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CyberIndiaOnline: Linux wins, but Microsoft rules...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 Sep '03

16 Sep '03

------------------------------------------------------------------ CYBER INDIA ONLINE: LINUX WINS, BUT MICROSOFT RULES "While cost has been the key reason for driving the demand for Linux-based branded PCs, experts suggest pirated Microsoft software still, rules the heart..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2003/103091205.asp ------------------------------------------------------------------ Cited by LINUX TODAY

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[Fsf-friends] Re: NEWS: Microsoft signs agreements with Haryana, Punjab
by Ramanraj K 13 Sep '03

13 Sep '03

>A Punjab government official said the agreement with Microsoft was aimed to >facilitate greater transparency To start with, could they please publish all the terms of the agreement ?

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[Fsf-friends] Fwd: [karunakar@freedomink.org: [Indlinux-group] Punjabi vs Panjabi debate.]
by Mahesh T. Pai 12 Sep '03

12 Sep '03

FN, can you give this a bit of publicity amongst your punjabi speaking journos?? ----- Forwarded message from Guntupalli Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> ----- > Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 16:01:00 +0530 > From: Guntupalli Karunakar <karunakar(a)freedomink.org> > Subject: [Indlinux-group] Punjabi vs Panjabi debate. > To: indlinux-punjabi(a)lists.sourceforge.net, > indic-computing-users(a)lists.sourceforge.net > Cc: indlinux-group(a)lists.sourceforge.net > Reply-To: indlinux-group(a)lists.sourceforge.net > X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 0.9.2 (GTK+ 1.2.10; i686-pc-linux-gnu) > Organization: Netcore Solutions > > Hi all, > Offlate a debate has been going on in Gnome l10n circles as to how > 'Punjabi' is to be written. Gnome has policy to follow ISO language > codes, where language code is 'pa' ,written as 'Panjabi' for Punjabi. > Other projects like KDE, SF.net, .. also follow same policy. > > List of language codes is at > http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/englangn.html > > Right now Punjabi is not well supported, but when it does have > support (locale, font, input methods) , this point will be constantly > raised by users. > It would be interesting to note that usage of 'Panjabi' is restricted > to compliance of ISO 639 codes or by those who are not aware of the > language name and come to know of it from ISO standards. > > Some threads from Gnome-i18n > http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2003-February/msg00155.html > http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2003-February/msg00156.html > > Its important that someone takes, this up with respective Punjabi > language bodies, Govt of Punjab, TDIL/ MIT GOI to persue the matter > with ISO to get the change done. > I hope native speakers take this up (& I will keep making noises till > someone takes it up :), since later on when language is better > supported, it could grow into bigger debate. > > Regards, > Karunakar > > -- > A Reasonable man adapts himself to the world > An Unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to himself > So all progress in the world depends on the Unreasonable man - GB Shaw > > --------------------------- > * Indian Linux project * > * http://www.indlinux.org * > --------------------------- > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek > Welcome to geek heaven. > http://thinkgeek.com/sf > _______________________________________________ > IndLinux-group mailing list > IndLinux-group(a)lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indlinux-group ----- End forwarded message ----- -- +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Mahesh T. Pai, LL.M., 'NANDINI', S. R. M. Road, Ernakulam, Cochin-682018, Kerala, India. http://in.geocities.com/paivakil +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+

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NEWS: Microsoft signs agreements with Haryana, Punjab
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 12 Sep '03

12 Sep '03

Microsoft signs agreements with Haryana, Punjab >From Indo-Asian News Service Chandigarh, Sep 11 (IANS) Software giant Microsoft India will set up a research laboratory in Haryana to promote the use of Hindi in computer applications and help accelerate e-governance in Punjab. "Microsoft Corporation India will set up a research and development laboratory at Kurukshetra University for the promotion of Hindi in computer application," a Haryana government official said here Thursday. The decision was taken at a meeting between Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Microsoft India managing director Rajiv Kaul. Microsoft and the Punjab government Thursday signed an agreement in the presence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Kaul to jointly work towards accelerating e-governance at different levels. They will also jointly work on information and communication technology education to make Punjab a "knowledge rich" state. In his meeting with Kaul, Chautala suggested that care should be taken while developing Hindi software to use words that would be easy to understand and simple to write. Chautala was all praise for the contribution made by Microsoft in promoting IT, especially at Gurgaon, adjoining New Delhi. Haryana's proximity to the national capital and its investor-friendly climate were added attractions for entrepreneurs, he noted. A Punjab government official said the agreement with Microsoft was aimed to facilitate greater transparency, better citizen services, reduced cost of operations, enhanced agility in governance and to make the people of Punjab realise their potential by using IT. Microsoft will set up two centres of excellence for e-governance in Chandigarh and Jalandhar in collaboration with the Punjab government's IT department. These centres will showcase Microsoft technologies and solutions and demonstrate the interoperability of Microsoft technologies with other platforms. They will also be used to train Punjab government personnel. --Indo-Asian News Service

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Re: GNU Freedom
by Ramanraj K 11 Sep '03

11 Sep '03

Re: GNU Freedom could become the mother of all freedoms ====================================================================== GNU Freedom is properly the title of a long essay, but it cannot wait that long as I am obliged to explain this atleast briefly. Hammurabi inscribed his code that included law like "an eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth" on a stone pillar. The US Constitution, that provided for constitutional justice is written on parchment and still preserved in their archives, and this style of constitutional justice has been adopted by several independant states on their own free will. All freedoms find their source in some basic legal document. To record the law, people have used human memory, wood, leather, clay, stone, bronze, iron, parchment, paper, palm leaves and anything that the people considered extremely durable[FN-1] to record. The storage of laws in the medium of computer hardware and its capability to execute the written code in ways meaningful to us through software is something unknown in legal history. Let us proceed further in the light of our own constitution and the US constitution. Since independence and the coming into force of our constitution, we enjoy several freedoms. Part III of the Indian Constitution lists several basic fundamental rights and Article 32 guarantees the right to move the Supreme Court of India for the enforcement of rights conferred in Part III. Without Article 32 the rest of Part III will be a list of empty rights. Of course, we have Article 226. But the point is that, without procedures to enforce rights and freedoms guaranteed, Part III Rights and Freedoms would be as empty as our Part IV Directives. Many of our freedoms were adopted on the lines of the US constitution. Execution and enforcement have a close connection. We are forced to seek enforcement only because of some failure or defect in execution. Courts are actually engaged in debugging the errors encountered in the execution of laws. All software, by their very nature, execute rules in ways which ultimately makes sense only to humans. If execution of laws is done with the aid of computers, then the need to seek enforcement is almost redundant. Then, the software becomes the tool and means of safeguarding all the other freedoms. Freedoms are positive rights so far as people are concerned, but the very same freedoms are negative injunctions against the state. Generally, if a constitution says that "freedom of speech is guaranteed", it only means that the state cannot make any law that takes away the freedom of speech from its people. Our constitution gives these freedoms under Article 19 using a positive language, and on the contrary, the US constitution plainly speaks of the freedoms as negative injunctions against the state. But the end result is the same, for example, the penal law of the state cannot punish you for making a speech, and if any such law is made, the courts will hold the law unconstitutional and refuse enforcement. Freedom from discrimination on certain ground is guaranteed in Article 15 of our constitution prohibiting state discrimination against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, sex etc. Suppose a state law proposes: if ($citizen_sex == 'male'){ // some discriminatory privilege to male citizens $citizen_pay = 10000; } else { $citizen_pay = 8000; } A parser can handle the discrimination violating Article 15, and could be made to return an error [FN-2]. Error: if ($citizen_sex == 'male') { ... } violates Article 15 Error: legislation failed Software can elegantly execute laws and deal with attempts to encroach freedoms at the earliest point of time. There are fewer occasions when something unconstitutional or ultra vires is allowed to be done, and then latter correct the error through enforcement of constitutional rights. This is the main reason why sofware could be the fulcrum on which all our rights rest, and could be used as a convenient tool to achieve results that may otherwise be difficult to enforce, provide or measure. Statutory interpretation would also become superfluous, because computer languages are well designed to rule out ambiguities, or handle ambiguities in well known ways, and irresponsible absurd interpretations of the law will become a thing of the past. Of course, there would be several executive actions that can be done in the name of law without a computer presence, like searches or arrests. Errors in such cases can be dealt with by the judiciary as done now, but perhaps with greater speed and accuracy with computer aid. Such errors are best corrected only by education, where also computers can play an important role. Computers are no substitute for us, but computers can aid to protect all our rights as guaranteed by a constitution, through reliable execution that can easily be supervised by us. It is needless to illustrate execution of state laws with computer aid. States that used paper, parchment and stone in the past now have the option to use computer hardware and software to store their laws and execute them as proceedings, for better enforcement, peace and prosperity. Computer hardware could be purchased. But hardware cannot be directly used without the aid of several software tools and aids. Software needs to be written from scratch or obtained from other sources. Writing software from scratch is not easy or possible for governments. If this were possible, then there is no need to go for third party software. States often desire tried and tested things for use. Opting for non-free software means that the state seriously compromises its sovereignty, because of non-disclosure of source code, and a host of other defects inherent to the very nature of non-free software. The law itself is open, and any software that it may rely upon for execution also necessary has to be open. Black box method of software use is also undemocratic and can never be trusted. Choosing free software is the only solution that does not compromise state sovereignty, as the state can independently examine the source code before using it freely, and make any modification to suit its needs, without any permission from even the author of the code. [Though not required by the GPL, giving credit to the author(s) of the code will show stateliness!]. Free software fits the law like a glove, in all aspects.[FN-3] There is in fact no reason to consider software and law as two different fields. Once the state decides upon free software, it will need to choose some database application to store its laws and proceedings, and other software tools to "execute" written code. A host of free software tools like Apache, BIND, PostgreSQL, PHP, Perl, Gimp, gcc, emacs, and others are all required to create a computer based legal system to make democracy work right for a state. Practically, most of these tools need make or gmake, and gcc to compile for use. make, gmake and gcc are GNU software. Without RMS and GNU, there would have been no make or gcc. Therefore, GNU is at the very heart of any open legal system that can work from a computer network. Therefore free software is required to create a democratic legal system that works on computer networks, and execution of all the other freedoms will flow through the free software used. Freedom of life is meaningless if I do not have free safe water to drink. Experts in Chennai say, 1mm of rain if stored well, could meet the one day's supply needs of Chennai people. Chennai receives about 450 mm of rain annually. If we go without water most of the days, the fault lies in us. I would expect the software the state uses to keep measure of rainfall received, the storage achieved, and use the feedback to achieve a sustained flow of water to quench our thirst. Just like water flows through rivers, the law could flow through free software, and satisfy the most pressing needs of mankind. Freedom of life is again empty if we have too much chloride base chemical pesticides in soil [annual worth valued at Rs.4000 crores]. If the state resolves to stop using chloride based pesticides and opt to direct use of neem powder, dung ash, coffee powder [coffee plant produces caffeine as a pesticide to ward away pests, but we take it as a "beverage"], breeding of sparrows and other birds that prey on pests naturally all the time, we should be able to monitor execution of a state plan to do this from our home, without much strain. People or the sofware itself can raise hue and cry if things are not proceeding as intended, to make amends and corrections until things work out well. Then our freedom of life will have some meaning. That is why, free software could become the mother of all our freedoms. In nature, life flows through the mother. The British Parliament refused grant to Charles Babbage, who then proceeded to construct his Analytical Engine with his own funds, and at a time of financial crisis his mother alone encouraged him to keep up the good work advising "--pursue it, even if it should oblige you to live on bread and cheese." All hackers owe a tribute to Charles Babbage, the first software developer, to ensure that law flows through free software, and take care of the freedom of the people like a mother takes care of her children. The day when such free sofware is available and states adopt such free software, the tribute would have been made. -K. Ramanraj. Foot Notes:- FN-1: Computer hardware may be the least durable in this sense of the word, but it is the best choice to achieve the true object of law FN-2: To enable this, variable naming rules are just as important in law also FN-3: Please refer to the philosophy section at http://www.gnu.org

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GOA-ECAP: FLOSS talks in focus...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 11 Sep '03

11 Sep '03

IN FOCUS: FLOSS talks at ECAP VOLUNTEERS OF the India Linux Users' Group (Goa) will put up a wide range of talks, during the ECAP in Panjim and Margao. ECAP is the Exhibition of Computers and Allied Products, to be organised by the Computer Society of India (CSI-Goa chapter) on Sept 13/14 in Panjim and Sept 20/21 in Margao. This is intended to be of interest to the enterprise segment, home-users, students, educationists and parents. In particular, there will be a special focus during the demos, scheduled to be held on the first floor of Hotel Mandovi, on September 13/14. More details from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa. Below are some of the talks to be scheduled during the ECAP: Dr Gurunandan Bhat Enterprise Mail and Messaging Solutions With Linux Animesh Nerurkar Prof Kshama Fernandes, GIM Free Software In The World Of Finance Topic: Kshama has been using Debian for her research in Finance. She will talk and demo the tools used, why these tools were selected etc. o LaTeX -Documentation o PERL 5 -Data and File manipulation and simulation. o Shell Scripts - Data and File Manipulation and Wrapper Scripts. o Jgraph -building graphs from Data. o R -Statistical calculations o Gnumeric -Data manipulation and Data conversion. o Awk - for data manipulation o R - statistical software o Gnuplot o Pdfscreen - for slide shows Stata -Statistical calculations Intended Intended audience: Any newbie or professional who has questions about the power of GNU/Linux or wishes to witness the demo of this simulation. Prof George Easaw, GEC Latex, the document preparation system in GNU/Linux. An introduction to Magicpoint. Mario Alvarez, alienwiz.com Goaing For A Holiday: A Made-In-Goa Hotel Management Software developed with GNU/Linux tools. Tushar Joshi, currently runs the London Linux group www.lonix.org.uk Linux In London: What, How and Why Specially meant for LUG members. Others welcome too. Dr Gurunandan Bhat Intranets Dr Anil Seth, Head of IT, PCC Python, Without Venom The talk will walk through a small, mundane utility program and in the process demonstrate how we can exploit Python to work at a very high level. We will assume that a person knows very little about Python but has some background about computers. We will discuss one concern at a time and discuss how to learn just what is needed to solve the problem on hand. The speaker hopes to convey the underlying simplicity of Python, the amazing power it gives us and the philosophy of Guido van Rossum to make programming accessible to all. Bijon Shaha Linux... Made Easy! Yunus Shaikh Embedded Linux Arvind Clement Computer Security: A Primer For All Computer Users Ashley Delaney Multimedia and GNU/Linux at home This talk will attempt to focus on the multimedia aspects of the operating system that home-users generally deploy. It attempts to bridge the gap betwen commanplace Windows software and its GNU/Linux equivalents. It will showcase examples of a true mustitasking and home usage of comman tasks on a stable and virus free OS. Arvind Yadav FLOSS in the corporate world Sanil Talaulikar Getting It Straight: Options For A Software Developer Under GNU/Linux (with a special focus on Sossegado, a game being built on the FLOSS platform.) DURING THE DEMOS, there will be special focus on the educational software put out in the special distro 'FreEDUC'. You can meet ECAP volunteers at the 'Rampon', Hotel Mandovi, Panjim (Sept 13/14, whole day), or at Adarsh Vidyalaya, Margao (Sept 20/21). FN More details from: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Newsforge....
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Sep '03

09 Sep '03

Please see... http://newsforge.com/newsforge/03/09/05/1958235.shtml?tid=51 ... or just see the frontpaged article on India. Your feedback would be appreciated, as would other updated links. FN -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Linux New Media Award Nominations (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 09 Sep '03

09 Sep '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Dear Linux Enthusiast, The Linux New Media Award will again be presented in 2003 to products, projects, and companies that have made a particularly important contribution to free software and open source this year. This is the fourth year for the Linux New Media Award, the second as an Editors Choice. The international jury is made up of editors, authors, developers and businesspeople active in the Linux Community, and we invite you to participate in this years Award voting. Linux New Media publishes the English-language Linux Magazine, the German-language Linux-Magazin, LinuxUser, and EasyLinux magazines as well as the online portal www.linux-community.de. We will publish the results of the Award voting and present the jury in the December 2003 issues of our publications. Therefore, wed like to request that you send us a current photo and short bio to be used for this purpose. The voting process is simple and is handled in two stages. First, we collect nominations for the pre-defined categories from the jury. Secondly, the final voting takes place a few days later. Our editorial teams have already made some nominations for each of the categories. Only products, projects, and companies that stand out through particular importance, innovation and/or significance should be nominated. Please send us your further nominations by email to award(a)linuxnewmedia.com by September 14th, 2003. Thank you for your cooperation! Best Regards, John Southern Hans-Georg Eßer Jan Kleinert - Linux Magazine - LinuxUser - - Linux-Magazin - International - - EasyLinux - ============================================= Linux New Media Award 2003 Categories - please ad your nominees HARDWARE * Best Notebook * Apple, IBM, Dell,... * Best Free Project for Hardware Support * Sane, Cups, Acpi Kernel 2.6,... SOFTWARE * Distributions * Red Hat, SuSE, Debian,... * IDE Development System * K-Develop, Eclipse, Kylix,... * Multimedia * VDR, DeCSS, Xine,... * Most Beginner-friendly Desktop Application * OpenOffice, K-Mail, K3B, Nautilus,... * Most Interesting Programming Language * Ruby, Python, C# / Mono,... * Collaboration Software * Evolution, Kolab, OpenGroupware,... SPECIAL AWARDS * Newcomer of the Year * Typo3, Firebird, SGI Altix,... * Institution / Organization / Company that has especially helped Linux * EuroLinux, Open Source Now Fund (Red Hat), City of Munich, OSDL,...

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Pitfalls to avoid
by Ramanraj K 08 Sep '03

08 Sep '03

Vineet Chaitanya <vc(a)mail.iiit.net> wrote: > On Sun, Sep 07, 2003 at 05:22:21AM +0530, Ramanraj K wrote: > > > The British used religion as a tool to divide and rule India. Gandhi > > attempted to use religion to unite us. The use of religion for > > uniting or dividing is dangerous as we now know. > > I think the "uniting" which is dangerous is only a superficial > uniting and inherently involves "dividing". > > On the other hand, the uniting which Mahatma Gandhi attempted > was a genuine uniting. > > Sorry, for bringing in extraneous philosophical points in this list, > but I do think that clarity of thinking is very much essential in > any endevour. So I just wanted to clarify the statement of Shree > Ramanraj. > > Vineet Chaitanya It is futile to repent history, but to ignore history is folly. Annie Besant left the Home Rule League in 1920 because it had become "intertwined with Religion". Even if using religion in public affairs was justified because it was "genuine uniting", it did not work well from the start, and ultimately ended in the partition of our country, and the problems continue, inspite of the best efforts of our leaders. Postings in this list frequently relate to e-governance and education using free software. The past ought to be carefully considered while laying new paths into the future. Mahatma Gandhi himself clarified the position of religion in a state: "The State would look after your secular welfare, health, communcations, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern" - Harijan: Sept. 22, 1946 If a state ignores this, the state may be forced to spend huge sums on peace keeping, depriving utilisation of common funds to meet more pressing and urgent needs for its children and welfare. I hope this clarity prevails in the minds of those who write free software aiming for good education and governance.

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GNU/Linux news...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Sep '03

07 Sep '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- WHY should you care about Linux? - AME Info, United Arab Emirates <http://www.ameinfo.com/news/Detailed/27860.html> Linux is a freely available operating system, to be more precise; it is one of many flavors of Unix. Linux is being developed on ... INTERNET ROUNDUP: Linux community - The Nation, Thailand <http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=8&theme=A&usrsess=1&id=…> For Linux-users and those thinking about moving over, visiting this site offers you a number of ways to keep in touch with the latest developments and how to ... LINUX demand in Thailand artificial - Asia Computer Weekly, Singapore <http://www.asiacomputerweekly.com/acw_ViewArt.cfm?Magid=1&Artid=21152&Catid…> Singapore: Microsoft Windows market share in Thailand has sunk to an all-time low. Linux, on the other hand, has risen on the crest of a popularity wave. ... FOR Linux and Open Source - NewsForge <http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/09/03/2012254&mode=thread&tid=16> Microsoft Way is a north-south road in Redmond, Washington. A study of Mapquest's map of the road reveals a number of startling ... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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Finland works on an applied GNU/Linux institute...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 07 Sep '03

07 Sep '03

------------------------------------------------------------------ LINUX JOURNAL: FINLAND WORKS ON AN APPLIED LINUX INSTITUTE "An old saying posits that a prophet is never recognised in his own home or time. Helsinki, however, is trying to show all that wrong. To start, the city is planning an institute that would play an important role in promoting FLOSS across the globe, specifically in developing countries..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7110 More Infrastructure stories: http://linuxtoday.com/infrastructure ------------------------------------------------------------------

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RMS is a Mahatma for the World
by Ramanraj K 06 Sep '03

06 Sep '03

The British used religion as a tool to divide and rule India. Gandhi attempted to use religion to unite us. The use of religion for uniting or dividing is dangerous as we now know. RMS, being a self proclaimed atheist, does not suffer this vice. His modesty is a blessing for many who distribute GNU/Linux calling it after their own corporate brand names! We have pesticides in the soil and water that are refusing to go away, largely because we forgot the virtue of the Gandhian principles of non-violence and simple living. Thiruvalluvar has arranged the parts in Thirukkural as follows: Virtue -> Wealth -> Pleasure This is the core of our culture. The time tested truths of Thiruvalluvar and Avvayar, should be at the core of governance. Fusing this into the software we write is a real challenge, and it may produce real results. Please try to prepare a list of people who live up to the highest virtues preached by Thiruvalluvar, Avvayar, and Gandhi. I have placed RMS at the top of the list, as a mahatma the world could admire.

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Re: GNU Freedom
by Ramanraj K 06 Sep '03

06 Sep '03

The figures sound (are meant to sound?) sensational. Could we suggest that these guys try marking Free Software instead? FN The GNU GPL grants a means of livelihood, that could well be seen as a right flowing from the GPL. All software "pirates" could turn respectable by distributing GNU/Linux software and live with dignity. The lottery agents in Parrys Corner, Chennai, used to scream in the streets, "Saar, 10 rupees lottery. 3.00 PM draw. You can become crorepathi!" Recently, the Government of Tamil Nadu abolished lotteries and all the lottery agents suddenly went without employment, after the High Court confirmed the state action. Now the agents are selling watches: "Saar, 60 rupees worth watch for only 20 rupees". Could any cost-accountant in the list prepare an estimate of the worth of all free software available? Though free software is priceless [pun unintended] I modestly estimate the value of all free software to be Rs. One Hundred Crore per *distribution*. [Rs. 100,000,000,000/-]. Our road side distributors could then say "Saar, several crores of rupees worth software for only fifty rupees!". Better versions of free software are released almost every month, and this is guaranteed to be a perpetual business like the FMG segment. Gandhi asked our people to take to weaving Kadhi and other cottage industries to make a living, and be self reliant. Because of the GPL, free software CDs could be a source of income to many. The lottery agent is an example of the freedom of livelihood at the lowest level. At the other higher levels, we are already having corporations, and others doing brisk business, fully aware of the bright future of free software. The GPL is clearly ahead of our constitution here, in making right to livelihood a reality.

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Re: GNU Freedom
by Ramanraj K 06 Sep '03

06 Sep '03

Dear Friends, G.U. Pope has translated kappam as tribute, which is money or equivalent paid periodically by one prince or State to another in acknowledgement of submission or as price of peace or protection. However, the word tribute sounds respectful, because of it also means mark of respect, and does not convey the sense of shame, humiliation, helplessness, and ignominy that is usually associated with kappam. Taxes are normally and ideally retuned to the people as welfare measures and common benefits, but kappam always ends up as luxuries enjoyed by a King. All states paying kappam deeply wish for freedom and fight for Swadesh sooner or later, in the interests of their people. The East India Company was just a trading company when they landed in 1600 in India. Kappam and taxes soon followed. According to Montgomery Martin, who studied the drain of wealth from India in 1838, wrote thatthere wan annual drain of 3,000,000 pounds, and fairly conceded that `for half a century we have gone on draining from two to three and sometimes four million pounds sterling a year from India, which has been remitted to Great Britain to meet the deficiencies of commercial speculations, to pay the interest of debts, to support the home establishment, and to invest on England's soil the accumulated wealth of those whose lives have been spent in Hindustan. I do not think it possible for human ingenuity to avert entirely the evil effects of a continued drain of four million pounds year from a distant country like India, and which is never returned to it in any shape.' England's debt to India is estimated at 5,000,000,000 pounds, at 1945 currency values. Add Rs.1,350 crores of British capital shipped out between August 1942 and July 1948 when India was declared Independent. I hope we have learnt our history lessons right, and take RMS seriously when he says: Our goal is to replace it (non-free softare) entirely. Free software is software swadesh -- not just for India, but for the whole world. The resemblance between non-free software and British rule in India extends much further. Non-free software is a form of electronic colonization." RMS is a Mahatma for the world. GNU Freedom may become the mother of all freedoms. As the author of calpp, working on legal procedures and proceedings with computer aid, I have no hesitation at all in saying that the GPL is the most valuable legal document as significant as the Bill of Rights, US Constitution, UN Charter, or our own Constitution, and is likely to create a much greater change and impact on society than any other legal document has done so far. I just saw a message from RMS listed by Frederick Noronha: if the Indian government hires one person in India to work with us, that could enable us to add 1000 more packages per year. We would appreciate the help. Could we rise up to the occasion? Regards, K. Ramanraj.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Re: GNU Freedom
by Richard Stallman 05 Sep '03

05 Sep '03

The true freedom movements in each and every sections and sectors of the society should work in co-ordination to fight against imperialist globalisation and GPL can be a good tool this purpose. I think it is interesting to contrast the free software movement, as an example of beneficial globalization, with the form of globalization that we usually criticize. Globalization of business domination is evil and harmful; globalization of voluntary cooperation and sharing of knowledge is good.

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Quote
by Soundara Rajan N.S 04 Sep '03

04 Sep '03

Advocates of open-source software development love this quote and have emblazoned it on t-shirts next to Tux the penguin. "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." - Mahatma Gandhi

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NEWS: Pirated software, VCDs worth Rs.50 mn seized
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 04 Sep '03

04 Sep '03

The figures sound (are meant to sound?) sensational. Could we suggest that these guys try marking Free Software instead? FN Pirated software, VCDs worth Rs.50 mn seized >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Raids conducted by the economic offences wing of Delhi Police have resulted in the seizure of pirated computer software and video CDs worth over Rs.50 million. In the first raid on Vishal Bhawan in south Delhi's Nehru Place area, a huge cache of pirated software, including CDs containing MP3 music files, worth Rs.45 million was seized, a police official said Wednesday. Three men, identified as Sanjay, Sunder and Deepak, were arrested in this raid. In another raid on a shop in Palika Bazar at Connaught Place, police seized 1,030 pirated video CDs of Hindi and English films and 72 CDs of pornographic films. The market price of the VCDs was estimated at Rs.600,000. Police also raided a shop in the Chandni Chowk area in the city's old quarters, seizing 5,202 pirated video CDs, MP3s and audio cassettes worth Rs.4.1 million, the official said. Police arrested a man named Sanjay Kumar Singh in this raid. Police have booked all the arrested people under the Copyright Act and are conducting investigations to ascertain the source of the pirated CDs. --Indo-Asian News Service

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NEWS from the business press (Sept 2)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 03 Sep '03

03 Sep '03

Asian Tigers Plan to Challenge Windows Three North Asian countries are closer to signing a deal to co-develop an open-source operating system to replace Windows, according to the Japan news daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The agreement is likely to be announced this week by Japanese trade minister Takeo Hiranuma at an economic ministers' meeting in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, said the report, quoting unnamed sources. (ZAnetindia.com cited in Financial Express, Mumbai) o Linux Business Has Already Become A Large & Mature Segment. says IBM Asean Linux business manager Sandeep Menon. Quoted in Financial Express, Mumbai o 'SCO-IBM Lawsuit Won't Affect Linux Expansion In India' Report in Financial Express. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: RMS note to Vivaravichara
by eiidp＠vsnl.com 03 Sep '03

03 Sep '03

Through my earlier mail, I have tried to raise following four points. 1. The spatial and historical variation of the message conveyed through a word should be taken into consideration while those are used in campaign for freedom. 2. 'Swadesh' is not a proper word to represent 'free software', instead 'taddesh' can be used which is synonymous with Gandhiji's 'gram swaraj'. It is true that Gandhiji had used the word 'swadeshi' in campaign to boycott British goods during Indian independence struggle. However later Hindu fanatic groups through their vigorous campaign used it to divide people on religious line. Here it is unknowingly used by a person like Richard Stallman who himself is an evangelist of freedom and leader of a freedom movement for usage of software. It will in turn become a tool for right-wing fascist groups in the contemperory India through synonymous use of 'swadesh' and 'freedom'. 3. 'Free' is not a proper adjective to represent freedom. As Ramanraj and others correctly pointed out 'sudandira' in Tamil and 'swathanthra' in Malayalam, Hindi, Sanskrit etc. are the best choice to represent freedom. However these languages altogether is spoken by only less than 25 % of the world population. So there should be better adjective in English itself. 4. The usage of 'Linux' for 'GNU/Linux' is justified for ease of use. It is true that 'Linux' is name of a kernel. However it is more frequently used to represent the 'GNU/Linux' operating system. Mahesh T Pai has pointed out certain links to philosophical documents. There should be timely revision of these document, then only the philosophy and practice of freedom will live for its purpose. Otherwise it may turned to formation of another cult. Regards, Anil (Appropriate Technolgy Promotion Society, Kochi)

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[Fsf-friends] Re: FROM INDIA: Free software development for e-gov...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 02 Sep '03

02 Sep '03

Forwarded at the request of RMS... His reply. FN On Tue, 2 Sep 2003, Richard Stallman wrote: > Could you please forward this to > India-egov(a)yahoogroups.com, pubsoft(a)isoc.org, > fsf-friends(a)gnu.org.in, > linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net, > gkd(a)phoenix.edc.org, bytesforall_readers(a)yahoogroups.com > since most of those lists will not accept mail from me? > > Thirdly, instead of reinventing the wheel, we do need to keep track of the > initiatives underway at the international and national levels. In this > sphere, a lot of work can -- and should -- be shared. > > The FSF (in the US) is developing the Free Software Directory, whose > aim is to list all free software that will run on a completely free > GNU or GNU/Linux system. It sounds like that is similar to the FSD. > > However, currently the directory lists only 2400 packages, and there > are thousands more to go. Our paid staff person can only check and > add some 1000 packages per year. > > A part-time volunteer can easily add 150 packages per year. We now > have one such volunteer, in Brasil. If we had five more volunteers, > we could maybe enter 2000 new packages per year. Would anyone like to > volunteer? > > It requires some training to learn to follow our practices, to make > your entries reliable and consistent with the rest of the directory, > so we're looking for people who will make a commitment to keep working > steadily on the directory for a year or more. If you want to > volunteer, please write to jcasey(a)gnu.org. > > Meanwhile, if the Indian government hires one person in India to work > with us, that could enable us to add 1000 more packages per year. We > would appreciate the help.

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Teacher Plus... free software
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 02 Sep '03

02 Sep '03

TEACHER PLUS (teacherplus01(a)yahoo.co.in) of July-August 2003 carries an article titled 'Freeing computers in schools'. It says: Computers are used in many schools these days, as a teaching/training tool as well as for administration purposes. Most schools, however use, expensive software that not only takes away a huge chunk of the school budget, but also limits the number of teaching/learning tools that can be used in school. This article discusses Free Software and why Free Software makes sense in education.... A cartoon on the front-page has a hand-raising student ask the teacher: "Now that we have free software, can we also have free periods?" *Teacher Plus* is published by Orient Longman Pvt Limited, 3-6-752 Himayatnagar, Hyderabad, 500029 and is edited by Girish S Mondkar. It is compiled by Spark-India, 3-5-820 Hyderguda, Hyderabad, India 500029. More details from olmailco(a)hd2.dot.net.in FN -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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About Calicut group
by Tom Jyothis.K 02 Sep '03

02 Sep '03

Dear friend, I am a Master of Computer Application student in Calicut University.I am interested in activities of free software foundation.So please send details about the activities of free software foundations in Calicut.Also send details about how to participate in your activities. Yours faithfully, Toms _________________________________________________________________ Over 6,70,000 brides and grooms. http://www.bharatmatrimony.com/cgi-bin/bmclicks1.cgi?74 Click here to join for free.

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GNU Freedom
by Ramanraj K 01 Sep '03

01 Sep '03

Dear Friends, GNU Swatantra and GNU Sudandiram are the same as GNU Freedom. GNU Freedom may be an appropriate label to present GNU Software, Philosophy and Culture to a person who is totally new to Free Software in India, and may be even world wide. Supposing FSF India desires to release a package of Free Software to the public in India, just imagine a white shrink wrapped box with the following label: +--------------------------------+ | | | GNU | <- very bold letters | Freedom | | | | *Swatantra*Sudandiram*etc* | <- smaller font written in the | *available*in*indic*lang* | respective language script | *scripts* | | | | | | | | GNU LOGO | | | | | | | | Free Software Included: | | gcc*bc*bash*gnome*gnucash*tar | <- List of useful free software | wget*emacs*cvs*lyx*calpp*etc | included in CD/DVD discs | | |Publisher: FSF India | +--------------------------------+ GNU Freedom could serve as title for periodicals that release latest/beta versions of free software. We could have GNU Freedom meetings, etc. all of which serve to present free software to public for wider use. The GNU GPL means freedom to us, and life to software. Therefore, we may stress boldly the freedom that is at the heart of free software, without which there would have been no free software. Regards, Ramanraj.

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Re: [Fsf-friends] FROM INDIA: Free software development for e-gov...
by Mahesh T. Pai 01 Sep '03

01 Sep '03

Umashankar C said on Mon, Sep 01, 2003 at 03:47:49AM -0700,: > The development platform envisaged is Sun Java and deployment can be > on any free tool such as Tomcat etc. I'm afraid that there is some problem there. Java is not swatantra. You get it free of cost though. That always need not be the case, because re-distribution is prohibited. "swatantra" is a different concept. > The database envisaged is POSTGRESQL. Yes, that is very popular, and swatantra. > At present these packages are in VB. Conversion to J2E has to take > place within a period of, say 4-6 months. In the meanwhile the > design, documentation etc., can be placed online for free download > for use as well as to suggest better ways. As I pointed out, Java is not swatantra. But, software which is otherwise swatantra, but depends on java is popular. It is not a good idea for software which has looooooong term use, like in e-governance to depend on non-free compilers and VMs. An alternative would be to use jikes / kaffe, which claim to be substitutes for java. -- +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Mahesh T. Pai, LL.M., 'NANDINI', S. R. M. Road, Ernakulam, Cochin-682018, Kerala, India. http://in.geocities.com/paivakil +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+

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Re: RMS note to Vivaravicharam: GNU Swatantra
by Ramanraj K 01 Sep '03

01 Sep '03

Dear Friends, Re: RMS note to Vivaravicharam ============================== freedom = swatantra (in sanskrit); and sudandiram (in tamil) swatantra and sudandiram also mean the independence of a free country. These are very old words. Ancient Tamil Kingdoms that were under domination had to pay kappam (tamil) or compulsory gold/valuables, to the superior king for `protection'. Free countries do not pay kappam, and fair nations neither keep people under domination nor collect kappam. Software licence fees could be equated with kappam. Kings who failed to pay kappam in the past were slaughtered and humbled. Kappam is a tool for slavery. Freedom is so valuable, that its beauty can be seen and appreciated only in the background of the cruel and gloomy darkness of slavery. Choosing non-free software is like voluntarily choosing slavery. Free software gives the freedom to use, share, and improve. Free software is also `alive' and could be regarded as having life. Under terms of the GPL, they can be freely duplicated, improved and distributed. All free software vie for acceptance, and the fittest survive. Free software is like natural life itself.We cannot duplicate, improve or distribute non-free software, which can therefore be considered lifeless. Our future hinges on the ability to use high quality software without slavery. The GNU Project conceived by RMS has paved way for enjoying this natural freedom. So let us call Free software, GNU Swatantra (hindi version) or GNU Sudandiram (tamil version). GNU could be pronounced as Naya or New in hindi - meaning our new found freedom, and also recognize the contribution of GNU at the same time. Regards, K. Ramanraj.

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FROM INDIA: Free software development for e-gov...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 01 Sep '03

01 Sep '03

Dear Mr Umashankar C: Thanks for your note, and here's my response. Firstly, may I point out that I'm a supporter of the Free Software model; and wouldn't like to push the Open Source label just primarily because it appears more business friendly. Freedom (of the software writer and user) is an important issue, and this should reflect in the labels we use, IMHO. Secondly, your concern is valid. There's much scope for work in this field. But, for this task to be accomplished, we need to involve a whole lot of others, and hence involving a couple of evangelists like Atul and me alone would be grossly insufficient. As a first step, I'll circulate your note so that others in the debate (FSF-India, LIG, PubSoft, GKD, BytesForAll) get to know of these concerns. Thirdly, instead of reinventing the wheel, we do need to keep track of the initiatives underway at the international and national levels. In this sphere, a lot of work can -- and should -- be shared. We need to check up about the plans from Latin America (I think) to promote a distro for government officials. Let's see how we can take this ahead. Thanks for raising the issues. FN ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 4 Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 05:06:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Umashankar C <umashankarc(a)yahoo.com> Subject: A suggestion on open source SW development for e-gov (To Frederick Noronha and Atul) 30-8-03 SUGGESTION TO HOST E-GOVERNANCE APPLICATIONS FREE USING SPONSORSHIP ASSISTANCE Dear Frederik and Atul, I have a suggestion. I want the two of you to respond. The proposal is that a team consisting of people like you and the members of this group develop and place the e-gov packages on the web for State and Central Government and their organisations to download and use. They will be able to modify the code and improve it as well. I have the full system design for automating a Taluk office, DRDA, Police Station, Office Management, National Old Age Pension Scheme and Block Development Office. These packages can be converted into open source from the present VB and can be a open source for the entire country. We can find corporate and other sponsors for various activities such as cost of coding personnel, hardware, hosting etc. The sponsorship should be for three years (at least). I am willing to offer the entire service free on a continuous basis. People like you can scrutinse the design/code and contribute on regular basis. Will it work? I need your suggestions. Regards. Umashankar C.Umashankar IAS., Commissioner, Disciplinary Proceedings, Salem, TN, India. (with effect from 5th Aug.2001) Contact Tel in Chennai: 91-44-22521909 Res. Reliance Mobile:044- 31047424 BSNL Mob: 94432-62009 --------------------------------- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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gnubhaaratI
by jnshah 31 Aug '03

31 Aug '03

I feel gnu is sufficiently clear statement of what freedom means in the field of software. It is the freedom of the community that reproduces freedom. The indian version should have a name which is native. Hence Bhaarati using itrans, for correct spelling I suggest we have gnubhaaratI Once the medium reaches the people as free software, message too will. I hope there is no version of gnu that is not free. Then calling gnu swatantra will be redundant. -jitendra fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in wrote: >Send Fsf-friends mailing list submissions to > fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in > >To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends >or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > fsf-friends-request(a)mm.gnu.org.in > >You can reach the person managing the list at > fsf-friends-owner(a)mm.gnu.org.in > >When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >than "Re: Contents of Fsf-friends digest..." > > >Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd: Response to the e-mail to the Editor. > Vivaravicharam (Joe Steeve) > 2. Re: [Fsf-india]Response to the e-mail to the Editor. > Vivaravicharam (Joe Steeve) > 3. Re: RMS note to Vivaravicharam: GNU Swatantra (Ramanraj K) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 10:07:02 +0200 (MEST) >From: Joe Steeve <joe_steeve(a)gmx.net> >Subject: Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd: Response to the e-mail to the Editor. > Vivaravicharam >To: eiidp(a)md3.vsnl.net.in >Cc: fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >Message-ID: <4221.1062230822(a)www14.gmx.net> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > >Hello Anil., > > > >>mentioning about Gandhiji's principle ! a^€œSwadesha^€? is >> >> >a word > > >> of Sanskrit >>origin and its literal meaning is a^€œMy own nationa^€?. It >> >> >is a > > >>propaganda term of >>the fascist group named a^€œRSSa^€? to spread their fanatic >> >> >agend > > >>a of Hindu >>nationalism. >> >> > >Well.. the word 'swadesh' by itself dosent have any significance in history. >The term originally was not coined by the RSS. the RSS derived it from what >Gandhiji started calling the 'Swadeshi movement'. That movement is to boycott >all foriegn goods, which were brought into the Indian market at that time. >This he did inorder to protect the livelihood of the 'Villages'. So the >movement's call was to boycott foriegn goods and to use only Indian goods. It is >not a propaganda term as you've mentioned. The RSS and other Hindu fanatics >have derived their current terminology from the original one. > > > >>Usually a movement or philosophy is called after its originator. However a >> >> > >only cults are named after their originator. > > > >>product is referred by its shortest name for convenience. It is true that >>major portion of the Linux OS is developed by GNU. So it can be named as >>"GNU/Linux". Since there is no Linux OS other than GNU/Linux, the usage of >>"Linux" is justified by ease of use. >> >> > >Linux is the kernel. And GNU is the rest of the stuff on it. Referring them >together as *Linux* sounds immature and lame. Why not call *Chicken Biriyani* >as simply *chicken* or simply *biriyani*. *Chicken* means something else and >*Biriyani* is just too general., so there is a compulsion for the sake of >understanding to refer to *Chicken Biriyani* as *Chicken Biriyani* and not >seperately though the product would sound better with a smaller name.. I pray >you get the point. > >Cheers, >Joe > > >

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One morning at Farmagudi...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 31 Aug '03

31 Aug '03

------------------------------------------------------------------------ ONE MORNING AT FARMAGUDI (GOA).... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THREE YOUNG people were waiting outside the Mechanical Engineering department, when we reached before 9 am. It was hard to say whether they were students or teachers. George Easaw's Kochi-registered Maruti pulled up within seconds. In some time, the lecturers trickled in. There were a large number of women too. Who says GNU/Linux is male-centric? The day: a drizzly August 30, a Saturday just before Goa went into a long weekend (that carries on with bursting crackers for the next one-and-half, five, seven, or even 21 days... during the state's widely-celebrated Ganesh festival). The venue: Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi, about 20 kms east of state-capital Panaji, en route to the sylvan temple belt of Ponda which meanders on a small crowded road, into the wildlife sanctuaries further east. Mechanical engineering prof George Easaw <geasaw(a)vsnl.com>, the man enthusiastically and steadfastedly promoting GNU/Linux, began by pointing out that educating educators on Free Software was an imortant task. "It's a long-felt need, we have the infrastructure, the government is funding us, and so it's our duty (to do something relevant to society)," he argued. He said their CAD Lab had been renamed as the Mechanical Engineering Software Lab, marking a shift to experiment with a whole lot of software there. Principal DP Roy, a professor of the IIT-Bombay now overseeing the fortunes of the recently upgraded Goa Engineering College stressed the need to "get more" out of the college -- by spreading skills to others who matter. Engico's mechanical department HoD (head of department) recalled the visit of Richard M Stallman (RMS) to the college a year back, and the way this had fuelled the enthusiasm of the staff and students. Soon afterwards, a hands-on session started. In a morning that saw everyone glued to their computers, the speakers took their student-lecturers around a range of challenges. A brief brush with the command-line (pwd, mkdir, cd, chmod...). Quickly over to browsing on GNU/Linux (Mozilla, very nice and easy). Abiword. Then over to Magicpoint. Getting into and out of Emacs ("Free software never dies. It keeps growing. Emacs is in its 21st version.") The Gimp. Gnumeric came next. By this time, George was asking: "His is the feeling now? How do you feel... working on GNU/Linux? You can just play around with it. Take a look at the colour selector. The possibilities are infinite." These lecturers include engineers. Once they get started, and if their interest does not flag, there's no saying where they would stop. Some of the Mathematically-inclined were surprised to learn of the statistical applications available with GNU/Linux distros. ("There's no need to use a pirated copy of SPSS.") K V Madhav <kvmadhav at gec.ac.in>, an Economics lecturer at the Engico, came out with an interesting talk on using GNU/Linux for audio-video. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So, multimedia is the only place in computing where I find my creativity gets enhanced," as he put it. Madhav is himself new to Free Software, but has learnt speedily within months. It was time to ask participants, which package they had found most interesting and most useful. "Photoshop," said someone. They meant that powerful GNU graphics and image manipulation program called the GIMP! Others agreed that Gnumeric was the "most useful". It was time to end up. There was a demo of a Red Hat 'Linux' install. Some glitches later (doesn't this always happen when demoing?) it was thru. Some participants bought the copies of the entire operating system with associated tools, on three CDs, for a princely sum of Rs 50. Later, some of us headed off for the nearby town of Ponda, 3 kms away, and had a meal (with hot, boiling water... can't risk jaundice in this season) at a local 'khanavol' (an eatery serving inexpensive home-style meals). By evening, the sun shone brightly, and it turned into another day of a magnificient Goan sunsets. FN -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[Fsf-friends] Re: [Fsf-india]Response to the e-mail to the Editor. Vivaravicharam
by Joe Steeve 30 Aug '03

30 Aug '03

> What Gandhiji promoted was ?Gram Swaraj? > > Maybe that term is better. I am not an expert on this. > I will ask the FSF India people what they think. "Gram Swaraj" means autonomy of a village. Gandhi had a good explanation for that., but that explanation would be ir-relevant at this point. The english language suffers the problem of difference in meaning depending on context. There may be liguistic terms to describe this., I'm not literature student., so I dont know. But Indian languages have different words for different context. "Free as in Freedom" can be stated as "swatantra" in Hindi/sanskrit. I dont know what is the equivalent term for "Free of cost". (My mother tongue is not Hindi/sanskrit) Hence., the phrase "Software Swatantra" means "Freedom of Software". Might be more appropriate. IMHO Cheers, Joe -- -Able was I eRe I saw elbA- COMPUTERBILD 15/03: Premium-e-mail-Dienste im Test -------------------------------------------------- 1. GMX TopMail - Platz 1 und Testsieger! 2. GMX ProMail - Platz 2 und Preis-Qualitätssieger! 3. Arcor - 4. web.de - 5. T-Online - 6. freenet.de - 7. daybyday - 8. e-Post

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[Fsf-friends] Fwd: Response to the e-mail to the Editor. Vivaravicharam
by Anil Kumar K V 30 Aug '03

30 Aug '03

---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Response to the e-mail to the Editor. Vivaravicharam Date: Friday 29 Aug 2003 4:33 pm From: Anil Kumar K V <eiidp(a)md3.vsnl.net.in> To: rms(a)gnu.org Cc: fsf-wg(a)cc4.tifr.res.in, fsf-india(a)gnu.org.in, fsug-calicut(a)freelists.org, fsug-kochi-discuss(a)symonds.net, linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net Dear Richard, I happened read your e-mail to the editor of 'Vivaravicharam'. Here I express my thoughts on your opinion. I really wondered why you have used the term “Swadesh” that too while mentioning about Gandhiji's principle ! “Swadesh” is a word of Sanskrit origin and its literal meaning is “My own nation”. It is a propaganda term of the fascist group named “RSS” to spread their fanatic agenda of Hindu nationalism. This same RSS was behind the assassination of Gandhiji in 1948, who has actively campaigned for Hindu-Muslim unity and secular culture among the people which had blocked Hindu fanatics from moving their agenda. Now after around half a century they came to power in India through false propaganda and carrying on Gujarat like homicides. “Swadesh” is effectively used by them for these purposes. What Gandhiji promoted was “Gram Swaraj” which literally means “Self sustainable villages”. I am not sure whether you actually mean to use “Gram Swaraj” or “Taddesh”. It would have been better if you have used the term “Taddesh” which literally means “Their own native”. So let me re-read your sentence “Free software is software swadesh--not just for India, but for the whole world.” as “Free software is taddesh software for the whole world”. Suggestion for using “application of copyrights” instead of “protection of intellectual property rights" in the case of publishing industry is acceptable as it conveys better. I fully agree with the philosophy of freedom, which is propagated by FSF team. However imposition of the terms such as "GNU" and "Free Software" is not justifiable as these word contains only manufactured messages to convey. It is not advisable to urge others to use a term whose message is a manufactured one. Advocates of these terms may have some emotional satisfication in using these terms and need not be the case with all who campaigns for the freedom. Usually a movement or philosophy is called after its originator. However a product is referred by its shortest name for convenience. It is true that major portion of the Linux OS is developed by GNU. So it can be named as "GNU/Linux". Since there is no Linux OS other than GNU/Linux, the usage of "Linux" is justified by ease of use. There are spatial variations in the meaning of certain words. The word "Free" for us is actually more linked with 'free of cost' than to "freedom". However it is understood that there is concerted effort by FSF team to use "Free" for freedom whenever it is linked with software. In other sectors, it is advocates of imperialist globalisation is usually using the term "Free" for freedom where freedom is a psuedo-freedom. And I consider "Free" as propaganda term by advocates of imperialist globalisation in other fields. It is found that nowadays even members of FSF teams are using the acronym "FLOSS" to avoid these confusion created by the term "Free". I have some other doubts which I think you might have some answer. It is said that "free software" movement is a campaign for freedom. It is understood that its activity is confined to “ethics of the social arrangements of using software”. Whether campaign for freedom can be restricted to “ethics of the social arrangements of using software” alone? What should be its counterpart in other walks of the society life ? How can a full time activist of a "free software" movement earn their livings. Or whether only part-time activist are expected to work for this movement, and find their earnings from a proprietary environment? Is it a good idea to promote local co-operative movements to overcome this crisis ? This has much relevance for software workers in a third world scenario where software development is considered as a source of employment. Regards, Anil Appropriate Technology Promotion Society. Keralam. <-- On 28 Aug 2003 Richard Stallman wrote --------------------> Traditional proprietary software development (which created most of the programs we use daily) adheres to the principle of strict protection of intellectual property rights found in the publishing industry.</P> "Intellectual property rights" is a propaganda term, and it spreads confusion my lumping together copyrights, patents, trademarks, and other laws, all of which are completely different. In any given situation, when you think of saying "intellectual property rights", you really mean just one of those. For instance, here you mean specifically "copyright". The article would be clearer if you said just "copyright", instead of "intellectual property rights" It would also avoid a form of prejudice. The term "protection" is also a propaganda term. Replacing it with "application" would avoid the propaganda, and make the article more precisely correct as well. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html for more explanation. Free /open</SPAN> software is not a technology, but rather a different way of thinking about and organizing the software development process. It may be true that open source is a different way of thinking about and organizing the software development process. However, that's not what free software is. Free software is a different way of thinking about the ethics of the social arrangements of using software. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html for more explanation of the difference between the free software philosophy and the open source philosophy. They are not synonymous. <P LANG="en-GB" CLASS="western" ALIGN=JUSTIFY>Free / open software is growing its market share For open source, it makes sense to speak of "market share". The open source advocates try to appeal above all to business, saying theirs is a practically superior alternative. However, the free software movement is a social movement, a campaign for freedom. It is more like Gandhi than like Eddison. It would have been misleading to describe the success of the Indian National Congress in terms of "market share" because that would imply it was merely a matter of business competition. Gandhi did not seek to compete with British rule for the support of a larger fraction of India; he sought to replace British rule entirely. Likewise, in the free software movement we do not seek to compete with non-free software. Our goal is to replace it entirely. Free software is software swadesh--not just for India, but for the whole world. The resemblance between non-free software and British rule in India extends much further. Non-free software is a form of electronic colonization. Because no one is excluded from the development process, potentially hundreds of people can contribute to a project, providing a diverse group of talents and techniques. This is the collaborative development model which the open source movement champions. However. free software does not imply any particular development model. The collaborative model is fine, but what we really care about is not how the software is developed, but whether we have the appropriate freedom in using it. <-- ------------------------------- --------------------> -------------------------------------------------------

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[Fsf-friends] Re: [FSF-WG] Response to the e-mail to the Editor. Vivaravicharam
by Mahesh T. Pai 29 Aug '03

29 Aug '03

> Anil Kumar K V said on Fri, Aug 29, 2003 at 04:33:48PM -0400,: > I happened read your e-mail to the editor of 'Vivaravicharam'. Here I express > my thoughts on your opinion. I do not know how this is relevant for this list. > is found that nowadays even members of FSF teams are using the acronym > "FLOSS" to avoid these confusion created by the term "Free". > I have some other doubts which I think you might have some answer. It would have helped if you posted this after you read the links pointed out by RMS. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html for Also see other files in this directory. Start from:- http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/index.html In particular, read:- (other members on the list, please excuse) http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/categories.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-and-globalisation.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/g[l-american-way.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/motivation.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html Have a nice time. -- +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+ Mahesh T. Pai, LL.M., 'NANDINI', S. R. M. Road, Ernakulam, Cochin-682018, Kerala, India. http://in.geocities.com/paivakil +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+

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Re: Akshaya
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

Hi Geeta, Thanks for your note. On the last point, may I point out that there are a lot of Free/Libre and Open Source Software activities *alredy* underway in Kerala. In fact, that state is the headquarters of the Free Software Foundation-India, and has an active TeX User Group. There are also user groups in Tvm, Kochi and elsewhere. Will try and copy this message to some in my addressbook. It would really be nice, and helpful to you too, if you roped in the enthusiasm of these nice people to make IT-for-development a reality for all in your part of India. FN On Mon, 25 Aug 2003, Geeta Pious wrote: > Dear Fred, > Akshaya is going smooth. I am attaching recent press reports on > Akshaya.We hope that Malappuram Dt will become the First Dt in India > with 100% e-literate persons( at least one person from one family) > > I would like to invite as well as your friends to Malappuram to see the > enthusiasm of the people. > > I also require your help to start FLOSS in Kerala > > Keep in touch > > thanks > > Geeta Pious > Kerala State IT Mission > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Whereabouts of Dr Ignatius K
by CK Raju 24 Aug '03

24 Aug '03

Anyone who has contact details of Prof Ignatius (CUSAT, ex-Kannur Univ) should please provide details. Calicut University engg syllabus revision is underway. CK Raju

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Goa updates....
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Aug '03

24 Aug '03

----------------------------------------------------------------------------- FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOT NOT* FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARENOTES * FREESOFTWARE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SIMPUTER SURFACES AT GOA'S MINES [ GNULinux CORPORATE VIEW ] The Reuter's report of the use of Simputers at Dempo's mines in Goa (see http://in.tech.yahoo.com/030731/137/26i2o.html ) was good news for GNU/Linux fans in Goa. After all, the core of the Simputer is Free Software. Only goes to underline the point: technology can become relevant to the commonman if only knowledge is not hidden or blocked. Journalist Anshuman Daga, writing from Bangalore, reported that "like many companies worldwide, Indian mining group Dempo uses handheld computers to help it manage data about its business". Says the report: "(T)he device Dempo uses to update its inventories is a home-grown product called the Simputer." It quotes Demop stragetic planning official M.R.Aravindan saying: "Earlier, it used to take us more than a week to compile and analyse details of the iron ore picked up by our trucks." Two years after a launch marred by marketing and funding concerns, the Simputer is spreading quietly into small towns and schools, as well as to business users such as Dempo. There are plans to put it on retailers' shelves across the country this year. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- FROM MAPUSA... TO SHIRODA? [ CAMPUS TALK ] Students at St Xavier's College in Mapusa came across a range of new ideas and options in recent weeks, during a workshop over GNU/Linux that spanned much of the day. Before the event -- executed well by the college and ILUG-Goa volunteers -- students played around with many Free Software 'distros'. Needless to say, there were no artificial or legal blocks on anyone copying this software, experimenting with it, or learning more. Ashley Delaney <delaneyashley(a)softhome.net> wrote in to say prior to the event: "I went to Xavier's this morning, and was plesantly surprised to see a few guys installing Red Hat 9 on a few PCs albit with a few hardware problems. (They've got access to) a whole lot of distros and were trying to install all of them!" This workshop went off well. Many students sat glued to their seats, long after the time for demos was over. Bright young students went home with fresh ideas and inspiration. Next to take the step was RIT, the Rayeshwar Institute of Technology, which incidentally is Goa's third and youngest engineering colleges. They're keen to learn more about Free Software ("free as in freedom, not price") and probably set up a local group to take their understanding further. User-groups are an excellent way of promoting self-study. The Net also allows for the sharing of knowledge of an unprecedented pace. In Goa itself, there are two mailing lists, ILUG-Goa (search for it at yahoogroups.com) and teach-yourself-linux (located on the same site). Anyway, the Shiroda engineering college would be following in the footsteps of the older engineering colleges in Goa. GEC at Farmaguddi has a core-team that well understands the power of Free Software. Last year, Free Software Foundation head Richard "RMS" Stallman visited and lectured here. PCC too has been quick to realise this potential. Earlier this year, they hosted a team speaking about TeX -- that simple but amazing piece of software that can make publishing a breeze! REPORT FROM GEC: The first LaTeX report from the Farmagudi-based Goa Engineering College got ready recently. It was a final year Mech project report. This report with graphs, tables, figures, biblio, contents etc. (complete in all respects) is with Prof George Easaw <geasaw(a)vsnl.com> in pdf format. He generously offered to upload it to a public site "for curious members who would like to see how the report looks like". This pdf doc was only about 650 KB. Says Prof Easaw: "LaTeX (has arrived) in the GEC with a bang ... and the four students -- Sameer, Anil, Swapnil and Dharmaraj -- promised that they will henceforth try to use Free Software whereever possible and spread the good word around. i have personally seen that they are quite well versed in preparing the LaTeX reports independently." MORE ON TeX: Ms. Kshama Fernandes <kshksh(a)sancharnet.in> is a young prof at the Goa Institute of Management, Ribandar, who won the wows of GNU/Linux geeks when she recently demoed her skills at using TeX to compose academic papers, and even a book. TeX is, incidentally, pronounced at Tek. Says Fernandes: "I started using Tex two years ago and it has been a great experience. It helped me do a lot of things, including publish a book.... As an academic, I should be spending my time on putting across ideas (not wasting it on doing typesetting)." She demoed the 'goodies' that work with Tex. BibteX, that brings up the bibliography. Tools to create hyper references in the document. GNUplot for graphs. Programmes in Pearl, awk and shell scripts. Jgraph to do graphs, xfig and a nice (commercial) statistical tool calledl Stata. She explained how a bibliography, once put together, could be easily reused to write any academic paper, and probably even shared among a group of researchers working on similar topics. She showed us the "jugglery" that went into make mathematical equations. Kshama went on to compile the document (for a dvi output or pdf). She felt that there was a bug in the hyperreferences -- when you click on one, it doesn't seem to take you back where you started from. She assured it was possible to place pics into the text, and said she had done this for her 250-page book. By the time she left, ubergeeks were left to comment on the ease with which she handled Debian and the command-line interface. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- GNUachievers IT WAS bound to happen. Word has gone out that the young men (and a few women) who are into Free/Libre and Open Source Software (or FLOSS) do their work with a passion, and can really deliver results. For one, their in the field because they love it. Second, something about FLOSS encourages those who delve into it, to go real deep. Thirdly, when others share knowlege so freely and readily, how could you not learn fast? Gaurav Priyolkar got a job with a prominent Indian software export house, and is now based in Pensylvania, US. Bilnston, better known as B2 to friends, was quickly picked up to become part of an outstation team. So was his hacker collegue Ajay Cuncolienkar. Ex-polytec Yunus Shaikh shuttles between Ponda and Scandinavia for work on thin clients. Arvind Clemente and youngsters like Andrew Suarez are viewed as people with a serious interest in security. Animesh Nerurkar was selected by the CMIE and posted back in Goa. Who says our youngsters can't find opportunity, and get good jobs? Just give them a chance to learn without barriers, and in areas that interest them deeply. Sit back and see where they reach! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Planning for ECAP Want to volunteer at the GNU/Linux initiatives during the Exhibition of Computers and Allied Products (Sept 13-14, Panjim; Sept 20-21, Margao)? Check out the discussion and updates underway on the ILUG-Goa list at yahoogroups.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SNIPPETS * Amol Hatwar and Raj from Synapse, recently gave an interesting intro on Amol's plan for Freedom Matters "a bimonthly that is not a software journal, but looks at the *why* of Free Software". All volunteers welcome. * Arvind Yadav has been recently experimenting with Spamassassim, which he finds a good tool to block spam. * Who in Goa is into VLSI, USB 2.0, PCI and shell-scripting? Who's interest revolve around LaTeX, xfig, gnuplot and octave? Know someone working in embedded Linux? Who specialises in web development, and who's into DNS, sendmail and squid? If you're getting puzzled, check out the latest list of who's interested in what field of interest from among the India Linux Users' Group (Goa). For a copy of this listing, write to fred(a)bytesforall.org. If you are interested in some Free Software subject, submit your name too! * The good thing about Free Software is that it spreads without borders. Some of our committed supporters in Goa come from distant places. Members Laxman Saval <laxman_saval(a)hotmail.com> and Leya D'Souza are both based in the Gulf. A whole lot keep in touch from other places. Kaushal Bandarkar has been keeping in touch from distant Kurkushetra, though he's a student of Goan origin who has family in Ponda. * Facing problems in accessing Sancharnet's server? ILUG-Goa has compiled more than one FAQ for GNU/Linux users wanting to log-on to the Internet. Contact them for a copy. * Shailesh B wrote in recently: "I a computer enginner from Pune University. My native place is Goa ,but now i reside in Pune. Sir i would like to contribute to this (Goa Computers in Schools) project with the technical knowledge I have. Please dont let me down." Of course, there's always space for helping hands. If you'd like to support the initiatives to take computers further to schools in Goa, and use them productively there, contact Ashley Delaney Yahooid: ashleywiz Ph: 2409580/44 , 9422448700 -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha (FN) | http://www.fredericknoronha.net Freelance Journalist | http://www.bytesforall.org http://goalinks.pitas.com | http://joingoanet.shorturl.com http://linuxinindia.pitas.com | http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks ------------------------------------------------------------------------- T: 0091.832.2409490 or 2409783 M: 0 9822 122436 -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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No2SCO
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 24 Aug '03

24 Aug '03

------------------------------ From: Shaun Marolf <shaun_marolf(a)hotmail.com (NOSPAM)> Subject: New Yahoo Group to discuss SCO situation Date: 23 Aug 2003 16:45:01 GMT http://groups.yahoo.com/group/no2sco/ All who are interested in discussion of the SCO situation are welcome to join. --Shaun ########################################################################## # Send submissions for comp.os.linux.announce to: cola(a)stump.algebra.com # # PLEASE remember a short description of the software and the LOCATION. # # This group is archived at http://stump.algebra.com/~cola/ # ########################################################################## ------------------------------

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Dr Geo in Indian languages...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 23 Aug '03

23 Aug '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- >From fred(a)bytesforall.org Sat Aug 23 11:49:29 2003 --__--__-- Message: 3 Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 15:05:26 +0200 From: Hilaire Fernandes <hilaire(a)ext.cri74.org> To: jnshah <jnshah(a)bom7.vsnl.net.in> Cc: ofset-drgenius-dev(a)lists.sourceforge.net, indic-computing-users(a)lists.sourceforge.net, amba(a)iiit.net, indlinux-marathi-request(a)lists.sourceforge.net, tdk12(a)rediffmail.com Organization: OFSET Subject: [Indic-computing-users] DrGeo in indian languages! WAKE UP ! Time to translate properly DrGeo in Indian languages. Mr Jitendra Shah already sent me .po files of Indian languages but these files need to be largely updated (I think the Marathi is already in good shape). Whoever is reponsible to update the language files, contact me directly so I can send you directly your updated file to translate, it is important I send you an updated file otherwise your translation may be only partial. To this date there are abot 426 messages, if updated in regular basis it is little job, only the first shot is painfull. Regards, Hilaire On Sat, 22 Mar 2003 22:49:12 +0530 jnshah <jnshah(a)bom7.vsnl.net.in> wrote: Dear Hilaire and all, We are Final year BE Computer students from VJTI mumbai working under Prof. Jitendra Shah on project named L10N & I18N. We are trying to localize drgenius in marathi,one of the prominent Indian langugae. We are attempting to port drgenius to gnome2 as per suggestion of Hilaire . However to make the existing version localised, we did the following. Please help and suggest ways out. We followed following steps: 1. We took drgenius.pot and translated the messages in the same in Marathi (an Indian language with mr_IN as international name), file in 8-bit ISCII format. Then we unzipped drgenius-0.8.3.tar.gz to a location. 3. Then we added "mr" to ALL_LINGUA in ./configure script 4. We followed normal installation procedure (./configure, make, make install) 5. After installation we got drgenius.gmo in /usr/local/share/locale/mr/LC_MESSAGES/ We hoped this would work. It didnot. But we didn't know how to switch from default "english" language to "mr" We noted that "hi" was built in. We changed locale to mr. Still it didnot work. So we copied that file to /usr/share/locale/hi/LC_MESSAGES/ i.e. to system locale directory Next we changed locale from en_US to hi when we executed drgenius blanks were seen instead of translated messages. Thuis it appeared that our translated file was being accessed and ascii characters therin were being read but only non-ascii characters were not displayed. We tried to copy fonts at various places. Fonts are isciidev.ttf from IIIT Hyderabad courtesy Amba Kulkarni. We tried to place the same in /usr/share/fonts/indic/TrueType /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF ~/.fonts But that too didn't work. Where should we place the font so that it's visible to drgenius ? We are able to use isciidev.ttf in gedit kate kwrite kword That means it is being installed Then why drgenius is not able to find it? we are waiting for your reply. Please send mail to: darkhorse_vjti(a)yahoogroups.com and jitendras(a)vsnl.com _______________________________________________ Ofset-drgenius-dev mailing list Ofset-drgenius-dev(a)lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ofset-drgenius-dev -- Let's support Kids, Education and Free Software Aidons les Enfants, l'=C9ducation et les Logiciels Libres http://rate.affero.net/hilaire --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Indic-computing-users mailing list http://indic-computing.sourceforge.net/ Indic-computing-users(a)lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indic-computing-users [Other Indic-Computing mailing lists: -devel, -standards, -announce] End of Indic-computing-users Digest

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GNU/Linux reports... from India (Express Computer)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Aug '03

22 Aug '03

Express Computer - Linux Special (Issue dated 25 Aug 2003) ======================= Linux in the Enterprise http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial.shtml ======================= ---------------- Tier-one Vendors ---------------- * NOISE or substance? Tier-one vendors like Oracle, IBM, Sun, HP and others have announced their support for Linux. Venkatesh Hariharan finds out if this is driven by the 'anything but Microsoft' sentiment, or whether there are deeper, substantive reasons. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial01.shtml -------------- NSE Case Study -------------- * Linux stars in Mission: Critical Linux is growing out of Unix's shadow and handling mission-critical tasks on its own. The National Stock Exchange recently replaced a Unix-based system for risk management with a Linux-based one and saved a packet in the process. Stanley Glancy reports. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial02.shtml ------- Opinion ------- * "We are seeing more than 100 percent growth" From college geeks to huge enterprises--whether organisations like LIC or e-governance projects--many are moving to Linux. And according to Red Hat India, the largest reseller of software and support for the open-source code, the fraternity is growing. Red Hat India CEO Javed Tapia spoke to Venkatesh Hariharan about the company's plans for India. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial03.shtml * "Our competitor is not proprietary software, it is non-consumption" Rajesh Jain is a visionary who set up India's first portal, Indiaworld, at a time when the Internet was unknown and commercial ISPs were a distant mirage. After the spectacular sale of Indiaworld to Satyam that set off the Internet mania in India, Jain shunned the limelight to focus on Netcore, a company that builds �thin-client, thick server� computing solutions targeted at SMEs, education and community information centres in rural areas. Venkatesh Hariharan interviews Jain to find out why he argues so passionately for the adoption of Linux in India. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial03z.shtml -------- Security -------- * Open-source software--panacea or peril? Does the open nature of Open Source make it more vulnerable to attack? Or, does the ability to review code and submit bug fixes make Open Source superior to proprietary software? Felix Mohan presents the pros and cons. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial04.shtml ---------------------------------- The Great Windows versus Linux war ---------------------------------- For CIOs, the operating system is the foundation of the enterprise computing infrastructure. The choice of an operating system is therefore a complex one and issues like cost, security, availability of support, etc, have to be carefully weighed before arriving at a decision. We asked two of the leading operating systems vendors, Microsoft and Red Hat to present their views on the subject. * Windows is a better choice than Linux Microsoft India says that all things considered, Windows is a better choice over Linux. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial05.shtml * Open source is a disruptive technology Javed Tapia says that Linux has moved up in the value-chain and has crossed the chasm. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial05z.shtml ----------------------- Total Cost of Ownership ----------------------- * Everybody loves TCO TCO (total cost of ownership) may be an overused concept, but with Linux on the desktop Prakash Advani says that the benefits are immediately visible. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial06.shtml -------------------------- High Performance Computing -------------------------- * Linux clusters go upwardly mobile The fastest supercomputer in India runs Linux and the open source operating system has a near monopoly on high performance computing in R&D and chip design. However, it still plays second fiddle to Unix in the commercial world, says Prashant L Rao. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial07.shtml ------------------ Software Companies ------------------ * Linux-based software development grows in popularity As customers choose Linux as their IT platform, Indian software companies are seeing a corresponding growth in the demand for Linux-based software services. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial08.shtml ------------------- Application Reviews ------------------- * Applications on Linux If the lack of office productivity software or unfamiliarity with Linux held you back, here are some software packages that could help change your mind. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial09.shtml * No purchase order required! One of the best features of Free Libre, Open Source Software (FLOSS) is that no purchase orders are required to test or deploy the software. You may, however, need a big fat pipe to the Internet to download some of the stuff. A quick list of some software that companies may find useful. http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030825/linuxspecial10.shtml ============================ *end*

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Brazil, Free Software, Microsoft, Open Source...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Aug '03

22 Aug '03

------------------------------------------------------------------ BRAZZIL.COM: BRAZIL: MICROSOFT, GO HOME "Brazil believes that free software is an excellent tool for the democratization of knowledge, foreign currency savings, and the optimization of institutional investments and costs..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.brazzil.com/2003/html/news/articles/aug03/p139aug03.htm More stories: http://linuxtoday.com/news ------------------------------------------------------------------ WASHINGTON POST: THE QUIET WAR OVER OPEN-SOURCE "The world's largest software maker is lobbying furiously in state, national and international capitals against laws that would promote the consideration or use of open-source software..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23422-2003Aug20.html More IT Management stories: http://linuxtoday.com/it_management ------------------------------------------------------------------ COMPUTERWORLD AUSTRALIA: OPEN SOURCE IS ABOUT MORE THAN LINUX: SUN "Open source is not about licences, Linux or free things but a common mode of production, according to Sun Microsystems' chief technology evangelist Simon Phipps..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=1565756396&fp=16&fpid=0 More IT Management stories: http://linuxtoday.com/it_management ------------------------------------------------------------------

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GNU dodges bullet after security breach
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 22 Aug '03

22 Aug '03

------------------------------------------------------------------ SEARCHENTERPRISELINUX: GNU DODGES BULLET AFTER SECURITY BREACH "The GNU Project has apparently dodged a major bullet since the FTP server housing its source code was root-compromised by a cracker in March..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.searchEnterpriseLinux.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid39_gci9203… More Security stories: http://linuxtoday.com/security ------------------------------------------------------------------

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GNULinuxinEducation
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 21 Aug '03

21 Aug '03

Some useful links (please check if still active, as these have been keyed in, there could be some typos) get http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-ed/ o GNU/Linux in education get http://www.thestuph.com/litc/ o GNU/Linux in the classroom get http://www.linuxforkids.com o Just as its name says, LinuxForKids get http://matterial.sourceforge.net/ o Free/open source collection of s/w tools for artists get http://material.sourceforge.net/ o Not sure if this URL or above is right get http://www.ibiblio.org/obp o Open book project get http://www.riverdale.k12.or.us/linux/ o K12 GNU/Linux in schools project ===================================================================== get http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux/Projects/Educati… Very interesting set of links! (URL might need joining) ===================================================================== get http://opensourceschools.org o Just what it's name says get http://www.bluelinux.org/ o Easy to use and administer distro for schools get http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/ o Debian junior (work in progress) get http://www.freecourse.sourceforge.net o Free computing curriculum project get http://www.ganeshas-project.or o GNU/Linux training for schools in Nepal get http://www.goasudharop.org/gscp o Supporting schools in Goa, India get http://www.gnuskole.dk o Promoting the OS in Danish primary school system, by publishing documentation, finding and translating educational software, and holding a discussion forum for teachers and system admins at school get http://termserv.berlios.de/ o Making network administration easier on older PCs get http://www.itp.innoved.org/projects/freesoftware.html o Free software for Latin America [If you sent the above to www4mail(a)ftp.uni-stuttgart.de, you would be able to retrive the pages above -- not entire sites -- via email to your address. Try it out. Specially useful in low-bandwidth areas. -FN]

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Help needed: Anyone from kotayam,kerala?
by Raj Shekhar 20 Aug '03

20 Aug '03

> Is any body willing to help > Dr. Ikbal (Vice chancellor, University of kerala) > in installing Gnu/Linux. He is interested in the concepts > of free software and now wishes to try it. The organization where I work had made an eye opener about Open source software. They send it out to people telling them about its advantages. Can you send me his complete postal address or his email address where I can contact him? The website of our organization is plusthought.org -- Regards, Raj Shekhar http://geocities.com/lunatech3007/

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Help needed: Anyone from kotayam,kerala?
by Vijay Kumar B. 20 Aug '03

20 Aug '03

Dear Arun, > Why not ? That is atleast far better than using totally propreitary > systems which does not come with any source at all right ? according to the Open Source Definition and the definition of free software given by the Free Software movement, both are one and the same. But its all about what the people in each of these two movements say about the software. For a person in the Open Source movement, the reason for the using the software would be - "It's of high quality. It's cheap." For a person in the Free Software movement, the reason for using the software is - "It gives me the freedom to share the software with my friends. It gives me the freedom to modify the program to my needs. It gives me the freedom to distribute modified versions of the program." And the fact that "many" free softwares are of high quality is actually a consequence of these freedoms. This has mislead many people in the open source movement to use a combination of free software and proprietary software, just because they are of high quality. If my memory is correct, Bruce Perens left the OSI saying "We need to talk more about freedom." If we concentrate on the "consequence" we will slowly loose all our freedoms, and come back to square one! - Vijay Non-free* software sucks. - RMS * 'free' as in freedom. --------------------------------------------- This message was sent from RECTMAIL. http://www.rect.edu/ or http://rangoli.rect.ernet.in/

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NEWS: SGI to focus on Linux-based computing solutions
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

SGI to focus on Linux-based computing solutions >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) U.S.-based Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) said Tuesday it would continue to focus on developing cutting edge computing solutions on the Linux operating system platform. "We have enabled Linux to break into the high performance arena," said Warren Pratt, executive vice president and chief operating officer of California headquartered Silicon Graphics Inc. "We are now committed to continue moving Linux forward by enabling real solutions for real problems. We will help customers use Linux to solve the biggest problems facing them," he told a press conference here Tuesday. Linux can be bought for a few hundred rupees or downloaded free from the Internet and the same software can be copied across dozens or hundreds of computers. One can also modify the software programme code of Linux to suit individual needs, unlike its proprietary counterparts such as Microsoft's Windows. While Microsoft say Windows is far ahead in terms of security and user convenience, supporters of the open source software, which no one owns, highlight its cost advantage and flexibility for a developing economy like India. Pratt said SGI was the first to make "serious product announcements" based on Linux operating system. The technologies that SGI used in the creation of its Linux product family have enabled the open source system to scale new heights, he added. The official said Linux has great scope to move forward rapidly in India since the country has one of the largest open source community as well as the world's second largest pool of scientific manpower. "This is further boosted by the fact that the government is encouraging the adoption of open source solutions for the country," Pratt said. According to an official study, only 16 percent of the central government offices currently use Linux as a platform but this is expected to grow manifold in the coming years. A number of states including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra are either implementing or proposing to launch e-government projects using Linux operating system as the platform. The Indian operations of SGI are headquartered at Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi, with branch offices located at Bangalore and Mumbai. --Indo-Asian News Service

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[Fsf-friends] TCO of GNU/Linux vis-a-vis Microsoft (read by Indian officials)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

Any comments on this? It was recently circulated via the e-gov-india India-egov(a)yahoogroups.com mailing list. FN ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 4 Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 11:47:30 +0530 From: "Nandkumar Saravade" <nsara31(a)hotmail.com> Subject: Article on Total Cost of Ownership of Linux vis-a-vis Microsoft Hi all Quoted below is an interesting article on a study done on TCO of Linux v. Microsoft. The original article is available at http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22012.html. Nandkumar Saravade Windows vs. Linux: TCO Feud Rages On By James Maguire NewsFactor Network August 1, 2003 "If you've got somebody who's smart and can config it, then [Linux is] a beautiful desktop and runs well," says Meta Group analyst Thomas Murphy. "But for the average business owner, [it] does not have that kind of simple nature that you have in Windows." If you fear the end is near for the entertaining debate over whether the Windows or Linux desktop is ultimately less expensive, you can relax. There are enough variables to keep the feud raging for the foreseeable future. The OSes themselves are vastly different, in terms of how they come to market, how they are developed, and the number of applications written for them. And their environments are also many and varied -- from large enterprises with operations carried on by armies of clerical workers to small companies with sophisticated data analyses performed by highly specialized staff. Reconciling all of these elements to identify either operating system as the one that offers lower TCO for all situations is impossible. Linux offers a lower TCO in some situations -- a lot lower, according to Aberdeen Group analyst Bill Claybrook. Yet, in other scenarios, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is a more cost-effective option, he noted. The final answer "depends on what you want to do with it," Claybrook told NewsFactor. What Do You Use? Deciding which OS is the most cost-effective depends largely on what applications a company needs, Claybrook explained. If a business's software is limited to applications that are similar to Word, Excel or Powerpoint, "they can probably get by with Linux," he said. But if a business requires a more advanced range of programs, it will need Windows. "The more applications you have, the harder it's going to be -- the more expensive it's going to be -- " to switch to Linux, Gartner analyst Michael Silver told NewsFactor. "We're talking about something that can be very complex." Who Are Your Employees? For a study that compares the Windows and Linux desktops, Silver divided employees into two groups: "structured task users," who do clerical-style work on a repetitive basis, and "knowledge workers," who analyze data conceptually. Knowledge workers use more -- and more complex -- applications, making it more expensive for them to use Linux. The Gartner study shows TCO profiles based on a hardware life of three years. For a structured worker using Linux, the figure is US$5,305. This figure falls to $4,402 for "locked" Linux -- that is, the worker does not have root access. For structured workers using WinXP, the study calculates the cost at $5,148. For knowledge workers, Linux TCO is $6,101, and locked Linux is $5,062. For WinXP, this figure is $5,908. However, these costs do not include the cost of application development -- a business may need specific programs written for it. The study notes that these costs vary so widely from business to business that it is difficult to create an accurate theoretical model -- but it outlines a possible range. For structured workers, costs would vary from $1,151 to $3,454 per worker; knowledge worker migration would cost between $4,087 and $9,044. The Cost Of Complexity In business, complexity often equals cost, and Linux is a more complex OS to configure on the desktop, Meta Group analyst Thomas Murphy told NewsFactor. "If you've got somebody who's smart and can config it, then it's a beautiful desktop and runs well. But for the average business owner, [Linux] does not have that kind of simple nature that you have in Windows." Yet Linux set-up and service should not be seen as a major problem for companies considering the OS, Claybrook said. Although there are only a limited handful of Linux desktop vendors, "the people selling it are certainly going to service it." Future TCO The cost of ownership of a desktop system is, of course, not fixed: As market forces play out over time, prices can change dramatically. This may affect Linux much more than Windows, because the open-source OS has multiple vendors. Enterprises are economically motivated to switch to Linux for reasons other than the OS itself, however. "It's because they have a choice of more than one vendor," Claybrook noted, "and that competition makes it attractive to buyers." Even though there are costs associated with migration, Forrester analyst Stacey Quandt told NewsFactor, "more companies and government organizations are viewing the Linux desktop as a means to reduce IT spending and free themselves from the control of a single software vendor -- Microsoft." Although there is interest among enterprises in choosing Linux, "it's going to be interesting to see how much of that is turned into real action," Silver noted. Even the 2 percent figure used to describe the number of desktop users running Linux is "too high for the enterprise," he said. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

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IT education in Kerala schools and GNU/LInux
by Sajith V K 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

"Freedom matters" Hi, I believe a clarification is needed for the mail from Mahesh T pai about IT Text books of kerala schools. The text book is divided in to two sections, Windows and GNU/Linux. Windows section explains how to work in windows world and GNU/Linux explains how to work in GNU/Linux world. Microsoft Office is given in the windows section whereas Openoffice is given in GNU/Linux section and so on. The students,Teachers or School can choose either windows or GNU/Linux according to the facilities available. So it a choice of the schools.(Now its our duty to reach schools and bring them to GNU/Liunux world) >The Kochi Free Software User's group had submitted a memorandum >against similar moves by the Kerala Govt. The memo was partly >successful. The authorities was totally unwilling to include GNU/Linux in the text book. Its not a single memorandum which made the change. A lot of work by several persons is there behind the change. A lot of persons and groups have contributed to the effort, the memorandum by FSUG Cochin is one among them. > the syllabus itself is not changed. But the >text books have been re-written - I said - REWRITTEN, to include >references to GNU/LINUX. GNU/LINUX, and nothing else. No references to >applications like GIMP, or the concepts of free software. The concepts of free software is included in the text. Text book of 8th std have two "boxes" dealing with the concept about free software, and includes "boxes" about RMS and Linus trovalds. The students are asked to collect information about free softwares as the part of "activities" GIMP will be included in 10th std text book. In 8th std Xpaint is used for basic Graphic works. I too agrees that our work is not 100% success. There are issues yet to address But in the current situation in kerala its a big success. >They are now including OpenOffice.org in the Xth std textbooks. Openoffice is included from the 8th std itself. The basic introduction is provided in 8th std, more features are given in 9th and some more in 10th. >I find that the text book committee is more interested in creating >something >like one of those 'for dummies' series books for proprietary software. I don't know what forced him to make such a commend. Just go through the textbook, can we compare it with "for dummies series?" The IT text book commitee members are most pro towards GNU/Linux. All of them are well aware of the facts. The have taken all the effort to include GNU/Linux in IT Text book. Its their effort which resulted in including GNU/Linux in IT Text book when all authorities above them are Pro Mircosoft and Anti GNU. The IT Textbook commitee of Kerala, (Headed by Pro. satyapalan SCERT) is trying their level best to bring GNU/Linux to kerala schools. Don't simply critisice them without considering actual facts. -----------------Regards SajithVK------------- _________________________________________________________________ Is India taking over the US? Find out here. http://server1.msn.co.in/features/nri03/index.asp Meet these new-age NRIs.

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GNUCASH: State of the Gnucash project
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

------------------------------------------------------------------ GNUCASH: STATE OF THE GNUCASH PROJECT, A CALL FOR HELP "Although GnuCash comes up in every discussion of needed software to get Linux on the desktop, the GnuCash project currently has only about seven active developers... and enjoys far less exposure than many projects of a similar size..." COMPLETE STORY: http://www.gnucash.org/en/state_of_the_gnucash_project.phtml More Developer stories: http://linuxtoday.com/developer ------------------------------------------------------------------

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Help needed: Anyone from kotayam,kerala?
by Sajith V K 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

"Freedom matters" Hi, Is any body willing to help Dr. Ikbal (Vice chancellor, University of kerala) in installing Gnu/Linux. He is interested in the concepts of free software and now wishes to try it. Location is near Madical college, kottayam kerala. If possible, please mail me back with your contact number or call me at 94473 88664. ------Regards SajithVK----------- _________________________________________________________________ Is India taking over the US? Find out here. http://server1.msn.co.in/features/nri03/index.asp Meet these new-age NRIs.

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Re: Fsf-friends Digest, Vol 4, Issue 10
by Sajith V K 18 Aug '03

18 Aug '03

"Freedom matters" Hi, Mahesh T pai wrote: >Which text book? VIIIth? IXth? Xth? In VIIIth and IXth now. Xth std text book is on process >I believe that the text book for VIIIth is already published, and is >there for all to see. There is no point in having a war of words on >contents of the text books. It only diverts the subject matter of the >thread, which is 'helping the CBSE make a switch over' to swatantra >software. GNU/Linux section was not there in VIIIth std text book published last year. This year, the text book is revised to include "GNU/Linux section". I think this made the confusion >The post wanted help to change the *syllabus*. He was not looking for >help for a swatantra implementation of a non-free syllabus. I believe >that The CBSE does not insist on proprietary software and permits use >of free software by schools. But, the permission is tacit, nothing in >writing. I remember reading somewhere that people at Delhi LUG were >instrumental in that part. People at GSCP, Goa, have been successful >in getting similar assurances (viz. non-free in syllabus, free in >practise) from the educational authorities of Goa. In "kerala IT text book" both Windows and Gnu/Linux section are included. Another way is to include the generic concepts. I mean Introduce Spreadsheets in general instead of Excel or Calc. But I don't know how efficient it will be since we have to include screen shots and "exact steps to follow" >Our friend was asking for more. That requires a very formal approach. >Efforts by Mr. Sajith and his friends, while certainly significant >and important, are based on tacit and silent approval of >authorities. If somebody takes up the issue, the Government will be >forced to withdraw the text books created by the present committee >because they do not conform to the syllabus. >Or has the Govt. of Kerala changed the syllabus? The syllabus has been changed to include GNU/Linux and the schools can choose either Windows or Gnu/Linux. The issue is, the "teachers training" is provided only in windows. This forces the schools to choose Windows. This issue has to be addressed. We need to "force" the govt. to provide teachers training in Gnu/Linux too. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Hotmail now on your Mobile phone. http://server1.msn.co.in/sp03/mobilesms/ Click here.

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Darwin license is now free software compatible
by Nagarjuna G. 18 Aug '03

18 Aug '03

Darwin and products from apple will now be released under their new license, which is a free software license. http://www.opensource.apple.com/news/2.0-announce.html Nagarjuna -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ nagarjun at hbcse tifr res in. http://www.gnowledge.org/ I support Public Library of Science http://www.plos.org/

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FPGAs and free software
by George Scaria 18 Aug '03

18 Aug '03

Dear all, There is a lot of activity in the electronics community over the so-called FPGAs(Field Programmable Gate Array). It is a custom programmable digital IC with lots of capabilities and pins. FPGAs are very exotic devices, and even microprocessors to the speeds of ghz can be made from them. We do the design of the custom chip in a language called VHDL, which is like Ada, or Verilog HDL, which is like C. Sometimes, some elements are used very commonly, and are called cores. Some FPGA cores are developed by people with free software inclinations and are available under GPL. That is a very nice thing, free software gets into hardware too!! -George Scaria __________________________________________________ Yahoo! Plus For a better Internet experience http://www.yahoo.co.uk/btoffer

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