Free Software

There are certain aspects about Free Software that resonates very closely with my philosophies of life. One of that is the fact that it enables people who would like to get things done, to go ahead and get them done. This was exactly what I did for converting the Microsoft Excel template for filing Kerala VAT returns into OpenOffice Spreadsheet format.

The FSF blog post on Freedom Walk was posted to Slashdot. The following is the Slashdot URL.

http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=3074679

Do vote up and promote the story.

I am an 8hr sleep person. If I sleep less than that I normally would end up being groggy the following day. I attribute this requirement to the high levels of mental activity :-). But I don't mind sitting night outs where i don't sleep at all for 24 hrs. Also I used to consider that 5hrs was the barest minimum single stretch of sleep that is worth putting effort into (yes sleeping does require effort). If the amount of sleep I could possibly get was going to be lower than that my normal decision would be to go all the way and sit a night out. I don't remember ever having slept fewer than 5 hrs before today.

During the Free Software Free Society Conference recently held in Trivandrum, I had an opportunity to interact with none other than the one and only RMS and shared my experiences about the Freedom Walk campaign. He asked me for detailed information about the campaign which I had gladly provided. This has now been published on the FSF blog and you can read this article about Freedom Walk on FSF

I have long been saying that I wanted to actively get involved in Social Activism. When I started the company Zyxware, the definite vision was to be able to use the company to actively drive the change I wished to see in the world. We have been in operation for more than two years now and we are embarking on a very ambitious project this time. It is called Freedom Walk and a team of volunteers are going to walk from Kasargod to Trivandrum to mobilize Social, Environmental and Free Software Activism and to promote collaboration between activist Individuals and organizations across the state. I for one am planning to walk all the way from Kasargod to Trivandrum and we already have a team of volunteers who have signed up to walk in stretches.

I have been on my toes for the last one month doing the ground work for the upcoming GNU/Linux Install Fest in Technopark. The install fest is scheduled for the first week of September and you can read more about it at GNU/Linux Users Group Trivandrum's website. Preparations for the fest are still underway and we have got most of the issues under control.

Software Patents are bad - Period. The patent system was created to protect inventors from being robbed of their inventions by bigger players or bad people. Software companies want software patents because they want to patent generic and designs and algorithms to prevent anybody else from using them or to gain royalties from using them. Software is just a means of processing information and information should be open.

After almost a week of planning and preparation we were ready for our second GNU/Linux Install Fest. Unlike in the previous install fest we were better organized in terms of operations. We had been to the location on Friday night and had prepared the complete place and got everything ready including the posters, banners, table/desk arrangements and the systems. We had everything ready by around 12 midnight and went home.

As a continuation of the massively successful first GNU/Linux Install Fest in Kerala we are organizing the first Mandriva Install Fest in Kerala. Zyxware has yet again taken the initiative to organize this meet with the GNU/Linux Users Group Trivandrum and Space-Kerala

Firefox 3 is expected to be out soon and Mozilla is trying to create a World record of sorts by making Firefox 3 the software that gets the maximum number of downloads on a single day. This is a good marketing initiative by Mozilla and I think they are going to succeed in doing that given the popularity of Firefox. They have provided an option for people to signup to commit to download Firefox 3 the day it is released. Once you sign up you will get a reminder about the download once the release is announced. You can go ahead and sign up at http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord