--- Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:

On 31-Mar-07, at 1:28 PM, Nagarjuna G. wrote:

...

...

pro or anti is irrelevant - since doze is not

open source, we cant

...

...

do anything about defects. So why waste our time

complaining about

...

...

it? If you have paid for vista and cant compile

something this

...

...

list is not the place to complain ...

It is clearly a matter of concern if free software

like firefox,

...

openoffice, GIMP, inkscape, blender etc are

compiled for Vista, and

...

if they don't take full advantage of the system

due to restriction

...

of the OS. User's will assume that free software

works less

...

efficiently, without understanding that the cause

is due to their

...

digital restrictions management. Let us remember

that most of free

...

software today is inter operable, except of course

the kernel Linux.

agreed - so what can this list do about it? Especialy as probably vista was designed with this idea in mind. As i said originally - dont worry, just migrate to linux.

I trust your remark is rhetorical. There is PLENTY a list like this can do, being vibrant and full of aware people as well as people who lurk to learn.

You can work with the cybercafe initiative (which is a brilliant and practical idea, and having watched it emerge from the discussions over the past couple of weeks, I really applaud the consensual method) to create a working distro that addresses the needs of tomorrow's computer users, unlike the bloatware that is increasingly irrelevant and inherently expensive to use, and that never succeeds in emerging productively from the morass of contraditictions that is the DRM world.

You can work with each other (all of us) to create better installers, that deliver not just simpler install routines but also address the mix of h/w and peripherals in the real world.

You can help put together a visual platform (qua Aqua) that will deliver designs that match anything that comes from the Mac world (the only competition, as far as this aspect is concerned, IMHO Vista is so far behind, you wonder - well, I wonder - whether they even know what visual delight means).

And then there's work pending on a FOSS mobile interface to deliver the announced features of the iPhone for an Indian audience (localised, the works) - that will run on any Linux-enabled mobile box.

In the legal playing field, the FOSS movement in India doesn't have the kind of groundswell 'critical mass' to pursue court battles against restrictive practices such as the unsigned pamphlet the Bombay Police put out for cybercafes. We need to identify the root causes of this apathy (ie, it is awareness? is it funding?) and address them in a structured manner. As we all know, there are many more restrictive practices in place that make it difficult for ordinary users to switch comfortably.

We need to find a way of placing people in key organisations in the civil society movement (many of these organisations pay quite well, actually, and prefer persons who have an all-round approach to work, rather than tightly focused on, say, being a sysad 24/7). Such people will play a key role in bring such organisations directly into the FOSS movement. We also need to make visible persons who work in medium and large commercial organsations to come and talk - at LUG meets, for instance - on the use of FOSS in their operations.

Just some food for thought. If some or all of these things begin to happen, you can be sure that the developers in the 'doze world will think twice about letting restrictive software out into the real world.

I just saw Nagarjuna's post about being at HBSCE all of today, and must say, talk about communication gap, I didn't notice ANY post from anyone saying the venue would be available all day. I could easily have been there earlier, but am now committed to only getting there in the evening.

Vickram

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