[ilugd] [Commercial] Invite suggestions for Open Source India Week (LinuxAsia)
Hi all, LinuxAsia is now morphing into a bigger avatar -- Open Source India Week -- a three city event that will start on a Monday from Bangalore and end on a Friday at Delhi, with a stop at Mumbai on a Wednesday. How is it different from LinuxAsia as it was? - 1. OSIW will be held in three cities: Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi 2. The tech track will, almost entirely be, 'by the techies, for the techies' (and that's precisely the reason for this email: to request you to shape it!) What is the goal of the event (what sets it apart from other FOSS events in India)? --- 1. OSIW is not focused on specific projects, but on the technologies and concepts behind these. For example, workshops on technopreneurship through FOSS models, embedded systems, developing applns for mobiles, the future of Web programming (hmm, maybe even more power in the user's hands!), etc. What's more, it is not just about software but spans the entire gamut of IT solutions that qualify as free/open source. For example, technologies like the T-Engine also find a place. 2. Also, OSIW aims to foster entrepreneurship through FOSS models. If any of you run companies based on FOSS, please come forth and encourage others. Perhaps it would also be a good idea to bring in venture capitalists and get to know their views on FOSS companies, how to pitch to them, etc. It would also be nice to highlight what is hot and what is not in terms of tech domains so that those with start-up dreams know where to invest their energy. Also, I always wonder how some projects like Ubuntu rose to fame much faster than others, maybe others would like to know that too. 3. Companies can also come forth to conduct customised workshops for techies and users. 4. The FOSS India awards have also been launched and will be given away at the event. Entries are invited (http://www.openitis.com/openitis/index1.php) I am launching a discussion on behalf of the non-profit FOSII (http://fosii.org) to seek the suggestions of the community on workshop themes, preferred topics of discussion/talks, suggestions for the event as a whole, possible help to link up with keynote speakers, etc -- these will be compiled and discussed with the OSIW/LA team. The wiki is up at http://www.linuxasia.net/twiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome -- look forward to your suggestions. If you have any nits about the past LA episodes to dig up, I am not the person to discuss it with. But if you have any suggestions for the upcoming event, I am all ears. So, even if it is criticism, disguise it as suggestions please! I request you to please share your thoughts on the Wiki, and please spread this message across the community, so we get more suggestions (already posted on Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Goa GNU/Linux user group mailing lists). Perhaps you can also discuss this at your respective LUG meets and share your collective suggestions with us. Cheers! Janani http://gjanani.googlepages.com ___ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Next Event: http://freed.in - September 28-29, 2007 Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
[ilugd] [Semi-commercial][Discussion] What should Microsoft do?
Hi, I would like to seek your views on something... Microsoft is criticised much by the FOSS community -- one or the other aspect of it. Their software, their ways of doing business, their attitude, whatever. My belief is that whenever somebody criticises they will also have a potential solution in mind -- and I felt, why is it that the solution aspect is barely discussed wrt the Microsoft issue :-) So, I am throwing this question open to you... Is there some aspect of Microsoft that you do not like? If so, what? And more importantly, how do you think they can correct this flaw of theirs (if you think they can)? I would really appreciate it if you could share your views on this. Look forward to your response. - And before I end this email, some clarifications... (a) I was actually discussing this subject off-list with some FOSS veterans and users, when a friend suggest that I get out of the acquarium and throw the question open to the LUG mailing lists. Sensible! So, some of you might have already received my query on this off-list. Apologies for the repetition. (b) This post is not commercial because I am raising this discussion in an individual capacity. That said, it might end up commercial in the future... because if this discussion turns out very interesting, I wish to offer snippets to Linux For You for publication (with the permission of those I wish to quote, of course). (c) I am posting this query on more than only ILUG mailing list BUT I shall make sure the summary of the entire discussion reaches all the LUGs. If I offer it for publication, it will be available (licensed under creative commons) on the Open Content section of LFY's website openitis.com, so it will be available for all to see. If not, I will post a summary on the LUG mailing lists. Cheers! Janani http://gjanani.googlepages.com ___ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Next Event: http://freed.in - September 28-29, 2007 Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
Re: [ilugd] [off-topic not] vision of an enlightened indian mystic oncopyleft
as a private study, have been researching past two years on the indian philosophical view and 'darshan' on copyrights. haven't found much. anyone else stumbled across something? Examples from India's history, culture etc are cited often in propagating the philosophy of freedom - of software, of knowledge, of intellect. Yet, I only end up more confused every time I think about it. (a)Dronacharya asks for Ekalavya's thumb just because he hid behind a tree and learnt warfare as Drona taught the princes. If somebody learnt from you like that, would you not have lauded the student - brilliant, to learn archery without eye contact with the teacher! How fair and how 'free' was Drona's act? Many tutors are known to have expected guru-dakshina. I don't blame that - after all, they need to earn a living. But such a cruel punishment - makes you wonder (though I have no texts to back this idea) if Drona punished Ekalavya not just because he saw him as a potential threat, but perhaps also because he got to learn some of the specialised war methodologies devised by Drona? (b) Bhakt-Mira, Tulsidas, Surdas, Saint Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Diktishar, Shyama Sastry (the holy trinity of Carnatic music), Gopalakrishna Bharathi, Purandaradaasa etc - great composers who left behind timeless classics for us to sing, hear and rejoice. They all left their signatures on their works. Try removing 'Mira' from a Mirabhai bhajan, try removing 'Guruguha' from a Dikshitar Kriti or 'Thyagaraja' from a composition of the saint's - the notes just won't flow, you cannot sing it right! Well, my question is - many of these people were saints, they gave up all worldly pleasures, they propagated their music at temple halls, wherever the devotees flocked, without expecting anything in return. Yet they could not give up pride over their works? Despite their immersion in Bhakti, they did not forget to leave their signature on even a single work? They could give up physical pleasures but could not give up their ego wrt their intellectual property? Would not their works have lived on even if they did not affix their signatures to their compositions? Don't throw the question back at me - I am a normal human being who wants my work to be credited to me even if I open it up under CC - but they were saints! (c)On the other hand, recipes, home remedies, folk music - these are perfect examples of free knowledge transfer. I don't know who first found that Tulsi tea can relieve the symptoms of common cold! I don't know who invented idly and dosa! I don't even know who first found out that rice could be boiled and eaten or that curd rice is yuuummmy! Do you? But I know that whoever found all these things - they were truly brilliant people - unsung heroes and heroines! Perhaps this is what they call a chequered past?! Myriad examples - some highlighting free knowledge sharing, some otherwise. Or maybe I have not understood the mythologies and history well enough! Correct me if any of what I've said is wrong. When I am not even able to understand the historical/cultural view on copyrights - I don't want to attempt talking about India's 'philosophical' view of copyrights :) Cheers! Janani http://gjanani.googlepages.com ___ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Next Event: http://freed.in - September 28-29, 2007 Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
Re: [ilugd] [off-topic not] vision of an enlightened indian mysticoncopyleft
excellent points by nagarjuna, janani and gora. nagarjuna: you're right about classical brahminism being an earlier incarnation of a proprietary knowledge model. I think I missed Nagarjuna's post. Was it sent off-list? Cheers! Janani ___ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Next Event: http://freed.in - September 28-29, 2007 Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
Re: [ilugd] The MS trojan horse in Linux Asia 2007
So when it comes to Microsoft advertising in Linux magazines and sponsoring Linux events, where you see red, I see an opportunity, of an equal footing, at Microsoft's expense. Linux and FOSS is clearly better than Windows, we just need to cut through MS's FUD. Mailing Lists will not do that for the average Joe, such collaborative events will. In LUG style, +1 I totally agree! Who had the stalls next to Microsoft at LinuxAsia? Did they use it well? (Apologies, I couldn't attend LA as I was busy getting married, so somebody who attended please throw light on this!!) CXOSummit had an audience of stakeholders and decision-makers, many of whom would have attended the expo as well... so, now wasn't this a platform to show Vista and Red Hat/SUSE/BOSS or whatever distro you place your bet on right next to it... on both sides of Microsoft's booth... so, the users could have seen with their own eyes that Linux and OSS work just as well as the Microsoft products they are so used to? Call it a flat world, a level playing field, whatever you will, but the only way a product (or philosophy) can survive is by competing with others! By making open source a cult rather than a philosophy and expecting people to adopt it, you only lose opportunities to gain more followers. Rather than expect everybody to understand, absorb and live by the principles of free and open source right in the beginning, first show them the produce! Show them that Linux and FOSS works not only for the geek but for the desktop user too, show them it works for businesses, show them it works just as well as what M$ sells. Once they see the merit in the products, they will automatically adopt the ideals as well... not vice versa. There are more people who are drawn to a religion from its customs than the other way round! And well, if you see something as a rival (or well, an enemy) then stand right next to them and say, We are better! rather than block them away from the scene. Makes me wonder... M$ dared to bravely step into alien turf (well knowing that most attendees at LA are going to be Linux followers and not Microsoft fans... think, if somebody stood in front of the Microsoft stall and loudly argued with the rep there about the merits of Linux, how many people do you think would have objected... now, that's a hazard M$ could have faced), but we hesitate to give them a small place to stand in our ground? Doesn't it show the community's doubt in its own abilities? Do you think any of the saadhus at the Kumbh Mela will worry about Christian, Muslim or Buddhist missionaries attending? You cannot convert a staunch follower! And for those who're not staunch followers, Linux/FOSS stands a better chance when placed right next to Microsoft and projected as superior in comparison! Look beyond religion at humanity. Look beyond Linux/FOSS at technology. Because that's how the hoi-polloi sees it! Only when you see the broader picture can you prove yourself in that vast world! Cheers, Janani ___ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
Re: [ilugd] The MS trojan horse in Linux Asia 2007
Hi all! First off, let me tell you that I had and have no intention of jumping into this debate, though I've been quietly watching it since the thread started. Second, let me tell you that I'm pro-OSS but not anti-Microsoft and that's not abnormal... many won't admit it if you do a +1 voting here but I bet there are quite a few people here who take a balanced view of both proprietary and open source software. What works, works. But something happened this morning related to this thread, that I want to share with you... just a small interaction that set me thinking and I guess it might do the same to you. I was telling my dad on the phone about this debate about Microsoft in LinuxAsia. My dad is a chartered accountant who calls a spade a spade, he uses both proprietary and open source software, he knows about open source software, but not to the depth of analysing every word in every license and interpreting the terminology and stuff... let's say he has a commoner's view of the whole thing. With his basic knowledge he asked me something, a profound question which I now throw open to you all to answer to yourself (since I agree with Sankarshan that it *is* time to close this long-drawn and unfruitful discussion)... Isn't open source about being 'open', isn't it about a free market, isn't is about giving everybody a chance, isn't it about higher talent and ideals winning over lower ones, isn't it about people making their own 'choices', then what is wrong in Microsoft participating? By trying to shut Microsoft away from the Linux world, aren't you shutting competition away, and in a way playing at their own 'closed' game? To the best of my understanding of 'openness' as a word (and not as any hi-fi tech term), if one wants to fight Microsoft, the right way is to stand right next to them and prove you are better! Put up a stall right next to theirs and say, 'Hey, here, our products are placed on a level playing field, next to each others', now you judge for yourself, aren't the OSS offerings as good as Microsoft's?' Makes sense in an extremely earthy way, doesn't it?! Cheers, Janani Janani Vikram Gopalakrishnan http://gjanani.googlepages.com ___ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
Re: [ilugd] The MS trojan horse in Linux Asia 2007
it isnt - it is a philosophy on how to make software. I know it's off-topic, but since you say this... what a narrow view, Kenneth, it's a pity you think of free and open source as a philosophy applying only to software. Check out creativedot for example! A real philosophy, in my view, breaks narrow walls... and mindsets! Cheers, Janani ___ ilugd mailinglist -- ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org/
