FSUG-Bangalore April 2008

fsug-bangalore@mm.gnu.org.in

20 participants
37 discussions

Heated Discussion on Gobuntu Developer List
by Anivar Aravind 17 Apr '08

17 Apr '08

All started with present and future of gobuntu gNewSense Forum says AFAIK Gobuntu developers are not so carefull about freedom in their repositories and packages. I don't think that this attitude will change with the new Ubuntu release and this is why we don't recommend Gobuntu. If you would like to use a fully free as in freedom distribution, use gNewSense and try to help us in any way you can. Mark Shuttleworth's Opinion on Rethinking Gobuntu https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gobuntu-devel/2008-April/000674.html Toni Ruottu writes https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gobuntu-devel/2008-April/000674.html It is a interesting Discussion on Freedom in Distros.. And it is interesting to hear that current Ubuntu CD images now have a "Free software only" checkbox on the "Boot options" menu (select language and then press F6 twice). This should make things easier for people who happen to have an Ubuntu CD to hand and want to install a system without anything from the restricted component. For a background Read Praveen's page too http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/User:Pravs/What_Ubuntu_should_do_to_regain_my_con…

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Boycott Novell Report on Candle light Vigil for Document Freedom
by Anivar Aravind 17 Apr '08

17 Apr '08

http://boycottnovell.com/2008/04/13/microsoft-india-partners-standard/

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A report from C3 on Document freedom and the candle light vigil yesterday.
by Senthil Sundaram (sensunda) 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

Hi, It was excellent to join hands in the spirit of document freedom with the students of RVCE eng college, Anivar, Viki, Praveen, Sujit, Justin and so many others. A report from the community computing center perspective. http://slumdweller.wikispaces.com/Document+Freedom cheers senthil

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photos ODF-liberate your documents -candle lamp vigil - 25th april 2008 Townhall bangalore
by renuka prasad 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

here are some of the snaps that were taken during candle lamp vigil --- liberate your documents --- use odf http://www.flickr.com/photos/25734428@N06/

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Document Freedom lives on
by harish singh 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

Hi Everyone, Kudos to Arvind, Vincent and all participents in bringing much needed attention to open document formats. An analysis by Ditesh Kumar on the adoption of ODF in Asia and support by national bodies worldwide is published on Asia Pacific Development Information Programme website at http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/18.pdf. The Government of India's stand on ODF states The Government of India strongly supports ODF, with the Ministry of Information and Technology stating that: ...considering the huge potential of eGovernance in the nation as well as the need to adopt open standards to make our data systems more inter-operable and independent of any limiting proprietary tools, we feel that ODF is a great technological leap and a big boon to further propel IT right to India's grass root levels. I congratulate this initiative of leading private and public organizations... There have been other moves to adopt ODF in India: • The Allahabad High Court of India made a policy decision to use ODF. • The Election Commission of the Government of India is working on adopting ODF using open source software. • The government of Delhi moves to ODF-based office suites for cost reasons. • The state of Kerala in India suggests the use of ODF in its draft IT policy, stating that: Open standards such as Unicode and Open Document Format and Open Architectures will be followed in e-governance projects to avoid total dependence on select vendors. On a related note, a BBC World documentary on FOSS and how poor countries are using FOSS applications for development is hosted at http://www.apdip.net/news/fossdoc Best, Harish Singh

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My photoset on yesterday's protest
by Kushal Das 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

Hi, You can find the photos here.. http://flickr.com/photos/kushaldas/sets/72157604562832040/ If any one needs a larger copy , please contact me. Kushal -- Fedora Ambassador, India http://kushaldas.in http://dgplug.org (Linux User Group of Durgapur)

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More Detail report on Hindu
by Anivar Aravind 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

Detail report is here. http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041660721100.htm Computer professionals hold candlelight vigil against proprietary software Deepa Kurup Organised to give a human face to a subject often discussed in blogs and on websites To oppose those who say that knowledge is for those who can buy it Protest by individuals was an attempt to cut through the digital divide Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy Novel protest: Software professionals hold a candlelight vigil at Town Hall in Bangalore on Tuesday, in protest against the use of proprietary software. — BANGALORE: What does a software professional, an artisan, a scrap dealer, a college student and a teacher — gathered in front of the Town Hall with candles in their hand — have in common? In a city where protests have become as common as the issues that drive them, this one comes as a breath of fresh air because of the nature in which it was organised. Group A group of individuals, comprising mostly software engineers and others, who oppose the use of proprietary software, got together for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and give a human face to what has largely been a protest in blogs and on websites. R. Vijay Kumar is a scrap dealer who is not educated and does not use the computer. However, a community Computing Centre called C3, started by software professionals in their slum, uses Free Software GNU Linux. “Our children study there and when we got to know about the spirit behind this, we realised that this is about equal access and quashing those who say that knowledge is for those who can buy it,” he explains about the reason for the protest being organised. Do they understand the nitty-gritty of the matter and how it will affect people? Perhaps not. But they know that the protest is trying to cut through the digital divide. “There is very little awareness even among professionals about licensing and the implication of proprietary Software,” says Reshinesh, a software engineer at CISCO, who calls himself an Open Source evangelist. Holding placards which demand Document Freedom and ask for a national policy on this issue, the protesters label the recent document standard called OOXML — which was adopted by the International Standardisation Organisation on April 2 — a “banana standard.” Software Besides software professionals who confessed to working in companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro, which endorse proprietary standards by virtue of their vote at the International Organisation for Standardization, said that they believed in Open Source Software. “Such a policy is critical to India. Especially in e-governance, why should people have to buy any particular software in order to access public records?” asks Praveen A., a software engineer, volunteering with various Free Software projects. These professionals have been taking their message to technical institutions and colleges, and several students from colleges such as B.M.S College of Engineering and R.V. College of Engineering. “For students it is very important because it promotes innovation. “You can find the code and contact people who created it through mailing lists and Internet Relay Chat,” is the comment from Santosh G. Vattam, who is a student from B.M.S.

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Fwd: Action Against ISO Sellout and Microsoft Rigging in India
by Anivar 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

Congrats for making todays event a big success. Please upload all photos to Flickr and wiki with relevent tags and send your links here. I am forwarding An interesting news clip collection Anivar ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...(a)schestowitz.com> Date: Apr 14, 8:32 am Subject: Action Against ISO Sellout and Microsoft Rigging in India To: comp.os.linux.advocacy Candle Light Vigil for Document Freedom ,----[ Quote ] | The Candle light vigil demands India to appeal ISO approval of ooxml based on | its comments and no vote. We also demands the Department of IT to draft a | clear national policy for the use of Free standards for data storage. | | This programme is planned as a starting point for various events & awareness | campaigns on Document freedom. `---- http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_for_Document_Freedom#Candle_Light_... Related: An Open Letter to Wipro, Infosys and TCS ,----[ Quote ] | This letter is to express our deep disappointment over your open support to | the OOXML format forced through ISO by Microsoft. Being the top IT giants and | thus the representatives of the IT industry in the country, it is a great | shock to us that you do not stand with academia of the country and its | representatives like the IITs, IIMs and IISc in supporting the Open Document | Format (ODF) which is a true Free and Open Standard already recognised as an | ISO Standard. Considering that a major portion of your employees come from | such institutions, it is a wonder to us that you have decided to go ahead | with this decisions. `---- http://www.fossmeet.in/node/128 Microsoft wins Open XML vote, frowns at Indian panel ,----[ Quote ] | Industry experts said they were "unhappy" with the Microsoft which has almost | accused the committee of being packed with "open document format (ODF) | supporters". | | "I am very upset and uncomfortable with such complaints. In fact, the | chairperson of the committee (LITD 15) offered to step down over the | allegation," D.B. Phatak, professor at IIT Mumbai, told DNA Money. | | IIT Mumbai is a member of LITD 15, and Phatak was part of the deliberations | that have been taking place within IIT on the issue. | | Phatak said a Microsoft official was asked if it would withdraw the | complaint, but the company refused as the "complaint was made by some higher | officer in Microsoft". | | Jaijit Bhattacharya, country director of government strategy for Sun | Microsystems India, a company that has been at loggerheads with Microsoft for | years, talks in a similar vein. | | "I am surprised that such allegations are made against India's top academic | and government institutions ... such allegations lack credibility,' | Bhattacharya said. Venkatesh Hariharan, co-founder Open Source Foundation of | India said, "I am just amazed and shocked at the depths to which Microsoft is | willing to descend." | | He said Microsoft's complaint is a "great disservice to the committee, its | chairperson and the BIS". `---- http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14636329 OOXML: decision time is nigh ,----[ Quote ] | Wipro, Infosys and TCS are the three big companies that accept business | process outsourcing from the American and other markets, hence their vote for | Microsoft is not a surprise at all. These are companies that maintain the | status quo, conservative to the core and willing to do the bidding of the | piper. Nasscom represents the interests of the bigger IT companies and it | probably had no choice but to fall in line. `---- http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17353/1148/ Microsoft files complaint on OOXML vote to apex office and Ministry of Consumer Affairs ,----[ Quote ] | At the meeting held on 20th March 2008, we were informed that Microsoft has | complained to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and to the apex office of the | country about the constitution of the committee and also cast aspersions on | the impartiality of the chairperson of LITD15, Mrs. Neeta Verma. The | chairperson was furious and offered to step down from her post. She pointed | out that the committee has met numerous times and Microsoft never brought | this issue up in front of the committee nor did they check the facts with her | or her organization before complaining to the apex office. `---- http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/03/microsoft-files-complaint-on-ooxm... Should India change its vote No vote for OOXML? - please? ,----[ Quote ] | Well done to the Bureau of Indian Standards for standing firm against this | raging bully. Hopefully one day the bully will learn how to play fair and | contribute positively to the standards process, and not try to manipulate its | way in. | | Truly despicable behaviour. Shame on you, Microsoft, yet again. How will we | ever trust you? `---- http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2008/03/should-india-ch.html Steve Ballmer was in India? ,----[ Quote ] | Interestingly, that was the day when BIS met to discuss OOXML. For those who | have been following this issue, India's final vote on the subject will be on | 20th May 2008. Talk about timing! `---- http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/03/steve-ballmer-was-in-india.html Microsoft influencing partner NGOs to support OOXML in India ,----[ Quote ] | Microsoft is encouraging its business partners to promote its Office Open XML | specification (OOXML) to the Indian Bureau of Standards (BIS) and Ministry of | IT. This move has incensed supporters of the rival OpenDocument Format (ODF) | who fear that the "soft" Indian state may not be able to stand up to | Microsoft pressure tactics. `---- http://www.linux.com/feature/128528 Microsoft India using NGOs to fake support for OOXML http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-44038/microsoft-india-using-ngos-to-fa... Becoming a better company: Microsoft helps NGOs in India ,----[ Quote ] | Of course, there has to be some trade-offs, because there should never be | free lunch, even for the ones who starve: Microsoft, according to this | article, has conditioned its help to Indian NGOs to their support of OOXML. | What the NGOs had to do was to send letters of support on OOXML to the | federal government of India. `---- http://standardsandfreedom.net/index.php/2008/02/29/becoming-a-better... Microsoft "persuades" NGOs to support OOXML ,----[ Quote ] | Our friends at Linux Delhi have put up a copy of the form letters that | Microsoft has been sending NGOs on the OOXML issue. Apparently, these NGOs | have been sending copies of these letters to the Ministry of IT and Bureau of | Indian standards. `---- http://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/02/microsoft-persuades-ngos-to-suppo... Developers around the world, unite! ,----[ Quote ] | Monopoly and proprietary software have an advantage in influencing state and | governmental institutions because of their large market base and ready | capital. Unscrupulous ways of influencing state governments have persisted in | India, for example, where executives of proprietary software cajole | government heads to promote their brands in lieu of some form of charity | given. FLOSS activists must overcome this huge challenge in order to get | their philosophy accepted and model implemented for the good of people who | are still on the barren side of the digital divide. `---- http://thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=147277&catid=11 Using NGOs to Push Agendas ,----[ Quote ] | The extent to which Microsoft can go in its efforts to get OOXML is | interesting. Microsoft has "persuaded" several non-profit organizations to | bombard the Indian IT Secretary and the Additional Director General of the | Bureau of Indian Standards with letters supporting its OOXML proposal. A copy | of the form letter they have been circulating to NGOs is given below. | Somebody should interview these NGOs to see how much they really know about | OOXML and open standards. | | The sequence of events leading up to the spamming of GoI? is: | | Letter from an NGO thanking Microsoft (name changed to protect their | identity) `---- http://wiki.linux-delhi.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/OpenStandards/MsNgoLobby

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Hindu on Candle light vigil : Cutting through the digital divide
by Anivar Aravind 16 Apr '08

16 Apr '08

Cutting through the digital divide Deepa Kurup http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041650950200.htm

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Please vote on these
by Vikram Vincent 15 Apr '08

15 Apr '08

1. http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/community_posts/protest_observing_docum… 2. http://digg.com/politics/Protest_observing_Document_Freedom_and_against_OOX… -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://www.swatantra.org/ http://translate.swatantra.org/

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FSUG-Bangalore April 2008