http://boycottnovell.com/2009/03/29/odf-award-insults-freedom/ From: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind@xxxxxxxxx> To: Marino Marcich <mmarcich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc:: Arun M <arun@xxxxxxxxxx>, Anvar Sadath <anvar.k@xxxxxxxxx>, V. Sasi Kumar <sasi.fsf@xxxxxxxxx>, Venkatesh Hariharan <venky@xxxxxxxxxx>, bipasha.chakrabarti@xxxxxxx, ... Dear Marino, I just want to point time line of IT@school Project & Its ODF Adoption for your clarity . 2004: Free Software Implementation in 8th Standard IT@school Project. Document Standard is sxw . Text books mentions Both Windows & GNU/Linux. IT@school Project Director is Biju Prabhakar . SCERT Started Developing Free Software Only Text Books under the leadership of Satyapalan sir. Software FREE Software Foundation is Training Teachers with the support of Kerala School Teachers Association . IT@school uses a Debian Based Custom Distribution made by Vimal Joseph 2005: 9th Standard syllabus Completly moves to Free Software. Text books Only Covers Free Software. Document Standard SXW IT@school Director: Biju Prabhakar IT@School decided to move to new Debian sarge based Distribution. IT@school Initates EDUSAT under the leadership of Biju Prabhakar 2006: 10th stanadrd also migrates to Free Software. New IT@school Distribution based on Debian Sarge included Open Office 2.0 (Which support ODF because of the peer pressure from Teachers) . Texts books were developed by SCERT covers this Change in Curriculam. IT@school Director : Biju Prabhakar ( he is left in 2006 August) SCERT 's Team head : Satyapalan Sir (retired in May 2006 after the Text book based on new Distribution & ODF i ready) . Next IT@School Director was Sankaranarayanan (short term) and then it was under DPI's control Anwar Sadath Comes as IT@school director after this.. After all the ODF adoption is happened. Also it is worth to mention that ODF adoption is a Logical Followup of Open Office adoption happened in 2004 Also it is worth to note that Kerala State Issued IT Policy in 2007 which clearly adopted ODF . Kerala Become first state in India adopted this change. Policy discussion were started in 2006 itself. Also Kerala was the only state which wrote to BIS to vote against OOXML in ISO Standardisation Process Based on the above facts you can clealy identify that Anvar does not have any role in ODF adoption too. I consider this as a clear example of how award committees were misleaded by getting partial information. I just want to ask ODF alliance that what ODF related activity you have seen to award Mr. Anvar sadath. I consider the campaign for IT@schools Free Software Adoption (ODF also Comes as a part of that) is something similar to the fight against OOXML in ISO . Alot of people amoung us were part of both of these campaigns . Both vere bottom Up collective eforts by a lot of people without central Coordination Force. Biju Prabhakar & Satyapalan sir understood that spirit in IT@School and facilitated the change. What will be the reponse if someone decided to award Sun's CEO for fight againt OOXML . ODF Alliance says you awarded person X for the act A . But Above facts proves that Act 'A' was done by another persons Y&Z . X was not on picture for that change. You can provide technical reasons of absence/mistake in Nomination by an ODF alliance member as a face saving reason. But It again points to the credibility of award and the verification of Facts by award commitee. We were trying to raise the issue in front of ODF Alliance because we value the contributions of your Organisation. we consider you act as a responsible organisation, which will take corrective measures, if the nomination sent by one of its member is misleading by providing only partial information. I really appreatiate the positive steps you suggested. I hope arun & Others must have a say on it. Anivar Aravind There was considerable discussion regarding open source in the emails that followed. Please note as well that the award is for work done on ODF, not open source. ODF is not the “OpenOffice format” (while recognizing its origins), nor is it open source or even software for that matter. It is an open standard for document formats that can be implemented in both open source and proprietary software. It is “free” in the sense that it is freely available for implementation and use. Importantly, it comes with the “freedom” to choose from among many implementations, including but not limited to open source, and the freedom to migrate to a different brand of software if desired. We recognize that any significant change of the kind witnessed in Kerala involves a team effort and the actions of hundreds of individuals. This award is a global recognition of the teaching community in Kerala and its many achievements. In the write-up of the project we would be happy to acknowledge the many people involved in this effort. We hope that you and others in this community can share in the award in the spirit in which it was intended. Sincerely, Marino Marcich ODF Alliance From: colonel.m@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:colonel.m@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Arun M Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2009 11:54 AM To: Anivar Aravind; Anvar Sadath; V. Sasi Kumar; Venkatesh Hariharan; Marino Marcich; bipasha.chakrabarti@xxxxxxx Cc: Vimal Joseph; Praveen A; Santhosh Thottingal; Sasidharan vk; Joseph Mathew; Biju Prabhakar; Satish Babu; Nagarjuna G; Sajith VK Subject: ODF award an insult to community Dear Friends, It was really shocking to see the press release from ODF alliance which has attributed the entire credit for promotion of ODF in the schools of Kerala wrongly to Mr. Anvar Sadath. Giving credits wrongly can be discouraging and painful to those who had done the real work. There are several hundreds of people in Kerala whose painstaking effort and dedication lead to the integration of Free Software and ODF in the schools of Kerala. It has a long history starting from year 2001. Today we find that ODF alliance has credited the entire work to one person who had no role to play in the process. ODF alliance should have recognised the real individuals who worked for what we see as IT@school today. You should have recognised Sri V. S Achuthandan, Chief Minister of Kerala ( Opposition leader then), whose political endorsement lead to the introduction of free software and ODF in the schools of Kerala. You should have recognised hundreds of teachers who took the pain to learn and promote Free Software and ODF. Without their political courage nothing would have happend. You should have recognised Mr. Biju Prabhakar, the former director of IT @school who initiated the introduction of FS and ODF in Schools of Kerala. You should have recognised Mr. V K Sasidharan, who was the leading master trainer whose leadership brought together the entire change. You should have recognised volunteers of Free Software community who communicated the importance of digital freedom in the schools of Kerala. It's a shame that a community organisation like ODF alliance could not to recognise the real heroes of this project. This press release can be seen only as a black humor. “Anvar Sadath has bridged the digital divide in Kerala,” commented the ODF Alliance's Marcich. “He was among the first to recognize that an open format like ODF means giving students, teachers, and parents alike the flexibility to use a wide range of software than they currently have, including free solutions. Just as importantly, Sadath translated ideas into actions for the benefit of educational development in Kerala.” I would like to know how this statement can be substantiated. May be I'm missing something here! I would like to hear from you all. Warm regards Arun M PS: I'm sorry that I my not be able to check and reply to your mails quickly as I'm not computers due to RSI.