--- "Mahesh T. Pai" paivakil@vsnl.net wrote:
The National Informatics Centre, has taken the first step towards freedom. and set up a PORTAL - yes, a portal. See http://osf.nic.in/
First, the nitpicks.
They are describing it as the `Open Source' forum, an initiative to address software tools based on `Open Standard' (note the singular)
The first thing which hits you on the face as you open the opening page it that it contains proprietary nonstandard tags (marquee). And images in a non standard format (gif).
The lines below the copyright notice claims to comply with the following standards:
* Section 508 * WAI-AAA * Valid XHTML * Valid CSS * Usable in any browserGreat!!!! Though I have no idea why the Government of _India_ should claim conformance to a law by a foreign sovereign, it certainly is a good idea that out government is getting around to the fact that disabled people are capable of using digital tools.
I feel part of the mistake lies with us,its our duty to correctly project the differences between OSI and Free Software to public.
Ah, the positive side? They have made a beginning; and the failure to recognise the importance of _freedom_ IS bad. They need to switch over to the `freedom' angle.
If you do not understand why the term `free software' should be preferred over the term `Open Source', you should read www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html and www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html
Merely telling someone to read the above urls will not do any good.We should get on stage,in media and guide people to understand the freedom aspect.
As a lawyer, Pai and Ramanraj can shed great light on the legal issue of using the __wrong__ copyright on the web.
If anyone wants to talk on this subject, FSUG-Bangalore will love to arrange one.
TIA
--arky
===== ____________________________________ /\ \ _| Rakesh 'arky' Ambati | | Bangalore (INDIA) | | Homepage: http://arky.port5.com/ | | _______________________________|_ _/_________________________________/
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