July 2007 - Fsf-friends - lists.fsci.in

The MS-OOXML converter hoax
by Anivar Aravind 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

The converter hoax Instead Microsoft focusses on MS-OOXML, which it promotes on the grounds of technical superiority and wider range of features. But if Microsoft's claims to technical superiority of MS-OOXML over ODF are true, how could one ever be converted perfectly into the other? Microsoft maintains that while it would have been easy to support the Open Document Format (ODF) natively, it had to move to MS-OOXML because this was the only way for them to offer the full features of its office suite. But if Microsoft itself is not able to represent its internal data structures in the Open Document Format (ODF) in its Microsoft Office suite, how could an external conversion program from MS-OOXML accomplish this task? The answer to both questions is that it is not possible because two things cannot be the same and different at the same time. Read More At http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/92735 -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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Higher Education(was:Microsoft to set up university in (Bangalore)city)
by Vikram Vincent 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Hello, I thought that I'd put forward some of the important points I've been going through on the issue. The Kothari commission of 1964 correctly elucidates the basic objectives and functions of universities and their role in national life: "A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people... Their principal object is to deepen man's understanding of the universe and himself - in body mind and spirit, to disseminate this understanding throughout society and to apply it in the service of mankind... They are the dwelling places of ideas and idealism, and expect high standards of conduct and integrity from all the members.. Theirs is the pursuit of truth and excellence in all its diversity" ----- The Dr. S Radhakrishnan Commission suggested that the Govt. spending on education (Immediately after Independence) should be as follows: 6% of GDP, 10% of Central budget. Additional we need around 30% of State budget. ----- "The public spending - Central and State - on higher education has indeed been low, amounting to less than half a per cent of GDP over the last two decades, even though the Govt. itself targets a spending rate of 1.5% of GDP." "Normally, obtaining and adopting the nomenclature "university" in India has its regulatory implications. Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956, defines a University to mean an institution established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act. Going by this section, for an institution to identify itself as a university in India, it would have to be set up by a Central or provincial legislative Act." "There is one other route to university status. based on the recommendations of the Radhakrishna Commission a provision was included under section 3 in the UGC Act that institutions which have a distinct character of their own could be deemed to be a university and enjoy the concomitant privileges without losing their distinctive character." ...... "While foreign providers can use these routes to obtain university status, there are two implications they would have to take into account. First, since a university has either to be established by an Act or be deemed to be an university by th University Grants Commission, they would be subject to the regulatory system for formal "universities" as it evolves through the interventions by the executive and the judiciary. There cannot be a framework that applies to foreign universities which is any less regulatory or more open than what applies to domestic private universities." "This environment may undermine the fundamental objective driving foreign entry... In their search for profit and repatriation, they are bound to make a case under the ongoing GATS negotiation... " --C.P . Chandrashekar,"A foreign hand" ----- Socio-cultural implications The report of the 'Policy Perspective Seminar On Internationalisation Of Higher Education And Operation Of Foreign Universities In India' states: "Though this idea sounds well and high, but in practice it might as well result in selected flow of information/knowledge and skills from one set of countries to another set of countries in one direction whether in single or multi-disciplines subjects. If this happens then it might as well result in draining of resources of receiving country as well as strong cultural and political influences by one set of countries on other set of countries." ----- There is a bit on conditions for entry and functioning but more on that later. Regards Vincent

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symposium on copyleft revolution in a conference on critical geography
by Nagarjuna G. 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Dear friends, I proposed a symposium on copyleft revolution to this conference to be held in Mumbai at TISS from 3rd till 7th of Dec 2007. http://www.5thiccg.org/ Those of you want to speak in the symposium, please submit your proposals before the end of 20th August 2007. The shape of the session will be confirmed by 3rd of September 2007. The symposium will accommodate about five speakers on the panel, and the total duration including at least half-an-hour discussion will be about 2 hours. Copyleft Revolution In the last thirty years the role and significance of Information and Communication Technology have grown significantly, reconfiguring the spatial logic of modern society. However, it has not remained an equally accessed base and gone under the control of a few global corporations that are investing billions of dollars for its modernisation, impacting the process of knowledge construction and dissemination for a small section of the society and thereby transforming other fields of human creativity. As a response to the above hegemonistic framework, a parallel cultural and political movement is under way that is growing at an unprecedented pace and influencing the way how science, software and other kinds of symbolic forms are created, published and distributed. Popularly known as the Copyleft culture, it is essentially a Free Software Movement that took off by an innovative use of the existing copyright and by publishing software under a copyleft license. This license is meant to give four fundamental rights to the user of the software published under the copyleft license: to use it for any purpose, to understand how it works, to make modifications, and to distribute the modifications. One of the major outcomes of this revolution is the GNU/Linux operating system (popularly known by its misnomer, Linux). The copyleft movement is currently transforming other fields of human creativity as well---science, poetry, music, cinema and other symbolic forms. Of these, the most popular success story is Wikipedia.org, the largest multilingual encyclopedia of the world. There are other, not yet fully fructified, movements such as public library of science, open access, creative commons, open music, etc. The proposed session aims at generating awareness about the Copyleft movement in general, and discussing its relation to science and education in particular. While challenging the patent and other similar systems, it also intends to deliberate on a new model of development of ICT, centered around collaboration and sharing among different communities. Contact address : Nagarjuna G, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education Mumbai, India, nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org -- Nagarjuna G.

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Microsoft to set up university in (Bangalore)city
by Vikram Vincent 17 Jul '07

17 Jul '07

Hello, Is this a sign that the Free Software Movement is growing in Bangalore??? I think that we need to seriously reassess our Movement and work to build it further and faster. Bangalore has a *huge* potential to build the Movement and it only needs us to put in our 2 drops of sweat. "BANGALORE: Microsoft Corporation has chosen Bangalore for its first-ever exclusive and independent educational venture in the world. The company will set up a university in the city to impart high-end computer education. The university may well be India's first run by a multinational company." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2196363.cms Continuing I have some observations on the issue. With education becoming a multi-billion dollar industry and India occupying a huge part of that pie the proposed entry of a "University of Microsoft" assumes a huge significance particularly since the effects of rampant commercialisation of education is becoming more and more obvious. So how is this argument significant on a Free Software list? Well, while the Supreme Court declared that the 112 private universities set up under the Chattisgarh Private Universities Act were illegal, this was only on technical grounds. It was on the grounds that the UGC was not consulted, nor were the guidelines to set up a Pvt University followed. However, we are witnessing efforts by the Govt. to remove these hurdles and allow FDI(foreign direct investment) in education. Now personally I have experienced the effects of commercialisation of education with my college where I started my Engineering studies being forced to close shop due to the lack of basic facilities. While a "University of Microsoft" may provide ideal conditions for "education" it will set a precedent for other fly-by-night operators to come here and set shop. The Kothari commission of 1964 correctly elucidates the basic objectives and functions of universities and their role in national life: "A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people... Their principal object is to deepen man's understanding of the universe and himself - in body mind and spirit, to disseminate this understanding throughout society and to apply it in the service of mankind... They are the dwelling places of ideas and idealism, and expect high standards of conduct and integrity from all the members.. Theirs is the pursuit of truth and excellence in all its diversity" Now IMHO this captures the essence of the "University of Free Software". The FSF needs to act immediately and come out a detailed stand on the issue. Perhaps the FSF-I leadership could throw more light on the issue. -- Regards Vikram Vincent +919448810822 Project Engineer, NRCFOSS, AU-KBC http://groups.google.com/group/bangalore_alive/ http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_to_promote_free_software_in_karnataka

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OOXML Fails to Gain Approval in US
by Santhosh Thottingal 16 Jul '07

16 Jul '07

Read http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/07/ooxml-fails-to-gain-approval-in-us.html -Santhosh

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FOSSAG
by Mani A 15 Jul '07

15 Jul '07

FYI FOSS4G http://www.foss4g2007.org/ The annual Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) conference brings together the people who create, use, and support open spatial software. No other event brings together members of the open source development, open data creation, and open standards promotion communities like FOSS4G. Find out more <http://www.foss4g2007.org/about_foss4g/> about FOSS4G. Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Touchpad response very slow
by ashish ranjan 15 Jul '07

15 Jul '07

I installed Debian version: 4.0 Etch on a Dell inspiron 6000 laptop. The touch pad response is very slow and it is almost impossible to work with the touch pad. USB mouse works fine. Can someone help? thanks, ashish -- Last ball. 3 runs to win. What a shot! They are running... One...four! India!! oneforindia.org

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Fwd: Conference Announcement, FLOPS
by Mani A 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Ninth International Symposium on Functional and Logic Programming (FLOPS 2008) April 14-16, 2008 Ise, Japan Submission deadline: October 10, 2007 http://www.math.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~garrigue/FLOPS2008/ FLOPS is a forum for research on all issues concerning declarative programming, including functional programming and logic programming, and aims to promote cross-fertilization and integration between the two paradigms. Previous FLOPS meetings were held in Fuji Susono (1995), Shonan Village (1996), Kyoto (1998), Tsukuba (1999), Tokyo (2001), Aizu (2002), Nara (2004), and Fuji Susono (2006). TOPICS FLOPS solicits original papers in all areas of functional and logic programming, including (but not limited to): Declarative Pearls: new and excellent declarative programs with illustrative applications; Language issues: language design and constructs, programming methodology, integration of paradigms, interfacing with other languages, type systems, constraints, concurrency and distributed computing; Foundations: logic and semantics, rewrite systems and narrowing, type theory, proof systems; Implementation issues: compilation techniques, memory management, program analysis and transformation, partial evaluation, parallelism; Applications: case studies, real-world applications, graphical user interfaces, Internet applications, XML, databases, formal methods and model checking. The proceedings are expected to be published as an LNCS volume. The proceedings of the previous meeting (FLOPS2006) were published as LNCS 3945. INVITED SPEAKERS To be announced PC CO-CHAIRS Jacques Garrigue (Nagoya, Japan) Manuel Hermenegildo (Madrid, Spain and New Mexico, US) PC MEMBERS Maria Alpuente (Valencia, Spain) Sergio Antoy (Portland, OR, USA) Matthias Blume (TTI, Chicago, USA) Tyng-Ruey Chuang (Academia Sinica, Taiwan) Zhenjiang Hu (Tokyo, Japan) Oleg Kiselyov (FNMOC, Monterey, USA) Herbert Kuchen (Muenster, Germany) Dale Miller (INRIA, Palaiseau, France) Atsushi Ohori (Tohoku, Japan) Enrico Pontelli (New Mexico, USA) Kristoffer Rose (IBM Watson, USA) Kazunori Ueda (Waseda, Japan) Peter Van Roy (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) Benjamin Werner (INRIA, Palaiseau, France) LOCAL CHAIR Shoji Yuen, Nagoya University SUBMISSION Submissions must be unpublished and not submitted for publication elsewhere. Work that already appeared in unpublished or informally published workshops proceedings may be submitted. Submissions should fall into one of the following categories: Regular research papers: they should describe new results and will be judged on originality, correctness, and significance. System descriptions: they should contain a link to a working system and will be judged on originality, usefulness, and design. All submissions must be written in English and can be up to 15 proceedings pages long. Authors are strongly encouraged to use LaTeX2e and the Springer llncs class file, available at http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html Regular research papers should be supported by proofs and/or experimental results. In case of lack of space, this supporting information should be made accessible otherwise (e.g. a link to a web page, or an appendix). Submission is Web-based. Please visit the conference site. IMPORTANT DATES Submission deadline: October 10, 2007 Author notification: December 21, 2007 Camera-ready copy: January 21, 2008 Conference: April 14-16, 2008 PLACE Ise, Japan Previous FLOPS: FLOPS 2006, Fuji Susono: http://hagi.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/FLOPS2006/ FLOPS 2004, Nara: http://logic.cs.tsukuba.ac.jp/FLOPS2004/ FLOPS 2002, Aizu: http://www.ipl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/FLOPS2002/ FLOPS 2001, Tokyo: http://www.ueda.info.waseda.ac.jp/flops2001/ SPONSOR Japan Society for Software Science and Technology (JSSST) SIG-PPL IN COOPERATION with Asian Association for Foundation of Software (AAFS) (pending) Association for Logic Programming (ALP) INQUIRIES to Jacques Garrigue (garrigue at math.nagoya-u.ac.jp) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Open Solaris to have a package management system
by Mani A 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Yes that is planned for the next release in spring 2008. http://www.devxnews.com/article.php/3688576 Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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FROM PAKISTAN: ipgrab ... A verbose packet sniffer that displays a great amount of detail on each packet it reads, including application layer fields.
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

Project Admins: farooq-i-azam, mborella Operating System: All BSD Platforms (FreeBSD/NetBSD/OpenBSD/Apple Mac OS X), All POSIX (Linux/BSD/UNIX-like OSes), FreeBSD, Linux License: GNU General Public License (GPL) Category: Monitoring * * * * * From: "Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam" <i80x86(a)gmail.com> Subject: [LinuxPakistan] [SPAM] Ipgrab 0.9.10 Released To: general(a)linuxpakistan.net Message-ID: <2424a8660707110400o784ac9e4sdd6acecec5a9884a(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful and the Most Beneficent Dear All Assalam-o-Alaikum! We have released new version of Ipgrab which is 0.9.10. Ipgrab is a packet sniffer distributed with Debian and other Linuxes. In particular, we have added a DEVELOPER-HOWTO with this release which is to facilitate new developers. If you are interested to participate, please do read the document available with the download. This new release fixes many bugs and errors, and ipgrab is now lot more stable. You may see ChangeLog for more details of the changes which were applied. Also, this release is now in synchronization with CVS repository. You can visit the project page here: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/ipgrab And you can download it from the following link: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4340 Other information provided by the Sourceforge release announcement is as under: Project: IPgrab (ipgrab) Package: ipgrab Date : 2007-07-10 20:47 Project "IPgrab" ('ipgrab') has released the new version of package 'ipgrab'. You can download it from SourceForge.net by following this link: <https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4340&release_id=5222…> or browse Release Notes and ChangeLog by visiting this link: <https://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=522209> -- Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam http://www.esecurity.com.pk/ http://www.chase.org.pk/ -- FN: Frederick Noronha http://wikiwikiweb.de/MyContacts Phone 0091-832-2409490 Cell: 091-9822122436 or 9970157402 (after 1 pm) A film on copyright! GOOD COPY BAD COPY: a documentary about the current state of copyright and culture. http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net/

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1st Asian Nation to Adopt Open Software Standards
by Raj Mathur 14 Jul '07

14 Jul '07

This may be some help in the battle against OOXML: 1st Asian Nation to Adopt Open Software Standards "Japan has adopted a policy under which government ministries and agencies will solicit bids from software vendors whose products support internationally recognized open standards and thus becomes the first country in Asia to embrace the open software Standards, The OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance) says in a press release (PDF). Full story at: http://www.linuxlookup.com/2007/jul/13/1st_asian_nation_to_adopt_open_softw… -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves

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Sify joins hands with Microsoft
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

Sify joins hands with Microsoft to bridge Digital Divide http://in.news.yahoo.com/070712/43/6hze0.html this time the promise is of free office software with free training. -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal

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Re: [Fsf-friends] M$ Gaming
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

----- Mani A <a.mani.cms(a)gmail.com> wrote: > M$ has been doing well in the gaming OS sector and with XBOX too. So > they have this nice closed source marketing strategy : > http://www.physorg.com/news103199030.html > > Best > > A. Mani Here is the conspiracy theory MS Sells one xbox 360, the xbox goes down and returned for warranty, a replacement xbox 360 is sent, it also goes down another replacement and the cycle continues... But the point is, for every one xbox 360 sold, MS can multiply its actual sales figures by 3, maybe 4 may be more. And can claim to dominate/ rule the console market. Whereas the rest will stay the one sale per person, no massive multipliers for them. Whatever... -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal

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Linus Torvalds Speaks: Have You Something To Ask?
by Anivar Aravind 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Linus Torvalds Speaks: Have You Something To Ask? http://efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnewsxml.asp?edid=20212 So, here is a chance for you to submit your questions. The two broad topics that we would like to discuss with Linus are: 1. The technology road map of Linux (especially the kernel) 2. The role Indian techies can play in developing Linux and open source So, if you have questions for Linus, feel free to ask.... The detailed interview will be published in LFY and subsequently released as a 'creative commons' document, since it will be a true community-driven initiative. The deadline to submit questions is 13 July 2007. -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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Say No to ECMA OOXML at BIS
by Anivar Aravind 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Dear Nagarjuna, I sent both links to PJ of groklaw. Some Interesting Observations of Rob on the MS Response is online now <http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20070709231317298&title…> Minutes of Meeting held on May 07, 2007, with comments <http://www.odfalliance.in/files/2007-07-05%20Minutes%20with%20comments%20by…> Two beautiful points in MS response: * OOXML does not have a large number of features but is "feature rich". "The statement was not that the size is due to the large number of features but “feature rich”. The size of the document is also due to the fact that it is a fully defined specification." (note, OOXML is incomplete, inconsistent, and lacks semantic, ie, it is a street directory without a map) * 6000+4000 pages of OOXML specifications are needed because MS couldn't be bothered to ask Oasis to define spreadsheet formula's "As an example, which was cited in the meeting but has not been captured in the minutes, is the specification for implementing formulas in Spreadsheets which is not present in ODF. In this case what would spreadsheet formula specifications be considered as if not a point of standardization." * In the Response to the Question by Dr. Nagarjuna, MS throws in another "Covenant not to sue", now with regard to the old binary office formats. Instead of giving a clear license to use the specifications, you are now still not allowed to use them. However, MS now promises not to sue you under some conditions, or maybe they will sue you under some other conditions. Just like OOXML. "It is to be noted that Microsoft has made the .doc, .xls, and .ppt binary file format specifications available under a royalty-free covenant not to sue to anyone who wishes to implement all or part of these specifications in their products." ~ Regards Anivar -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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Say No to ECMA OOXML at BIS
by Anivar Aravind 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Dear Nagarjuna, I sent both links to PJ of groklaw. Some Interesting Observations on the MS Response is online now <http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&sid=20070709231317298&title…> Minutes of Meeting held on May 07, 2007, with comments <http://www.odfalliance.in/files/2007-07-05%20Minutes%20with%20comments%20by…> Two beautiful points in MS response: * OOXML does not have a large number of features but is "feature rich". "The statement was not that the size is due to the large number of features but “feature rich”. The size of the document is also due to the fact that it is a fully defined specification." (note, OOXML is incomplete, inconsistent, and lacks semantic, ie, it is a street directory without a map) * 6000+4000 pages of OOXML specifications are needed because MS couldn't be bothered to ask Oasis to define spreadsheet formula's "As an example, which was cited in the meeting but has not been captured in the minutes, is the specification for implementing formulas in Spreadsheets which is not present in ODF. In this case what would spreadsheet formula specifications be considered as if not a point of standardization." * In the Response to the Question by Dr. Nagarjuna, MS throws in another "Covenant not to sue", now with regard to the old binary office formats. Instead of giving a clear license to use the specifications, you are now still not allowed to use them. However, MS now promises not to sue you under some conditions, or maybe they will sue you under some other conditions. Just like OOXML. "It is to be noted that Microsoft has made the .doc, .xls, and .ppt binary file format specifications available under a royalty-free covenant not to sue to anyone who wishes to implement all or part of these specifications in their products." ~ Regards Anivar -- Anivar Aravind moving Republic Peringavu.P.O Thrissur-18 Kerala http://anivar.movingrepublic.org/about

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GPL2 - GPL3
by Mani A 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

Suppose a package XX has a version-A under GPL-V2 and a forthcoming version-B. Suppose also that version -B is a severe modification of version-A. Now if version-B is to be released under GPL-V3 and suppose the earlier version is also to be maintained for some time, then I believe that the code from version-A would not be usable in version-B. Or how is this migration handled ? Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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M$ Gaming
by Mani A 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

M$ has been doing well in the gaming OS sector and with XBOX too. So they have this nice closed source marketing strategy : http://www.physorg.com/news103199030.html Best A. Mani -- A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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Comments on the GPLv3
by Raj Mathur 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

Great article on the major changes in and features of GPLv3 with explanations in plain English. Apologies for the cross-post. http://lawandlifesiliconvalley.blogspot.com/ Regards, -- Raju -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves

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Fwd: Please Read: Need help in replacing music in Fedora package
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 10 Jul '07

10 Jul '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tom spot Callaway <tcallawa(a)redhat.com> Date: 10-Jul-2007 02:33 Subject: Please Read: Need help in replacing music in Fedora package To: fedora-devel-list(a)redhat.com Cc: lwn(a)lwn.net, fedora-list(a)redhat.com, fedora-ambassadors-list(a)redhat.com Hello interweb. I need help. (This is going out to a few places, as to hopefully have it picked up) One of my Fedora packages (rocksndiamonds) has a slight problem. Turns out that some of its audio files are straight copies of music which was used without permission. Full details are here: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=245435 Rather than pull the game out of Fedora entirely, (it is pretty fun, and the music is the only real blocker) I'd like to replace the music with freely distributable music. So, this could be your big chance! Are you a musician? Is someone you know a musician? Would you be willing to give us some music under a Creative Commons license (Attribution or Attribution-ShareAlike only)? The music we need replacement for is: "Alchemy" by Ian Boddy, from "Drive" (emailed Ian) "Czardasz" by Robert Pieculewicz, from "Czardasz" (emailed Robert, now known as "Steve Allen") "The Chase" by Propaganda, from "A Secret Wish" (could not find contact info for Propaganda) "Twilight Painter" by Tangerine Dream, from "Heartbreakers" (emailed Eastgate Music & Media LTD, Management for Tangerine Dream) "21st Century Common Man" by Tangerine Dream, from "Tyger" (emailed Eastgate Music & Media LTD, Management for Tangerine Dream) "Voyager" by The Alan Parsons Project, from "Pyramid" (emailed permissions(a)the-alan-parsons-project.com) "Network 23" by Tangerine Dream, from "Exit" (emailed Eastgate Music & Media LTD, Management for Tangerine Dream) I've emailed the contact points for the artists (when I could find them), but I do not expect that they will be willing to permit the sound sample use. We don't need whole songs, just short sound samples that will endlessly loop while the game plays. The clips do not need to be long, the longest one in the above list is 14 seconds. The format needed is .wav. If you're willing to help, please email me (tcallawa(a)redhat.com). Without replacing this music, we'll have to remove this game from the Fedora package collection. Thanks in advance, ~spot -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list(a)redhat.com https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

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GNU Sather
by Debarshi 'Rishi' Ray 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

http://www.gnu.org/software/sather/ GNU Sather is an object-oriented programming language designed to be simple, efficient and safe. It aims to be appropriate for use in teaching, research, and industry. It was originally based on Eiffel but now incorporates ideas and approaches from several languages. One way of placing it in the "space of languages" is to say that it attempts to be as efficient as C, C++, or Fortran, as elegant and safe as Eiffel or CLU, and to support higher-order functions as well as Common Lisp or Scheme. GNU Sather is an object-oriented language with garbage collection, statically-checked strong typing, multiple inheritance, separate implementation and type inheritance, parameterized classes, dynamic dispatch, iteration abstraction, higher-order routines and iterators, exception handling, assertions, preconditions, postconditions, and class invariants. Code can be compiled into C code and can link with C object files. Cheers, Debarshi -- GPG key ID: 63D4A5A7 Key server: pgp.mit.edu

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Does Microsoft have nowhere to run?
by Ajay Pal Singh Atwal 07 Jul '07

07 Jul '07

----- Praveen A <pravi.a(a)gmail.com> wrote: > http://www.fsdaily.com/Adoption/Does_Microsoft_have_nowhere_to_run/ > Interesting but some deja-vu The free culture of a la-MIT-BSD/ Academia -> Commercial *nix/ and wind0Z too GNU GPLv2 -> TiVo and many others But thanks to GNU GPLv3 this wont be a one way sloppy relationship anymore. So the blank wall: hey MS can go for the xbox 360 vista, and then later upgrade it to xbox 360 aero FX or something, and then we install GNU/ Linux on it :-D -- Sincerely Ajay Pal Singh Atwal ----------------------- ajaypal[at]acm.org

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The Real Meaning of GNU GPLv3
by Praveen A 06 Jul '07

06 Jul '07

"In part that interest has been stoked by the manner in which the licence revision has been carried out. Whereas the first version of the GNU GPL was essentially the product of one man – Richard Stallman – and even the second involved only him and a few close collaborators, the drafting of version 3 has been opened out in an exemplary fashion to allow as wide a participation as possible. Given Stallman's close control of his GNU project and all that pertains to it, this new style of transparent, collaborative and inclusive working is a significant development for the future." http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000246 -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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Say NO to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard
by Anivar Aravind 05 Jul '07

05 Jul '07

microsoft is now on the similar kind of lobbying with BIS (Beuro of Indian Standards) to make OOXML as a standard. I feel FSF must campaign on this. Anivar Say NO to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard http://www.noooxml.org/petition 1. There is already a standard ISO26300 named Open Document Format (ODF): a dual standard adds costs, uncertainty and confusion to industry, government and citizens; 2. There is no provable implementation of the OOXML specification: Microsoft Office 2007 produces a special version of OOXML, not a file format which complies with the OOXML specification; 3. There is missing information from the specification document, for example how to do a autoSpaceLikeWord95 or useWord97LineBreakRules; 4. More than 10% of the examples mentioned in the proposed standard do not validate as XML; 5. There is no guarantee that anybody can write a software that fully or partially implements the OOXML specification without being liable to patent damages or patent license fees by Microsoft; 6. This standard proposal conflicts with other ISO standards, such as ISO 8601 (Representation of dates and times), ISO 639 (Codes for the Representation of Names and Languages) or ISO/IEC 10118-3 (cryptographic hash); 7. There is a bug in the spreadsheet file format which forbids to enter any date before the year 1900: such bugs affects the OOXML specification as well as software versions such as Microsoft Excel 2000, XP, 2003 or 2007. 8. This standard proposal has not been created by bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties (such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators), but by Microsoft alone.

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Erroneous term in Article "Open it Up" - Is a software patent an oxymoron? - Issue: July 15 2007
by Roshan 04 Jul '07

04 Jul '07

Kind Attn: Author/Reporter - Kushan Mitra An article on Software Patent and a report covering Eben Moglen's speech in India is printed on Page 58 of Business Today, issue dated: July 15, 2007. The article refers to Prof. Eben Moglen as one who is associated with "Open Source", rather than "Free Software" Apart from this, the GNU GPL is not mentioned clearly and loosely referred to as General *Purpose* License, instead of GNU General Public License (www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html) It is requested that authors reporting about events such as these kindly refer to appropriate websites and the press section of them to write about Free Software. -- FSF of India Associate Fellow - http://www.gnu.org.in http://www.somaiya.edu/sksasc ubunturos @ freenode Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Yahoo! Messenger. Download Now! http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php

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Fsf-friends July 2007