Fsf-friends November 2004

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36 participants
53 discussions

[Fsf-friends] Another potential candidate for software company going GPL...
by Rishi 21 Nov '04

21 Nov '04

Hi I met the director of a software company and I got them to think about licensing their software with GPL. They currently deliver their software product as a service to their customers. As usual the ethical issue always comes up and people consider thinking about it... so he agreed and felt the need to license his software with the GNU GPL. However, one of his concerns was his service (software) would be compromised by others (competitors) who have access to the source code. Since I'm not a programmer, I was unable to explain why making his source code to the public, would actually enhance the security. Can anyone help me with examples to deliver to this guy/ Regards Rishi

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UNESCO UNDP and M$
by Anivar 20 Nov '04

20 Nov '04

Dear Friends, M$ is targetting Education and Culture of Communities communities with the help of UNESCO. http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/PressRelease.aspx?file=MSUNESCOPR… [quote] M$ and the UNESCO will focus on increasing the use of ICT through the following projects: Education and Learning -- Syllabus for integrating ICT curriculum into teaching. UNESCO and Microsoft believe that ICT can play a significant role in improving teaching and learning, provided that teachers have the training they need to effectively integrate ICT into instructional design, planning and other critical components of education. With assistance from Microsoft, UNESCO will create resource materials supporting the development of curricula and training courses on the use of ICT for teachers and classrooms. The materials will provide content guidance to curriculum authors and course providers, as well as tools to help teachers, education policy-makers and others evaluate the effectiveness of available courseware. This multistakeholder project will draw on Microsoft's expertise in designing ICT products and services for education; in conjunction with its Partners in Learning and Unlimited Potential initiatives, Microsoft recently announced the global availability of two ICT curriculum series for use in schools and community learning settings. -- UNESCO Knowledge Communities. Utilising the Microsoft(R) Solutions Sharing Network platform, UNESCO will develop multiple online communities that allow international and national experts and agencies to exchange content and best practices, share tools, mobilise interested parties, and suggest solutions and strategies to address critical issues in education. Initial community themes will include Technology Solutions in Education, Multilingualism in Cyberspace and Information for All. -- Teacher support and knowledge sharing. UNESCO and Microsoft will explore how Microsoft's Innovative Teachers programme and its online community, the Innovative Teachers Network, can further UNESCO's aims in education. The Innovative Teachers Network connects a global community of educators and provides forums in which teachers can share ideas, content and best practices with other teachers who share a common interest in using technology to enhance teaching and learning. -- ICT access and skills training for teachers and students. UNESCO and Microsoft will also explore how Microsoft's Partners in Learning initiative can help advance efforts to improve education in developing countries. Partners in Learning seeks to deliver teacher and student skills development, tailored curricula, technical support and research, and increased access to technology by working with governments, local schools and teachers. UNESCO and Microsoft will explore opportunities to collaborate under Partners in Learning in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Africa, Eastern Europe, and Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Community Access and Development -- Youth technology and learning centres in the North African Arab states. Microsoft and UNESCO will establish a subregional technology centre that will provide North African youth with improved access to ICT and ICT skills development. The facility will share resources and expertise with other centres throughout the region, with the ultimate aim of helping develop North Africa's future work force. The project will draw on resources and best practices from UNESCO's international information and data exchange network INFOYOUTH, and Microsoft's Unlimited Potential initiative. INFOYOUTH organises national, regional and international consultations among a wide variety of stakeholders to facilitate exchanges of data, experiences and analysis on which national and international youth policies are based. Unlimited Potential focuses on improving lifelong learning for underserved young people and adults by providing technology skills through community technology centres. Under the alliance, UNESCO and Microsoft will also explore the potential to collaborate on additional Unlimited Potential projects. -- Computer refurbishment. UNESCO, in collaboration with Microsoft, will foster international cooperation and the sharing of best practices to support refurbishment efforts that can help developing countries increase access to cost-effective computer technology. Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Preservation -- Local language development. UNESCO and Microsoft will explore ways to provide access to technology that preserves language and culture. As part of this exploration, UNESCO will provide consultation to Microsoft and support the company's efforts with local governments to prioritise and expand the number of languages served by its Local Language Program. Launched in early 2004, the Local Language Program is a global initiative that provides desktop software and tools in local languages by collaborating with local experts including governments, universities, language authorities and other interested parties. [/quote] UNESCO is not the only one doing back room deals with Microsoft (and others) while paying lip-service to FLOSS. UNDP also has its double standards. Or if it is not that, they should at least come out and declare what the rationale behind it,. and where it is all leading. This is a open letter to UNESCO i got earlier from MISTICA virtual Community, after getting some informaion abt this deal between UNESCO and M$. http://www.funredes.org/mistica/carta_unesco.htm?lan=en -- .-"""-. Anivar Aravind <anivar(a)riseup.net> /* * * *\ :_.-:`:-._; Use Free Software visit http://www.gnu.org (_) >@)_// >@)_// >@)_// >@)_// _\|/(_) (__) (__) (__) (__) \|/________________________________________________

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NEWS: IT software is taxable, rules SC
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 20 Nov '04

20 Nov '04

Interesting debate that could have *some* implications for FLOSS. FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- NEWS: IT software is taxable, rules SC Deccan Herald, Bangalore. Nov 6, 2004 NEW DELHI: DHNS The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday ruled that computer software is liable to Sales Tax, a decision that may boost the dwindling revenue of states. This ruling would be applicable only to "off-the-shelf" software and not to "customised" ones. Ninety per cent of the software sales account for the customized category. A five-judge bench comprising Justice N Santosh Hegde, Justice S N Variava, Justice B P Singh, Justice H K Sema and Justice S B Sinha, gave this judgement on a petition by the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The TCS had challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court order allowing the state government to levy sales tax on the computer software, as it classified it as "goods" under the provisions of the Sales Tax Act. Upholding the High Court order, the apex court said that when a person goes to buy a CD, he or she is not paying for the mere CD but also for the software contained in it. While the TCS argued that software was nothing but knowledge and hence could not be categorised as goods, Andhra Pradesh said that the off-the-shelf software cannot be treated as "knowledge" making it liable for sales tax. ST WILL SPUR PIRACY Meanwhile, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has said the Supreme Court judgement making computer software liable to sales tax, will encourage pirated software and affect the speed of PC penetration in the country, reports UNI from New Delhi. "Immediately, however it may impact the price paid by the user and this could affect the speed of penetration of PCs in the country and also give an impetus to pirated software," Nasscom president Kiran Karnik said in a statement here.

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Hi
by V.Vidhya Lakshmi 19 Nov '04

19 Nov '04

Hi Friends Hi About me�� This is V.S.Vidhya here. I like to make friends and I like to be one of ur friend. I am interested in making friendship with u. If u like to make friendship with me please mail me at yellow_20582(a)yahoo.com Bye Vidhya --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! � Get yours free!

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Favourites from the world of FLOSS... a short-list
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 18 Nov '04

18 Nov '04

Linux New Media Award 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Below are the products and names short-listed for the Linux New Media Award 2004. Just thought of sharing the same so that we could see how the FLOSS world looks from the heart of Europe: Hardware Favorite Notebook Vendor Acer global.acer.com/products/notebook/ Apple www.apple.com/hardware/ Asus www.asus.com/products/notebook/ Dell www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s… Fujitsu Siemens www.fujitsu-siemens.com/home/products/notebooks/ HP welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/prodserv/notebooks_tabletpcs.html IBM www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=-840&la… Samsung www.samsung.com/Products/NotebookPCs/ Sony www.sonystyle.com Best Free Project for Hardware Support ACPI4Linux acpi.sourceforge.net Linux on iPod ipodlinux.sourceforge.net Ndiswrapper ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net X.Org www.x.org XBox Linux www.xbox-linux.org Linuxprinting.org www.linuxprinting.org VDR www.cadsoft.de/vdr/ growisofs/mkisofs for DVD Support fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/ Linux Friendliest Printer Vendor Canon www.canon.com/technology/ Epson www.epson.com HP www.hp.com/united-states/consumer/gateway/printing_multifunction.html Lexmark www.lexmark.com Kyocera global.kyocera.com OKI www.oki.com/en/products/ Software Best Newcomer Linux Distribution gnuLinEx www.linex.org SkoleLinux www.skolelinux.org Ubuntu Linux www.ubuntulinux.org UserLinux www.userlinux.com White Box Linux www.whiteboxlinux.org Yoper www.yoper.com Best Distribution for Beginners Linspire www.linspire.com Xandros Desktop OS www.xandros.com Fedora Core fedora.redhat.com Suse Personal/Professional www.suse.com Mandrake Linux www.linux-mandrake.com Best Multimedia Framework Arts www.arts-project.org GStreamer gstreamer.freedesktop.org Jack jackit.sourceforge.net LADSPA www.ladspa.org MAS www.mediaapplicationserver.net NAS radscan.com/nas.html NMM www.networkmultimedia.org OpenML www.khronos.org/openml/ USound mattcamp.paunix.org/usound/ SDL www.libsdl.org Best Media Player XMMS www.xmms.org Xine/Kaffeine xinehq.de MPlayer www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/news.html Amarok amarok.kde.org JuK developer.kde.org/~wheeler/juk.html Ogle freshmeat.net/projects/ogle/ Helix Player player.helixcommunity.org Best Mail Client Sylpheed/Sylpheed-Claws sylpheed.good-day.net Kontact/KMail kmail.kde.org Thunderbird/Mozilla Mail www.mozilla.org Evolution www.novell.com/products/evolution/ Mutt www.mutt.org Best Database System MaxDB 7.5 dev.mysql.com/downloads/maxdb/7.5.00.html Oracle 10g www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/oracle10g/ MySQL 5.0 www.mysql.com/products/mysql/ PostgreSQL 8 www.postgresql.org/news/223.html DB2 www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/udb/ Apache Derby (Cloudscape) www-306.ibm.com/software/data/cloudscape/ Sybase Adaptive Server www.sybase.com/products/databaseservers/ase Special Award for outstanding promotion of Linux and Open Source* Institution/Organization Creative Commons creativecommons.org Free Software Foundation www.fsf.org Eurolinux/FFII www.eurolinux.org Groklaw www.groklaw.net City of Munich www.muenchen.de Government of Brazil www.brazil.gov.br China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance Junta de Extremadura (Spain) www.juntaex.es/ OSDL www.osdl.org END OF EXTRACT... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436 http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks http://fn.swiki.net http://www.ryze.com/go/fredericknoronha http://fn-floss.notlong.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Difficulties to send email across? Write to fredericknoronha at vsnl.net ============================================================================

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M$ in India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

MICROSOFT to support UPA's IT plans: Ballmer Moneycontrol.com - Mumbai,India ... He also talked about investments, especially in education, which, he says, is the focus area for India to grow in the IT literacy sphere. ... <http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/highlights/newsdetail_new.php?filename=new…> MS wants to log in to Indian PSUs Business Standard - New Delhi,India ... IT literacy. The company had tied up with nearly 4,000 schools for the Partner in Learning Programme. Listing out Microsoft's community initiatives in India, ... <http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N…>

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Fedora Core 3
by swathantra software 17 Nov '04

17 Nov '04

Dear Sir, With pleasure we offer you the following CDs. These CDs are ready to deliver immediately after receiving order. In case you need other specific free/open source packages, we can arrange that also on request. We look forward your valuable order. FEDORA CORE 3 -set of 4 Cds.Rs.250/- -------------------------------------------- The following CD's are also vailable on mail order. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 01)Fedora Core 2 -( 4cd set)- Rs 200. 02)Mandrake -10 Official -( 4cds)-Rs 200 03)Knoppix 3.6 - Recent release - Rs 70 04)Fedora Core 1 ( 3cd set) - Rs 150 05)Mandrake 9 ( 3cds) - Rs 150 06)Mandrake 9.2 ( 3cds) - Rs 150 07)Debian 3.0r2 ( 7cd set) - Rs 500 08)FreeBSD 5.2.1 ( 2cd set) - Rs 180 09)K12LTSP-latest (4 cds) -Rs 260 10)Slackware 10 2CD- Rs.120/- 11)Slackware 9.1 2CD- Rs.100/- 12)SuSe 9.1 (one CD)Rs.90/- 13)Buffalo 1.2.2 (one CD) Rs.70/- 14)Buffalo 1.2.3 (one CD) Rs.80/- 15)Xandros OCE 2.01 (1 CD) Rs.80/- 16)GNUWIN (2 CDs) Rs.150/- 17)Redhat 7.1(2CD),7.3,8,9(3CDs)-Rs.40 per CD. 18)Custom HOWTO CD (more than 3000 howtos) - Rs 100/- 19)Custom Single CD based on RH7.3/8 (AUto Installation)- Rs 60/- 20)GISMorphix - Rs 100/- 21)Custom PACKAGE CD -With MONO,Blender,Scribus,Anjuta..etc (Sources) Rs.100/- 22)Gentoo 2 Cds Rs.130/- 23)Openoffice 1.1.2, Firebird .8,GIMP (Windows & linux) - Rs 90/- 24)Linare Linux Single Rs.100/- 25)Educational free/opensource package available on request The Software - on - Request CD will take at least 2 weeks to be shipped -------------------------------------------------------------- Add Rupees 10/- for shipping charges by ordinary post. If you want delivery by courier, add courier charges extra Payments by DD/MO.( Draft/cheque in favour of s2s2, Cannanore Or Sujeevan.P,Cannanore) Payment by cash on delivery (V.P.P) is also available at extra cost. Payments by SBI steps Counter also possible. For ordering please contact by mail or telephone. Sujeevan. P S2S2, 33/876,Brigade center,Ground floor, Near Prabhat Complex,Fort road, Kannur -670001. Kerala,India. Phone: Off 0497-2761182 Resi : 0497 -2790811 cell :09447449107 Email: s2s2service(a)gmail.com Web:http://s2s2net.netfirms.com

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<incom> First Monday on FLOSS (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- First Monday on FLOSS Begin forwarded message: The November 2004 issue of First Monday (volume 9, number 11) is now available at http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/ ------- Table of Contents Volume 9, Number 11 - November 1st 2004 FLOSS at Large: Selected papers from the 4SEASST 2004 joint conference, Paris, 25-28 August 2004 Introduction: FLOSS at Large by Yuwei Lin http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/linintro/ ------- Opening the sources of accountability by Shay David http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/david/ Abstract: This paper scrutinizes the concept of accountability in light of free and open source software. On the view that increasing accountability grants value to society by motivating those most likely and able to prevent risk and harm to do so, I argue that while developing software collaboratively, licensing it openly, and distributing its source code freely are promising first steps in the long journey to rehabilitate accountability in our highly computerized society, our very understanding of what accountability is changes too. This paper analyzes the concept of accountability in an open environment and explores the implications in two mission-critical application fields in which software plays a significant role - electronic voting, and electronic medical records. It further considers the potential remedies to accountability's erosion that free and open source software offer, and the ways in which accountability can be generalized to collective action if we understand it less as punishability and more as a culture that encourages the prevention of risk and harm. With such reconceptualized accountability in mind, I find that code visibility, a self-imposed standard of care and sensible licensing arrangements, are a potent, practical, and effective alternative to the strict liability standards offered as a solution to the accountability problem by earlier scholars. ------- FLOSS developers as a social formation by Frauke Lehmann http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/lehmann/ Abstract: Developers of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) are often referred to as a community or as a scene. But so far this seems mostly just a rough expression. This paper takes a closer look at FLOSS developers and their projects to find out how they work, what holds them together and how they interact. Community and social movement seem not to apply as descriptors. Looking at norms, values, structures, and conflict resolution, a hacker subculture appears which is compartmentalised into differently organised projects. By testing empirical findings against various theoretical approaches, ideas for further research are identified. ------- Contextualising knowledge-making in Linux user groups by Yuwei Lin http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/lin/ Abstract: A common critique on free/libre open source software (FLOSS) is that FLOSS-oriented products, often mutated from or based on parallel works, are not really innovative. FLOSS' development process and subsequent products (e.g. software packages, maintaining services, or the formation of user groups, etc.) definitely denote a kind of innovation driving our world towards a knowledge-based society. This perspective challenges the conventional notion of innovation in technological and economic arenas from a glocalised perspective. I argue that software development is not solely a matter of technical engineering or economic progress. Rather, it also involves cultural, social and political factors. ------- A case for Indian insourcing: Open Source interest in IT job expansion by Casey O'Donnell http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/odonnell/ Abstract: The controversy surrounding the "off-shoring" of IT jobs from the United States to other countries, in particular to India, has become a focal point in American political discourse and has been widely represented in the media. Disturbingly, little attention has been paid to this occurrence beyond its implications for American employment opportunities. Representing Indian and American IT workers as unified groups whose interests are mutually exclusive and opposed to one another is problematic given the material realities that propel "outsourcing." Among the potential benefits of growing demand for, and supply of, skilled IT workers is increased participation in the Open Source Software (OSS) movement. Expanding global involvement offers a significant opportunity for developing countries to influence the direction, importance, and future of OSS. ------- Free software: Some Brazilian translations by Alexandre Silva Pinheiro and Henrique Luiz Cukierman http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/pinheiro/ Abstract: We examine two histories in this paper. First, we briefly look at a North American history, in which we look at the relationship of free software with the founding principles of democracy. Second, we examine recent Brazilian history, especially the most policy decision to adopt free software, affirming technological autonomy. Democratic ideals, defended by the free software movement, are transformed in Brazilian politics, leading both to further free software development and a stronger democracy. ------- The realities of Free/Libre/Open Source Software developers in Japan and Asia by Hiroyuki Shimizu, Jun Iio, and Kazuo Hiyane http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/shimizu/ Abstract: A variety of individuals around the world are furthering development of Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) through the Internet. Why do they participate in developers' communities and continue to develop FLOSS? Is their treatment enough to sustain their activities? Surveys, using online questionnaires, were conducted to answer these questions to analyze the FLOSS movement sociologically. However these surveys tend to focus on developers in the West. We decided to see if there are regional differences in FLOSS development. To that end, we conducted two surveys, the FLOSS-JP survey in Japanese and the FLOSS- ASIA survey in other Asian languages. In this paper, we describe regional differences, especially among Asian and Japanese FLOSS developers and compare the results to those from Western FLOSS surveys. ------- Reducing transaction costs in information infrastructures using FLOSS by Marcus Vinicius Brandao Soares http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/soares/ Abstract: Firms, or more generally, organizations, develop and become larger along time, using more and more computers to work. This growth in the number of computers leads to a growth of software use (operating systems and their applications, for example) and, as a result, to the growth in the number of software use/access licenses to be purchased and managed. For the owners of software intellectual property rights, this process leads to a greater supervision of users to regulate lawful access to software. The situation occurs when all of the software used by an organization is proprietary. This results in some costs - transaction costs - that are not usually taken into account by administrators and managers. What happens if FLOSS is used? We will show that this choice leads to a reduction in transaction costs in terms of computation costs and in terms of the number of managed contracts, which can be numerically reduced by half. ------- End of forwarded message ------- _______________________________________________ incom-l mailing list incom-l(a)incommunicado.info http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/incom-l

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Why one more??????
by Raj Shastrakar 16 Nov '04

16 Nov '04

> A new GNU/Linux distribution based on GNU/Debian > aimed > at desktop users has Gnome as its Desktop and > includes > new vesrsions of the most wanted softwares, like > word > processor, web browser, image processing .... It > features brand new Gnome 2.8 (latest) and you can > order cds now (CDs are free of cost not even > shipping > cost!). So hurry and download the single feature > rich > cd or order. > > http://www.ubuntulinux.org I never undestand why one more ... as for single user is consern then i think that knoppix is better off ... well i think that ppl are wasting there energy in doing something else which is not actually required.. i asid this in may LUG ... dont invent wheel ... itz of no use .. if u agree make it a point to convey this to the author.. when u order one copy .. RNS __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com

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Guidence needed
by Sriharsha Vedurmudi 15 Nov '04

15 Nov '04

Hello Friends, I am facing a problem and need your suggessions. There is some material in english which I want to translate into our local language (Telugu). I also want the font to be in Telugu. While there are some free fonts that I know of for Telugu (IIT Madras has got one for their multi-lingual editor, and it looks decent enough to me), I am not able to find a nice editor. I have considered the editor from IITM (at acharya.iitm.net.in....), but its very difficult, given my knowledge of telugu on these keyboards. If I have a Telugu Keyboard it would have solved some problem but I searched the market but found none. Now, there are two things that I can imagine: 1. Go to a type institute and copy the keys layout, then come back and experiment on my keyboard until i get them right. (it sure is going to take a _LOT_ of time, given my current pressures in office). 2. Get hold of a nice editor. Earlier when I was using wind**s, I used a s/w called TeluguLipi Editor, it had this wonderful feature that if I type a word in english, it would automatically convert every syllabi of it to Telugu. So, its practically a breeze to type in Telugu using that editor with out any knowledge of the telugu keyboard layout. Is there any such editor (Mr. google returned unsatisfactory results) for Linux? I'd be indebted if anyone can help me out. Also, one more thing: A couple of days ago, some of my friends, also in the s/w field (and running a very small charitable trust), donated a computer to a school in a very remote village. (I am not a member as such, now, so I dont have a big say). When my friend told me that, I appreciated him but his very next sentence disappointed me, he said they had installed M$ Win into it. When I asked them why they were wasting money when they can get what ever they wanted to using Free Software, they said its because of the following reasons: 1. No one in the village knew anything about computers, so had to be taught from scratch. 2. None of their group are comfortable with *nix. (A pity) 3. The software that they are planning to provide now is the ones by Azim Premji Foundation http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/html/educationalsoftware.htm which runs on Windows only. So, they had no choice but to shell out some money and buy Windows in the gray market and load it. When I raised my voice, they expressed helplessness saying that their first aim is not to teach computers to kids but to grab their attention towards studies and use educational s/w for this purpose. Since I did not know any Edu S/w for linux, I had to shut my mouth. So, im immediately writing to you friends, does anyone know anything about this? Waiting for your replies: Sriharsha.

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Fsf-friends November 2004