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First Americas Social Forum
by Kapil Karekar 07 Aug '04

07 Aug '04

The 1st Americas Social Forum (ASF) was held in Quito, Equador from 25th to 30th July. The ASF is part of the World Social Forum (WSF), which was initiated in 2001 and has become the world’s largest venue for NGOs and individuals who are critical of the current state of the world. The slogan of ASF was "Another World is Possible". This slogan has drawn over 10,000 people from more than 45 countries to take part in conferences, seminars, workshops, and cultural events. Globalization, the privatization of water, and communication rights in the information society were some of the primary issues being discussed. Environmentalists, members of sexual minorities, trade unionists, grassroots community activists and students formed part of the mosaic of expressions of civil society drawn to Quito from the entire southern Americas. The ASF also enabled to assess the imposition of a neo-liberal model of globalisation by means of free trade agreements and the installation of U.S. military bases in Latin America. http://libretech.com/?q=node/view/6 -- Kapil Karekar Norrix Associates (http://www.norrix.com) Reachable at: kapil {at} hipatia.info Readable at: http://www.libretech.com Audible at: (91)(22)2867 7305

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[FSFE PR][EN] FSF Europe Newsletter (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Aug '04

06 Aug '04

---------- Forwarded message ---------- 1. FSFE supporting European Commission in their case against Microsoft 2. Widely noticed interview in "Die Zeit" 3. Writing new licenses often counterproductive 4. RSS feeds for FSFE news and events available 5. FSFE supports the declaration of Caceres 6. Investigations on the impact of Free Software on companies 1. FSFE supporting European Commission in their case against Microsoft In 2001 the European Union, through the DG Competition of the European Commission (lead by Prof. Monti), started investigating Microsoft's dominant position in the desktop operating systems market. The Free Software Foundation Europe was invited by the EC to represent the interests of the Free Software movement. Together with the Samba team, which the FSFE involved in the case and with which it cooperated closely, we were able to provide much of the arguments that the European Commission based its decision upon. Microsoft recently appealed against the antitrust decision and the DG Competition called upon FSFE in cooperation with the Samba team again to now join the efforts of the Commission to defend that decision. FSFE, representing itself and the Samba team as well as the interests of the Free Software Community, has participated in the preliminary hearing held in Luxembourg on 27th of July. Sun, which originally started the antitrust trial in Europe, declined to participate to the appeal, so the list of the supporters of the Commission are: Novell, RealNetworks, CCIA (Computer & Communication Industry Association), SIIA (Software and Information Industry Association) and FSFE. In the course of the upcoming months, FSFE will read and comment on all the documentation submitted by Microsoft to sustain the idea that "disclosing documentation on interfaces and protocols is harmful" for their business and for consumers. These will be busy months, so if you know anybody that values being able to use SAMBA and could support our efforts, please tell them to support our work with their donation. <http://www.fsfeurope.org/help/donate.en.html> 2. Widely noticed interview in "DIE ZEIT" "DIE ZEIT", a well-respected German newspaper, has printed an interview with Georg Greve that has been cited in several other newspapers and news services. Georg Greve explains why software patents are job- and economy-killers: "Many companies are facing a low liquitidy and can spend their money only once: either on software patents, or on innovation." 3. Writing new licenses often counterproductive There seems to be a trend that more and more projects create new licenses for Free Software instead of using the well established ones used by thousands of existing projects. The FSFE emphasises that the GNU GPL, the GNU LGPL and the BSD-style license are excellent for most - if not all - projects. Claims that the GPL is not fully applicable outside the U.S. have been proven wrong by a recent court decision in Germany. 4. RSS feeds for FSFE news and events available Our web team has created automatic RSS feeds for news and upcoming events. Feeds are focus and language dependent. The URL for the news feed is: http://www.<focus>.fsfeurope.org/news/news.<language>.rss while you find the event feed at: http://www.<focus>.fsfeurope.org/events/events.<language>.rss For example, for German speaking news and the German focus, you would choose http://www.germany.fsfeurope.org/news/news.de.rss as the URL. For your convenience, the news and event pages contain links to the RSS feed URLs. 5. FSFE supports the "Declaration of Caceres" During the Free Software Summer Event of the University of Extremadura in Caceres, Spain, Georg Greve gave a presentation on the Free Software Foundation Europe and participated in a panel discussion about software patents. As closing highlight of the university course, the participants made the "Declaration of Caceres" against software patents drafted by Hispalinux, which was read out in Portuguese by Marcelo D'Elia Branco, German by Georg Greve, English by Maureen O'Sullivan and finally Spanish by the vice-rector of the University, Fernando Sanchez Figueroa. The FSFE officially supports this declaration, which reads: "Freedom, equality and fraternity, the old Europe's values applied to technology, have achieved the biggest innovative space ever imagined. Software Patents are the countermeasure that augments costs, bureaucracy and legal costs to stop European progress." 6. Investigations on the impact of Free Software on companies The University Bocconi in Milan, Italy held a conference to discuss the impact Free Software has on Italian companies. Stefano Maffulli was invited to hold a speech in the name of the FSFE. You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html _______________________________________________ Press-release mailing list Press-release(a)fsfeurope.org https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/press-release

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Re: [ilugd] apple iPod a tune
by Raj Mathur 06 Aug '04

06 Aug '04

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 >>>>> "LL" == Linux Lingam <linuxlingam(a)gmail.com> writes: LL> dear all, have you been following the controversy of apple's LL> iPod and iTunes, with its DRM-ed and proprietory file-formats, LL> all working nice and proper with RealNetworks. Apple is LL> understandably feeling quite rotten. LL> http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117201,00.asp What's even more interesting is another thing that has been declared legal by the US copyright office: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113190,00.asp <Excerpt> Software developers can use reverse engineering to circumvent digital protection of copyrighted material, if they do so to achieve interoperability with an independently created computer program. </Excerpt> Isn't that precisely what Hymn does? LL> am sure the opensource community watches this with interest, LL> thanks to the recent controversy between the community and LL> apple, even in india. Regards, - -- Raju - -- Raj Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.5.8 <http://mailcrypt.sourceforge.net/> iD8DBQFBDu52yWjQ78xo0X8RApXLAJ9IY3RqVa4FEW4OAhc1L+fAWxBASgCeKNYJ nJXt5sz25eyYBJl/NDy1ddE= =GveZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd(a)lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/

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[Fsf-friends] Free Software, GNU/Linux, Thunder, Software Patents in the News
by Ramanraj K 03 Aug '04

03 Aug '04

AB's interview has been published in Trivandrum and Chennai editions of "The Hindu" : http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200408021150.htm Today's Chennai edition has also carried a summary of the above interview, but I could not find online links to it.

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IOSN releases user guide to the [GNU]Linux desktop
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 30 Jul '04

30 Jul '04

Wish they had to talk of it as Free Software, instead of the term the business press has hyped up. FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- *From: * Sunil Abraham <sunil(a)mahiti.org> *Date: * 2004/07/28 Wed PM 09:45:20 GMT+05:30 *To: * s-asia-it <s-asia-it(a)apnic.net> *Subject: * IOSN Releases: User Guide to Using the Linux Desktop IOSN has produced an introductory end user guide to using the Linux desktop. It is now available for review and feedback. This user guide is meant as an introductory guide for a user to use a modern personal computer (PC) running the Linux operating system. The main aim is to provide a self-learning guide on how to use a modern Linux desktop system. It assumes that the user has no prior knowledge of Linux or PC usage. The guide currently formatted for use as printed material, with the acompanying slides to be used by trainers. The training materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. User Guide to Using the Linux Desktop http://www.iosn.net/training/end-user-manual/ Thanks, Sunil Abraham, sunil(a)mahiti.org </agent/MobNewMsg?to=sunil(a)mahiti.org> http://www.mahiti.org 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mobile: +91 80 36701931 Currently on sabbatical with APDIP/UNDP Manager - International Open Source Network Wisma UN, Block C Komplex Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 sunil(a)apdip.net http://www.iosn.net http://www.apdip.net

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Re: Kairali Linux
by Anand Babu 30 Jul '04

30 Jul '04

Manilal/Manoj, I appreciate your quick action. I will ask FSF-I members to review and forward your distribution for localized e-Governance initiatives. -- Anand Babu Free as in Freedom <www.gnu.org> ,----[ ost(a)cdit.org ] | Dear ab, | Taking into account your suggestion, we have officially changed the | name of our GNU/Linux distribution, Kairali Linux to Kairali GNU/Linux. | Since we have printed the cover and stickers for the CDs we cannot | change the labels on them immediately.This change will be effected in | the covers when it goes to the press next time. Hereafter the | Distribution will be officially referred as "C-DIT Kairali GNU/Linux". | We will look forward for more suggestions. | | regards | Manilal/Manoj | -- | Open Source Technology Team, | Centre for Development of Imaging Technology, | C-DIT City Centre, | Near Press Club, | Statue, | Thiruvananthapuram - 695001. | Keralam, India. | Telephone: ++91-471-2339539 | Fax: ++91-471-2335995 | Email: ost(a)cdit.org | Website: www.cdit.org `----

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Computing and Learning for young children
by Kanti Jadia 29 Jul '04

29 Jul '04

Hi Rajeev, Please take a look at debian jr. project. URL : http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-jr/index :) On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 rajeev joseph sebastian wrote : >Hello freedom lovers, > > > I would suggest that you do not introduce computers > > at the class 1 > > level. In my opinion, there should not be any > > computer classes before > > class 7 or 8. Below that age, children should be > >On the contrary, it will be extremely helpful (to say >the least) to introduce programming, and games on the >computer from atleast class 5. I have very good >memories of when i played games like Lemonade and >"programmed" in Logo, in the 1st and 2nd standards >(due to my dad) and learning basic BASIC in the 5th >(in a school environment). Complemented with a steady >grounding in logic from class 5 until the introduction >to Algorithms in 9th/10th it will make our peoples >more _aware_ of the PC and its possibilities than >being paper heroes. > >I think it helped in shaping my perception of what a >computer is, not a machine (/compiler) to fight, and >not a glorified jukebox. > > > running around and > > playing more than anything else. They should, > > ideally, learn through > > play. > >I agree with you on this, and suggest that the >computer be used a part of the environment of the >student _in_ the classroom, rather than in a lab of >some sort. Of course this will be more practical only >in the very early classes like 1st and 2nd (where >computer usage will be less and therefore there will >requirement of less number of machines in each class). > >If I were microsoft, i would severly "attack" the >lower classes, because children at this level is the >future ( *hint* *hint*). Moreover, in the case of >GNU/Linux, i think it would be MUCH easier to >evagelise young children than very old ones, since >they do not prefer and are not brainwashed yet. > > >There is a school in central Kerala that does > > precisely this. > > Children up to class 7 are not forced to sit in the > > class or assigned > > specific tasks. The job of the teacher is to ensure > > that the children > > learn things as a part of whatever they do. This is > >Consider for eg, Celestia. It is a very good tool for >visualizing the solar system (if the graphics were a >little better in the sense understandable). > >Geometric principles are introduced quite early in the >indian child's lifetime, and software like KGeo >(perhaps after simplification) could open up the world >of visual mathematics to them, leading away from the >purely symbolic means that is being used today. >Remember a sound spatial sense/perception is very >useful not only in making better civil/mechanical >engineers, but also physicists, software architects >and network engineers. However, today's education >system does not handle this well. > >I have taught various aspects of network theory to >students of various levels, and i have found that >tutorials via the spatial perception are much more >useful than long expositions on network history and >what not. I feel that a computer is probably the >_only_ tool (other than (expensive) physical models), >that can give such training to students. > >My company (www.stendekrnd.com) is now investigating >the creation of a "desktop" for young children, in >which there is a simplistic GUI command environment to >launch specific programs (such as celestia, etc). > > > hard on the teacher, > > but the children do learn, and not just bookish > > knowledge that helps > > only to write answers in examinations. > >There will soon be a solution for this too from my >company. watch this space for the next few months for >more info on that :) > >Rajeev J Sebastian >Stendek R&D > > > > > >__________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish. >http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail > >_______________________________________________ >Fsf-friends mailing list >Fsf-friends(a)mm.gnu.org.in >http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends ----------------------------------------- Enjoy your Freedom,use GNU/Linux. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html -----------------------------------------

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Computing and Learning for young children
by rajeev joseph sebastian 27 Jul '04

27 Jul '04

Hello freedom lovers, > I would suggest that you do not introduce computers > at the class 1 > level. In my opinion, there should not be any > computer classes before > class 7 or 8. Below that age, children should be On the contrary, it will be extremely helpful (to say the least) to introduce programming, and games on the computer from atleast class 5. I have very good memories of when i played games like Lemonade and "programmed" in Logo, in the 1st and 2nd standards (due to my dad) and learning basic BASIC in the 5th (in a school environment). Complemented with a steady grounding in logic from class 5 until the introduction to Algorithms in 9th/10th it will make our peoples more _aware_ of the PC and its possibilities than being paper heroes. I think it helped in shaping my perception of what a computer is, not a machine (/compiler) to fight, and not a glorified jukebox. > running around and > playing more than anything else. They should, > ideally, learn through > play. I agree with you on this, and suggest that the computer be used a part of the environment of the student _in_ the classroom, rather than in a lab of some sort. Of course this will be more practical only in the very early classes like 1st and 2nd (where computer usage will be less and therefore there will requirement of less number of machines in each class). If I were microsoft, i would severly "attack" the lower classes, because children at this level is the future ( *hint* *hint*). Moreover, in the case of GNU/Linux, i think it would be MUCH easier to evagelise young children than very old ones, since they do not prefer and are not brainwashed yet. >There is a school in central Kerala that does > precisely this. > Children up to class 7 are not forced to sit in the > class or assigned > specific tasks. The job of the teacher is to ensure > that the children > learn things as a part of whatever they do. This is Consider for eg, Celestia. It is a very good tool for visualizing the solar system (if the graphics were a little better in the sense understandable). Geometric principles are introduced quite early in the indian child's lifetime, and software like KGeo (perhaps after simplification) could open up the world of visual mathematics to them, leading away from the purely symbolic means that is being used today. Remember a sound spatial sense/perception is very useful not only in making better civil/mechanical engineers, but also physicists, software architects and network engineers. However, today's education system does not handle this well. I have taught various aspects of network theory to students of various levels, and i have found that tutorials via the spatial perception are much more useful than long expositions on network history and what not. I feel that a computer is probably the _only_ tool (other than (expensive) physical models), that can give such training to students. My company (www.stendekrnd.com) is now investigating the creation of a "desktop" for young children, in which there is a simplistic GUI command environment to launch specific programs (such as celestia, etc). > hard on the teacher, > but the children do learn, and not just bookish > knowledge that helps > only to write answers in examinations. There will soon be a solution for this too from my company. watch this space for the next few months for more info on that :) Rajeev J Sebastian Stendek R&D __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Re: [Fsf-friends] Fwd: [linux_schools] Setting Up Computer Lab in School in Bangalore
by Manilal 27 Jul '04

27 Jul '04

V. Sasi Kumar said: > I would suggest that you do not introduce computers at the class 1 > level. In my opinion, there should not be any computer classes before > class 7 or 8. Yes, But there are many schools(Mostly Pvt schools) in Kerala which have made computer learning a must in primary classes. This is absurd. Children should allowed to play and learn freely. > specific tasks. The job of the teacher is to ensure that the children > learn things as a part of whatever they do. This is hard on the teacher, > but the children do learn, and not just bookish knowledge that helps > only to write answers in examinations. This is not acceptable to the public(especially parents). They only want ranks and merits not knowledge. But this is actually out of the scope of this mailing list. regards Manilal

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[Fsf-friends] Fwd: [linux_schools] Setting Up Computer Lab in School in Bangalore
by Rakesh 'arky' Ambati 27 Jul '04

27 Jul '04

--- coverify <coverify(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > To: linux_schools(a)yahoogroups.co.in > From: "coverify" <coverify(a)yahoo.com> > Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 16:09:34 -0000 > Subject: [linux_schools] Setting Up Computer Lab in > School in Bangalore > > Hi, > I just joined the group. I am working for a non > profit organization > (www.hohinc.org) and we are planning to setup a > school computer lab > in Bangalore. The address of the school is- > > ATMA SHREE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION > 7th MAIN ROAD THAYAGARAGANAGAR, > BANGALORE 560028 INDIA > > I am looking for resources that could - > 1. Support the hardware > 2. Syllabus based on open source software for > children of class 1 > to Xth. > Since the standard of English is not very good, > are there any > support for "Kannada" language. > 3. Are there any such center in Bangalore that we > can contact. > > Thanks > sanjeev > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/linux_schools/ > > <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email > to: > linux_schools-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.co.in > > <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: > http://in.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > ===== ____________________________________ /\ \ \_| Rakesh 'arky' Ambati | | Bangalore (INDIA) | | Homepage: http://arky.port5.com/ | | _______________________________|_ \_/_________________________________/ _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Express yourself with Y! Messenger! Free. Download now. http://messenger.yahoo.com

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