न चौर हार्यम न च राज हार्यम |

न भ्रात्रभाज्यम न च भारकारी ||

व्यये कृते वर्धते नित्यं |

विद्या धनं सर्वे धनं प्रधानम्  ||

Knowledge can neither be stolen by a thief, nor snatched by a king.

It is indivisible unlike ancestral property, it never burdens the bearer,

it multiplies manifold when offered to others.

Knowledge is the supreme form of wealth.

The college does not seem to use free software as of now, but has intentions to use.  The vice chairman of the MET trust Mr. Sunil G. Karve mentioned that free software goes well with their philosophy.  I do hope, it will eventually go well with their practice as well.

If any of you know the exact source of this verse, please let me know.

Governments should not only take remedial measures, they should make a serious attempt to eliminate the evil from its roots.

Also do read an article posted by Swapnil.

• Phoenix (Computer Interfaced Science Experiments)
• Step (An interactive physics simulator, part of KDE-EDU package)
• GeoGebra (A dynamic Geometry and Algebra Platform)
• KTurtle (A simple turtle graphics program using LOGO for children)
• Inkscape (An advanced vector (SVG) graphics editor)
• Stellarium (A planetarium for your computer)

Many of them are well known, except Step.  I want to therefore say few words about it.  This program will have a great role to play for physics education. An excellent platform for learning as well as teaching.  If you are a physics teacher or an educator, consider using Step.  Though the program needs several finishing touches (sometimes eats up resources while simulating complex systems), the author (Vladimir Kuznetsov) is ambitious and did a fantastic job.  Once this program is improved, it will be a classic tool for education in the high school and college level physics.

Geogebra also gives the same experience for mathematics.

These are all free software for education.  I encourage teachers to use them in the classroom, and students who own a PC must install GNU/Linux on their PCs and enjoy these applications among several others.

The papers are available from the Semantic Web archives and the CEUR site.

More about GNOWSYS-mode from the gnowledge lab’s site.

Meanwhile, I reactivated my application to try again and discovered that the site does not work with Mozilla Firefox but manages to work with Konqueror.  The fields in the application however are misaligned in most places.  It is difficult to say without further investigation whether this is due to bad coding on the server side or on the browser side.  I could not test it through the process since no date before 21st of October 2009 is possible even under emergency category, therefore I gave up.

Free software users are increasing in number all over the world.  Unless such roadblocks are cleared we cannot build a greener digital environment. Fight for freedom even if it is expensive!

2^nd October 2009

Mumbai

From:

Dr. Nagarjuna G. Reader(F), Homi Bhabha Centre, TIFR, V.N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd Mumbai 400088

To:

Ambassador Timothy J. Roemer The Ambassador of United States of America

Sub – An Open Letter Addressed to the Ambassador of the United States, Department of State

Dear Sir,

I write to bring to your notice an unfair practice followed by the U.S. Embassy in India, Department of State, namely, an imposition on all citizens to use a particular proprietary commercial software in order to submit their application for visa.

This is how it happens.

All applications for a U.S. visa from India are done through the Visa Facilitation Services (VFS). The procedure is to first pay the visa fee, wait for two days or till the number gets activated, and then proceed through the filling of forms at the website (http://www.vfs-usa.co.in). As I did the above, along the way I found that the VFS site did not work with my Mozilla Firefox browser. On inquiring with VFS I found that the site works with Microsoft Internet Explorer only.

As a regular user of the GNU/Linux operating system, I do not use any proprietary software either at work or at home, hence I found this an unwarranted restriction on my individual freedom.

Despite these reservations I borrowed a friend’s laptop which runs the proprietary Microsoft Operating System, filled my form, and got an appointment for the 1st of October 2009. I was pressured into doing this, having already paid Rs. 57,000/- as registration fee for attending a conference (http://iswc2009.semanticweb.org/), having then paid the visa processing fee of about Rs. 6,000/-, and having requested for, and granted, financial support for my air-travel from my office (http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in). With two of my presentations scheduled at the above conference, meetings fixed with professional colleagues in the U.S., and the time running out, I thought too much was at stake, let me compromise on my moral values and follow the advice of the VFS.

However, on reflecting on the situation I felt that this compromise of my principles was helping promotion of the unfair use of non-inter operable technology to impose restrictions on citizens. As the Chairperson of Free Software Foundation of India I have been advocating the use of free software like the GNU/Linux operating system and non-proprietary browsers and application for every citizen. As a part of my professional commitment, I develop free software, and my visit to the USA, is for the purpose of presenting my free software to the International community. My conscience thus does not permit to go ahead and attend the interview as scheduled.

I consider it a serious infringement of individual freedom when the U.S. Embassy in India, Department of State, endorses and promotes the use of a specific operating system and a software application, while other competing applications, like Mozilla Firefox, and GNU/Linux operating system, could have also performed the same job if the software used was inter operable and standards complaint. If the U.S. Embassy agrees that it is an unfair restriction, I expect that you would ask VFS to fix the problem as soon as possible. Not fixing this problem would amount to a support of monopoly trade practices and non-adherence to interoperability by the U.S. Government.

Until this problem is fixed, or unless I am assured that it will be fixed sooner rather than later, I have decided, as a mark of protest, not to apply again for a visa interview to visit the United States.

I urge that you do not interpret this gesture as mark of disrespect for your country. I have enormous regard for the way individual liberty as well as intellectual freedom is valued and protected within the United States. I would definitely be happy to reconsider my decision if I receive a positive response from you on this issue.

I have to leave for U.S. on 21st of October 2009, so time is running out. I request you to please respond as early as possible and restore my faith that the U.S. will respect individual freedom and provide me an option that will not enforce the use of Microsoft Internet Explorer for taking my next appointment.

“You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” –Mahatma Gandhi

It is with this spirit that I write this letter on the birthday of one of the greatest freedom fighters, Mahatma Gandhi.

Thanking you

Yours sincerely

(Nagarjuna G)

Govt may be thinking that MS is helping the state.  While the fact is that the state is helping MS.  How dumb can the administration be to let the education system traded off.

What right a Government has to get into this kind of exclusive agreements with commercial entities for something as primary as education? All civil organizations must get together to stop this kinds of MoU forever. They should be legally banned. Wake up the justice department! Why do we need to help MS become monopoly? How can academic topics be decided by commercial companies? How can the syllabus include brands.  Let us raise our voice against this. This must stop.

I will write a detailed blog pointing out why this is unjustified and quite possibly illegal.

Read here: the journal on free open source law launched.

The network is taking shape at http://fosscomm.in. One of the first tasks the network will be working is to get the open standards policy document for eGovernance in India approved without yielding to those groups who promote the interests of proprietary software groups (like NASSCOM, MAIT, who are influencing the Indian Govt to make room for RAND and multiple standards).  Currently, the apex committee does not contain members who represent the FOSS community.  Therefore one of the immediate objectives of the new network of FOSS advocates is to request the Govt to include FOSS representatives in the apex body.