Fsf-friends February 2007

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

21 participants
21 discussions

Careers in FLOSS... (Dec 2003 issue of LFY)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Jun '24

06 Jun '24

=========================================== LINUXForYou * Dec 2003 (Vol 1 No 10) In India Rs 50 (with CD) http://www.linuxforu.com Pages 102 * US$7.95 0 74470584957 =========================================== THIS ISSUE has probably reached your city. Saw it in Bangalore, and also got a complimentary copy from the LFY team at LinuxBangalore2003. But when I reached back to Goa on Dec 4, it wasn't in as yet. So it might take time to reach 'small town' India... FN REVIEWED: Mandrake 9.2 * PhProjekt * StarOffice 7.0 COMPUTERS AT TIS HAZARI, the session courts for the city of New Delhi, are being shifted over to Linux, courtesy the National Informatics Centre. - Rahul Chopra in this month's editorial. LINUX LEARNING CENTRE at Bangalore is offering courses in administration, security, development (internals and programming essentials, programming with Qt, device driver programming, MySQL & PHP), RHCE and Red Hat rapid track certification. www.linuxlearningcentre.com DotGNU RELEASES CD: It can now be used to implement application programs and Web services in C# and C applications under multiple operating systems, including GNU/Linux, FreeBSC, MacOS, MS Windows. The 219 MB release 0.1 CD is available as a free download at http://download.freedom.biz/dotgnu/dotgnu-0.1-cdrom.iso.gz.torrent e-Bridge calls itself "the new state-of-art training facility from eSpark Infotech is now open in the heart of Bangalore". It's offering embedded Linux courses (Linux fundamentals, programming Linux, embedded C & Linux, realtime C & Linux, Linux internals, device drivers, networking) and DSP courses (DSP fundamentals, TI/analog dev programming, audio/video, image processing, bio-medical systems). www.ebridgesolutions.net Linux.net provides a free e-mail service to those who want an e-mail address that ends in '@linux.net' MAJOR UPDATES and releases: OpenNA Linux 1.0, Gibraltar Firewall 1.0, Xandros Desktop 2.0, Onebase Linux 2.0, CUPS 1.120rc6. CAN YOU MAKE money with open source? Registration entails a "nominal fee" of Rs 5000 for a three-day conference. http://www.linuxasia2004.com/attendees/ February 11-13, 2004, New Delhi. SEND IN YOUR favourite slogans for a tee-shirt, and win five free copies of the shirt... LFYedit at efyindia.com MONEY CAN't buy respect, says Robert Adkins. Some of us might have met this guy at LB2003 in Bangalore. He's the CTO of Technetra Corp, and an advocate and implementer of FLOSS solutions for government. He can be contacted at radkins at technetra.com CAREERS WITH FLOSS: The number of students opting for courses in Open Source is growing steadily, even as industry experts predict a growing need for trained professionals in this expanding field. EXIT RED HAT, ENTER FEDORA: It's official now; the free (of cost) version of Red Hat Linux will not be available anymore. This has created a lot of FUD in an already unstable environment, thanks to the SCO episode. But is Red Hat closed for good? WEB-BASED COLLABORATION SOFTWARE: PHProjekt is an easy-to-install collaboration suite, which runs on the open source platform and databases. As the design of the system is developer-friendly, adding new features and components is a piece of cake. STAROFFICE: The latest version of Sun's office suite, StarOffice 7, may just be the right solution for the cost-conscious user. It loads faster than the earlier version, and sports some noticeable improvements. IN THE LFY CD THIS MONTH: Slackware (the "oldest Linux distro") and a range of GNU software for Windows users. FALLING BACK on backup systems. MAKING ADOPTION OF Linux in the enterprise easy. www.linux4e.com Business partners required: http://wwww.linux4e.com/partners ooWRITER HELPS YOU create your own templates and styles so that you can work with documents easily. Open Source is key to IBM's vision of computing. User empowerment is key to Microsoft's, writes Alolita Sharma USING DATABASE functions in Calc, a tutorial. (Wish there were more how-tos for the user in this mag! --FN) HALDIA DOCKS: it has a uniquely designed Linux installation with an active-active cluster set up, which is considered the best of its kind. This has ensured efficiency and cost-effectiveness. BASIC UNIX commands and concepts: an extract from *Running Linux* (Shroff Publishers, Pp 674 only Rs 425 in India). VxWorks and LynxOS are definitely the biggest embedded operating systems in use today. But slowly they are acknowledging the power of GNU/Linux and how it can help them maximise deployments. HELP LINUX GO INDIAN: By using various translation tools, you can join Language translation groups working across India to help translate GNU/Linux into your language. EXPERT INTRODUCTION: Multi-threaded programming under Linux. KICKSTART YOUR Linux installation (Part I): Installing Red Hat Linux on multiple machines one after another can be quite tedious. To avoid answering the same question over and over again, try the KickStart method, as it does not need any user intervention. WRITE CHEQUES. NOT JUST BOOKS: Niyam Bhushan on how anybody can turn thoughts into words, and words into wealth. NFS CLIENTS for Windows. OpenSSL PACKAGE offers a vast crypto library of algorithms WAIT QUEUES in Linux device drivers UNDERSTANDING recursive sub-routines INDIA-RELATED NEWS: HP launches GNU/Linux laptop Mandrake's latest distribution Oracle announces 10g for GNU/Linux Delixus offers India Linux CxProtect anti-virus mailing solution for mail-servers Trade management system from Network Programs Netweb Technologies unveils Tyrone MRO-Tek rolls out Network Management Systems Review of FLOSS at BangaloreIT.com =========================================== DISCLOSURE: This journalist (FN) writes a monthly column for LFY and gets paid for it. Promoting awareness about the content of LFY however is not part of the job, and is carried on with the intention spreading awareness about FLOSS among different GNU/Linux user groups in India. -- Frederick Noronha : http://www.fredericknoronha.net : When we speak of free Freelance Journalist : http://www.bytesforall.org : software we refer to Ph 0091.832.2409490 : Cell 0 9822 122436 : freedom, not price.

2 1

Zotero for Firefox
by Shekhar Krishnan 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use web browser extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources. It has been developed by the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University http://chnm.gmu.edu and is now in use by thousands of historians, anthropologists, journalists, lawyers and other researchers. Zotero is an open source alternative to citation tools like Endnote, and lives inside of your browser, allowing you to automatically capture and manage sources and citations in online catalogues, archives, and other repositories, as well as taking notes, tagging these materials, and exporting bibliographies in various formats. For more information and to download and install Zotero, go to http://www.zotero.org Zotero requires use of Firefox 2.0, the latest version of the popular open source web browser from the Mozilla Corporation. If you don't already use Firefox or haven't yet upgraded to the new version 2.0, go to http://www.getfirefox.com to download it. Once you've installed it or upgraded your earlier version, go to the Zotero site to download and install the extension for Firefox 2.0. Best, S.K. -- Shekhar Krishnan 400, West 119th Street, Apt.10D New York, NY 10027 U.S.A. http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar http://www.heptanesia.net http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar

1 0

Clarification by British PM's Office that "Software patents" are not enforceable in UK
by Ramanraj K 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page11077.asp <quote> We [The Prime Minister's Office, UK] received a petition asking: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make software patents clearly unenforcible." ... ... The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software. Although certain jurisdictions, such as the US, allow more liberal patenting of software-based inventions, these patents cannot be enforced in the UK. ... ... </quote>

1 0

Re: 'F' for Fedora; 'F' for Free (Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay)
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

> Which part is funny ? Michael being President of OSI or Michael as a Red > Hat Executive backing Fedora ? a. Nice to see a Red Hat (for that matter any company) executive talking and embracing 'Free Software' and not 'Open Source'. b. Funny to see the OSI president leaning towards the FSF's stance on software freedom and using the FSF backed terminology, and away from the OSI's. c. It is not about hatred. I could not help smiling at this at a time when the 'FSF is evil', 'RMS is a dictator', and 'non-free kernel modules make a good desktop distribution'. 'Funny' was the most decent word I could come up with at 04:30am. :-P Cheerio, Debarshi

1 0

Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 46, Issue 15
by Mishi Choudhary 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

hi i've been trying to get in touch with kiran in regard to the convention on 3rd and 4th . Warm Regards Mishi Choudhary

1 0

'F' for Fedora; 'F' for Free
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

http://rahulsundaram.livejournal.com/ Fedora is on the verge of becoming the first mainstream GNU/Linux distribution to meet the FSF's standards of a 'free operating system'. Here is the current status: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FreeSoftwareAnalysis https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-advisory-board/2006-April/msg00181.h… Funnily this move is backed by Michael Tiemann (Vice-President of Red Hat and President of OSI). Before signing off something to feed my pride: http://joey.ubuntu-rocks.org/blog/2006/12/28/q-what-should-end-user-graphic… Cheers, Debarshi -- husband v. use sparingly; conserve; save husbandry n. frugality; thrift; agriculture

2 1

Hurd.in meetup during FOSS Meet @ NITC 07
by Praveen A 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

Hi, Hurd.in team will be meeting up during FOSS Meet @ NITC 07 to discuss future plans for Hurd.in community. Be there. More details. http://hurd.in/bin/view/Hurd/FOSS_Meet_At_NITC_07 Cheers Praveen -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

2 1

Free Software Convention in Hydrabad
by Arun M 25 Feb '07

25 Feb '07

Dear friends, Free software activist in Andhra Pradesh is organising a convention on free software on 3rd and 4th of March. Event is supported by FSF India. We welcome all the Free Software activists to the event. For more information see the link below. http://nationalconvention.swecha.org/WordPress/ regards arun

2 1

[Article Link] Coming up: a planetary web
by Praveen A 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

"People say information is power. I believe that sharing of information is power. Open access to the world's information is what one should look at," says Cerf who is the Vice-President & Chief Internet Evangelist of Google. Read the Deccan Herald article http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb212007/index158322007221.asp -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

2 1

Fwd: When is a standard not a standard (sub-titled Microsoft and BIS)?
by Arun M 24 Feb '07

24 Feb '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Gora Mohanty <gora(a)sarai.net> Date: Feb 23, 2007 6:55 PM Subject: When is a standard not a standard (sub-titled Microsoft and BIS)? (This message is being sent primarily to the ILUG-Delhi and Sarai PRC mailing lists, but is also copied to people that Venkatesh Hariharan had sent the original message to. Please note that henceforth, I will only be following up on the ILUG-Delhi list. You have to join the list to post there (see <http://www.linux-delhi.org/cgi-bin/anCMS/mailingList.cgi?action=mailingLists> ), but the archives are available publicly at http://frodo.hserus.net/pipermail/ilugd/ and http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi/ ) Hello, I had the (mis-)fortune of attending a seminar on Information Technology Standardization [sic] organised for the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), by MAIT. The ostensible reason for the meeting was to identify requirements of the IT industry in order "to formulate effective, meaningful and implementable standards". The background for this is an effort by Microsoft to push through a 6000-page document on Office Open XML (OOXML), presumably as a counter-standard to Open Document Format (ODF). Details on this are available on Venky's blog at http://www.osindia.blogspot.com/ Due to other commitments, I had time to attend only the inaugural session, which had a keynote address by Craig Mundie, the chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft Corporation. Incidentally, Microsoft was the only company represented on the panel, and allowed to give a formal presentation, though representatives from open-source companies, and the community were also present. Questions on the talks were also not entertained. What was frankly disgusting was the attitude of BIS officers, even those of senior ones, towards Microsoft; going beyond courtesy, and even obsequiousness, to border on servility. The HP laptop being used for the presentation prominently displayed the Microsoft Vista logo. Mr. Mundie's presentation was, in my opinion, a masterpiece of double- speak, and fascinated me so much that I made sure to make a transcript of his slides. Apparently, having solved issues with security, privacy, and reliability, Microsoft has been focusing on inter-operability over the last 1.5 years. While this might seem like great news, Mr. Mundie was diligent in avoiding any specific commitments, such as the simple one of guaranteeing that any Microsoft application will be able to export to an openly-published, patent-unencumbered, standard format, without loss of information. While the presentation went ahead to extol the virtues of meta-data, and the use of XML data formats, Mr. Mundie somehow omitted to mention that XML does not automatically imply openness, or freedom from patent restrictions. Finally, it seems to be the opinion of Mr. Mundie that industry standards are needed to keep a check on "unconstrained innovation", which leaves me wondering how Microsoft knows about innovation, unconstrained or otherwise. Fun and games aside, I think that it is worthwhile for the open-source community in India at large to formulate a coherent position on the use of openly documented, and patent-free standards for any government data, and to publicise the same to both government organisations, and the media. It is our data, so we should have an absolute guarantee of freedom in using it. I believe that Venky is drafting such a document, that we can put up on a Wiki, and use as a basis for a formal policy paper. Regards, Gora

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

Fsf-friends February 2007