[fsug-bangalore] Knock knock.

[rkrishnan at antispam]

[resending since the mail did not make it to the list, there are problems
with my postfix config..]

 abhas> It would be nice if all of us could post a small introduction about
 abhas> ourselves here - that will ensure that we can have more meaningful
 abhas> discussion! And can depend on each others' respective strengths and
 abhas> resources to grow Free Software usage around here.

I am Ramakrishnan. I write non-free software for a living, specifically I
do digital signal processing software which goes into VoIP gateways and IP
Phones. I had been Free Software user and advocate since 1996. I am also a
volunteer for the FSF (I help maintain the gnu.org webpages) and for the
Debian Project. I am single till June 24th (I am getting married on 25th
June). I am also interested in Amateur Radio (waiting and waiting for the
license to come from Govt of India).

Apart from technical activities, I am also interested in carnatic music. I
studied carnatic music for about 14 years and was a B-grade artist at All
India Radio, Trichur (kerala) back when I was a student. I don't have time
for music now a days, but hope to spend more time on music than on free
software
in the coming days.

Though this was meant to be an intro, I am going to talk about something
not fully unrelated...

I am not very active in any mailing lists related to Free Software now,
partly because of lack of time and partly because I am sad at the state of
affairs with the way things are done, particularly the way FSF-India
conducts itself. The webpage is sloppy and so is its conduct. Everything
seem to be done in secrecy and afew individuals think, Free Software is a
god given gift only to them. I have pointed out many issues with FSF in the
past, and all have fallen on deaf ears, as is the case with anything done in
India. The attempts to fix webpages (try browsing the archives of
fsf-friends) have been met with counter questions instead, asking me to fix
it. Isn't it not fair to file bug reports without patches? Anyway, it is
clear that the gang in trivandrum and elsewhere are trying to add one more
line in their resume rather than work for the good of free software. Many
people whom I know are "officially" part of FSF-India talk "open source" and
"linux" elsewhere. I do not want to point fingures at anyone though...
FSF-India do not even publish a list of office bearers
on their website (FSF boston has published it at member.fsf.org, you will
see even more info there in the coming days), even after being pestered
many times.

I am an associate member (membership #255) since Dec 2002 and have also
helped atleast 5 people become associate members and am proud of it, because
FSF got some money to defend the freedom of the users. FSF is going to be
very relevant in the coming days, there is no doubt. If any of you can
afford to shell out $10 a month (~ Rs.500), please become an associate
member. One of the directors of the FSF-India promised us last year (or in
2003?) that an indian version of associate membership will be launched, but
as usual, we didn't hear from him again.

I am going to be busy for the next 4-5 weeks, but I will try my best to
attend the meeting, if it is going to be held this weekend.

best regards
-- 
    Ramakrishnan                   http://www.hackGNU.org/
    Use Free Software -- Help stamp out Software Hoarding!