REVIEW: An Indian newspaper-style newsletter dedicated to 'software freedom' By Frederick Noronha DEHRA DUN? Where's that? If you're reading this somewhere outside India, you could perhaps not help wondering where this place is. But Dehra Dun -- a city in the new Indian province of Uttaranchal, not far from the Indian border with Nepal and China -- is where the country's first GNU/Linux newspaper-type newsletter comes. 'Software Freedom' (http://www.Software-Freedom.Org) is an eight-page tabloid. Its first issue has just been released, and editor-publisher Sharad Kukreti (indiahills at vsnl dot com) was prompt in sending across a copy Dehra Dun, literally meaning the camp in the valley, lies in a wooded valley in the Shiwalik Hills. Tourists see it as a pleasant and relaxing stop on the way to the hills, known for its mild climate and being a popular retirement town in North India. Priced at one rupee (approx two cents US... it might seem like an unbelievable price abroad), the publication focuses on an interesting range of news from the Free/Libre and Open Source Software world. One of its few adverts announces Kalculate, an Indian product that claims to be the first financial accounting solution for GNU/Linux in the Asia-Pacific. Reports comie in from regions as remote and distant as Venezuela to Finland. In a post-Internet world, this is no big surprise, of course. The news does travel fast. In fact some of this news came up on the Net quite some time back. But this does not mean that there's no scope for a print-based publication. In black-and-white, one tends to take it more seriously. Many of the articles published here brought home their point much more clearly than when read online. Having a print-based product also helps to share information in an effective way, in ways which the Net cannot always achieve... despite its advantages. There are updates from overseas (Preu Congressman Dr Edgar David Villaneuva has become the "darling of the Open Source software community"; want to know how to break Windows?; some quite-funny GNU/Linux humour... depending which side of the Free/Proprietory fence you're on; etc). But there are also interesting reports from India. o In the IBM Linux Scholar Challenge, two Indians names figure among the three internships at IBM for Summer 2002. The three who made it to the top 25 were Shreeram Jaswanth of IIIT (India), Muthukumar of PSG College of Technology and Sachin Shah of GLS ICTech. There's still time to register (uptil Oct 31) for this year's Linux Scholar Challenge. Register at http://www6.software.ibm.com/reg/urlxscww/urlxscww-sel Contest info: http://www-3.ibm.com/software/info/students/contests/linux/ Complete rules at: http://www-3.ibm.com/software/info/students/pdfs/ o Ganesh Prasad, a self-defined "true capitalist" argues in favour of Open Source. See http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/9749.html o Ajith Kumar BP of New Delhi's Nuclear Science Centre puts forth his idea for setting up affordable Linux Terminal Server solutions in schools. ks o The Sir George Everest Research Society has launched FLOSS-related activities, and claims to be among the first -- if not *the* first -- Indian society to do so. It promises the "biggest bank" on open source and Free Software, a wide range of e-books, e-journals and e-research papers. "The society aims to share its collection so that a big community benefit," they say. Email: research at soccer dot com One interesting feature is about how top global firms realise the importance of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (in whatever shape). Some big names who have embraced include IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, SAP, Computer Associates, Sun Microsystems. It was really nice to see big names of the Free Software and Open Source world "stand together" against Microsoft's attempts to discredit this way of creating software. In fact this was about the best read in the publication. Perhaps one wonders why it didn't strike one as hard when seen on the computer screen.... All in all, a useful product. Interesting work. Deserves support... FN -- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783 BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com Email fred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * Mobile +9822 122436 (Goa) * Saligao Goa India Writing with a difference... on what makes *the* difference