Fsf-friends September 2003

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

16 participants
37 discussions

[Fsf-friends] [CrossPosting] [ILUG-BOM] Large order for Linux-OS PCs
by Biju G C 17 Sep '03

17 Sep '03

FYI: just thought of sharing --- Nandkumar Saravade <ns1962(a)hotpop.com> wrote: Dear All The Maharashtra Police seems to be going in for large scale computerization. They have issued a tender notice for 1500 PCs, UPS and modems, with Linux as the OS [tender specification reads: "Linux operating System latest version (along with Devnagiri script and Open Office Suite.) with latest Service Pack (preloaded) license and recovery CD media with every PC and compatible Antivirus software"]. The notice is available at http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/data/tender/document/2003/08/27/2003082716463…. No details of the computerization programme itself seem available, though. Nandkumar Saravade On "GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India" <linuxers(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in> ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://mail.messenger.yahoo.co.uk

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CyberIndiaOnline: Linux wins, but Microsoft rules...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 Sep '03

16 Sep '03

------------------------------------------------------------------ CYBER INDIA ONLINE: LINUX WINS, BUT MICROSOFT RULES "While cost has been the key reason for driving the demand for Linux-based branded PCs, experts suggest pirated Microsoft software still, rules the heart..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2003/103091205.asp ------------------------------------------------------------------ Cited by LINUX TODAY

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[Fsf-friends] Re: NEWS: Microsoft signs agreements with Haryana, Punjab
by Ramanraj K 13 Sep '03

13 Sep '03

>A Punjab government official said the agreement with Microsoft was aimed to >facilitate greater transparency To start with, could they please publish all the terms of the agreement ?

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[Fsf-friends] Fwd: [karunakar@freedomink.org: [Indlinux-group] Punjabi vs Panjabi debate.]
by Mahesh T. Pai 12 Sep '03

12 Sep '03

FN, can you give this a bit of publicity amongst your punjabi speaking journos?? ----- Forwarded message from Guntupalli Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> ----- > Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 16:01:00 +0530 > From: Guntupalli Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> > Subject: [Indlinux-group] Punjabi vs Panjabi debate. > To: indlinux-punjabi(a)lists.sourceforge.net, > indic-computing-users(a)lists.sourceforge.net > Cc: indlinux-group(a)lists.sourceforge.net > Reply-To: indlinux-group(a)lists.sourceforge.net > X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.9.2 (GTK+ 1.2.10; i686-pc-linux-gnu) > Organization: Netcore Solutions > > Hi all, > Offlate a debate has been going on in Gnome l10n circles as to how > 'Punjabi' is to be written. Gnome has policy to follow ISO language > codes, where language code is 'pa' ,written as 'Panjabi' for Punjabi. > Other projects like KDE, SF.net, .. also follow same policy. > > List of language codes is at > http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/englangn.html > > Right now Punjabi is not well supported, but when it does have > support (locale, font, input methods) , this point will be constantly > raised by users. > It would be interesting to note that usage of 'Panjabi' is restricted > to compliance of ISO 639 codes or by those who are not aware of the > language name and come to know of it from ISO standards. > > Some threads from Gnome-i18n > http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2003-February/msg00155.html > http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2003-February/msg00156.html > > Its important that someone takes, this up with respective Punjabi > language bodies, Govt of Punjab, TDIL/ MIT GOI to persue the matter > with ISO to get the change done. > I hope native speakers take this up (& I will keep making noises till > someone takes it up :), since later on when language is better > supported, it could grow into bigger debate. > > Regards, > Karunakar > > -- > A Reasonable man adapts himself to the world > An Unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself > So all progress in the world depends on the Unreasonable man - GB Shaw > > --------------------------- > * Indian Linux project * > * http://www.indlinux.org * > --------------------------- > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek > Welcome to geek heaven. > http://thinkgeek.com/sf > _______________________________________________ > IndLinux-group mailing list > IndLinux-group(a)lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indlinux-group ----- End forwarded message ----- -- +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Mahesh T. Pai, LL.M., 'NANDINI', S. R. M. Road, Ernakulam, Cochin-682018, Kerala, India. http://in.geocities.com/paivakil +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+

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NEWS: Microsoft signs agreements with Haryana, Punjab
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 12 Sep '03

12 Sep '03

Microsoft signs agreements with Haryana, Punjab >From Indo-Asian News Service Chandigarh, Sep 11 (IANS) Software giant Microsoft India will set up a research laboratory in Haryana to promote the use of Hindi in computer applications and help accelerate e-governance in Punjab. "Microsoft Corporation India will set up a research and development laboratory at Kurukshetra University for the promotion of Hindi in computer application," a Haryana government official said here Thursday. The decision was taken at a meeting between Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Microsoft India managing director Rajiv Kaul. Microsoft and the Punjab government Thursday signed an agreement in the presence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Kaul to jointly work towards accelerating e-governance at different levels. They will also jointly work on information and communication technology education to make Punjab a "knowledge rich" state. In his meeting with Kaul, Chautala suggested that care should be taken while developing Hindi software to use words that would be easy to understand and simple to write. Chautala was all praise for the contribution made by Microsoft in promoting IT, especially at Gurgaon, adjoining New Delhi. Haryana's proximity to the national capital and its investor-friendly climate were added attractions for entrepreneurs, he noted. A Punjab government official said the agreement with Microsoft was aimed to facilitate greater transparency, better citizen services, reduced cost of operations, enhanced agility in governance and to make the people of Punjab realise their potential by using IT. Microsoft will set up two centres of excellence for e-governance in Chandigarh and Jalandhar in collaboration with the Punjab government's IT department. These centres will showcase Microsoft technologies and solutions and demonstrate the interoperability of Microsoft technologies with other platforms. They will also be used to train Punjab government personnel. --Indo-Asian News Service

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Re: GNU Freedom
by Ramanraj K 11 Sep '03

11 Sep '03

Re: GNU Freedom could become the mother of all freedoms ====================================================================== GNU Freedom is properly the title of a long essay, but it cannot wait that long as I am obliged to explain this atleast briefly. Hammurabi inscribed his code that included law like "an eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth" on a stone pillar. The US Constitution, that provided for constitutional justice is written on parchment and still preserved in their archives, and this style of constitutional justice has been adopted by several independant states on their own free will. All freedoms find their source in some basic legal document. To record the law, people have used human memory, wood, leather, clay, stone, bronze, iron, parchment, paper, palm leaves and anything that the people considered extremely durable[FN-1] to record. The storage of laws in the medium of computer hardware and its capability to execute the written code in ways meaningful to us through software is something unknown in legal history. Let us proceed further in the light of our own constitution and the US constitution. Since independence and the coming into force of our constitution, we enjoy several freedoms. Part III of the Indian Constitution lists several basic fundamental rights and Article 32 guarantees the right to move the Supreme Court of India for the enforcement of rights conferred in Part III. Without Article 32 the rest of Part III will be a list of empty rights. Of course, we have Article 226. But the point is that, without procedures to enforce rights and freedoms guaranteed, Part III Rights and Freedoms would be as empty as our Part IV Directives. Many of our freedoms were adopted on the lines of the US constitution. Execution and enforcement have a close connection. We are forced to seek enforcement only because of some failure or defect in execution. Courts are actually engaged in debugging the errors encountered in the execution of laws. All software, by their very nature, execute rules in ways which ultimately makes sense only to humans. If execution of laws is done with the aid of computers, then the need to seek enforcement is almost redundant. Then, the software becomes the tool and means of safeguarding all the other freedoms. Freedoms are positive rights so far as people are concerned, but the very same freedoms are negative injunctions against the state. Generally, if a constitution says that "freedom of speech is guaranteed", it only means that the state cannot make any law that takes away the freedom of speech from its people. Our constitution gives these freedoms under Article 19 using a positive language, and on the contrary, the US constitution plainly speaks of the freedoms as negative injunctions against the state. But the end result is the same, for example, the penal law of the state cannot punish you for making a speech, and if any such law is made, the courts will hold the law unconstitutional and refuse enforcement. Freedom from discrimination on certain ground is guaranteed in Article 15 of our constitution prohibiting state discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, sex etc. Suppose a state law proposes: if ($citizen_sex == 'male'){ // some discriminatory privilege to male citizens $citizen_pay = 10000; } else { $citizen_pay = 8000; } A parser can handle the discrimination violating Article 15, and could be made to return an error [FN-2]. Error: if ($citizen_sex == 'male') { ... } violates Article 15 Error: legislation failed Software can elegantly execute laws and deal with attempts to encroach freedoms at the earliest point of time. There are fewer occasions when something unconstitutional or ultra vires is allowed to be done, and then latter correct the error through enforcement of constitutional rights. This is the main reason why sofware could be the fulcrum on which all our rights rest, and could be used as a convenient tool to achieve results that may otherwise be difficult to enforce, provide or measure. Statutory interpretation would also become superfluous, because computer languages are well designed to rule out ambiguities, or handle ambiguities in well known ways, and irresponsible absurd interpretations of the law will become a thing of the past. Of course, there would be several executive actions that can be done in the name of law without a computer presence, like searches or arrests. Errors in such cases can be dealt with by the judiciary as done now, but perhaps with greater speed and accuracy with computer aid. Such errors are best corrected only by education, where also computers can play an important role. Computers are no substitute for us, but computers can aid to protect all our rights as guaranteed by a constitution, through reliable execution that can easily be supervised by us. It is needless to illustrate execution of state laws with computer aid. States that used paper, parchment and stone in the past now have the option to use computer hardware and software to store their laws and execute them as proceedings, for better enforcement, peace and prosperity. Computer hardware could be purchased. But hardware cannot be directly used without the aid of several software tools and aids. Software needs to be written from scratch or obtained from other sources. Writing software from scratch is not easy or possible for governments. If this were possible, then there is no need to go for third party software. States often desire tried and tested things for use. Opting for non-free software means that the state seriously compromises its sovereignty, because of non-disclosure of source code, and a host of other defects inherent to the very nature of non-free software. The law itself is open, and any software that it may rely upon for execution also necessary has to be open. Black box method of software use is also undemocratic and can never be trusted. Choosing free software is the only solution that does not compromise state sovereignty, as the state can independently examine the source code before using it freely, and make any modification to suit its needs, without any permission from even the author of the code. [Though not required by the GPL, giving credit to the author(s) of the code will show stateliness!]. Free software fits the law like a glove, in all aspects.[FN-3] There is in fact no reason to consider software and law as two different fields. Once the state decides upon free software, it will need to choose some database application to store its laws and proceedings, and other software tools to "execute" written code. A host of free software tools like Apache, BIND, PostgreSQL, PHP, Perl, Gimp, gcc, emacs, and others are all required to create a computer based legal system to make democracy work right for a state. Practically, most of these tools need make or gmake, and gcc to compile for use. make, gmake and gcc are GNU software. Without RMS and GNU, there would have been no make or gcc. Therefore, GNU is at the very heart of any open legal system that can work from a computer network. Therefore free software is required to create a democratic legal system that works on computer networks, and execution of all the other freedoms will flow through the free software used. Freedom of life is meaningless if I do not have free safe water to drink. Experts in Chennai say, 1mm of rain if stored well, could meet the one day's supply needs of Chennai people. Chennai receives about 450 mm of rain annually. If we go without water most of the days, the fault lies in us. I would expect the software the state uses to keep measure of rainfall received, the storage achieved, and use the feedback to achieve a sustained flow of water to quench our thirst. Just like water flows through rivers, the law could flow through free software, and satisfy the most pressing needs of mankind. Freedom of life is again empty if we have too much chloride base chemical pesticides in soil [annual worth valued at Rs.4000 crores]. If the state resolves to stop using chloride based pesticides and opt to direct use of neem powder, dung ash, coffee powder [coffee plant produces caffeine as a pesticide to ward away pests, but we take it as a "beverage"], breeding of sparrows and other birds that prey on pests naturally all the time, we should be able to monitor execution of a state plan to do this from our home, without much strain. People or the sofware itself can raise hue and cry if things are not proceeding as intended, to make amends and corrections until things work out well. Then our freedom of life will have some meaning. That is why, free software could become the mother of all our freedoms. In nature, life flows through the mother. The British Parliament refused grant to Charles Babbage, who then proceeded to construct his Analytical Engine with his own funds, and at a time of financial crisis his mother alone encouraged him to keep up the good work advising "--pursue it, even if it should oblige you to live on bread and cheese." All hackers owe a tribute to Charles Babbage, the first software developer, to ensure that law flows through free software, and take care of the freedom of the people like a mother takes care of her children. The day when such free sofware is available and states adopt such free software, the tribute would have been made. -K. Ramanraj. Foot Notes:- FN-1: Computer hardware may be the least durable in this sense of the word, but it is the best choice to achieve the true object of law FN-2: To enable this, variable naming rules are just as important in law also FN-3: Please refer to the philosophy section at http://www.gnu.org

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GOA-ECAP: FLOSS talks in focus...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 11 Sep '03

11 Sep '03

IN FOCUS: FLOSS talks at ECAP VOLUNTEERS OF the India Linux Users' Group (Goa) will put up a wide range of talks, during the ECAP in Panjim and Margao. ECAP is the Exhibition of Computers and Allied Products, to be organised by the Computer Society of India (CSI-Goa chapter) on Sept 13/14 in Panjim and Sept 20/21 in Margao. This is intended to be of interest to the enterprise segment, home-users, students, educationists and parents. In particular, there will be a special focus during the demos, scheduled to be held on the first floor of Hotel Mandovi, on September 13/14. More details from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa. Below are some of the talks to be scheduled during the ECAP: Dr Gurunandan Bhat Enterprise Mail and Messaging Solutions With Linux Animesh Nerurkar Prof Kshama Fernandes, GIM Free Software In The World Of Finance Topic: Kshama has been using Debian for her research in Finance. She will talk and demo the tools used, why these tools were selected etc. o LaTeX -Documentation o PERL 5 -Data and File manipulation and simulation. o Shell Scripts - Data and File Manipulation and Wrapper Scripts. o Jgraph -building graphs from Data. o R -Statistical calculations o Gnumeric -Data manipulation and Data conversion. o Awk - for data manipulation o R - statistical software o Gnuplot o Pdfscreen - for slide shows Stata -Statistical calculations Intended Intended audience: Any newbie or professional who has questions about the power of GNU/Linux or wishes to witness the demo of this simulation. Prof George Easaw, GEC Latex, the document preparation system in GNU/Linux. An introduction to Magicpoint. Mario Alvarez, alienwiz.com Goaing For A Holiday: A Made-In-Goa Hotel Management Software developed with GNU/Linux tools. Tushar Joshi, currently runs the London Linux group www.lonix.org.uk Linux In London: What, How and Why Specially meant for LUG members. Others welcome too. Dr Gurunandan Bhat Intranets Dr Anil Seth, Head of IT, PCC Python, Without Venom The talk will walk through a small, mundane utility program and in the process demonstrate how we can exploit Python to work at a very high level. We will assume that a person knows very little about Python but has some background about computers. We will discuss one concern at a time and discuss how to learn just what is needed to solve the problem on hand. The speaker hopes to convey the underlying simplicity of Python, the amazing power it gives us and the philosophy of Guido van Rossum to make programming accessible to all. Bijon Shaha Linux... Made Easy! Yunus Shaikh Embedded Linux Arvind Clement Computer Security: A Primer For All Computer Users Ashley Delaney Multimedia and GNU/Linux at home This talk will attempt to focus on the multimedia aspects of the operating system that home-users generally deploy. It attempts to bridge the gap betwen commanplace Windows software and its GNU/Linux equivalents. It will showcase examples of a true mustitasking and home usage of comman tasks on a stable and virus free OS. Arvind Yadav FLOSS in the corporate world Sanil Talaulikar Getting It Straight: Options For A Software Developer Under GNU/Linux (with a special focus on Sossegado, a game being built on the FLOSS platform.) DURING THE DEMOS, there will be special focus on the educational software put out in the special distro 'FreEDUC'. You can meet ECAP volunteers at the 'Rampon', Hotel Mandovi, Panjim (Sept 13/14, whole day), or at Adarsh Vidyalaya, Margao (Sept 20/21). FN More details from: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Newsforge....
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Sep '03

09 Sep '03

Please see... http://newsforge.com/newsforge/03/09/05/1958235.shtml?tid=51 ... or just see the frontpaged article on India. Your feedback would be appreciated, as would other updated links. FN -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Linux New Media Award Nominations (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Sep '03

09 Sep '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Dear Linux Enthusiast, The Linux New Media Award will again be presented in 2003 to products, projects, and companies that have made a particularly important contribution to free software and open source this year. This is the fourth year for the Linux New Media Award, the second as an Editors Choice. The international jury is made up of editors, authors, developers and businesspeople active in the Linux Community, and we invite you to participate in this years Award voting. Linux New Media publishes the English-language Linux Magazine, the German-language Linux-Magazin, LinuxUser, and EasyLinux magazines as well as the online portal www.linux-community.de. We will publish the results of the Award voting and present the jury in the December 2003 issues of our publications. Therefore, wed like to request that you send us a current photo and short bio to be used for this purpose. The voting process is simple and is handled in two stages. First, we collect nominations for the pre-defined categories from the jury. Secondly, the final voting takes place a few days later. Our editorial teams have already made some nominations for each of the categories. Only products, projects, and companies that stand out through particular importance, innovation and/or significance should be nominated. Please send us your further nominations by email to award(a)linuxnewmedia.com by September 14th, 2003. Thank you for your cooperation! Best Regards, John Southern Hans-Georg Eßer Jan Kleinert - Linux Magazine - LinuxUser - - Linux-Magazin - International - - EasyLinux - ============================================= Linux New Media Award 2003 Categories - please ad your nominees HARDWARE * Best Notebook * Apple, IBM, Dell,... * Best Free Project for Hardware Support * Sane, Cups, Acpi Kernel 2.6,... SOFTWARE * Distributions * Red Hat, SuSE, Debian,... * IDE Development System * K-Develop, Eclipse, Kylix,... * Multimedia * VDR, DeCSS, Xine,... * Most Beginner-friendly Desktop Application * OpenOffice, K-Mail, K3B, Nautilus,... * Most Interesting Programming Language * Ruby, Python, C# / Mono,... * Collaboration Software * Evolution, Kolab, OpenGroupware,... SPECIAL AWARDS * Newcomer of the Year * Typo3, Firebird, SGI Altix,... * Institution / Organization / Company that has especially helped Linux * EuroLinux, Open Source Now Fund (Red Hat), City of Munich, OSDL,...

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Pitfalls to avoid
by Ramanraj K 08 Sep '03

08 Sep '03

Vineet Chaitanya <vc(a)mail.iiit.net> wrote: > On Sun, Sep 07, 2003 at 05:22:21AM +0530, Ramanraj K wrote: > > > The British used religion as a tool to divide and rule India. Gandhi > > attempted to use religion to unite us. The use of religion for > > uniting or dividing is dangerous as we now know. > > I think the "uniting" which is dangerous is only a superficial > uniting and inherently involves "dividing". > > On the other hand, the uniting which Mahatma Gandhi attempted > was a genuine uniting. > > Sorry, for bringing in extraneous philosophical points in this list, > but I do think that clarity of thinking is very much essential in > any endevour. So I just wanted to clarify the statement of Shree > Ramanraj. > > Vineet Chaitanya It is futile to repent history, but to ignore history is folly. Annie Besant left the Home Rule League in 1920 because it had become "intertwined with Religion". Even if using religion in public affairs was justified because it was "genuine uniting", it did not work well from the start, and ultimately ended in the partition of our country, and the problems continue, inspite of the best efforts of our leaders. Postings in this list frequently relate to e-governance and education using free software. The past ought to be carefully considered while laying new paths into the future. Mahatma Gandhi himself clarified the position of religion in a state: "The State would look after your secular welfare, health, communcations, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern" - Harijan: Sept. 22, 1946 If a state ignores this, the state may be forced to spend huge sums on peace keeping, depriving utilisation of common funds to meet more pressing and urgent needs for its children and welfare. I hope this clarity prevails in the minds of those who write free software aiming for good education and governance.

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Fsf-friends September 2003