Frederick [FN] Noronha * àààààààà àààààààà on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 07:38:34 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> BYTESFORALL [May 2007] Software 'piracy' ... poverty and copyrights... other updates from South Asia


BYTESFORALL * MAY 2007 * SUMMARY

* * *

SOFTWARE PIRACY IN INDIA DROPS BY ONE PERCENT: STUDY. And
Patrice Riemens informs that a most interesting article in
yesterday's Financial Times Digital Business supplement
details the stunning costs, direct and indirect, that are
associated with the 'management' of software licenses for
business and other professional organisations. It's called
"The hidden cost of being too cautious" and is by Alan Cane
Published: May 30, 2007. Source Patrice Riemens patrice@xs4all.nl

* * *

GOOGLE OFFERS HELP to Mysore University (Karnataka) to
digitize 8,00,000 books. The Mysore University library has
around 100,000 manuscripts that are written both on paper as
well as palm leaves. These would include India's first
political treatise, the 'Arthashastra' written in the 4th
century BC by Kautilya. The idea behind digitising for free
is to get free links to these materials once the necessary
patenting is complete. Google will also provide expertise,
software, and manpower for the digitization work. Whereas,
Mysore University is training some of its select Physics
students to help in the digitization process.

http://www.techshout.com/internet/2007/21/google-to-digitize-800000-books-at-mysore-university-in-india/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10340

* * *

LET'S MAKE POVERTY A 'COPYRIGHT FREE ZONE'! Nalaka
Gunawardene argues that we all know the power of moving
images. Used strategically, moving images can move people to
change lifestyles, attitudes and behaviour. Indeed, the right
kind of information -- whether about microcredit,
contraception, home gardening or immunisation -- can vastly
improve the quality of life, and even save lives that are
needlessly lost. Says Nalaka: "Broadcasters need to let go of
development related TV content after initial broadcasts. They
must also allow educational and civil society users greater
access to vast visual archives, gathered from all over the
world. In this context, I would like to repeat a proposal I
first made last year, which I have since presented at the UN
Headquarters and other forums. It's simple: Let us make
poverty a 'copyrights free zone'."

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10338

* * *

TELECENTRE.ORG BLOG, some highlights:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10336

* * *

CHEAPER LAPTOPS FOR CHILDREN: A programme to provide millions
of low-cost laptops to students in poor countries is set to
start production in September even as commercial competitors
prepare to offer even cheaper models. The idea from Nicholas
Negroponte, a co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, who proposed the project
at the World Economic Forum in Davos two years ago, has moved
closer to fruition. Negroponte sees the computers, to be sold
in bulk to governments of certain countries, as a linchpin of
education and development. The non-profit organization he
formed -- One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) -- attracted support of
leading businesses and institutions and will start production
later this year, Michail Bletsas, chief connectivity officer
at OLPC, said. The laptop is being made by the Chinese firm
Quanta: the goal is for Quanta to manufacture 40,000 laptops
a month beginning in September, then step up production to
400,000 per month by the end of the year. "OLPC would like to
manufacture at least three million units in the first round
of production," he said. But OLPC could not say which
countries were planning to order the laptops, spokeswoman
Jackie Lustig said. Volume shipments to developing nations
were planned for later this year, she said. "OLPC is in talks
with Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Nigeria, Thailand,
Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda and many other countries -- but
nothing definite just yet," she said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1099381
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10332

* * * *

SOFTWARE, FROM A BANGLADESHI HACKER: "These are some of my
hacks that you might find useful. I wrote them in my own time
(weekends, after work and in my vacation), my employer has
nothing to do with them. All the software are available with
source for free. If you have any questions or suggestions
please email me at muquit@muquit.com If you find the software
useful, please let me know as well. Share and enjoy!"

http://www.muquit.com/muquit/software/software.html

* * *

CELLPHONE CALL FROM EVEREST: British climber Rod Baber on
Monday became the first man to use a cellphone for making a
call from Mount Everest. He used the GSM technology. Earlier,
satellite phones had been used to make calls from the Everest
summit, but this is for the first time that a call has been
made using the 3G technology. The call was made possible with
the help of a cell tower installed by China Telecom in
Rongbuk, about 12 miles from the mountain peak.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10321

* * *

FOR MOBILE APPLICATION DEVELOPERS: The Institute for the
Future is holding a roundtable of developers or programmers
working on mobile applications or services in Delhi. If you
know anyone working in this sphere, please ask them to get in
touch with Steve Cisler, Center for Science Technology and
Society, Santa Clara University http://scu.edu/sts/ <sacisler
AT yahoo.com>

* * *

STOCKHOLM CHALLENGE: Earl Mardle in Sydney meanwhile calls on
mobile developers from anywhere to take part in the Stockholm
Challenge. "We are very aware that mobile is vital to many
areas of development and the more interesting and innovative
programmes we can contact, the better," says he. You can find
out more about the Challenge here or register and take part
here or contact earl.mardle@stockholmchallenge.se

Earl Mardle is with KeyNet Consultancy/ Using Information
Technology in the Real World at 29 River St Earlwood Sydney
NSW 2206 Australia.

* * *

TELECENTRES IN THE MADRASA: The school based telecenter
project of RI SOL has launched internet-enabled telecenters
in two Bangladeshi madrasas (Islamic religious schools), in
Khulna and Dhaka. See Khulna Alia Madrasa Advocates for an
Inclusive Information Society on World Information Society
Day Link to the news story and photos of the celebration:
http://www.connect-bangladesh.org/content/view/418/101/
Source: Nazrul Islam <nazrul07@gmail.com>

* * *

Search Engine for Malayalam: http://www.guruji.com/ml/
Source: Ridhi D'Cruz, independent journalist, web designer,
photographer, ICT4D enthusiast and BytesForAll volunteer.

* * *

IM GOES TO OFFICE: Instant Messaging (IM) usually involves a
programme that allows you to talk to your contacts (friends,
acquaintances, colleagues) in real time. Most of us enjoy
chatting via IM, because it gives us the luxury of putting
our point across to someone in a quick and casual Web
environment. And it doesn't matter if the person you're
talking to happens to be in another city or in the cubicle
next to yours. In recent times, IMing has evolved from being
a guilty workplace pleasure to a practice condoned, if not
supported, by company managements. Why? Because using IMing
to stay in touch with colleagues, vendors or customers is the
quickest way to gets things done, even faster than emails!

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10312

* * *

e-CHOUPALS: NETWORKING RURAL INDIA: Ranabir Majumdar writes
that the agricultural system has also traditionally been
unfair to primary producers. Farmers have only an approximate
idea of price trends and have to accept the price offered to
them at auctions on the day that they bring their grain to
the mandi. As a result, traders are well positioned to
exploit both farmers and buyers through practices that
sustain system-wide inefficiencies. One of India's foremost
private sector companies, which has a diversified presence in
tobacco, hotels, paperboards, specialty papers, packaging,
agri-business, branded apparel, packaged foods and other fast
moving consumer goods, initiated e-choupal in 2000. The
effort placed computers with Internet access in rural farming
villages. The e-choupals serve as both a social gathering
place for exchange of information (choupal means 'gathering
place' in Hindi) and an e-commerce hub.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/web2.0story.asp?id=ARTEN20070012289#

* * *

FREE SOFTWARE PORTAL on the Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Free_software

* * *

PEER-TO-PEER, ONLINE: Michel Bauwens
<michelsub2004@gmail.com> of that amazing resource called the
http://p2pfoundation.net in Bangkok -- he also has an amazing
set of bookmarks at http://del.icio.us/mbauwens -- has an
interesting set of books are listed here at:
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Category:Books

Some of interest:
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Wireless_Networking_in_the_Developing_World
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/African_Digital_Commons
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Building_Sustainable_Communities
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Gaian_Democracies
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Human_Scale
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Video_for_Change
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/You_Can_Hear_Me_Now

This one is important for inspiring policy reforms:
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Democratizing_Innovation

* * *

SOUTH AFRICA LAUGHS AT PATENT THREATS: South African open
source developers and companies do not seem particularly
concerned by the recent threats made by Microsoft. 'A storm
in an American teacup,' is how Obsidian Systems' CTO Anton De
Wet described it.
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1527&s=news

* * *

Podbharti.com, PODCASTS FROM INDIA: Here is good news for
Hindi web community. Indo-Asian News Service reports from New
Delhi that a new website pdobharti.com has come up with Hindi
podcasting service, which will provide rich coverage of news
and views on Indic blogging concerning India, tools and
technology, current affairs and entertainment. Maharashtra
based blogger duo Debashish Chakrabarty and Shashi Singh have
launched the website www.podbharti.com. It is India's first
pure Hindi podcast and targets towards Hindi speaking users
in India as well as abroad. Growing number of India centric
podcasts like IndiaTech (http://www.podtech.net/indiatech)
and advent of community events like Podworks
(http://www.podworks.in) are testimony to the growing
prowess. But there is handful of quality Indian podcasters
around and they are all in English.

http://in.movies.yahoo.com/070516/43/6fv5l.html

* * *

CHECK OUT these too: the Hindi portal Lokmanch
(http://www.Lokmanch.com) and Hindi blog magazine Nirantar
(http://www.Nirantar.org).

* * *

SOME INTERESTING ICTforDEVELOPMENT BOOKS:

Code: Collaborative Ownership and the Digital Commons
Download the book free:
http://pdf.codev2.cc/Lessig-Codev2.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code:_Collaborative_Ownership_and_the_Digital_Commons

Mobile Communication and Society: A Global Perspective
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Communication_and_Society:_A_Global_Perspective

Challenging The Chip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenging_The_Chip

Coding Cultures (Francesca da Rimini, ed). You can download
this book free.
http://www.dlux.org.au/codingcultures/handbook.html

Free As In Education: a 2003 Finnish study on Free
Software/Open Source in the "developing" world. By Niranjan
Rajani et al. Download from OneWorld Finland special section
of FLOSS: http://fi.oneworld.net/article/view/56261 - main
report: http://oneworld.net/filemanager/download/1255/
Regional reports:
- Asia: http://oneworld.net/filemanager/download/1253/
- Africa: http://oneworld.net/filemanager/download/1252/ and
- Latin America: http://oneworld.net/filemanager/download/1254/

* * *

MICROSOFT CLAIMS that free and open-source software violates
235 of its patents.  See the analysis at Groklaw for a
different view.
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070513234519615

* * *

APDIP e-Notes 14 and 15 by Roger Harris
14: Telecentre 2.0
http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/14.pdf
15: Telecentre Sustainability
http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/15.pdf
All APDIP e-Notes are available at
http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/ All APDIP e-Resources are
available at http://www.apdip.net/elibrary/

* * *

GLOBALISWATCH.ORG: A new watchdog report monitoring promises
made by governments and the United Nations to ensure that
information technology is used to benefit millions of people,
got launched in Geneva on May 22. The fruits of the
information technology 'revolution' are unevenly distributed
between countries and within societies. The gap is not only
"digital". The reasons for the inequalities are complex but,
claim the editors of the report -- the Association for
Progressive Communications and the Third World Institute --
experience shows that the status quo prevails unless citizens
actively demand change from their governments. A Global
Information Society Watch is needed to make governments and
international organisations accountable, it suggests.

Download or read online: http://www.GlobalISWatch.org

* * *

How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your Online
Community
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199600005

* * *

TINY GOA AND CYBERSPACE: Goa, the former Portuguese colony on
the west coast of India, is seeing students get access to
computers. But what are they being used for? Dr Nandkumar
Kamat nkamat@unigoa.ac.in points to various resources
available. He writes: "Instead of giving substandard CDs to
students, it is advisable to use MIT opencourseware.
Undergraduates and postgraduates, just log on to ocw.mit.edu
and get information on 1600 courses. There are hundreds
lecture notes in pdf and PowerPoint or other presentation
formats. These are prepared by some of the world's best
teachers-the subject specialists in their own area."

* * *

Enter the Blogosphere: The Politics, Profits, and Perils of
Blogs: Interesting syllabus on blogging....
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10243

* * *

India, EVMs debate.... A debate over electronic voting
machines used here.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10245

* * *

FIRST RURAL BPO COMPANY IN SRI LANKA: Horizon Lanka
Foundation started a new BPO company named OnTime Pvt. Ltd.
recently to carry out BPO operations.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10261

* * *

ICT Skill Development in the Asia-Pacific Region
Part one: the gap between demand and supply
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/10262
DOWNLOAD: http://www.apdip.net/apdipenote/13.pdf

* * *

NON-PROFITS LEVERAGE FREE SOFTWARE: Indian voluntary groups
are being offered solutions in free software - with training
and support thrown in - to give them options to using
illegally copied software for their work and campaigns. A
series of workshops are being held across India over the next
two years, and each participant organisation will enjoy free
software support until 2009.

http://www.zdnetindia.com/zdnetnew2007/index.php?action=article&prodid=5692

* * *

CPRsouth2: Empowering rural communities through ICT policy
and research December 15-17, 2007 in Chennai, India.
Organized by LIRNEasia & TeNeT Group and RTBI, Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, supported by
IDRC-Canada. Visit http://www.cprsouth.org for more
information about the conference.

* * *

PEER-TO-PEER: Valentin Spirik <valentin.spirik@gmail.com>,
who is also the author of the popular guide for autonomous
video production at
http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Category:Audiovisual , has
produced a four-minute video presentation of the main peer to
peer ideas ...
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/what-is-peer-to-peer-4-min-version-of-michel-bauwens-video-interview-featuring-cc-licensed-music/2007/05/04

* * *

INDIAN RIGHT TO INFO LINKS:  http://indiarti.blogspot.com
(Pune activist Vishal Kudchadkar's initiative from via
California, US, where he's based);
http://righttoinformation.gov.in (official site);
http://parivartan.com (site of the Delhi-based Parivartan);
http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programmes/ai/rti/india/india.htm
(comprehensive web pages on RTI packed with info including a
users' guide); http://www.agnimumbai.org/rti2005.pdf
(Mumbai-based AGNI, Action for Good Governance and Networking
in India) on RTI); http://cic.gov.in (Central Information
Commissioner); http://sic.maharastra.gov.in (Maharasthra
State Information Commision, in Marathi).

* * *

PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE AN ANOMALY: Free and open source
software researcher Rishab Ayer Ghosh says that just 16
percent of software spend is on pre-packaged software and the
majority of programmers work outside the pre-packaged
software sector. 'Proprietary software is an anomaly,' says
Ghosh. http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1468&s=news

* * *

GNU/LINUX ... STAMP-SIZE: Yet, it has all the power of a
full-sized board complete with 32 megabytes of memory; 16 MB
of storage and the interconnects needed to fuel any standard
Linux application. The Bangalore-based EI Labs India has just
released "LinSeed version 1", a single chip embedded Linux
computer that original equipment-makers can use to create a
host of handy devices, including wirelessly connected pocket
computers. It will save device-makers from having to create
their own custom chips -- and almost halve the cost of the
end product, explained Krishna Vaidyanathan, EI Labs founder
and Chief Executive. If bought in quantity, the LinSeed will
cost around $100 a piece -- and the company also offers an
evaluation board which developers can use to build their
applications around the LinSeed chip.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/06/stories/2007050600241200.htm

* * *

SIMPUTER, NOT YET GIVING UP: Some recent interesting
discussions on the Simputer, which is not giving up yet.
Check it out: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/simputer/

* * *

FREE MEDIA VS FREE BEER (By Andrew L): The free beer Richard
Stallman loathes is everywhere. Media companies are currently
falling over themselves to produce the new hive for user
generated content. The names have rapidly become common place
- YouTube, MySpace, Flickr - and their affect has been
enormous, dramatically changing the production and
distribution of media globally. Free beer pours from the taps
of these new hubs of participatory media as they clamor to
get you in the door. But free beer, as Free Software
Foundation founder Richard Stallman has always emphasised, is
not the same as freedom.
http://nettime.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/05/04/nettime-free-media-vs-free-beer-by-andrew-l.html
OR http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/andrewl/news/freebeer/

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This issue compiled by: Frederick Noronha, co-founder.
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--
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Email fred at bytesforall.org Res: 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India


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