FSUG-Bangalore September 2008

fsug-bangalore@mm.gnu.org.in

32 participants
62 discussions

Fwd: Some context needed on Thoughworks (Re: [BOJUG] Re: Software Freedom day)
by sreedhar ambati 05 Sep '08

05 Sep '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Sriram Narayanan <sriramnrn(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Sep 5, 2008 at 12:19 PM Subject: Re: Some context needed on Thoughworks (Re: [BOJUG] Re: Software Freedom day) To: sreedhar ambati <ambatisreedhar(a)gmail.com> On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 2:56 PM, sreedhar ambati <ambatisreedhar(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Sriram > > I am Sreedhar Ambati. > I spoke with Amit of SUN. > I have spoken with anybody in Thoughtworks. > My intension is to ask permission for conference hall from Thoughtworks. > Sorry if I misguided you. Heh, my question was simply whether you already know someone else at Thoughtworks Bangalore :) No worries, I'll assume that you have asked me, and I'll find out if the hall will be free on that day. Let me know what else you need as part of the hall :) > http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Bangalore/GNUs_Grazing/6September2008 > > fsug-bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in > http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore > > All the conversation is going at the above links. > > Thanks > Sreedhar Ambati > > On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 1:18 AM, Sriram Narayanan <sriramnrn(a)gmail.com> > wrote: >> >> Hi: >> >> I work with Thoughtworks and played host at the recent BOJUG meet. >> Could you tell me whom you spoke to at Thoughtworks for the Software >> Freedom Day ? I myself intended to follow up on this, and would like >> to avoid duplicate efforts in case you're already in conversation with >> someone at work. >> >> Thanks. >> >> -- Sriram >> >> On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 12:23 PM, AmbatiSreedhar >> <ambatisreedhar(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> > >> > Hi friends, >> > >> > This is what I got from other people . If interested please send a >> > mail to vid(a)svaksha.com , anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com and >> > renukaprasadb(a)gmail.com >> > >> > >> > " >> > >> > Hi >> > >> > Last year FSUG had a SFD in Bangalore (according to [1], [2]). Are >> > there any plans for this year ? >> > >> > [1] >> > http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/asiaandmiddleeast/india/bangalore >> > [2] http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SFD/Bangalore/07 >> > >> > Ambati Sreedhar had mentioned (on my blog) that Bojug (Bangalore java >> > group) Sun and Thoughtworks would be willing to help. So would FSUG >> > members like to collaborate with Bojug (Bangalore java group) Sun and >> > Thoughtworks on this ? >> > >> > thanks, >> > Vid >> > || http://www.svaksha.com || >> > >> > Reply Reply to all Forward >> > >> > >> > Anivar Aravind to Free >> > show details 12:08 PM (10 minutes ago) Reply >> > >> > >> > - Show quoted text - >> > On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 11:38 AM, Vid_A <vid(a)svaksha.com> wrote: >> >> Hi >> >> >> >> Last year FSUG had a SFD in Bangalore (according to [1], [2]). Are >> >> there any plans for this year ? >> >> >> >> [1] >> >> http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/asiaandmiddleeast/india/bangalore >> >> [2] http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SFD/Bangalore/07 >> >> >> >> Ambati Sreedhar had mentioned (on my blog) that Bojug (Bangalore java >> >> group) Sun and Thoughtworks would be willing to help. So would FSUG >> >> members like to collaborate with Bojug (Bangalore java group) Sun and >> >> Thoughtworks on this ? >> >> >> > >> > >> > Good Idea... >> > I hope we can decide some college as the venue >> > I like to hear from BMS, RV and st. Joseph's students first >> > On the no software patent programme Madhusoodanan & samartha was >> > talking about planning an installfest . Can we club it with SFD? >> > >> > Anivar >> > _______________________________________________ >> > FSUG-Bangalore mailing list >> > FSUG-Bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in >> > http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore >> > >> > Reply Forward Invite Anivar Aravind to chat >> > >> > >> > renuka prasad to Free >> > show details 12:15 PM (2 minutes ago) Reply >> > >> > >> > >> > i think few students here are made ambassadors of SUN >> > their job is to promote the sun products -- they say majorly open >> > solaris --- similarly in other colleges also they have done >> > >> > my concern is those students are also planning to have software >> > freedom day ( majorly projecting sun microsystems ) -- but they might >> > have misunderstood the freedom aspect --- some think that Sun >> > Microsystems is the only company ---- other than that i dont think we >> > should have any problem ----- haaan but that week we will be having >> > internal tests in the college -- so we cant expect many participants >> > >> > currently i dont have any idea bou their plan -- yet to know , if any >> > changes are there i will update the list.... >> > >> > this is the status >> > - Show quoted text - >> > >> > >> > >> > On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 12:08 PM, Anivar Aravind >> > <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> > >> > On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 11:38 AM, Vid_A <vid(a)svaksha.com> wrote: >> >> Hi >> >> >> >> Last year FSUG had a SFD in Bangalore (according to [1], [2]). Are >> >> there any plans for this year ? >> >> >> >> [1] >> >> http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/asiaandmiddleeast/india/bangalore >> >> [2] http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/SFD/Bangalore/07 >> >> >> >> Ambati Sreedhar had mentioned (on my blog) that Bojug (Bangalore java >> >> group) Sun and Thoughtworks would be willing to help. So would FSUG >> >> members like to collaborate with Bojug (Bangalore java group) Sun and >> >> Thoughtworks on this ? >> >> >> > >> > >> > Good Idea... >> > I hope we can decide some college as the venue >> > I like to hear from BMS, RV and st. Joseph's students first >> > On the no software patent programme Madhusoodanan & samartha was >> > talking about planning an installfest . Can we club it with SFD? >> > >> > Anivar >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > FSUG-Bangalore mailing list >> > FSUG-Bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in >> > http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > FSUG-Bangalore mailing list >> > FSUG-Bangalore(a)mm.gnu.org.in >> > http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsug-bangalore >> > >> > """" >> > >> > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> > Groups "Bangalore Open Java Users Group- BOJUG" group. >> > To post to this group, send email to bojug(a)googlegroups.com >> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> > bojug+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com<bojug%2Bunsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com> >> > For more options, visit this group at >> > http://groups.google.com/group/bojug?hl=en >> > -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- >> > >> > > >

1 0

Fwd: [ilug-tvm] Khadi Board visits the GNU/Linux installfest at Technopark today ..
by Praveen A 05 Sep '08

05 Sep '08

---------- കൈമാറിയ സന്ദേശം ---------- അയച്ച വ്യക്തി: ashik salahudeen <aashiks(a)gmail.com> തീയ്യതി: 4 September 2008 1:00 PM വിഷയം: [ilug-tvm] Khadi Board visits the GNU/Linux installfest at Technopark today .. സ്വീകര്ത്താവ്: ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com, smc-discuss(a)googlegroups.com Hi all, We at the installfest were lucky enough to have that heady feeling that accompanies a picture of FOSS working its magic and people benefitting from it. Today we had a visit from Khadi board. Khadi board has been using Fedora and Ubuntu to run their office for quiet sometime now. They had to obey a ruling from the government which mandated the use of FOSS. Instead of waiting around and shoving miles of red tape over it , they went into action and started using FOSS. Of course they ran into problems. They went to CDAC for help. Unfortunately , its another government body and they proved it. CDAC started bull shitting , promising stuff and delivering nothing , demanding ever increasing amounts of money for it and being secretive about it. Frustrated , the people from Khadi board turned to the FOSS community and voila !! things started to go right. Their major problem was Malayalam rendering and input which was solved by the leading Malayalam language computing group , Swathanthra Malayalam Computing ( http://fci.wikia.com/SMC ) . Its members provided support to Khadi board, over web. And Khadi board kept coming back to the community which never let them down. Today they were here to offer support for FOSS communities , in their own words " We saved over fifteen lakh rupees on OS licensing costs alone. Donating money as sponsorship to the FOSS communities and the events that they organize is nothing com[ared to the help and support they provided us" And you know what ? We are proud of them . We are proud of ( and to be the ) members of FOSS community that helped this organization which is a beacon of hope to the dying traditional weavers community. Khadi board is going to be the first public sector organization in Kerala to go completely paperless. And they did this because the FOSS community was right behind them supporting them. Not the government , not the so called software and research organizations sposored and funded by government, but the community who owns and maintains FOSS. A video that we managed to capture (pardon the poor video quality and awful reporting ) : http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyfLUzFz9E -- സ്വതന്ത്ര മലയാളം കമ്പ്യൂട്ടിങ്ങ് - എന്റെ കമ്പ്യൂട്ടറിന് എന്റെ ഭാഷ വെബ് താള്:http://smc.org.in/ ഗൂഗിള് കൂട്ടം‍:http://groups.google.com/group/smc-discuss സാവന്ന സംരംഭം: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/smc ഐആര്‍സി ചാനല്‍: irc.freenode.net ലെ #smc-project ഓര്‍ക്കൂട്ട് കൂട്ടം :http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=20512120 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ "Freedom is the only law". "Freedom Unplugged" http://www.ilug-tvm.org You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ilug-tvm" group. To post to this group, send email to ilug-tvm(a)googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to ilug-tvm-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ilug-tvm?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- -- 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

1 0

On of the best interview of Richard Stallman (must read)
by Hemanth H.M 04 Sep '08

04 Sep '08

*Background:* *Jeremy Andrews*: When did you first start working with computers? <http://kerneltrap.org/files/jeremy/rms-bw.jpeg>*Richard Stallman*: I first read manuals and wrote programs on paper in 1962 or so. 1969 was when I first saw and used a real computer. *JA*: What types of programs were you writing prior to actually seeing and using a real computer? *Richard Stallman*: They were pretty trivial, like things to add up a vector of numbers. About the time I first started with a real computer I designed a computer language based on string substitution. In some ways like SNOBOL<http://www.cs.fit.edu/%7Edclay/cse5040/snobol.html>, although I'd never used SNOBOL. And then, the first thing I started writing when I had a real computer to use--I'd seen the language PL/I and I was thrilled by how many features it had. But there was a feature it didn't have: it didn't have the summation convention used in tensor analysis. So I started to write a pre-processor for PL/I that would implement the summation convention. I didn't ever finish it, but I actually got some parts of it to work. I wrote it first in PL/I, and then we discovered that even one pass of it wouldn't fit in the machine that was available. (I had actually written a lot of parts of this in PL/I on paper by that point.) Then I started rewriting it in assembler language, but I only rewrote a few passes of it in assembler language. And then I learned about things like lists and about Lisp, and lost interest in languages like PL/I. *JA*: When you graduated from Harvard in 1974 with a BA in physics, how did you intend to use your degree? *Richard Stallman*: I thought I would become a theoretical physicist; however, the pleasure of programming, where I could make real progress and see results, gradually grew and overtook the pleasure of learning physics. *Life In The AI Lab:* *JA*: What tasks occupied your time at the AI Lab through the 1970s? *Richard Stallman*: Mostly operating system development, but I did one AI research project with Professor Sussman; we developed dependency-directed backtracking. *JA*: What is dependency-directed backtracking? *Richard Stallman*: You make some assumptions, and with those together with some given facts you draw a conclusion. You may reach a contradiction; if so, at least one of your assumptions that led to that contradiction must be wrong. You also record which combination of assumptions actually related to the contradiction, so you can deduce that that combination of assumptions cannot all be true. Then you backtrack by changing assumptions, but you never try a set of assumptions that includes the combination that you know are contradictory. Now, this is a technique that people had used for a long time in thinking. It's also known as proof analysis. But it hadn't been used in computerized reasoning. *JA*: What was the result of this research project? *Richard Stallman*: We published a paper. The technique got used by other people later, so apparently it became part of AI. Also, I learned how to understand electrical circuits better. The program that we wrote, which used this technique, was a program for understanding electrical circuits. By imitating the program, I could understand circuits better than I could before. *The GNU Project And The Free Software Foundation:* *JA*: The story of your encounter with non-free printer software in the early 80's is very well known. This incident ultimately resulted in your founding the GNU Project in 1984, and the Free Software Foundation in 1985. You have remained quite active in this movement ever since, as a public speaker and a prolific author of free software. Of which of your many achievements in the past two decades are you the most proud? *Richard Stallman*: What I am proud of is that we have built a community where people can use computers and work together in freedom. *JA*: What are the largest challenges you're facing today? *Richard Stallman*: Software patents. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The broadcast flag. Cards with secret specifications. Non-free Java platforms. In other words, organized efforts by people with power to put an end to our freedom. *JA*: Is there a plan for addressing these issues? *Richard Stallman*: Regarding the laws, not much of one, in the US. In other countries that do not yet have these laws, we can try to prevent them. *JA*: That's a bit scary. *Richard Stallman*: It is. *"Free Software" vs. "Open Source":* *JA*: You regularly have to explain the differences between "free software" and "open source software", and yet the media continues to confuse these terms. For our readers that may therefor be confused themselves, can you explain the differences, and why it is important to get it right? *Richard Stallman*: Free software and open source are the slogans of two different movements with different philosophies. In the free software movement, our goal is to be free to share and cooperate. We say that non-free software is antisocial because it tramples the users' freedom, and we develop free software to escape from that. The open source movement promotes what they consider a technically superior development model that usually gives technically superior results. The values they cite are the same ones Microsoft appeals to: narrowly practical values. Free software and open source are also both criteria for software licenses. These criteria are written in very different ways but the licenses accepted are almost the same. The main difference is the difference in philosophy. Why does the philosophy matter? Because people who don't value their freedom will lose it. If you give people freedom but don't teach them to value it, they won't hold on to it for long. So it is not enough to spread free software. We have to teach people to demand freedom, to fight for freedom. Then we may be able to overcome the problems that today I see no way to solve. *"GNU/Linux":* *JA*: Another frequent area of confusion is the name 'GNU/Linux'. Why is the GNU project's contribution significant enough that it should be in the name of the operating system, especially compared to other large pieces of any Linux-kernel based operating system, such as XFree86? *Richard Stallman*: It's no coincidence that the code we wrote for the GNU system is the largest single contribution to the GNU/Linux system today. Many other people and projects have developed free software programs now used in the system; TeX, BSD code, X11, Linux, and Apache are noteworthy examples. But it was the GNU Project that set out to develop a complete free operating system. The combined system we use today is founded on GNU. *JA*: In talking about GNU Linux... *Richard Stallman*: I prefer to pronounce it GNU-slash-Linux, or GNU-plus-Linux. The reason is that when you say GNU-Linux it is very much prone to suggest a misleading interpretation. After all, we have GNU Emacs which is the version of Emacs which was developed for GNU. If you say "GNU Linux", people will think it means a version of Linux that was developed for GNU. Which is not the fact. *JA*: You're trying to point out instead that it's a combination of the two. *Richard Stallman*: Exactly. It's GNU plus Linux together. *JA*: Which makes up the GNU+Linux operating system that everyone uses. *Richard Stallman*: Exactly. *JA*: What is gained by people using the term GNU/Linux? *Richard Stallman*: People know that Linus Torvalds wrote his program Linux to have fun. And people know that Linus Torvalds did not say that it's wrong to stop users for sharing and changing the software they use. If they think that our system was started by him and primarily owes existence to him, they will tend to follow his philosophy, and that weakens our community. It's an interesting anecdote to think that the whole operating system exists because an undergraduate thought that it was a fun project. But the real story is that this system exists because of people who were determined to fight for freedom and willing to work for years if that's what it took. That's a story that teaches people something worth learning. When people forget that, they start drifting toward the practical but superficial values shared by the open source movement and Microsoft: the idea that the only thing that matters about your software is whether it gets your jobs done and what it costs. *JA*: Which begins to answer my next question, what is lost when people refuse to use the term GNU/Linux? *Richard Stallman*: What's lost is an opportunity to teach people. The software is equally free regardless of whatever name you call it--if, that is, the distro you're using really is free. But the only free GNU/Linux distro I know of is UTUTO. Most versions of the GNU/Linux system are not entirely free software. All the commercial distributors put in non-free software. And then there's Debian which keeps all the non-free software clearly separated, but does distribute it. And those who sell Debian GNU/Linux often add a few non-free programs as a "bonus"... They invite you to think it's a bonus you're getting that your freedom is no longer complete. If you happen to be running a version of GNU/Linux which doesn't have the non-free software, then the situation is not materially changed by the name you use. But the situation we're likely to find ourselves in five years from now depends on what we teach each other today. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but if you called it an onion you'd get cooks very confused. *GNU/Hurd:* *JA*: The GNU Hurd has been under development for over a decade. There was talk of a 1.0 release over a year ago, but this was delayed due to a couple of lacking features. What is the current status of this project? *Richard Stallman*: The Hurd runs, and missing features are gradually being added. However, for practical use today, you would use a Linux-based version of GNU. *JA*: Do you have any predictions as to when we're going to see a 1.0 release? *Richard Stallman*: No, I'm afraid I don't, I'm sad to say. A lot of the Hurd developers seem to have decided that they should re-write it to work with a different micro-kernel (L4). I was disappointed to hear this, but now it looks like it will be some more years before the Hurd is usable. At least we do have a free kernel that works with GNU. *JA*: Will the GNU Project focus solely on a GNU system built around the GNU Hurd when it is released, or will it continue to support a widening range of free-software kernels? *Richard Stallman*: We will keep supporting Linux-based versions of the GNU system for as long as they remain popular. *JA*: How will we refer to a Hurd-based operating system? Is it GNU Hurd, or GNU slash Hurd? *Richard Stallman*: It's the GNU operating system, and the Hurd is its kernel. But because it's so common for people to use version of GNU that are based on Linux as the kernel, it's useful to contrast the two, and talk about GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd, which are two different versions of the GNU system with different kernels. *JA*: What would the advantages of using a GNU/Hurd system be over say a GNU/Linux system? *Richard Stallman*: There's probably no gigantic advantage that jumps out at the user's face if you're not writing interesting programs. The Hurd offers interesting, powerful capabilities. For instance, you can write your own filesystem, so you could implement any sort of behavior you want and package it as a file. It offers the possibility of implementing sandboxes, where you can run a program but have another program monitoring all its I/O to make sure it doesn't start writing in files it wasn't expected to. These things may be doable with a kernel that doesn't have the Hurd's architecture, but with the Hurd it's trivial and the most natural thing in the world. *Writing Code vs. Management:* *JA*: How much source code do you write these days? *Richard Stallman*: I myself? Only a little, on Emacs. I was involuntarily self-promoted into management. *JA*: That's an interesting description. How did this happen? *Richard Stallman*: The amount of management and activism that had to be done got more and more, and so I had to find other people to take over more and more of my programming responsibilities. *JA*: Do you miss the programming? *Richard Stallman*: Yes. It's fun. *JA*: Is the management/activist role something you desire to remain in? *Richard Stallman*: I wouldn't say I desire to, but it's necessary that I do so. At the moment we don't have anyone to replace me. We're actually thinking about how we we could try and develop people who could do this, so that I will not be indispensable. *JA*: What is your role these days? *Richard Stallman*: Partly it is being a very firm and determined leader. Partly it is being an orator. Partly it is advising other people on how to be activists or how to contribute to free software. I've learned something that a lot of people could usefully know: how to be extremely persistent and whenever one avenue was blocked find another. I've also learned the spirit of what you do when you're fighting for freedom. When it's a fight that you can't ever give up as lost. *JA*: Many of the programs you were the original author for are key components of much software development today (free and non-free alike), such as the GNU Compiler Collection (gcc), the GNU symbolic debugger (gdb), and GNU Emacs. All of these projects have remained under constant development over the years. How closely have you followed the many projects you've started, and how do you feel about the directions they've taken? *Richard Stallman*: I don't follow GCC and GDB in technical detail nowadays--other people now have that responsibility. I still supervise Emacs development. *GNU Emacs:* *JA*: Then you are still working on Emacs at a code level? *Richard Stallman*: Yes, although now with my broken arm I really have no time to program anything. I will when my arm is better and I can type for myself again. *JA*: May I ask what happened to your arm? *Richard Stallman*: I fell and broke my arm, and I needed surgery. It hurts, and I think it will never be normal again. But I think it will work for typing. (Later: it works fine for typing, but it tingles all the time.) *JA*: I'm sorry to hear about your arm, and I wish you a speedy recovery. I recently reread Cliff Stoll's "The Cuckoo's Egg". Are you familiar with the book? *Richard Stallman*: I have a vague memory of it. *JA*: A quick summary, he talks about a spy that breaks into a university computer system, initially using a security hole in GNU Emacs... *Richard Stallman*: Well, whether it's really a security hole, or whether he had made a mistake by installing a certain program setuid is subject to argument. *JA*: That's exactly what I was curious about, just what your reaction would have been to the book when it came out. *Richard Stallman*: His book made it sound like Emacs, or actually movemail I think it was... His book made it sound like it was normal to install movemail setuid. I think some people sometimes did that, as there was a certain problem you could get around by doing that, but that wasn't the normal way to install it. So in fact, people installing Emacs the usual way would not have had that problem. On the other hand, it certainly was useful to make Emacs more bulletproof, so that that problem couldn't happen even if you installed movemail as setuid. That was ages ago. *Non-Free Software:* *JA*: What is your reaction to tools such as gcc, gdb and GNU Emacs being used for the development of non-free software? *Richard Stallman*: Any development of non-free software is harmful and unfortunate, whether it uses GNU tools or other tools. Whether it is good or bad, in the long term, for the future of computer users' freedom that one can use these tools to develop non-free software is a question whose answer I could only guess at. *JA*: How do you react to the opinion that non-free software is justified as a means for raising dollars that can then be put into the development of completely new software, money that otherwise may not have been available, and thus creating software that may have never been developed? *Richard Stallman*: This is no justification at all. A non-free program systematically denies the users the freedom to cooperate; it is the basis of an antisocial scheme to dominate people. The program is available lawfully only to those who will surrender their freedom. That's not a contribution to society, it's a social problem. It is better to develop no software than to develop non-free software. So if you find yourself in that situation, please don't follow that path. Please don't write the non-free program--please do something else instead. We can wait till someone else has the chance to develop a free program to do the same job. *JA*: What about the programmers... *Richard Stallman*: What about them? The programmers writing non-free software? They are doing something antisocial. They should get some other job. *JA*: Such as? *Richard Stallman*: There are thousands of different jobs people can have in society without developing non-free software. You can even be a programmer. Most paid programmers are developing custom software--only a small fraction are developing non-free software. The small fraction of proprietary software jobs are not hard to avoid. *JA*: What is the distinction there? *Richard Stallman*: Non-free software is meant to be distributed to the public. Custom software is meant to be used by one client. There's no ethical problem with custom software as long as you're respecting your client's freedom. The next point is that programmers are a tiny fraction of employment in the computer field. Suppose somebody developed an AI and no programmers were needed anymore. Would this be a disaster? Would all the people who are now programmers be doomed to unemployment for the rest of their lives? Obviously not, but this doesn't stop people from exaggerating the issue. And what if there aren't any programming jobs in the US anymore? *JA*: You mean what if all the programming jobs were outsourced to foreign countries? *Richard Stallman*: Yes, what if they all go? This may actually happen. When you start thinking about things like total levels of employment, you've got think about all the factors that affect it, not blame it all on one factor. The cause of unemployment is not someone or society deciding that software should be free. The cause of the problem is largely economic policies designed to benefit only the rich. Such as driving wages down. You know, it's no coincidence that we're having all this outsourcing. That was carefully planned. International treaties were designed to make this happen so that people's wages would be reduced. *JA*: Can you cite specific examples? *Richard Stallman*: FTAA. The World Trade Organization. NAFTA. These treaties are designed to reduce wages by making it easy for a company to say to various countries, "which of you will let us pay people the least? That's were we're headed." And if any country starts having a somewhat increased standard of living, companies say "oh, this is a bad labor climate here. You're not making a good climate for business. All the business is going to go away. You better make sure that people get paid less. You're following a foolish policy arranging for workers of your country to be paid more. You've got to make sure that your workers are the lowest paid anywhere in the world, then we'll come back. Otherwise we're all going to run away and punish you." Businesses very often do it, they move operations out of a country to punish that country. And I've recently come to the conclusion that frictionless international trade is inherently a harmful thing, because it makes it too easy for companies to move from one country to another. We have to make that difficult enough that each company can be stuck in some country that can regulate it. The book No Logo explains that the Philippines have laws that protect labor standards, but these laws count for nothing any more. They decided to set up "enterprise zones" - that's the euphemism they used for "sweat shop zones" - where companies are exempt from these rules for the first two years. And as a result, no company lasts for more than two years. When their exemption runs out, the owners shut it down and they start another. *JA*: How does free software address this? *Richard Stallman*: Free software doesn't address this. Free software addresses the issue of how computer users can have freedom to cooperate and to control their own computers. This is the larger issue that becomes relevant when you start talking about "How are people going to have jobs that pay them decently?" The answer is: in the world of the low wage treaties, they're not going to. It's inconsistent and future to subject millions of people to the loss of freedom that non-free software imposes, just so that a tiny segment of society will have better paying jobs, when we're ignoring all the rest of society with their lousy jobs. If you want to start doing something about that problem, do it at the right level, which is the level of the power balance between corporations and countries. Corporations are too powerful now. We have to knock them down. I don't believe in abolishing business or even in abolishing corporations, but we've got to make sure that no corporation is powerful enough that it can say to all the countries in the world, "I'll punish any country that doesn't obey." That is the way it works now. And it was deliberately set up by people such as Reagan, and Clinton, and Bush and Bush. *New Technologies:* *JA*: I have read that the free software model tends to imitate existing software, rather than blaze new trails and developing completely new technologies. *Richard Stallman*: To speak of a free software "model" is somewhat misleading. The open source movement speaks of a "development model", but our concern is for the user's freedom, not how the program is developed. Free software doesn't always imitate, but often it does. There's a good reason for this: freedom is the main goal, and innovation is secondary. Our goal is to develop free software so that we can use computers exclusively with free software. In 1984, we started with nearly zero (we had TeX, nothing else). We had a lot of catching up to do, so we have done it. Even if GNU/Linux had no technical innovations compared with Unix, it would be completely superior because it respects your freedom as Unix does not. *JA*: Do you believe that free software has caught up with non-free software? *Richard Stallman*: To a large extent, but not totally. *JA*: Would you say that we're going to start seeing a lot of technical innovations originating from free software as things are catching up? *Richard Stallman*: We already have. We already have seen a technical innovations in free software. A lot of them help make up the world wide web. *The Internet:* *JA*: Does the importance of using only free software apply to the Internet? *Richard Stallman*: I don't understand the question. *JA*: Software not only runs on personal computers, but also the computers that comprise the Internet... *Richard Stallman*: That may mean your computer. If your computer is on the Internet, then that's one of the computers you're talking about. *JA*: You're correct. At this very moment my computer is part of the Internet. And my computer is comprised entirely of free software. However there are plenty of computers on the Internet that are not comprised of free software. *Richard Stallman*: I think you meant to say, "not running entirely free software." There are many computers on the net that are not running free software, and that means the people who use and own those computers have lost this aspect of their freedom. That's a problem. *JA*: Do you consider it proper for people who are trying to only use free software to utilize... *Richard Stallman*: To connect to a server that's running non-free software? I don't feel I need to refuse to connect to a server that is running non-free software. For that matter, I won't refuse to type on a computer that's running non-free software. If I were visiting your house for a little and you had a Windows machine, I would use it if it were important for me to use it. I wouldn't be willing to have Windows on my computer, and you shouldn't have it on yours, but I can't change that by refusing to touch the machine. If you connect to a server that runs non-free software, you're not the one whose freedom is harmed. It's the server operator who has lost freedom to the restrictions on the software he runs. This is unfortunate, and I hope that he switches to free software; we're working to bring that about. But I don't feel you have to boycott his site until he switches. He isn't making you use the non-free software. *JA*: Back to my earlier question, as a specific example do you use tools such as Google when attempting to locate online content? *Richard Stallman*: I have nothing against communicating with Google's network server, but for Google's sake I hope they have the freedom to study, change and redistribute the software used on their server. Having the freedom to do so does not imply the obligation to do so; Google doesn't have to change or redistribute the software they run. But they ought to be free to do this, just as you and I should be free to do this with the software on our machines. *The Workplace:* *JA*: What if your job requires you to use non-free software? *Richard Stallman*: I would quit that job. Would you participate in something anti-social just because somebody pays you to? What if the job involves hitting people on the head in the street and taking their wallets? What if it involves spreading the word that Democrats should vote on Wednesday instead of Tuesday? Some people seriously claim that you can't criticize what someone does if it is part of their job. From my point of view, the fact that somebody is being paid to do something wrong is not an excuse. *Embedded Applications:* *JA*: Embedded applications have become more and more prevalent in society. Is it possible to completely avoid non-free software and still remain in-touch with current technologies? *Richard Stallman*: I don't know if it is possible, but if it is not, that is something we need to change. Once an embedded system can talk to a network, or users normally load software into it, its software needs to be free. For instance, if it uses non-free software to talk to the network, you can't trust it not to spy on you. *SCO:* *JA*: How do you react to SCO's recent accusations about the Linux kernel? *Richard Stallman*: The vague and cagey nature of their statements, coupled with having seen that the only specific facts they produced proved to be false, suggests they have no real case. *JA*: What impact do you expect this to have on free software? *Richard Stallman*: I don't expect it to have a big impact because I don't think they have a case. They're trying to create FUD and they may scare some timid people off. *JA*: Do you expect this to bring the GPL into the courtroom? *Richard Stallman*: I don't know. *JA*: Is that a concern for you? *Richard Stallman*: We think the GPL will stand up in court, but no wise person is eager to get into a battle, even if he thinks he's well enough armed that he'd probably win. The arguments that SCO have been making are so laughably absurd that they lend support to the idea that SCO has no real case, that they're only interested in creating FUD. *JA*: To what end? *Richard Stallman*: They hope some companies will pay them money, and Microsoft already did. To people who know almost nothing about copyright law, anything sounds as plausible as anything else. When they hear what SCO says, they don't know how ridiculous it is. So they think, "SCO says this, IBM says that, how do I know who's right?" *JA*: What's in store for the GNU General Public License (GPL)? Are there plans for a version 3? *Richard Stallman*: Yes, but we are not really sure what will change. What we can say is that the changes will be details. *Getting Involved:* *JA*: Is there any other current event that you'd like to address? *Richard Stallman*: The FCC last year decided to require digital restrictions management in all receivers of digital TV. And not only that, to require that they be made not modifiable by the user. I think they have not yet decided whether this device is software controlled. If they make it software controlled then for the first time there will be a government policy explicitly banning free software for a job that millions of people are going to want to do. *JA*: Are you optimistic about this? *Richard Stallman*: I don't know. I am a pessimist by nature. Many people can only keep on fighting when they expect to win. I'm not like that, I always expect to lose. I fight anyway, and sometimes I win. I'm not the main leader in this particular battle. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting. Public Knowledge is fighting. People need to get involved politically. At this point people should go to the EFF website<http://www.eff.org/>and the Public Knowledge website <http://www.publicknowledge.org/>, and continue doing so over the coming weeks to see how they can get involved in this coming campaign. It's going to take a lot of people spending probably at least twenty minutes. If you care enough about your freedom to spend twenty minutes on it, if you can tear yourself away from whatever little job it is you're doing this week, and next week, and so on. Spend a little time fighting for your freedom, and we can win. *JA*: Thank you. *Richard Stallman*: Happy hacking! The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand Russell I ask you only two questions : 1. Did u find joy in ur life? 2.How many found joy from ur life ?? -Hemanth HM

1 0

Fwd: Draft policy on Open standards for e-Gov in India -Open for Public review
by Anivar Aravind 04 Sep '08

04 Sep '08

It is a Happy moment. One of the demands of FSUG- Bangalore's campaign for document freedom <http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Campaign_for_Document_Freedom#Candle_Light_Vigil_…>was a National policy for Open standards Lets examine the standard and send your comments. We can also think about a collective response in the name of FSUG-Bangalore Anivar ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <vinay(a)itforchange.net> Date: Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 7:45 PM Hi All, The government has released a draft version of a Policy on Open standards for e-Governance. It is presently open for Public review. Please find the policy at the link below- http://egovstandards.gov.in/Policy_Open_Std_review The policy seems to have some really good points like- 5.1) Mandatory Characteristics: 5.1.1)Selected Standard should be Royalty Free for life time of the standard. 5.1.2)Selected Standard should be developed in a collaborative and consensus manner and not led by a single agency or a small closed group of interested parties 5.1.3)Selected Standard should be recursively open; They shall not use unpublished extensions However we really do need to look at it with greater detail and discuss the same. I have also attached the policy with this email. Thanks, Vinay

2 2

Fwd: Translated version
by sujith h 03 Sep '08

03 Sep '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: sujith h <sujith.h(a)gmail.com> Hi, The article is translated in one of the Indonesian language. http://linuxgazette.ailabs.web.id/ Sujith H -- സുജിത് ഹരിദാസന് Bangalore http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign

1 0

Microsoft has been granted a patent on 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' keystrokes.
by Hemanth H.M 03 Sep '08

03 Sep '08

*One of the zdnet.com articles had this issue "Microsoft has been granted a patent on 'Page Up' and 'Page Down' keystrokes. * The software giant applied for the patent in 2005, and was granted it on August 19, 2008. US patent number 7,415,666<http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=…>describes "a method and system in a document viewer for scrolling a substantially exact increment in a document, such as one page, regardless of whether the zoom is such that some, all or one page is currently being viewed". The patent's listed 'inventors' are Timothy Sellers, Heather Grantham and Joshua Dersch. However, Page Up and Page Down keyboard buttons have been in existence for at least quarter of a century, as evidenced by this image of a 1981 IBM PC keyboard <http://www.vintage-computer.com/images/83key.jpg>. "In one implementation, pressing a Page Down or Page Up keyboard key/button allows a user to begin at any starting vertical location within a page, and navigate to that same location on the next or previous page," reads the patent's summary. "For example, if a user is viewing a page starting in a viewing area from the middle of that page and ending at the bottom, a Page Down command will cause the next page to be shown in the viewing area starting at the middle of the next page and ending at the bottom of the next page. Similar behavior occurs when there is more than one column of pages being displayed in a row," states the summary. Microsoft has a long history of applying for, and being granted patents for, inventions that many argue--and can sometimes demonstrate--were based on earlier work carried out by others, or based on a common, self-evident idea. One example is the company's patent on a mouse wheel that can scroll up and down; another is its patent on double-clicking buttons. The company received its 5,000th patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office in March 2006, and is currently approaching the 10,000 mark." * Please Think what can be done for things like these, are we so helpless ? Are the giants over our head?* *How can we the people of FSUG make people around us to rebel against things like this!* The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand Russell I ask you only two questions : 1. Did u find joy in ur life? 2.How many found joy from ur life ?? -Hemanth HM

1 0

Sujith's LinuxGazette article : Hacking a Canon A720IS digital camera with CHDK
by Anivar Aravind 03 Sep '08

03 Sep '08

See the article : http://linuxgazette.net/154/sujith.html Congrats Sujith for the wonderful article (The same CHDK powered camera was used for taking his nosoftwarepatents candle light vigil flickr set) Anivar

5 4

Debian names its next release (lenny+1) as as lenny release is near
by Praveen A 03 Sep '08

03 Sep '08

Next Debian release to be called "squeeze" !!! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Luk Claes <luk(a)debian.org> Date: 2008/9/1 Subject: Release Update: freeze guidelines, testing, BSP, rc bug fixes To: debian-devel-announce(a)lists.debian.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Heya, We are happy to publish yet another issue of our highly successful motivational status updates. This month's issue contains, as reward for your continued interest, the name for lenny's successor. Freeze status ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lenny has been frozen for some time now, stabilizing the package list. To continue our release efforts, some exceptions for packages that were waiting in the NEW queue/uploaded shortly before the freeze are dropped. From now on, only the following rules apply: A new version may only contain changes falling in one of the following categories (compared to the version in testing): - fixes for release critical bugs (i.e., bugs of severity critical, grave, and serious) in all packages; - changes for release goals, if they are not invasive; - fixes for severity: important bugs in packages of priority: optional or extra, only when this can be done via unstable; - translation updates - documentation fixes Please upload packages fitting this description to unstable, then request the freeze exception by mail to debian-release(a)lists.debian.org. You don't need to include the full diff (which we re-generate from the uploaded packages anyway), but please include the relevant changelog entries. For further information on freeze exceptions, refer to our freeze announcement [RM:FA], but note that the rules are a bit stricter now. Upgrade and Install tests ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the recent migration of Linux 2.6.26 to lenny, we don't expect any more disruptive changes to lenny. Thus, we would like to request more intensive tests of upgrades from etch to lenny and fresh installations. The Debian Installer team is currently preparing the first (and hopefully final) release candidate of the lenny installer. If you want to help to identify bugs, check the Debian Installer Website [DI:WEB] and try the daily snapshots. If possible, try to use Linux 2.6.26 on your box and report any problem back to our bug tracking system. Problems not reported in the next weeks can't be fixed in the lenny kernel. Release critical bugs, Removals, BSP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The release team is, as always, concerned about the number of release critical bugs affecting testing. We are still optimistic that currently known issues can be squashed in short time with your help. Fringe packages with open RC bugs will be removed in the coming weeks. Use the ``rc-alert'' script from the devscripts package to identify removal candidates that you use. To fix as many issues as possible, we are inviting people to join us in a bug squashing party on the next weekend (5th to 6th September). We will coordinate our efforts in the #debian-bugs IRC channel on irc.debian.org. Release notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is still quite a lot of work to be done on the lenny release notes. Coordination for this will happen on the debian-doc(a)lists.debian.org mailing list (further information to appear in a mail to that list). If you know of any issues that need to be documented, file them as bugs against the ``release-notes'' pseudo package. While you are pondering noteworthy things, feel free to document important improvements, newly included packages and similiar things on the NewInLenny page in the Debian Wiki [DW:NIL]. Release name ~~~~~~~~~~~~ We will continue to use Toy Story character names for lenny's successor, which will be called ``squeeze'' (three-eyed space alien). Cheers Luk - -- http://release.debian.org Debian Release Team -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAki7hTUACgkQ5UTeB5t8Mo0t5wCgsWezeS5SqYYq/D+wJnpw4Hiw dNUAn0u8pf99sOX+TBbzYHErw5QP57+9 =Urda -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-announce-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org -- 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

1 0

September 24 is World Day Against Software Patents
by Praveen A 02 Sep '08

02 Sep '08

PRESS RELEASE — [ World / Economy / Innovation ] ======================================================================= September 24 Is World Day Against Software Patents ======================================================================= Brussels, 2nd September 2008 -- A global coalition of more than 80 software companies, associations and developers has declared the 24th of September to be the "World Day Against Software Patents". Five years ago, on 24 September 2003, the European Parliament adopted amendments to limit the scope of patent law and thereby protect small software companies from the harmful effects of broad and trivial software patents. A global petition asking to effectively stop software patents worldwide will be launched on 24 September 2008, together with specific additional requests for certain regions such as Europe, the United States or India. On 24 September 2008, the World Day Against Software Patents will provide volunteers with the opportunity to express the growing concerns of users, businesses and developers. The granting of software patents by patent offices around the world affects their freedom to innovate. The organisers expect 24h of activities across the globe. Volunteers will gather in front of patent offices to inform the general public of the problems underlying software patenting. A global petition demanding to effectively stop software patents worldwide will be launched on the same day. In some regions of the world such as Europe, the United States, or India, dedicated campaigns are being prepared by local supporters. The organisers intend to celebrate the World Day on an annual basis unless substantive clarifications are adopted in national laws that stop software patenting along with their effects on the digital economy. Benjamin Henrion, initiator of the StopSoftwarePatents coalition effort, explains "The aim behind StopSoftwarePatents is to gather a worldwide coalition of businesses and civil society in order to get laws which clearly exempt software from patentable subject matter. This is the best solution for getting rid of 'patent trolls' and uncontrollable legal risks generated by software patents. The day the software industry forms a clear front against software patents will be the beginning of the end for the 'patent trolls'." The Belgian campaigner was among the persons who persuaded the members of the European Parliament five years ago to adopt amendments that limit the scope of patent law in order to protect small software companies. The European Council of Ministers - where national patent offices exercise significant influence - fiercely insisted on making software patents legal in Europe. Additionally, 'patent trolls' and US-based corporations invested large lobby resources to support the position of the Council. After a long struggle, the proposed directive was finally rejected by the European Parliament in its second reading. Since then, European and national patent offices continue to grant these software and business method patents without an approval of the legislator by creative interpretation of the European Patent Convention. In few other nations, notably the US, the patent offices are even more permissive. However, even in the US, no legislator ever approved the practise. The global coalition calls for a larger representation of business and civil society against software patents. The current lobby gap makes Congress and Senate, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and the Supreme Court susceptible to lobbying from patent industries, holders and patent professionals. Although companies affected by software patent litigation have been lobbying for a reform, their advocacy for "quality" and "lower damages" targets the symptoms rather than the roots of the problem. ======================================================================= Quotes ======================================================================= Businesses ========== Anwar Ummer Arackal, CEO of OpenFirms, a consulting company for some of the leading health care organizations and companies in India, says "Patents in the field of software hinders the accessibility to technology of our government health care clients who depend mainly on large scale deployment of embedded devices for functioning. This situation would lead to monopoly and anti competitive strategies." Stefane Fermigier, founder and chairman of Nuxeo SAS, says: "It is most important for the future of our company and our ecosystem, and for software innovation in general, that the tremendous legal uncertainties introduced by software patents for true innovators are kept out of the market." Marco Schulze, manager of Nightlabs, a professional supplier of ticketing solutions based in Freiburg, Germany, says: "Small Software companies cannot afford to go to court or pay damages. Who is this software patent system for?" PatentFrei, a coalition of 1000 German software businesses united against software patents, explains: "The copyright law, which should guaranty the copyright holder the security of an appropriate reimbursement, has become an empty shell. The creativity of software developers has been replaced by the creativity of patent lawyers with the writing of broad patent claims. Politicians are asked today more than ever to bring back a patent system which has gone off course, and to stop granting patents on software." Jean-Paul Smets, founder of the Noepatents petition in 2000 and CEO of Nexedi software publication, considers that "European Union is the world most friendly region for software innovators. Unlike in the US, Software Entrepreneurs can focus on R&D and do not need to worry about the risks of costly patent litigations or absurd software patents trolls." Eneko Astigarraga, CEO of CodeSyntax, a software company located in the Basque Country, says: "It's clear that software patents reduce competition and innovation in the software industry, patents represent a brake on innovation, especially on Internet." Charles-H. Schulz, Partner at Ars Aperta: "Software patents exclude competition, force companies out of business, drive up costs, impoverish states and hinder their citizens to innovate and create revenues. We chose to accept competition and foster innovation." Pieter Hintjens, founder and CEO of iMatix Corporation, which provides messaging solutions to the worlds financial markets, says "Patents are for firms that can't compete without state intervention. We were free to innovate in high-speed communications protocols because Europe was free of software patents. We have always seen the US-style patenting of basic ideas to be a curse on the fast-moving software business. Software patents are protectionist voodoo." Alberto Barrionuevo, President of Andalibre, the Association of open source companies of Andalusia, says "Software patents, if legalized, would destroy the most part of the IT business sector in the world. AndaLibre is strongly against any software patent and will fight for the freedom of creation in software." Matthew Holloway, the author of Docvert, says "Software patents are inherently broad and always result in government granted monopolies that allow one company to outlaw their competitors. Because of this software patents stifle innovation and economies. Allowing one company to own a software idea is as foolish as allowing one company to own a food idea. In my career I have never seen a software idea that was patent worthy." Civil Society ============= Hartmut Pilch, board member and former President of the FFII e.V., explained in 2006 how the patent system can be saved: "My message to the patent world is: Either get back to the doctrines of forces of nature or face the elimination of your system." John Ingleby, of Schoolforge UK, says "Software patents hamper development of new software by increasing legal costs while at the same time enabling concealment rather than publication of innovations." Richard Stallman, Founder of GNU Project and Free Software Foundation, says "Software patents are a threat to all software developers and all software users. Just one patent can ruin years of work, and no software project is safe: with each design decision, there is a chance you will step on a patent that will explode and destroy your project. To make software development safe for the developers and the users, we must abolish software patents." Bruce Perens, creator of the Open Source Definition, and advisor to governments and industries, says "Software patents are a drag on innovation in the countries that have implemented them, vastly increasing the cost of producing real products in the proprietary software world because they replace innovation with litigation. But we're most concerned with them because they are entirely incompatible with Open Source, which is the strongest driver of innovation in software development today." ANSOL, the Portuguese association for Free Software advocacy: "Asking for software patents is nothing more than creating an arms race. And we all know why arm dealers love those and the normal people who end up paying hate them." ======================================================================= Links ======================================================================= * Call for a World Day Against Software Patents signed by more then 80 stakeholders: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/call * Draft petition with Request for public comments: http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/petition * Permanent link to this press release: http://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/September_24_Is_World_Day_Against_Soft… ======================================================================= Contact ======================================================================= Benjamin Henrion FFII Brussels +32-2-414 84 03 +32-484-566109 bhenrion(a)ffii.org (French/English) ======================================================================= About the FFII ======================================================================= The FFII is a not-for-profit association active in over fifty countries, dedicated to the development of information goods for the public benefit, based on copyright, free competition, and open standards. More than 850 members, 3,500 companies and 100,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual property) in data processing. -- 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

1 0

September 24 is World Day Against Software Patents
by Anivar Aravind 02 Sep '08

02 Sep '08

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

FSUG-Bangalore September 2008