Sunday, April 10, 2005

Free Software Magazine

I was delighted to read the first issue of Free Software Magazine - Courtesy Digit Magazine April DVD. The editorial says:

"Free software’s popularity is growing daily.
Even non-geeks are discovering that most of the web sites that they visit run on free
software (Apache); there is a valid alternative to Internet Explorer (Firefox); and their internet provider’s network is secured by free software (Nexus, free firewall, etc). And yet, until today there hasn’t been a single magazine dedicated entirely to free software.

Now, this project (publishing a magazine) is not risk-free. In the publishing industry you need numbers to make everything work. The more you print, the less you pay. The more readers you have, the more likely you are to get paying advertisers and so it goes on. At the moment, nobody really knows what these numbers will be for a magazine on free software, simply because there’s never been one.

If you believe in this project, please let the whole world know about it, use all those means that made great free software projects successful: talk about Free Software Magazine in your blog, user group mailing lists, social networks, professional web sites, IRC, etc. This way, you will help the magazine gain momentum and obtain the exposure it – and free software – deserve."

The first article, about File Format Wars was a good read. The author argues that [proprietary] file formats have been used to avoid free market competition, making it harder to customers to switch to newer
and better products. Read this story for example:

"When it comes to engineering, many projects for buildings, mechanical parts, furniture and bridges are stored in the DWG file format of AutoCAD, produced by AutoDesk. In 1998, competitors launched cheaper products based on an equivalent format. AutoDesk’s reaction was not limited to improving features, service and discounts. Their advertising campaign focused on reminding people that only AutoDesk’s products were 100% capable of keeping existing projects completely accessible."

The first issue of the magazine is available for download (pdf).

Book clubs and meetings

Here in Bangalore, we have a book club to discuss what we read. While we have only a few colleagues participating and the meetings are not that regular, they are real fun and informative. Depending on how people drive it, the meetings can turn into heated debates or hilarious discussions. It is here I observed that despite the proliferation of new media, almost all people have a soft corner towards books and reading. You get to know ardent book-lovers in such meetings. In addition, people who are otherwise silent can easily open up here.

Recently a friend of mine asked my suggestions to coordinate a book club of his own. Here are some possible discussions that we took up that he would want to look into.

1. First decide on how we want to organise the Club, how often to meet, what we want to read, etc. Other topics:

2. What do you plan to read in 2005?
3. Do you have a list of books you want to read?
4. What were the best books you read in 2004?

5. Have some book categories (or genres). I have these:
Biographies & Memoirs, Business & Investing, Children's Books, Computers & Internet, Food & Cooking, Health, Mind & Body, History, Home & Garden, Literature & Fiction, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Technology, Sports & Games, Travel, General, Mathematics, Language, Books & Reading, Romance & Relationships, Humour and Philosophy.

A site such as amazon.com can have an exhaustive list. Find out who is interested in what topic. It will be amusing (& amazing) to know that people have varied interersts.

6. Each one of you can discuss or talk about the book that you've just read.

Have the meeting informal and provide snacks and drinks. You can have the meeting at any frequency, but we find it convenient to have it every fortnight.

Friday, April 08, 2005

India and Wi-fi

It's long since I wrote. I'm happy that many of my friends are catching blog-fever.

I was surprised to read this from Malayala Manorama YearBook 2005:

India is fourth largest in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in Asia just after Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. It has around 180 hotspots. Of that, 130 are in Bangalore.

Living in Bangalore, I'm yet to figure out which places are hotspots. At my workplace, I'm able to connect to Wireless LAN. I should take some time to get to one of the published hotspots and try connecting to it with my laptop.

I heard that Chennai, the southern Metropolitan city, has one in Airport and one in Central Railway Station.