---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peter Brown <info(a)fsf.org>
Date: Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 7:00 AM
Subject: [FSF] Why I'm rejecting your email attachment: for freedom
and the good of the web!
To: info-fsf(a)gnu.org
Why I'm rejecting your email attachment: for freedom and the good of the
web!
http://www.fsf.org/news/why-im-rejecting-your-email-attachment
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, March 31, 2010 -- The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) today launched a campaign calling on all
computer users to start politely rejecting email attachments sent in
secret and proprietary formats: for freedom and the good of the web!
The campaign is in support of Document Freedom Day and the OpenDocument
format. OpenDocument is an ISO standard that allows anyone to create
software that supports it, without fear of patent claims or licensing
issues. Documents, spreadsheets and presentations sent in Microsoft Word
or Excel native formats, or documents created in Apple's iWorks, are
proprietary and incompatible with freedom and an accessible web.
"If we are serious about gaining freedom and accessibility for all users
of technology and the web, we must demand an end to proprietary document
formats. The best way to get started is for each of us to take
responsibility and begin rejecting their use. OpenDocument is available
now, as is free software such as OpenOffice.org that allows anyone to
create OpenDocument files at no cost. If we can convince the 300 Million
users who have already downloaded OpenOffice.org, to reject proprietary
formats we could quickly secure a victory. Let's do this for freedom and
the good of the web," said FSF executive director Peter Brown.
The campaign highlights ways in which emails that include attachments in
secret or proprietary formats can be politely rejected, and the issue
explained to the sender. Users can respond individually, or email
administrators can configure their systems to automatically reject such
messages.
FSF campaigns manager Matt Lee added, "For governments, businesses,
archivists and others, it's critical that documents be stored in a way
that guarantees they can be read for years to come. This hasn't been a
problem for printed matter, but proprietary digital file formats are
secretive by nature and get changed every few years, putting at risk
future access to needed documents. We must ensure that documents we
store on our computers and that are made available on the web are
accessible regardless of what computer you use."
The FSF is providing graphics that supporters can use to promote the
campaign at http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/opendocument/spread.
Reject proprietary formats and use OpenDocument:
http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/opendocument/reject
Learn about OpenDocument: http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/opendocument
Learn about Document Freedom Day: http://documentfreedom.org/
About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
Media Contacts
Peter Brown Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 319-5832
campaigns(a)fsf.org
info-fsf mailing list
info-fsf(a)gnu.org
Unsubscribe: http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf
They call it a "open source event " and this is what they say about
their stand.
Mahiti is mis using terms like open source and free software, it will be
clear from the mail that follows.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re - Mahiti's stance on Free and Open Source Software
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:38:37 +0530
From: Rajeev Nair <rajeev.nair(a)mahiti.org>
Reply-To: digitalbridgecamp(a)googlegroups.com
To: digitalbridgecamp(a)googlegroups.com
Hello members,
I would like to clarify a few questions/doubts raised about Mahiti by a
member here on the list.
Mahiti believes in taking the middle ground in this matter,so while we
actively promote the use of FOSS and use it extensively in our
organization, we are not opposed to using proprietary software or have
anything to do with what companies like Microsoft do to promote their
products.We do our work and they do theirs.Wherever possible we use FOSS
,where not we use proprietary products.
As far as our workshops are concerned , its completely aimed at
non-profits and is not a linux tech fest or talking too much of the
idealogical aspects of FOSS, and though 95 % of sessions are using
FOSS tools,we also have google apps as a session.And we talk about dual
booting with other OS's so there too proprietary software is involved.
Its basically a technology workshop for non-profits.And the tools taught
at the workshop are FOSS tools.With some other software 'we feel' is of
use to participants.
But since a member used the term 'If Mahiti is doing this we ought to be
careful' , i suggest to him he read about Mahiti's history and work done
with the FOSS community before trying to post utterly false statements
to this list.
Rajeev Nair
convene Co-ordinator
Mahiti Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
# 33-34, Hennur Cross
Hennur Main Road
Bangalore, India - 560043
Phone: +91 80 4148 5080/1 41150580/1
Mobile: +91 96113 44374
http://www.mahiti.orghttp://convene.mahiti.org
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nagarjuna G <nagarjun(a)gnowledge.org>
Date: Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 8:00 AM
Subject: Release Candidate of GNOWSYS and gnowsys-mode
To: info-gnu(a)gnu.org
Gnowledge lab team is happy to announce the release of GNOWSYS and
gnowsys-mode.
This is the first major release of GNOWSYS and gnowsys-mode (An Emacs
major mode as an UI for GNOWSYS) as a release candidate 1. If no more
bugs are reported/fixed in the coming two months, v 1.0 will be
released in May 2010.
The release can be downloaded from here:
http://mirror.lihnidos.org/GNU/savannah/gnowsys/gnowsysApp_rc1.tar.bz2http://mirror.lihnidos.org/GNU/savannah/gnowsys/gnowsys-mode_rc1.tar.bz2
Release Notes:
This release is a major overhaul of the last stable release 0.62 (June
2006). After this GNOWSYS has been completely rewritten. The major
changes are summarized below:
+ The storage uses postgresql and not ZOPE object database (ZODB).
+ Full version control of data and metadata is implemented making it
a multiuser collaboration through the web, as well as through an
Emacs client. (A major mode of GNU Emacs called gnowsys-mode has
been developed as a client to work collaboratively through
Internet without using an Internet browser.)
+ It is scalable and faster than all the earlier versions.
+ It is standardized for use as a triple (RDF) store. (In the next
release Ontologies can be published and managed collaboratively.)
+ Graphs are drawn automatically for each node in SVG with
hyperlinks.
+ RDF export in N3 notation is implemented.
+ Basic ontology editing is possible through the Emacs client:
gnowsys-mode.
* A brief Introduction about GNOWSYS
GNOWSYS (Gnowledge Networking and Organizing System) is a triple
store (RDF) for representing knowledge networks and its dynamics.
** The Structure of the Network Memory
The network construction uses the following principles:
1. The memory in GNOWSYS is a set of nodes with all nodes with a
unique NID (Node ID). The NID with the address locator gives
rise to a unique URI in the cyberspace.
2. Every node links with the neighborhood nodes through two kinds
of mediating nodes: attributes and relations. Thus every node
can be represented as a frame.
3. Every node is described by neighborhood.
4. The network can be obtained as a graph by merging the
neighborhood of all the nodes.
5. The set of all attributes and relations is the full set of
knowledge represented in the network.
6. Each attribute or relation constitutes one RDF triple.
7. Search and query operations give the list of SSID (SnapShot ID)
whose neighborhood contains the searched value.
8. The value space is linked to the nodes via named links making
most results of queries meaningful.
9. The representation of network memory can be completely encoded
in any of the RDF languages.
** The Dynamics (change management) of the Network Memory
1. Insertion of new nodes changes the neighborhood of the nodes
concerned, and such changes can be tracked by holding the
snapshots of the node's neighborhood at each instance of change.
2. Being a collaborative space, the system records who did what
change and at what time.
3. Delinking is the preferred way of removing data elements from
the network, and no node can be removed without prior removal of
the links the node may have with others.
4. Each Node's neighborhood at a given time becomes the state space
of the node.
5. Changing state of nodes can be recorded persistently as process
nodes that record the prior-state and post-state of the nodes
invovled.
For more details, please follow http://www.gnu.org/software/gnowsys/
and http://lab.gnowledge.org site.
For video documentation please see:
http://lab.gnowledge.org/download/gnowsys-mode-screencasts
--
Nagarjuna
Hi,
The article about AC3 mentions about Vidya a low-vision user http://beta.thehindu.com/news/cities/Bangalore/article245413.ece
"Shedding light on another issue, Vidya, who suffers from partial visual
impairment, spoke on the issues that the visually impaired face while
using computers. Demonstrating various technical issues with the
proprietary tools she uses, she also spoke about the fact that
accessibility tools (such as screen readers and related software, all in the proprietary domain) are extremely expensive. "
Magnification is problem with gnu/Linux. Some of members of accessibility team are working on this, but we have a long way to go. Given the giving the state of some of assistive gnome-mag, perhaps someone would like to work on this. Until then we have to rely on using Compiz eZoom [1]. If you are a low-vision gnu/Linux or know some of problems please drop me a line.
Cheers
--arky
[1] Better Gnome Desktop Magnification with eZoom -
http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com/2009/07/better-gnome-desktop-magnificati…
Rakesh 'arky' Ambati| IT Consultant| http://www.braillewithoutborders.org | Blog: http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com
The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. http://in.yahoo.com/