impact arising out of this would be large-scale development of content in local language. Additionally, the content would be more participative and, therefore, more localized in terms of needs and requirements, issues and solutions etc. Inspite of having more than 90% literacy for over one decade, the Kerala state continues to remain low on PC and Internet penetration in the country. Development of local content for a state like Kerala, with high literacy will lead to change in the society and economy. Some important aspects are Usage: Tools in ICT will become more and more accessible to people who don^�t know English but know to read and write Malayalam. This implies access to majority of people in Kerala. Education: Education for majority in schools is in Malayalam language. This will be enable development of educational software in local language. Date archiving: Archiving of vast amount of data available becomes possible. The knowledge archiving and retrieval is the major application of ICT. Till now we are forced to use English language to archive our knowledge, our history. This has inherent limitations. Economic: This will also help in development of new ICT enabled services in local languages etc. e-Governance: Support for local language becomes easy for all the e-governance programs of the Government. Apart from benefits arising to Kerala, the project will have lessons for developing similar fonts in other local languages. Asia Pacific, rich in culture and languages cannot be dependent on English alone. Indian alone has 17 official languages. The experience gained through this project will encourage other similar efforts in other languages. Project Sustainability The software developed by the Project will be loaded free on the Internet enabling anyone interested to download it and use it. It will also enable others interested in it, to develop it further so that there is an ongoing mechanism to upgrade the software. This would ensure continuous ongoing upgrading of software and its long-term sustainability. Project Methodology The aim of the project is to create a comprehensive set of software for computing in the local language. The Project involves the following tasks: Font: The first step in bringing a new language to computers is creating a font for that language. The font contains information about shape of characters in that language. This project aims to create a font based on Unicode character encoding scheme. Unicode is the new standard to encode data from languages around the world. It is the most accepted standard now. During the development of this font, creation of font encoding scheme for Malayalam is also necessary. Lack of a font-encoding scheme is now an issue for development of more fonts for Malayalam. Toolkits: Indian languages have got a special property of change in shape of characters depending on context. Hence, these languages are referred to as complex ^� text languages. All the software using graphical interface are built using some Toolkit. Toolkits are basic building blocks in creating software. Localisation of the toolkits will make the creation of Malayalam supported software easier. The work will be on a cross platform GUI toolkit called GTK. A major component in this is to create a renderer for Malayalam and adding Malayalam support for freely available toolkits. Localisation of Applications: Localisation of software involves developing localized applications on common utilities like Office suite, Desktop, and other productivity applications. Localising Desktop + Basic Applications ^� Involves packaging and application translation. This task can be started only after making toolkit work. Localisation of Office Applications ^� Involves localizing office productivity applications like Word processor, Presentation application, Spreadsheet, Groupware. Additional packages like Vector and Raster Graphic tools, Plotting, Project Management, Finance, Diagramming, Communication etc. can be added. Internet Applications ^� This task consists of localizing basic Internet tools like Browser (Translation), Mail client, IRC, Instant Messenger. Database ^� Localised sorting support will be implemented. Postgre SQN will be used as the database and modifications will be made in to it. Localising terminal applications ^� This is mainly for people who want to use machines with low resource and without graphic interfaces. Documentation: Manuals are essential for suitable documentation and for a new user to get started with the application. These Manuals will be developed in both English and Malayalam. Translation of these manuals will help a lot of people who want to learn and use computer themselves. K-BIP & FSF India has initiated some work in the aforesaid direction. The present work includes work on customizing the GNU/Linux (Free Operating System) to support Malayalam. Project Timeline/ Phases/ Team Nine months encompassing font development, toolkits, localization of applications and project documentation. The Project is divided into four phases. The first phase is Font development and this activity involves 1 Programmer, 1 Graphics Expert and 1 Draftsman. The second phase is the building of Toolkits and this involves 3 Programmers. The third phase is the Localization of Applications in which 9 Programmers, 1 Translator and 3 Data Entry Operators will be involved. The fourth phase is the Documentation and 1 Language Translator, 1 Proof Reader and 1 Data Entry Operator will be involved in this phase. Project Outputs This Project will create a Free localized GNU /Linux Desktop system. The components of this will be: A Malayalam Font Localised Toolkit for Malayalam A collection of commonly used Applications (Word Processor, Email client, Browser, Database etc.) Documentation for the software in Malayalam Project Monitoring The Output of this project is a collection of software. The evaluation and monitoring will be done with the help of National Informatics Centre, which is the apex institution in the area of Computing and Information Technology. The Font must contain all glyphs from the ISFOC Standard for Malayalam. And the encoding will have to be Unicode based. The Toolkits will be verified by creating sample graphical applications using the same. Usually the test code will be available with Toolkit. The test programs will be in 'C' programming language. Localization of Application will be verified by looking through all the messages of the application in the message database. Documentation will be verified with help of a language expert by comparing it with the original document in Malayalam. Random Samples will be taken for this. Project Implementors Implementing Organisation ^� Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-BIP) is a non-profit autonomous body under aegis of the Industries Department of the Government of Kerala. It is envisaged for promoting the potential industrial activity in the state of Kerala. It is the state level agency for Asia Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (UN-APCTT), responsible for transfer of technology for SMEs. It is also involved in promoting e-governance in Kerala through various initiatives like online applications for various Government applications, online payment for Government payments etc. The project is being carried out in close coordination with Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Kerala. Partner Organisation - The Free Software Foundation is a world-renowned organisation founded by Richard M. Stallman in the USA in 1984. FSF believes that all software should be free as software is information and the withholding of information is wrong and a denial of a human right. The first FSF Chapter in India was started in India in Trivandrum, Kerala. Project Management The Project Team will be headquartered in the State Capital, Thiruvananthapuram. The Project Director and Coordinator is the Chief Executive of K-BIP and Secretary (Industries) Government of Kerala. The Project Director will oversee the work of two Project Managers who, in turn, will steer the other members of the Project Team. The Chief Executive of K-BIP is Secretary (Industries), Government of Kerala. For further information, please contact: Mr. Ajay Kumar Secretary to the Government of Kerala Industries Department/ Executive Director, Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion Sri Ganesh', T.C. IX/2197 Kurup's Lane, Sasthamangalam Trivandrum - 695010, Kerala, India Tel: 91-471- 333028 Fax: 91-471- 311883 Email: kumarajay1111(a)yahoo.com

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LINK-GOA: Check out the new ILUG-Margao mailing list...
by Frederick Noronha 07 Dec '02

07 Dec '02

Margao is the main headquarters town of South Goa. When someone suggested setting up a LUG there, the response was: why not? Today, this LUG is doing well for itself, attracting more people to GNU/Linux in Goa, and bringing in those who would have probably not made it for the main group's meetings in Panjim. This is a small note from them... FN PS: Goa is India's smallest state on the west coast.... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Key highlights:- ** www.ilug-margao.org is the first GNU/Linux related site in Goa.. ** The contributions section contains easy to read how-to's contributed by members..one dosent have to go through tonnes of material to install/configure the stuff. A quick read should do the trick! ** A chat channel for GNU/Linux enthusiasts. Impatient geeks could get their queries answered instantly! (Perhaps, Saturday night could be fixed to hold virtual discussions?) ** Project section will hold projects that have been coded by members. ** A neat and slick Photo Gallery to show off GNU/Linux activities! ** Tutorials section for other resources/tutorials found around the web ** CD/Book management will be added by the end of JAN to facilitate borrowing of Books/CD's around South Goa.

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From Archives of Indian business
by smitha balraj 07 Dec '02

07 Dec '02

Have anyone done through this link ? http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_o/open_software/20021031_statem… Open Software Solutions makes pro-free software statement Jays Jacob 31 October 2002 Kochi: Open Software Solutions (OSS), the first software development industrial venture in the cooperative sector that has gone official today, has made a pro-free software definitive statement in the ongoing Linux versus Microsoft debate in Kerala. Based on the philosophy and politics of the copyleft, as opposed to copyright, the society is already into developing and marketing products in Open Source Software Platforms like the Linux OS and the PostgreSQL RDBMS, providing the much-needed price and reengineering buoyancy to its clients. Already the flagship product of OSS Sanghamitra, the online banking software for cooperative banks is making a silent wave in the sector. This cooperative banking tool is currently being implemented in 14 locations in six districts of Kerala and is growing at the rate of two-to-three installations every month. The tool, which took more than 27,000 man-hours to develop, is expected to revolutionise the way primary service cooperative banks work as it will help in inter- and intra-bank transfers. The users need not have to pay for licences, version upgrading or adding new users. The cooperative sector in the state will be able to save up to Rs 80 crore by using the free software which otherwise goes out of the national wealth, says OSS social entrepreneur and chief technology officer K V Anil Kumar. Social entrepreneurship is also the motivating force for the society, which currently has 36 members mostly with techie background. The seed for this unique geek tree was sown in 1999 when Kumar, along with three other youngsters currently with the OSS (Joby John, Krishnadas M and Joseph Thomas), were actively involved in a study for a total e-governance strategy development for the Ernakulam District Panchayat as part of the Electronics Industrialisation Infrastructure Development (EIID) Society. The argument then was that projects like e-governance can be done only by bigger agencies and with the help of companies like Microsoft, says Kumar. The study recommended that free software should be used to cut on the massive licensing fee that the state would have to pay year after year, says John, an IT consultant and honorary member of the Appropriate Technology Promotion Society, which promotes and guides OSS. We stand for a cause. By providing cost-effective appropriate technology, the state will be able to save crores of rupees that would otherwise go out of the country. It is also a unique experiment of social entrepreneurship where a bunch of like-minded individuals have come together to create opportunities in jobs and learning, adds John. The politics of the venture is to take on the unscrupulous market forces that have got into patenting knowledge and using them for monopolistic gains based on the philosophy of greed. It is almost similar to the new capitalism that no more claims the ownership of land, but has usurped the technology of the seed. The murky world of Intellectual Property Rights is helping transnational corporates gain more than 40-per cent profit, says John. OSS with its unique philosophy has attracted a lot of youngsters and has a good gender balance. I became attracted in the philosophy while doing a project at EIID as part of my postgraduate studies in Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). I feel free software is the most appropriate technology for the software community, says Sindhu Jerson, an MBE from CUSAT and an OSS honorary secretary. Kerala State Minister for Tourism K V Thomas inaugurated OSSs office at Subhash Chandra Bose Road, Kadavanthara, Kochi, today. Four other products developed by OSS, including a cheque printing software, interactive voice response system (IVRS), jukebox and a chitti software, were also released. OSS can be reached at eiidp(a)vsnl.com. ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com

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Fsf-friends December 2002