Free Software Foundation of India Chairman Mr. Nagarjuna G. was at FISAT, Angamaly, today till 2.30 p.m This is for the information of free software users and enthusiasts.
anandan On 20 April 2010 14:25, ILUG Cochin (Indian Libre User Group) < [email protected]> wrote: > > Dear All, > > The meeting for the month of March 2010 was conducted successfully. > > Following is a brief snapshot of the meeting. > > Date: 28-03-2010 > Time: 2:30pm - 5.30pm > Venue: Internet Club, IInd Floor, AMI Trust Building, > Broadway Enclave, Broadway, Ernakulam > Attendance :15 > > > The meeting started of a bit late at 2.30pm with the customary self > introduction. > The moderator started the discussion by explaining the basic concepts > of Free Software and the Free Software Movement. The moderator > explained about the four Freedoms with examples, why Free Software is > a better software and the Free Software Licenses. One attendee asked > to explain about Creative Commons. Another attendee, who is a student > of FISAT explained what is Creative Commons and how it works. The > features of different GNU distributions were also discussed. The > attendees asked questions about Entirely Free Distribution of the GNU > Operating System and Debian. The moderator suggested to use gNewSense. > > - Agenda - Digital Restrictions Management. > > The moderator explained What is DRM, its intention and how it attacks > a users freedom. > > The moderator gave examples, the Product which are having DRM and how > it affects the users. DRM on Music, Movies(DMCA), iTunes, iPOD, iPad, > ebooks, Amazon, iPhone, Games etc were discussed. The Fairplay > encryption on Music and Movies were explained. DMCA and Copy > Protection on movie DVDs were discussed. > > The conspiracy between the Media companies, how they influence the > Government and how they convert DRM as a law (DMCA) were explained. > > The moderator explained what is Tivo and Tivoization. How GPLv3 > protects a user's freedom from the Tivo. Attendees asked doubts about > the digital signature verification in Tivo. The moderator explained > how it is done. > > Attendees talked about their experience of DRM in Mobile Phones and > their thoughts about Locked Mobile Phones. The Surveillance and spy > features done by Mobile Phones were discussed. > > How can we identify a DRM and the precautions we should take to avoid > DRM, before buying a product were discussed. > > The moderator explained about the fight against DRM and the campaigns > organized by FSF(www.defectivebydesign.org). The moderator requested > everyone to go to the website www.defectivebydesign.org, signup and > participate in the protest against DRM. > > The session was not so interactive due to the lack of awareness about > the topic among the attendees. The discussion was wound up for tea. > > Technical Presentation : Introduction to Latex > 4.15pm > > - The presenter started by explaining the process used to create a > text document using text editors (unformatted ) and Graphical > applications (formatted) like Openoffice. > > - The steps needed to create a small document were discussed in brief > > - Then the speaker explained in brief the concept of Typesetting. > > - The history of Tex and its author Donald Knuth was also explained. > > - The session moved on to explain the process by which a Tex/ Latex > document could be created. > > - Concept of a device independent file was mentioned. > > - Methods and facilities for conversion of Latex files into PDF and ps > where explained through a sequence diagram. > > - The first program in latex was shown to explain the basic steps in > creating a pdf or dvi file from latex source. > > - Next some additional features of latex like font facilities , using > tags and declarations etc. were explained. > > - The speaker also brushed through the process of creating Malayalam > documents using Latex with the help of the mal package. > > - The session concluded with the applications of Latex in daily life, > especially for producing beautiful personal and official documents. > > - The session wound up at 5.30pm. > > Conclusion > > The concluding session thanked all contributors for the meeting. One > of the members highlighted the importance of the Free Software > community and how self sustenance is the need of the hour. He also > explained some projects and initiatives that the community could take > up. > > The contact numbers, Email ids, Mailing List Subscription, Post > meeting activities, all of these were shared with the attendees. > > The attendees also proposed for "Shell Scripting" as the next meeting > technical presentation, and one person volunteered for it as well. > > This meeting wound up at 5.45 pm. > > We thank all the attendees for coming and urge them to put their > feedback on the mailing list so we can improve future meetings. > > Let us hope that the next meeting will be more exciting. > > Attendees > > K.C. Sanjai > Fr.Thomas V Vettical > Amrit Krishna > Anil Unnikrishnan > Muhammed Sabir > Santhoshlal V.J > Vineeth T.V > Raju Ramdas > George John > Jos Collin > Jay Jacob > Sreenadh > Sanal Kumar > Sameer Mohamed Thahir > Faisal P.P > > > _______________________________________________ > Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List > http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ > http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org > #[email protected] > -- s. anandan senior reporter the hindu +91-9496449844 [email protected]
_______________________________________________ Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org #[email protected]
