Dear Atul Asthana, Ambar Roy and Arjun I am glad that this country still has some watchdogs left who are willing to take on the Indian bureaucracy.
> I have been specially pained at the way government has been > (spending money and) jeopardizing our future in literally making > this country a cakewalk for MS. The taxpayers' money is being sent > out of India when this money could have been used to provide basic > amenities to the people. There are other serious issues which we all > know of viz: I have written a paper "Using Free Software in E-Governance" which examines why India should use Free Software in e-governance. You can find the paper at http://geocities.com/lunatech3007/writing-index.html Please feel free to copy and further distribute the paper. > I have started a mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] This list > purports to promote FLOSS. Free Software Foundation(FSF) has a branch in India. Their website is fsf.org.in They have mailing lists which are devoted to spread the message of Free Software. Instead of starting a new mailing list it would be better to join their existing mailing lists which would prevent a duplication of efforts. See http://gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo for more details > Create demonstration systems (like a road show/seminars) and > invite/demonstrate it to the required people. Participate in > seminars/roadshows to educate people. This activity surely needs > funding. A good place to start would be to give demonstations in the schools. If Arjun's school, Naval Public School, sucessfully starts using GNU/Linux systems, it can be promoted as a proof-of-concept. A demonstration of GIMP, Netscape, Star Office, XMMS, KDE (and themes) would be sure to impress even the most hardboiled MS fans. Most school teach students to use M$ Office but using GNU/Linux systems would allow them to teach them digital art(using GIMP) too. If we can point out gently that GNU/Linux is gaining popularity very quickly, and that it will save the school a lot of money, and provide the children with a wonderful learning environment maybe other schools would be more willing to listen. Again if Arjun's school sucessfully migrates to GNU/Linux systems a case study of their experiences would be really enlightening. Initially schools might be extremely open to having dual-boot computer labs, or a dedicated Linux workstation. > List down MS equiv and their source. I am working on this list and I hope to get it prepeared soon. > Create a public awareness website. Instead of starting from scratch, I would suggest expanding the ILUG-D website. We can have a section on `Free software in News`, `TCO studies`, `Case Studies` and `Case Studies of Sucessful Implementation of Free Software`. > Create a mailing list for > Linux/FLOSS awareness. This will be more of a marketing mailing list > rather than a tech one. The support/tech list can remain to be the > ilugd. Again as I noted above there are mailing lists in FSF India dedicted for these purposes. It would be better to join them instead of starting from scratch. I could not attend the ILUG-D meeting this Sunday so I could not gather much detail for LFY. Does it have a website? Regards Raj Shekhar ===== Give credit where credit is due. Linux is just the kernel. Without the efforts of people involved with the GNU project the Linux kernel would not be very useful to most people.See http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html to know more ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com ================================================ To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe in subject header. Check archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd%40wpaa.org
