gr8. Hope he accepts the request.
All da best to us/FOSS Nepal. On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 3:14 PM, Subir Pradhanang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Subir Pradhanang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 3:08 PM > Subject: Welcome to Nepal and request from FOSSians > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Respected Dr. Kalam, > > Greetings from FOSS Nepal Community! > > It is our great pleasure to learn that you will be visiting Nepal to > head the convocation ceremony of the Kathmandu University. It will > definitely be a moment of great pride and honour for all the Nepalese > people and an opportunity to greet our inspirational champion of Free > and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Nepal. We, at FOSS Nepal Community, > believe in the usage and diversification of Free and Open Source > Software in Nepal and other developing countries. Our community, > initiated with some handful of youths some 4 years back, is now a > community of more than 600 FOSSians in and around Nepal. Understanding > your contribution in Free and Open Source Software Technology and FSF > in India, we believe it would be a festive opportunity for us to greet > you in our community and learn from your experiences in the arena of > freedom in cyber era. Here, we request you for kindly gracing us > FOSSians with your inspiring words during your stay in Nepal. > > To brief you about FOSS Nepal Community, we are actively working and > advocating to bring the needed changes for adoption of the Free and > Open Source Software in Nepal. We are actively lobbying with different > Government bodies and other stakeholders for more freedom oriented IT > curriculum in education sector and IT policy in Nepal. Currently, both > of which mandates the use of proprietary software like Windows as > platform for computing at present. Along with this, we are also > involved in organizing various activity of awareness raising, FOSS > promotion, capacity development trainings and workshops, face-to-face > and virtual open platform for technical and non-technical discussion > of various FOSS issues and in the development and technical support of > various FOSS initiatives like Ubuntu-NP and NepaLinux in Nepal. As the > result of our efforts in last few years, we have been able to > underline the importance of FOSS in Nepal among various IT > stakeholders including the apex government body for IT like High Level > Commission of Information Technology (HLCIT) and implementing > organization like National Information Technology Center (NITC) and > various other private sector and civil society organizations in Nepal. > Because of this community effort, FOSS and Open Standards have been > incorporated as a major component of the soon-to-be-released revised > IT Policy of Nepal, 2065. > > In spite of all our achievement, strong proclivity of the Government, > private sectors and civil society alike towards proprietary (usually > unauthorized/pirated copies) software has been a constant hindrance > for us in bringing any major substantial change and mainstreaming of > FOSS. Even though the government, media and civil society agrees that > FOSS is the way to move forward, but their lack of encouragement for > practicing FOSS and insularity towards it as been major resistance to > lead Nepal into 21st century of Information Technology. > > Though our efforts have been fruitful to some extent, but we have felt > that in the absence of a champion who can convey the message, > encourage them with his experiences and inspire them to ensure that > freedom prevails in the digital era, our struggle will always remain > unsubstantial to reach out to the masses. Hence, we look forward to > you for kindly supporting and bolstering our struggle for freedom by > acting as a champion of the change we are striving for. In this > respect, your upcoming visit to Nepal can be a major milestone in this > movement of openness and freedom, if you could kindly share about FOSS > in your addresses. Further, if it is possible for you to allot some of > your precious time to our FOSS Community, we would like to invite you > as a guest speaker in our regular talk program about FOSS. And, > request you to kindly inaugurate our first FOSS Training and Research > Centre, a collaborative initiative of Help Nepal Network, FOSS Nepal > Community and Brihaspati Vidya Sadan. > > We look forward for your kind consideration. > > Best Regards, > > Subir B. Pradhanang > President > FOSS Nepal Community > URL: www.fossnepal.org > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Mobile: +977-9841268738 > > --- > Let's make iT FOSSible! > > > > -- OLPG --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ FOSS Nepal mailing list: [email protected] http://groups.google.com/group/foss-nepal To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Community website: http://www.fossnepal.org/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
