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TML Day 02
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The second day was devoted to Free Software. The morning session started with a general presentation on Linux, its ideas and practices by Kishore Bhargava from Linux Users Group, Delhi. This was followed by a presentation of Knoppix and LAP (Linux Access Project) by Supreet Sethi from Sarai. A lot of pertinent issues and queries were raised on the implementation, usage and the philosophy of the projects. Arun Mehta from www.radiophony.com demonstrated the software that has been developed for Stephen Hawkings (http://indataportal.com/software/hawking.htm)which was written in visual basic and he made a public request to the audience to render the same on a Free Software platform. The second half of the day concentrated on the localization efforts within the Free Software /Open Source platform. Ravikant, from the language programme of Sarai, briefed the audience about the problems non-English users face - related to fonts, encoding standards, keyboards and web design. Gaurab Upadhyay and Arash Zeini, from Linux Iran, talked of the progress being made in localising Nepali and Persian respectively. Gaurab discussed the differences between Nepali Devanagari and Hindi Devanagari and was of the opinion that Unicode is so far the best available solution. From the audience Niyam Bhushan clarified certain basic issue about fonts, glyphs and typefaces. But the presentation that truly inspired everyone was Arash Zeini's who has recently translated the KDE desktop in Persian. (KDE is a Linux-based-programme package that provides efficient mail handler, calendars and organisers apart from the usual functions for browsing, editing, word processing, graphics and games). After interactions we realised that with only slight modifications the same desktop can be used for writing in Urdu as well. Arash then took us inside KDE and showed how effortlessly and flawlessly each of the applications worked. It was a revelation to learn that only four people could create this in just four months. He also fielded questions on the whole idea and process of translation and the public reception of the package. The concluding panel of the day was an open discussion on 'Collaborations and Contributions: Practitioners and Users in the Free Software Movement - the making of a creative community'. This discussion, attended by Raju Mathur, Leo Fernandes, Kishore Bhargava and others from the Linux Users Group, Delhi; Sharad Kukreti from Dehradun, Trevor Warren from MIT Media Lab Asia, Mumbai, and other participants, focussed on issues of freedom and programming culture and aroused strong reactions from both Free Software practitioners and others in the audience. Critical debates in the international Free Software/Open Source community were reiterated in local contexts.. debates that were mirrored in the film, 'The Code: Story of Linux', that was screened at the end of the day.
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