URL of this press release:
http://www.gnu.org/press/2001-07-20-FSF-India.html
RICHARD STALLMAN INAUGURATES FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION-INDIA, FIRST
AFFILIATE IN ASIA OF THE FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION
FOR RELEASE: JULY 20, 2001
Richard M. Stallman today officially launched the Free Software
Foundation of India (FSF-India), the first affiliate in Asia of the Free
Software Foundation with a speech at the Freedom First! Conference on Free
Software in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. Yesterday, he was received as an
honored state guest by government officials to discuss the philosophy
behind the movement and the use of free software as a viable,
cost-effective alternative for government, educational institutions, and
businesses, as well as for all the people of India.
"You are entitled to the freedom that free software gives you", Stallman
said. It isn't just in India that people are entitled to an alternative
to proprietary software. The inauguration of FSF-India is a step forward
in the expansion of the Free Software Foundation. Free software
communities around the world are formally organizing, as FSF-India has now
done, with a goal of better assisting businesses, governments, and
educators everywhere to understand the philosophical ideals behind free
software and how these ideals directly create practical advantages to
those who use and create it. Stalman continued "Computer users in India,
as elsewhere, deserve the freedom to share and change software, the way
cooks share and change recipes. So I am pleased to inaugurate the Free
Software Foundation of India, which will promote the use and the
development of free software in this country. At first, FSF-India will
help individuals, communities, schools, governments and enterprises in
India make use of the free software that the rest of the world has already
developed. Over time, FSF-India will lead Indian programmers to
contribute to the human knowledge that free software represents."
"We feel a developing country like India has a special stake in promoting
and encouraging the use of free software," said Satish Babu, of FSF-India.
"It also is a plus, of course, that there are no software license fees to
pay. This is of great importance now that proprietary software companies
are switching to a licensing business model for software, meaning you must
in effect rent the software and continue to pay for it forever. With free
software, if you wish, you can download the software for free, or if a
business or school wishes to buy one CD, it can legally install the same
CD in every computer on site, without having to pay one penny to anyone,
ever again. But there are deeper, more significant benefits. Here in
India, we do need to constantly strive for cost-effective solutions. The
digital divide is of concern everywhere but especially is it so here in
India. Unless we act, the digital divide in India is likely to widen,
particularly so because of the country's many languages and its uneven
literacy levels. Free software can help level the playing field for
emerging nations like India and bridge this divide by encouraging
solidarity, collaboration and voluntary community work amongst programmers
and computer users and invigorate an indigenous software industry."
"Schools in India can benefit by redistributing free software to save on
license fees", Stallman said. "But free software offers a deeper benefit
for education: the knowledge in free software is public knowledge, not
secret. The sealed black box of a proprietary software system is designed
to keep people in the dark. With free software, students can study the
software they use, to learn how it works. They can write improvements to
the software, and thus learn the craft of software development--which
usually consists of improving existing programs."
Dr. Stallman is President and founder of the Free Software Foundation,
head quartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. In 1984 Stallman began the
development of the GNU operating system, which today in its GNU/Linux
variants is used by an estimated 20 million people worldwide.
Contacts:
For more information about FSF, contact Bradley Kuhn, email: pr(a)fsf.org
For more information about FSF-India, contact K G Kumar, email: kg(a)myiris.com
GNU homepage: http://www.gnu.org
FSF-India homepage: http://www.fsf.org.in
For more information about the Freedom First! Conference, including
other scheduled speakers and events:
http://gnu.org.in/news/freedomfirst.html
About GNU:
GNU is a Free Software Unix-like operating system. Development of GNU
began in 1984. http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html gives more
information about GNU and its history.
GNU/Linux is the integrated combination of the GNU operating system with
the kernel, Linux, written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The various
versions of GNU/Linux have an estimated 20 million users.
Some people call the GNU/Linux system "Linux", but this misnomer leads
to confusion (people cannot tell whether you mean the whole system or
the kernel, one part), and spreads an inaccurate picture of how, when
and where the system was developed. Making a consistent distinction
between GNU/Linux, the whole operating system, and Linux, the kernel, is
the best way to clear up the confusion. See
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html for more explanation.
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software---particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants---and free documentation for free software. Their
web site, located at http://www.gnu.org, is an important source of
information about GNU/Linux. They are head quartered in Boston, MA, USA.
About the Free Software Foundation of India:
FSF-India is head quartered in Trivandrum, Kerala, India, and is
dedicated to eliminating restrictions on copying, redistribution,
understanding, and modification of computer programs by promoting the
development and use of free software in all areas of computing---but
most particularly, by helping to develop the GNU operating system.
Their homepage is http://www.fsf.org.in.
----- End forwarded message -----
-- bkuhn
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org>
http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)gnu.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
FSF ANNOUNCES SUPPORT OF FREE SOFTWARE PROJECTS TO REPLACE COMPONENTS OF
MICROSOFT .NET
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - The Free Software Foundation announced
today the support of two Free Software projects, Mono and DotGNU, that
will offer Free Software alternatives to components of Microsoft's .NET
system. The Mono and DotGNU projects will each offer different but
complimentary solutions.
The Mono Project is a community initiative to develop a Free Software,
GNU/Linux-based version of the Microsoft .NET development platform.
Incorporating key .NET compliant components, including a C# compiler, a
Common Language Runtime just-in-time compiler, and a full suite of class
libraries, the Mono Project will enable developers to create .NET
applications and run them on Windows or any Mono-supported platform,
including GNU/Linux and Unix. The Mono Project is led by Ximian, the
Free Software company co-founded by Miguel de Icaza, who has led GNU's
GNOME desktop environment to great success. The URL for the project
http://www.go-mono.net.
The DotGNU Project is a community initiative to develop Free Software
enabling decentralized services and authentication. The DotGNU Project
is led by David Sugar, who also maintains Bayonne, the GNU telephony
system, and has recently been named the CTO of FreeDevelopers. DotGNU is
centered at Savannah, the GNU developer collaboration site. The URL for
Savannah is http://savannah.gnu.org.
Richard M. Stallman, founder of the GNU project and president of the
Free Software Foundation, said: "With Mono and DotGNU, we hope to
provide good alternatives to components of .NET, ones that will respect
your freedom, and your privacy. You will be able to use the facilities
of Mono and DotGNU either with, or without, the Internet, and using
servers of your choice."
"We are taking the lead in providing an upgraded development platform
that enables Unix and GNU/Linux developers to capitalize on the .NET
framework. By having the Mono Project reuse the work from the GNU and
GNOME project, we can greatly accelerate the development process," said
Miguel de Icaza, co-founder and chief technical officer at Ximian.
Stallman added: "Mono will enable you to run your C# programs on the
free GNU/Linux operating system using exclusively free software. With
Mono, you will be able to use C# if you wish, without surrendering your
freedom to study, share, change, and generally control all the software
that you use."
Sugar noted that DotGNU will avoid the centralization of services
threatened by .NET, saying: "We see no technological reason to have
services hosted and deployed from a single service provider. DotGNU
will scale so that anyone can develop and deploy network services,
whether they be an individual, large corporation, small business or
government. Distributed authentication can assure users' freedom and
privacy, as well as the privacy and integrity for commercial and
government organizations."
These two GNU efforts will insure that both commercial and
non-commercial users will have equal freedom to innovate with these new
technologies.
About GNU:
GNU is a Free Software Unix-like operating system. Development of GNU
began in 1984.
GNU/Linux is the integrated combination of the GNU operating system with
the kernel, Linux, written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The various
versions of GNU/Linux have an estimated 20 million users.
Some people call the GNU/Linux system "Linux", but this misnomer leads
to confusion (people cannot tell whether you mean the whole system or
the kernel, one part), and spreads an inaccurate picture of how, when
and where the system was developed. Making a consistent distinction
between GNU/Linux, the whole operating system, and Linux, the kernel, is
the best way to clear up the confusion.
About Savannah:
Savannah is a development collaboration site which is used for
collaboration and cooperation among GNU developers. It provides CVS
servers, ToDo lists, and (with our other servers) mailing lists, and web
site services. It uses a version of the SourceForge software, adapted
by GNU volunteers. Savannah can be found at http://savannah.gnu.org/.
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software---particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants---and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at
http://www.gnu.org, is an important source of information about
GNU/Linux. They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
_______________________________________________
FSF And GNU Press mailing list <info-press(a)gnu.org>
http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-press
UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL MONDAY, JULY 9, 2001
Media Contact: Free Software Foundation
Bradley M. Kuhn <pr(a)gnu.org>
Phone: +1-617-542-5942
GNU ANNOUNCES TWO FREE SOFTWARE PROJECTS TO REPLACE MICROSOFT .NET
Boston, Massachusetts, USA - UNDER EMBARGO - The Free Software Foundation
announced today the launch of two Free Software projects, DotGNU and GNU
Mono, that will replace Microsoft's .NET system. The DotGNU and Mono
projects will cooperate to build a full Free Software solution.
DotGNU will be led by David Sugar, who current maintains Bayonne, the GNU
telephony system. Sugar, who co-founded OST, a service company for GNU
Bayonne, was also recently named the CTO of FreeDevelopers, a democratic
community-based company started by Tony Stanco. Many developers of DotGNU
are associated with FreeDevelopers, but work on DotGNU is centered at
Savannah, the GNU developer collaboration site.
GNU Mono will be led by Miguel de Icaza, who has already led GNU's GNOME
desktop environment to great successes. de Icaza is president of the
GNOME Foundation and CTO of Ximian, a Free Software company based in
Boston. Work on GNU Mono will be centered at Ximian.
Richard M. Stallman, founder of the GNU project and president of the Free
Software Foundation, said: "With Mono and DotGNU, we hope to provide a
good alternative to all of .NET, one that will respect your freedom, and
your privacy. You will be able to use the facilities of Mono and DotGNU
either with, or without, the Internet, and using servers of your choice."
Sugar noted that DotGNU will avoid the centralization of services
threatened by .NET, saying: "We see no technological reason to have
services hosted and deployed from a single service provider. DotGNU will
scale so that anyone can develop and deploy network services, whether they
be an individual, large corporation or small business. Distributed
authentication can assure users' freedom and privacy, as well as the
privacy and integrity for commercial organizations."
A key component of .NET is its C# language and Common Language
Infrastructure (CLI) for programming language interoperability.
"Unfortunately, while C# and CLI have been submitted to the ECMA and W3C
standards bodies, the limitations of the 'shared source' license impede
the development and deployment of commercial applications on other
platforms," said de Icaza. These two GNU efforts will insure that both
commercial and non-commercial users will have equal freedom to innovate
with these new technologies.
Stallman added: "GNU Mono and DotGNU will enable you to run your C#
programs on the free GNU/Linux operating system using exclusively free
software. With DotGNU and Mono, you will be able to use C# if you wish,
without surrendering your freedom to study, share, change, and generally
control all the software that you use."
About GNU:
GNU is a Free Software Unix-like operating system. Development of GNU
began in 1984.
GNU/Linux is the integrated combination of the GNU operating system with
the kernel, Linux, written by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The various
versions of GNU/Linux have an estimated 20 million users.
Some people call the GNU/Linux system "Linux", but this misnomer leads to
confusion (people cannot tell whether you mean the whole system or the
kernel, one part), and spreads an inaccurate picture of how, when and
where the system was developed. Making a consistent distinction between
GNU/Linux, the whole operating system, and Linux, the kernel, is the best
way to clear up the confusion.
About Savannah:
Savannah is a development collaboration site that provides features
similar to SourceForge. Developed by GNU volunteers, Savannah is used for
collaboration and cooperation among developers and provides CVS servers,
ToDo lists, mailing lists, and web site services. Savannah can be found
at http://savannah.gnu.org/.
About the Free Software Foundation:
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software---particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants---and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at
http://www.gnu.org, is an important source of information about GNU/Linux.
They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.
Please note that there was a typo in the text of the USENIX award
acceptance speech we sent last week. It's been corrected on the web at:
http://www.gnu.org/events/bob-usenix-lifetime-accept.txt
The key issue was that "GNU Linux" was replaced with "GNU/Linux".
With English grammar, "GNU Linux" uses "GNU" as a modifier acting on
"Linux". So it means either "the GNU version of Linux", or "Linux, which
is a GNU package". Neither of those meanings is appropriate for the
situation, so we don't write "GNU Linux" (except when we make a mistake).
"GNU/Linux" is a way of saying "the combination of GNU and Linux".
The mistake was made because Mr. Chassell had written his notes to ease
reading, not for publication and we missed on instance of "GNU Linux" when
we published them.
We apologize for the confusion.
-- bkuhn