ILUG-Cochin

The ILUG Stall at the National Conference was a grand success,
simply because we were the only stall with the theme “Freedom”
emphasizing the core values of Free Software unlike most of the other
stalls at the exhibition.

Of Course it is debatable question as to the presence of stalls
from fertilizers to fisheries at the exhibition, but of
course it was a very great opportunity to explain to them the
core values of this social movement.

Also considering the fact that there were lot of proprietary software
being exhibited in several stalls. We raised our voice against these
stalls, providing our help to replace it with Free Software. Some agreed
while others were reluctant.

The stall was put up from 13th after bringing in the machines the
previous day night. But it wasnt until 14th afternoon that the
stall reached full fledged functioning. Although we had been
given a small space at the conference, we made best use of it, by
displaying very good and relevant information about Free Software
and the GNU movement thereby keeping our stall always filled with people.

We had 4 machines setup to display various applications. One of
them was used to give a demo of the Installation process of the
Debian and Gnewsense DVDs and CDs we were distributing.

Ours was a stall, were anyone could just walkin and try
their hands at any of the applications, this helped people to
get a feel of what Free Software was. Again this is considering
the fact that 90% of all the visitors were either new to Free
Software or had just started using it.

In order to meet the expenses for the stall we had distributed Debian
GNU/Linux DVDs and Gnewsense CDs for a price. While we never forced anyone
to pay the original price, we explicitly told them to pay whatever they
like the minimum being the cost of the DVDs. While for CDs several were
given free of cost to the people who visited, especially students and
those who could not afford.

The first day saw very few people visiting the stall. The second
day turned out to be more crowded with people turning out in
moderate numbers. There were students, parents, freelance developers
and teachers turning up at our stall to understand what exactly
free software meant. The most important achievement was we being
able to clear up several of the misconceptions.

The hard copies of RMS Essays we had put up for a price were also
purchased by a few.

The first day of the conference had a big rush at the exhibition
venue with the delegates pouring in as well.

A couple of us had attended a session by Nagarjuna (gnowledge.org),
FSF India Chairman. After the speech we caught up with him and guided him
to a second venue to devliver his next speech. Nagarjuna came to the
exhibition late and visited our stall.

Although there have been discussions offline about our plans to change
the group Name, nothing has been discussed on the list yet. We made use of
the occasion when Nagarjuna visited us and requested him to correct our
name for us on our banner. He accepted our request and as per our initial
plans he corrected our name on the banner to “Indian Libre User Group”.

He also spend some time with ILUG Cochin Members, SNGIST College students
and MES College students. He also discussed a few points about the
“Business model of Free Software” with Mr Unais Mohammed” from KSEB.

We also had the FSUG Bangalore coming to put up their stall at the
venue. It was also a stall of the Ambedkar Community Computer Center, were
a handicapped boy Mani was selling pictures made by him using Free
Software(GIMP).

We had a great time with the students and faculty of SNGIST College,
Manjaly and MES College of Engg, Kuttipuram sharing their knowledge with
us.

Sunday was a day of action in every way. There were two sessions by
ILUG on the day. “Significance of Free Software on Mobile Platforms”
was handled by Sameer and an Open Forum Discussion on “Significance of
Free Software Groups in Society”.

The first talk focussed on the growing importance of Operating Systems
on Mobile Phones and how Free Software was the apt choice for Mobile
platforms as well. “OpenMoko” was used as a reference.

The Open Forum discussion was focussed more on helping 3 groups to help
form User Groups in their colleges. SNGIST Manjaly, Paravur. KKTM
Kodungaloor, and CUSAT. The dicussion saw several of the participants
pouring out ideas to start groups in these colleges. CUSAT already having
a Free Software group, just needed to get it up an running again.

A group of people belonging to the Free Software Community including
students had also done a protest against the main sponsor Novell, ILUG
Cochin also pledged their support by putting up posters of “BoyCott
Novell” in the stall.Some friends of the members of ILUG Cochin had come
in and handed over posters and volunteered to stick them in the stall. At
the same moment the organizers were rushing towards our stall to remove
the posters as Novell had objected to it. The rough behaviour from the
organizers were a matter of concern, especially the seizure of the cameras
carrying the pictures of the brawl.

The series of events that happened was bad in terms of the organizers
taking an unnecessary tough stand on the matter and not lending an ear to
the actual facts.

We were happy to raise our voice and protest with the
Free Software community opposing the likes of forces like Novell. Indeed
it was good to see a resistance in a programme of such magnitude like the
National Conference. Although there is no doubt to the fact that the
conference did its job, bringing people from all walks of life and ILUG
Cochin did the job telling people the principles behind it, the opposition
against Novell has also increased the significance and importance of the
event thereby bringing about a lot of questions into the community which
would not have been raised otherwise.

The stall was dismantled by 5.00pm at the end of the exhibition and
everyone left for home after an eventful day and 4 days of hard work.

Thanks to Binny and Sreenadh for spending all 4 days in the stall from
day to night.

Thanks to Shibin, Kevin Sha, Anil, IB Manoj for helping with the
functioning of the stall.

Thanks to the students and faculty of SNGIST Manjaly for helping us out
with the stall and taking care of it in our absence.

Thanks to

Nagarjuna G for spending a great time with us.

All the people who visited the stall.

And of course the organizers of the National Conference for having
provided us an opportunity to put up the stall

Unfortunately senior members like Jay Jacob and Balakrishan Sir
were unable to make it to the conference.

Sameer Activities CUSAT, ernakulam, free software, ilug, kochi, National Free Software Conference, nfm2008

The programme for SFD was charted out in a haphazard manner due to the last minute decisions. But it was good that all went well, even the climate was favorable for the conduct. The initially planning of a procession and candle light vigil did not seem feasible until about 2 pm. We made quick decisions and then opened one of the rooms at JJ’s place to find almost everything we required for the event. We purchased few chart papers for hanging up as body posters. And the team started writing messages on them. While some others started making placards from what we could find. Few printouts were taken thanks to JJ and then we stuck all of them up. We had to run around a bit to get the Assistant Commissioner’s permission simply because he was not available at his office. But luckily at 4pm we could get his permission in person. The preparations were hurriedly completed by 5 pm. And we started of on to conduct what would be Kerala’s first free software procession.

All of the people were really excited and this helped create a highly spirited atmosphere for the event. We started from the church next to Broadway where JJ inaugurated the event. We started marching in two rows towards the Boat Jetty. Two people held the banner and many of them held placards and hung the posters on their neck.

The heavy traffic and congested roads made us walk a bit fast. Many of the onlookers were surprised to see few young people walking with so much excitement for something they couldn’t figure out. Indeed those who got the message too were surprised to see the initiative. We changed the original plan to turn before the Boat Jetty and marched further till the law college. We halted there for almost 15 minutes, which gave the opportunity for people to read the posters, placards and banners. The passengers on the vehicles were most among the onlookers. Several small vehicles slowed down to see what was happening. Indeed the body posters which was an idea of Balakrishnan Sir had created the necessary impact.

As all this was going on, almost every step of ours was captured by all those who had a camera. This made the procession turn into a photo session for the onlookers. We then crossed to the other side and started our march back to Marine Drive. Again the insane driving of the Killer buses was keeping us on guard on when to jump to safety. We reached Marine Drive and halted just before the Bay Pride Mall. We stood there for almost 20 minutes. The group was a great attraction to all the people. Couple of people came close to us and inquired about what was going on. We could tell them few things about Free Software.(Unfortunately we hadn’t carried any pamphlets due to last minute preparations).We could get a good publicity with that small time.

The group then moved to the Marine Drive walkway and took two rounds up and down. And ended up at the Marine Drive Musical Walkway bridge at 6:30pm. Few of us bought candles and we lit them at 6.45. The light breeze made it difficult to hold the flames. And also many of the people had started moving back home. We walked till the end of the walkway and ended the days programme with few among us talking and thanking all.

We went back to Broadway and dispersed back home. Indeed although there was nothing specific achieved by the programme, we had realized a form of publicity that was more effective. and celebrating Software freedom day in style, unlike all other places were it was celebrated inside and we showed the world that September 20th indeed had a significance.

We thank the Assistant Commissioner of Police, and the office staff for allowing us to take out this procession at a very short notice of few hours and also for having provided the necessary precautions.

Thanks to Prinson for the initiative and ideas.

Sreenadh, Shibin, Shyam, Royce, Vipin for making the entire program a reality IB Manoj for giving our contact to prinson and actively taking part for all the hard work Nitish for the previous day planning and active participation from Nawal, Abhishek, Awadesh, Chandan, Ajay from CUSAT.

And JJ for all the material printouts and for keeping ILUG capable of celebrating SFD with a place we can call our own in the heart of the city.

Of Course Balakrishnan Sir for the wonderful ideas and the vision for ILUG Cochin.

People Who participated for the event:

Prinson
Shyam
Royce
Vipin
I B Manoj
Sreenadh
Sameer
Shibin
Sreekanth
Bilal
Nitish
Nawal
Abhishek
Awadesh
Chandan
Ajay
Venkat
Jay Jacob

Sreenadh Activities Software Freedom Day 2008

Date: 08 – 09 August 2008
Time : 10 am – 7:30 pm
Venue : Marine Drive, Ernakulam
Stall : 34
Visitors : Approx 80

Event Details

The first day saw only few people visiting the stall, although we were able to provide sufficient information, even with limited resources, as we hadnt planned for the programme on friday. We had an LTSP setup and a hardened GNU/Linux distribution up for the demo.

Several A3 and A4 posters (about Free Software, Open Source and Licenses) including the flex banners adorned the stall.

Mr Joel, who was an old active member, joined us and we planned to talk about security at the user and enterprise level.

The second day had many ILUG members coming in for conducting the programme. We had few machines not picking up because of power distribution problems in the stall. Unfortunately, the LTSP client went down permanently, but the other machines came back.

We had 3 machines, and two laptops displaying GNU/Linux desktops, Applications, Graphics and 3D applications etc., which was more than enough. We also had prepared handouts, leaflets and posters providing information about our activities and free software in general. Although Joel was ready with his tips on security and discussing security issues, we really never had audience asking questions that way. What basically happened was awareness.

We had also sold Debian DVDs and gNewSense CDs. A few DVDs and CDs were given free to students.

Joel had taken part in the “Capture the Flag” contest and again with Raju in the Quiz competition.

Jay Jacob handled a seminar at 2pm talking about free software and security, with a lukewarm response, probably the lack of audience caused this.

The crowd increased by evening, although many of them came to the event as part of their evening marine drive stroll.

There were other people related to ILUG who thronged the venue, making our stall buzzing with action.

The outcome was satisfactory, although we had expected a greater turnout.

But anyway this was the first time probably in India, that the police had organized an IT related event, and considering this it was definitely a success for them.

Congratulations to the Kochi city police for this endeavor and hope this event continues every year and is replicated in other districts and states as well.

Below are some of the photographs taken at the exhibition.

Kurian Activities

We have prepared a poster for the ILUG Cochin Monthly Meeting . The poster was made by Arunkumar using GIMP(www.gimp.org).

Please consider putting up the poster in your office/college or wherever you find it appropriate. The links to the poster are provided below:

Black and White A3

Black and White A4

Color A3

Color A4

The following are some places where you can put up the poster :

• Schools, Colleges, Training Institutes,
• Book Shops, Libraries, Reading Rooms
• Internet Cafes
• Hardware Dealer Shops and Service Centers
• Colony Notice Boards
• DTP Centers

The following points may be noted while putting up the poster :

• Put up the poster only if you know the place and have sufficient permissions from the concerned persons or authorities.
• Dont put up the posters that mar visibility or cause inconvenience to others.
• The poster needs to be put up only at relevant places, even if it provides more publicity.
• Feel free to add more information like exact meeting date etc.. to the poster.
• The validity of the information should be crosschecked before making changes to the poster.
• If you need to put up a contact phone number or email address, consent of the concerned person must be sought.

admin Activities, Meetings

Date: 08 – 09 August 2008

Time : 10 am – 7:30 pm

Venue : Marine Drive, Ernakulam

Stall : 34

Visitors : Approx 80

Event Details

The first day saw only few people visiting the stall, although we were able to provide sufficient information, even with limited resources, as we hadnt planned
for the programme on friday. We had an LTSP setup and a hardened GNU/Linux distribution up for the demo.

Please click here for some brief snapshots from the exhibition venue.

Kurian Activities