FSUG-Bangalore August 2008

fsug-bangalore@mm.gnu.org.in

21 participants
27 discussions

Fwd: Software For Kids
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 08 Aug '08

08 Aug '08

SOFTWARE FOR KIDS: A new site focussing on what is freely available (free-beer, free-speech) for helping children learn. Specially the young ones, with a focus on India and South-Asia. Current links include * Yobler.com … educational videos * The Digital Study Hall (DSH) * ET? What's that? (An Aug 2008 conf in Bangalore) * Educational power points…. http://pppst.com/ Pete's Power Point Station. * Educational resources… from azimpremjifoundation.org * Taking sharing to the classroom (downloadable FLOSS report) * The 4000-rupee computer shows up in Goa * Why Free Software makes sense in education * Computer education for rural kids riddled with obstacles http://softwareforkids.wordpress.com -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org 784 Nr Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India Ph +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402

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IEEE Blr and free software
by Senthil Sundaram (sensunda) 07 Aug '08

07 Aug '08

Hi, " Don't publish papers with the IEEE! As the IEEE rejects public-domain papers, let the public reject the IEEE. See http://cr.yp.to/writing/ieee.html." says RMS webpage. There is lot of discontent among the academic community regarding the technical refreeing of IEEE. Some also see it as a easy way of getting 'their' papers published..to put it bluntly. However IEEE blr has requested a session on free software . We had already given them a list of topics .. I personally feel that we should go ahead with the session. Main intent is to get another platform to talk about free software : to a large number of students : with the intent of forming student chapters. -S -----

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Software For Kids...
by Frederick Noronha [फ़र ेदरिक नोर ोनया] 06 Aug '08

06 Aug '08

Please take a look and send me your suggestions... thanks! http://softwareforkids.wordpress.com FN -- FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org 784 Nr Convent, Saligao 403511 Goa India Ph +91-832-2409490 M: +91-9970157402 16,000+ photos from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/

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Vikram's session at Amrita eng College
by Senthil Sundaram (sensunda) 06 Aug '08

06 Aug '08

Hi, vikram vincent : session at amrita eng college - managed to be there for a short time cool things ---------------- They have bunch of enthu students and a teacher who is excited about free software -S ----------------------------------------------------------- some aspects of the session i remember ------------------------------------------------------------- started with video - Truth Happens what motivates or inspires the free software community Free software is about "the quality of sharing" - the quality very inate in us - appeal to that - how our mother told us its good to share food and choclates when we were young sharing vs PIRATE hacker vs cracker : who is a hacker - a cool - innovative guy - vs destructive guy century of steel - century of information : the question of control : who controls - whose hands should the key be with in the information century - users - us or owners.. how much code we write we own - how much code we write for our country - how much we write in our languages - localisation Open source vs free software History of free software - with more clarity and emphasis : on freedom right to copy - copy right - copy left : the gpl innovation ended with distribution of a few posters.. ----------------------------------- demo of cool free software is going on right now!! Questions -------------- How secure is free software ? Why doesnt it give us a warranty What are the business models in free software ?

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Fwd: [ssug-malappuram] Another reason to boycott Novell & Mono.
by Praveen A 05 Aug '08

05 Aug '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Anivar Aravind <anivar(a)movingrepublic.org> Date: 2008/8/5 Subject: [ssug-malappuram] Another reason to boycott Novell & Mono. To: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, "Palakkad Libre software Users Society (+PLUS)" <plus-discuss(a)lists.sarovar.org>, ssug-malappuram(a)freelists.org See the derstarndard.at interview with Miguel de Icaza, It clearly shows how m$ wants to make a proprietary web using silver lite. Microsoft i using Mono & Moonlite project of Novell as a back door to enter to the world of GNU/Linux. People like Migual who is leading GNOME foundation become their brand ambassadors (who pushes implementation of OOXML in GNOME, Pushing Mono as an Integral part of GNOME & now developing moonlite too) http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1216918402134 For me this interview is a solid reason to switch to KDE4 which is protected with GPLv3 Anivar -- "Gates may be gone, but the walls and bars of proprietary software he helped create remain, for now. Dismantling them is up to us. " http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7487060.stm Wiki: http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Malappuram -- പ്രവീണ്‍ അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില്‍ <GPLv2> I know my rights; I want my phone call! <DRM> What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

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[OT] Open Content and Research
by Vikram Vincent 04 Aug '08

04 Aug '08

Hi, As part of a three month long research workshops at Christ University we had a session today on the 'historical perspective of research' led by Prof. Dr. Sundar Sarukkai of NIAS. *Brief Profile*: Prof. Dr. Sundar Sarukkai is presently Professor and Dean, School of Humanities, and Head, Centre for Philosophy, at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. He is the author of the following books: Translating the World: Science and Language; Philosophy of Symmetry and Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science. Some of the important points discussed which are useful in the context of Free Software, open content and research are: The concepts of `authorship' and `originality' of literature, art etc in the Indian context and the evolution of knowledge in an open system. The role of politics in knowledge creation. Current research is not focused on local/indigenous needs of the country but rather for US and European interests. Indian researchers are knowledge consumers and not knowledge producers (in the above context). This is partly because of the pressure by the foreign journals which are highly selective in their paper publications and the lack of local research journals in the various academic streams. There was also some points on the free and democratic access of knowledge and how the high cost of foreign journals of repute prevent dissemination of knowledge. The role of patents in this process of research will be taken up in depth in future sessions. Those interested in attending can contact me off-list. -- Vikram Vincent +919448810822 http://swatantra.org/

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Abhas - Free Soft @ Cisco - Blr
by Senthil Sundaram (sensunda) 04 Aug '08

04 Aug '08

Hi All, We had what is called a 'Nerd Lunch' session at Cisco. About 40-50 engineers were there and the session was recorded on video by cisco..also folks joined over the phone. Jotted down some interesting aspects...abhas do add stuff about what u felt is interesting and upload the photos if u get a chance. Some of them wrote back wanting to start a interest group at Cisco . We will do this soon.. -S Interesting aspects .. which came out in the discussion / What the regular software crowd thinks about us ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------- - Cisco is a very proprietary software company - however - is looking at a lot of free software for its small and medium routers - for inevitable reasons : both technical and cost - There are lot of folks @ cisco who use a lot of free software - gdb - gcc - emacs - firefox - there are many initiatives to use gnu-linux desktops and so on - and folks have a lot of respect for free software - for its technical qualities - rather than the freedom foundation - which is something we were trying to discuss in the session... - Cisco is very careful about GPLv3 and this was brought up multiple times in the disucssion by the hosts - on how develpers need to be very careful when trying to bring in - COOL GPLv3 FREE SOFTWARE - the aspect of RESPECTING users freedom gives one a lot of respect - however giving away code to build another persons business - is looked at as SACRIFICE . The interesting aspect is to have a live business example to show that this is COOL and works. -Abhas said that 95% of folks download their software for free : Some body asked - ARE YOU DOING SOCIAL SERVICE or BUSINESS - abhas had to explain of how - this can be good business - how this can be good ethics - how this can be good technically and so on - One more point which came up at Cisco as well as Chirst : Free software is a smart conspiracy to make money !! You make difficult software - Then you charge a lot for it like - REDHAT - so you guys speak about all freedom - but behind it - it is all MONEY !! Though one can understand this comes from a not very clear understanding - however people seem to suspect when BIG CAPITAL and FREE SOFTWARE work together - KNOWLEDGE CAN BE FREER THAN NOW with FREE SOFTWARE - BUT CAN IT BE REALLY FREE when working with BIG CAPITAL seems to be a question folks are asking... - GNU/LINUX Desktops : "GNU/Linux is still not good as Windows" - I thing this comes from user habbits - I see a lot of fresh software engineers - unable to change from this addiction - Free Software vs Open Source : was a question too ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 for Nerdlunch on "Free/Open Source Software" Speaker - Mr. Abhas Abhinav, Deeproot Linux Date - 30th July, 2008 , Time - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Location - Bangalore Cisco Campus (Cessna Business Park) Abstract - The presentation will focus upon the following issues: * What is Free / Open Source Software? * What are the guiding values of the Free Software movement? * Why is Freedom good for software? * Who's using Free Software today: A case for users and developer's? * The Indian Free / Open Source Software scenario * Getting involved with the Free Software movement: as a user, developer, contributor, advocate, business

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FSUG-Bangalore August 2008