[FSF India] Talking about free software in schools

[Mohit Agarwal]

On Tue, Nov 06, 2001 at 03:02:44PM -0800, M.P.Anand Babu wrote:

> >    There is another problem.  The Mumbai group particularly
> >    started as a GNU/Linux Users Group, and not as FSF - India.
> >    When we went out and started talking about Freesoftware we
> >    talked about everything under the sun, such as Free/Open RH,
> >    SuSE, Caldera, Mandrake etc, including of course GNU/Debian.
> We dont need to care about non-ethical distributions. Why should we
> market for SuSe, Caldera, RedHat or Mandrake ?

Ahh!  Sounds great!  It's so good to have such people between us, and
the world lacks only this spirit.  We need many more people like you,
Anand Babu.  Cheers, Anand Babu!

Lets see what operating systems are common around.  Hmm.. how about
getting the response headers from some WWW servers?  Should work, lets
see ..

<headers>
[mail] [4:50pm] [~]: lwp-request -ed gnu-india.org
Connection: close
Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 11:33:36 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Server: Apache/1.3.14 (Unix)  (Red-Hat/Linux) mod_ssl/2.7.1 OpenSSL/0.9.5a PHP/4.0.4pl1
Content-Length: 4533
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
ETag: "16494a-11b5-3ad3c38e"
Last-Modified: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 02:38:06 GMT
Client-Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 11:20:37 GMT
Client-Peer: 207.189.136.151:80
Description: Since 1983, developing the free Unix-like operating system GNU,so that computer users can have the freedom to share and improvethe software they use. Gnu-India takes special intrust in GNU Hurd
Keywords: GNU-India, GNU India, GNU OS, India, GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, GNU/Linux, Emacs, GCC, Unix, Free Software, Operating System, MACH, HURD, GNU HURD
Title: GNU India Organization
 
[mail] [4:50pm] [~]:
</headers>

Hey, it worked!  Looks like that the site I saw just now
(gnu-india.org), runs ``Apache/1.3.14 (Unix) (Red-Hat/Linux)''.  I
thought that it'd be `GNU/Linux' instead of `Red-Hat/Linux'.  BTW, in
case you're led to wonder what's this thing called `lwp-request' and
if you're missing that on your favorite OS, you can get it from CPAN
-- it's bundled with libwww-perl and you can install it by saying
`perl -MCPAN -e 'install Bundle::LWP';' on the command prompt.

We seem to be getting away from the main point.  Lets get back and see
who owns the site called `gnu-india.org'.

<owner>
[whois.crsnic.net]

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: GNU-INDIA.ORG
   Registrar: IHOLDINGS.COM, INC. D/B/A DOTREGISTRAR.COM
   Whois Server: whois.dotregistrar.com
   Referral URL: http://www.dotregistrar.com
   Name Server: NS2.THISADDRESS.NET
   Name Server: NS1.THISADDRESS.NET
   Updated Date: 05-nov-2001


>>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 17:00:31 EST <<<
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU domains and
Registrars.


[whois.dotregistrar.com]

Registrant:
   M.P. Anand Babu (GNU-INDIA-ORG-DOM)
   41/G, Kylash Nagar, Taramangalam,
   Salem, TamilNadu 00
   India
   91-04290-51093
   ab@fig.org

   Domain Name: GNU-INDIA.ORG

   Administrative Contact:
      M.P. Anand Babu
      41/G, Kylash Nagar, Taramangalam,
      Salem, TamilNadu 00
      India
      91-04290-51093
 
   Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
      M.P. Anand Babu ab@fig.org
      41/G, Kylash Nagar, Taramangalam,
      Salem, TamilNadu 00
      India
      91-04290-51093
 
   Record last updated on 05-Oct-2001.
   Record expires on 30-Mar-2003.
   Record created on 30-Mar-2001.
 
   Domain servers in listed order:
 
   ns1.thisaddress.net  207.189.136.128
   ns2.thisaddress.net  207.189.136.129
</owner>

So there's the owner.  The registrant, adminitrative contact, and the
technical contact are all the same person, nobody other than our very
own `ethical' free software enthusiast ``Anand Babu''.

Please note that the site `gnu-india.org' runs on a very unethical
distribution.

> >    We do have a big group, but if we start an explicit campaign
> >    under the banner of FSF-I, I am afraid, I may be excluding a
> >    few of the core members.  So the numbers that remain may not
> >    be sufficient to support a movement.  On the otherhand, it is
> Core members of what ?
> What matters to us is the Ethics.  We need not be desperate about the
> head count. 
> 
> RMS started FSF *ALL ALONE*

Yes, and now the honorable `Anand Babu' will lead.

> >    wise to be with the heterogenous group and continue to talk
> >    about the ethics and politics of free software as and when the
> >    opportunity arises.  E.g., I dont refuse to install RH or SuSE
> >    in a workshop, though I would love to show them Debian.  I do
> I will refuse.

Yes, you should.  Because of several reasons: might be because of
itching in certain (?) parts of the body, might be because it's always
to portray a image in public that might help you achieve things that
you've been looking for.

> >    make use of the opportunity to talk about the differences both
> >    in substance and spirit.  I want to know whether others also
> >    face similar situations.
> 
> best regards
> -- 
>  _.|_ 
> (_||_)
> Inspired by GNU <www.gnu.org>

Yes, inspired by GNU <www.gnu.org> and powered by RedHat!

          mohit

-- 
use Perl;                                                # TMTOWTDI