Fsf-friends November 2010

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

7 participants
6 discussions

Workshop for women researchers - run up to NCAR 2010
by sarath ms 27 Nov '10

27 Nov '10

Hi friends, Swecha organized a workshop for women researchers and academicians on the theme 'Women in Research - the FOSS paradigm' on Friday 26th November. The workshop was attended by around 165 women working as lecturers, professors and researchers in various engineering and MCA colleges. It was inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor of JNTU Hyderabad Dr. D. N. Reddy who encouraged women to participate in research and also appreciated the efforts by Swecha in propagating the use of FOSS and wished it success in further endeavors like NCAR 2010. The keynote address was given by Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy from IIIT Hyderabad, who is the All India coordinator of the Virtual Labs project of MHRD and heads the Center for IT in Education. She put forward two reasons to consider use of FOSS. One, from the social justice point of view as proprietary software cuts access to lakhs of people who cannot afford the high cost of that software. Two, use of FOSS also makes economic sense as it encourages and involves many more people in the process and thus would be good for the economy of the country. As for concrete application of FOSS in research, she gave the example of how FOSS was much superior in usage for her while developing virtual labs for science. The idea of virtual labs for science was prompted by the lack of proper labs and infrastructure in most of the schools and colleges in Hyderabad. The IIIT is involved in developing these labs and now the union ministry of HRD is asking for similar virtual labs to be developed for engineering colleges also. She pointed out that the use of FOSS in such research projects is growing not only in India but across the world. Prof. K S Rajan of IIIT said that knowledge can grow only when it is shared with others and free software provides the platform for such sharing and enriching of knowledge. In this context he emphasised the importance of peer learning and how it is important to do so at every level of education. He felt that FOSS platform enables the academics and researchers to be updated in their knowledge about their spheres. The workshop had presentations on 'Computing freedom with free software – the Experience of Swecha' by Dr L Pratap Reddy of JNTU Hyd who is also the working chairman of Swecha; a presentation on 'How to use FOSS for research and development' by Ms. Sirisha of Wipro Technologies. There were also testimonials by women from various institutes who used FOSS in their research work and how it helped them to accomplish their goals. The participants set forward an action plan which included setting up FOSS labs in their colleges, creation of Lab Manuals for FOSS tools, conducting workshops for other faculty and students, participating in localization of free software etc. More info & photos at http://ncar2010.fsmi.in/women-researchers-workshop Regards, Sarath M S www.swecha.org

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Announcement: National Convention for Academics and Research
by sarath ms 18 Nov '10

18 Nov '10

Dear Friends, National Convention for Academics and Research (NCAR) 2010 will be held from 16th to 18th December 2010 at Hyderabad. The event is being organized by Free Software Movement of India and hosted by Swecha. FSMI is organizing the first convention to spread awareness of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS/FLOSS) and its usage in Academia/Research communities. The theme for this convention will be "*Computing Freedom in Education, Research and Technology*" The convention provides a platform for sharing of experiences and views, to foster a collaborative approach to education and for improving educational aids including software tools. The convention will see participation of researchers and academicians from colleges and universities across the country including IITs, IISc, IIIT. The FOSS paradigm provides an opportunity to evolve a serious research community with global cooperation. This would also enable in bridging the gap between research-industry and societal demands. An integration for research between academia and industry is not up to the mark as it is in the case of developed nations. This convention shall provide space for faculty and students of Engineering Colleges to learn, interact, and network with their peer groups, leading to a development of a FOSS ecosystem. The convention will focus on a wide range of topics through dedicated track sessions on academic and research areas like scientific computing and visualization, to Indian Language technologies and application specific domains of Mobile, GIS and the like. In addition, it will also host demonstrations, exhibitions, and tutorial sessions for providing hands-on training on Free Software tools in research and education. Swecha and other member organizations of FSMI will be organizing a wide variety of run up events across India in promotion of Free Software and NCAR 2010. There will be workshops, seminars, 'train-the-trainer' sessions. Apart from academicians and researchers, some of these events will be extended to other sections like students, Lab admins, developers, physically challenged users, print and electronic media etc. Swecha has also planned to hold a one-day workshop for women researchers and academicians on "Women in Research - The FOSS paradigm" to bring together like-minded women researchers and academicians to build an ecosystem where one can learn from each others' experiences and works done. Visit http://ncar2010.fsmi.in for Online registration and more details. Regards, Sarath M S. *www.swecha.org ncar2010.fsmi.in*

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Fwd: [gnu-prog-discuss] [en] Linux-2.6.36-libre: turning Linux's Free Bait into Free Software
by Nagarjuna G 13 Nov '10

13 Nov '10

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: info(a)fsfla.org To: anuncios(a)fsfla.org Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:39:19 -0200 Subject: [en] Linux-2.6.36-libre: turning Linux's Free Bait into Free Software Cyberspace, November 8, 2010---Linux hasn't got any Freer between the Linux-2.6.33-libre announcement, back in March, and the present announcement, that marks the release of Linux-2.6.36-libre. Linux now contains more non-Free Software, and more drivers in its Free core that require separately distributed non-Free Software to function. The welcome news is that Open Source advocates have joined the Free Software Movement in denouncing the practice of Free Bait or Open Core. http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-03-Linux-2.6.33-libre http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/pub/linux-libre/releases/LATEST-2.6.36.0/ OSI director Simon Phipps writes “Open Core Is Bad For You”, “it's a game on software freedom”, “it's a bait-and-switch, wrapping the same old lock-in in the flag of open source and hoping you won't notice.” Bait-and-switch is a deceptive commercial practice in which one product is announced to attract customers, to sell another instead. http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/06/open-core-is-bad-for-yo… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch OSI director Andrew C. Oliver adds that “Open Core puts the software user at a disadvantage in the same way that all proprietary software puts the user at a disadvantage”, it “is merely a nick-name for a proprietary software company”, and those who imply their “proprietary software is open source or has the advantages of open source are engaging in deception.” http://www.opensource.org/blog/OpenCore http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100704191126134 This agreement between the Free Software movement Freedom campaign and Open Source spokespeople on a matter of principle signals the importance of denouncing this practice. However, most of our community is not aware that Linux has this problem. The most popular GNU+Linux distributions, and most of their user groups, downplay the problem of non-Free parts of Linux. Free Bait, or Open Core as first coined by Andrew Lampitt, is a licensing strategy that combines Free and non-Free Software: the distributor offers, under non-Free terms, premium features that are not available in the Free, typically copyleft, core. The original definition, presented in the context of deriving benefits such as profit or code contributions, may appear confusing because it conflates non-Free with commercial, but Free Bait does not mean selling additional permissions to the same code, letting others offer non-Free extensions, or offering Free extensions to paying customers. Rather, it means that a community member or distributor of the Free core also offers non-Free extensions to go with it. http://alampitt.typepad.com/lampitt_or_leave_it/2008/08/open-core-licen.html http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2010/10/20/what-is-open-core-licens… http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/selling-exceptions Sad to say, Linux fits the definition of Free Bait or Open Core. Many believe that Linux is Free Software or Open Source, but it isn't. Indeed, the Linux-2.6.36 distribution published by Mr. Torvalds contains sourceless code under such restrictive licensing terms as “This material is licensed to you strictly for use in conjunction with the use of COPS LocalTalk adapters”, presented as a list of numbers in the corresponding driver, and “This firmware may not be modified and may only be used with Keyspan hardware” and “Derived from proprietary unpublished source code, Copyright Broadcom” in the firmware subdirectory, just to name a few examples. Although the corresponding drivers are part of the Free and GPLed core, the features they are meant to provide will only be available to users that accept the non-Free code that Mr. Torvalds redistributes. The drivers work as bait, luring users into accepting the deprivation of essential freedoms over the corresponding non-Free Software. Most GNU+Linux distributions follow the same practice: they include other freedom-denying programs beyond the kernel Linux, while continuing to associate themselves with the terms Free Software or Open Source. Even if they, Linux included, remove all these non-Free programs, as long as they keep software or documentation that induces users to seek and use non-Free programs, they're still bait. Please join us in bringing these problems to users' attention, and also in informing users about the various Free GNU+Linux distros and Linux-libre, our Free version of the kernel Linux. Available since October 21, Linux-2.6.36-libre is Bait-free Free Software; Linux and GNU+Linux can be de-baited and Free again, if we work together at it. http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/ http://www.gnu.org/distros/ http://www.fsf.org/working-together/ ---- == About Linux-libre Linux-libre is a project maintained by FSFLA, that releases cleaned-up versions of Linux, suitable for use in distributions that comply with the Free Software Distribution Guidelines published by the GNU project, and by users who wish to run Free versions of Linux on their GNU systems. The project offers cleaning-up scripts and Free sources, binaries for some Free GNU/Linux-libre distributions, binaries to replace with minimal changes the kernels in non-Free GNU/Linux distributions: Freed-ebian and Freed-ora, and artwork with GNU and the Linux-libre mascot: Freedo, the clean, Free and user-friendly light-blue penguin. Visit our web site and Be Free! http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/ http://www.gnu.org/distros/ == About FSFLA Free Software Foundation Latin America joined in 2005 the international FSF network, previously formed by Free Software Foundations in the United States, in Europe and in India. These sister organizations work in their corresponding geographies towards promoting the same Free Software ideals and defending the same freedoms for software users and developers, working locally but cooperating globally. http://www.fsfla.org/ ---- Copyright 2010 FSFLA Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this entire document without royalty, provided the copyright notice, the document's official URL, and this permission notice are preserved. Permission is also granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of individual sections of this document worldwide without royalty provided the copyright notice and the permission notice above are preserved, and the document's official URL is preserved or replaced by the individual section's official URL. http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-11-Linux-2.6.36-libre-debait

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Contribute to Chamba Swathanthra Cinema project
by Praveen A 10 Nov '10

10 Nov '10

"I will contribute 500 Indian Rupees (or 10 USD) to Chamba Swathanthra Cinema Project but only if 100 other people will do the same." — Praveen Arimbrathodiyil, Coordinator for Chamba Project Deadline to sign up by: 1st January 2011 18 people have signed up, 82 more needed More details Chamba project (http://www.chambaproject.in) is an ambitious effort to create a Swathanthra (Free/Libre) Animation Movie by pooling in contributions from people around the world and funding artists directly. A donation system will be setup at http://www.chambaproject.in/contribute/ when we are ready to accept money. -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ You have to keep reminding your government that you don't get your rights from them; you give them permission to rule, only so long as they follow the rules: laws and constitution.

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[ANN][X-Post] SciPy India 2010 Call for Papers & Participation
by Kadambari Devarajan 03 Nov '10

03 Nov '10

========================================== SciPy 2010 Call for Papers & Participation ========================================== The second SciPy India Conference (scipy.in) will be held from December 13th to 18th, 2010 at IIIT-Hyderabad (http://www.iiit.ac.in/). Scipy.in is a conference providing opportunities to spread the use of the Python programming language in the Scientific Computing community in India. It provides a unique opportunity to interact with the "Who's who" of the Python for Scientific Computing fraternity and learn, understand, participate and contribute what is happening in the realms of Scientific Computing using Python. Attendees of the conference and participants of the sprints planned will be able to access and review the tools available, apart from learning domain-specific applications and how the tools apply to a plethora of application problems. One of the goals of the conference is to combine education, engineering and science with computing through the medium of Python and thereby extrapolate on how powerful Scientific Computing is in various fields and among different communities. At this conference, novel applications and breakthroughs made in the pursuit of science using Python are presented. Attended by leading figures from both academia and industry, it is an excellent opportunity to experience the cutting edge of scientific software development. The conference is followed by three days of tutorials and code sprints, during which community experts provide training on several scientific Python packages. We invite you to take part by submitting a talk abstract or register as a participant on the conference website at: http://scipy.in Talk/Paper Submission ===================== We solicit talks and accompanying papers (either formal academic or magazine-style articles) that discuss topics regarding scientific computing using Python, including applications, teaching, development and research. Papers are included in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings, published online. Please note that submissions primarily aimed at the promotion of a commercial product or service will not be considered. Important Dates =============== Wednesday, Nov. 10: Abstracts Due Monday, Nov. 15: Schedule announced Sunday, Dec. 05: Proceedings paper submission due Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 13-14: Conference Wednesday-Friday, Dec. 15-17: Tutorials/Sprints Saturday, Dec. 18: Sprints The invited speakers ================== * Fernando Perez -- PhD from University of Colorado. Currently at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. Original author and leader of the IPython project for interactive computing (http://ipython.scipy.org), and member of the Python Software Foundation. * John Hunter -- Ph.D. from University of Chicago. Currently at Tradelink, Inc. Chicago. Original author and lead developer of the scientific visualization package *matplotlib*. * Perry Greenfield -- PhD, MIT. Currently at Space Telescope Science Institute, Maryland, USA. Has pioneered the use of Python in astronomy. He and his group have developed PyRAF, numarray (the precursor to current numpy capabilities), PyFITS and involved with the development of matplotlib. * Prabhu Ramachandran -- PhD, IIT Madras. Currently a faculty member at IIT Bombay. He is the co-founder of the Indian Linux User Group - Chennai (ILUGC) and is the creator and lead developer of the (FOSS-India-award-winning) Mayavi and TVTK Python packages ( http://code.enthought.com/projects/mayavi). Currently heads the FOSSEE ( http://fossee.in) project. * Stéfan van der Walt -- PhD, Stellenbosch University, SA. Currently a researcher and lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Stellenbosch University. One of the developers of the NumPy and SciPy packages. * Jarrod Millman -- Member of the SciPy steering committee and an active contributor to both the NumPy and SciPy projects. He is the acting managing director and the director of computing for UC Berkeley's Neuroscience Institute, where he helped found the Neuroimaging in Python (NiPy) project. * Satrajit Ghosh -- PhD Boston University. Currently a faculty member of the Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology program, Harvard-MIT. He is managing the development of the NiPy project (http://nipy.org/nipype/). * Asokan Pichai -- Head - Software Engineering at TalentSprint. Consultant/Project manager for the Python group of the FOSSEE project. He has immense experience in the field of training and instructional design. Organizers ========== * Jarrod Millman, Neuroscience Institute, UC Berkeley, USA (Conference Co-Chair) * Prabhu Ramachandran, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay, India (Conference Co-Chair) * FOSSEE Team * EnhanceEdu Team About Python ============ Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented, open source, extensible programming language. It combines clarity and readability, making it an extremely powerful language that can be used for various applications and problems. Python is simple and easy to learn and apply. It offers an interactive environment in which to explore procedural, functional and object oriented approaches to problem solving. Its high level data structures, extensive documentation and clear syntax make it an ideal first language, while the large number of existing libraries make it suitable to tackle almost any programming tasks. Its simplicity makes it easy to adapt to multiple educational domains. Python has several libraries that enable numeric and symbolic computing. It also interfaces well with native codes in C,C++ and FORTRAN and has excellent libraries for plotting/visualization. Python also provides libraries for general purpose computing including generating user interfaces and web development. These, coupled with it's interactive interpreter, make Python an excellent language for Scientific Computing. All these features when combined with their wide-ranging applications make Python a perfect fit for use in Education, Industry and Scientific Computing. Registration Fees =============== Registration, accommodation and food are offered at highly subsidized rates for teachers and students, while registration and food will be offered to all conference participants at subsidized rates. Details about the fees can be found at: http://scipy.in/scipyin/2010/about/fees/ Publicity ======== The posters can be downloaded from the website : http://scipy.in/scipyin/2010/publicity/ Contact ======= Feel free to email the organizers at info(a)fossee.in

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WikiPedia like project
by Abhijith V R 01 Nov '10

01 Nov '10

hi fsf buddies, I've got a project requirement from one of my clients, that they require a wikipedia like repository + blogging + forum + other popular site integrations. Considering their requirements I've decided to take up, TIKIWIKI one of the popular applications available (as "mediawiki" doesn't have a pleasing interface and not much expandable). I need suggestions from ma community guys, regarding other such applications Or please let me know if anyone here, who could help me out with this project and its future upgrades using tikiwiki. Myself is new to tikiwiki, but i preferred it as it had a huge list of features. Expecting a quick response. -- *regards,* *Haxter *

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Fsf-friends November 2010