[Fsf-friends] The work of migrating non-profits to Free Software has already begun

[Frederick Noronha]

A very heart-warming letter from America. Perhaps another reason why
FSFIndia should seriously clinch the deal for having a presence at the
Asian Social Forum in Hyderabad in early Jan. Thank you Karl! FN
PS: I'm copying this to the Free Software Forum-India network.
PPS: Karl Pena was put in touch with us by RMS.

On Wed, 27 Nov 2002, Karl wrote:


> Hi Frederick,
> 
> I'm in the process of incorporating a nonprofit with which to facilitate
> this program. I am have been taking the bull by the horns with the legal
> requisites, start-up funds, and paperwork, and learning a lot about how to
> establish a corporation. Many parts of this are good, but it takes a long
> time. And the work to be done does not pause.
> 
> In the meantime, eagerly awaiting for the incorporation to manifest itself
> ASAP, I am working independently in DC, serving nonprofits by migrating
> them from proprietary to Free Software infrastructures. This is the the
> center of our mission.
> 
> Through my humble weekly accomplishments, I am learning a lot and finding
> a tremendous amount of support, inspiration, and viable business
> methodology for the nonprofit organization endeavor.
> 
> We do need help, in many areas. Can you talk to me about your skillset? Of
> course you have mentioned you are a journalist, but do you tout a plethora
> of technology kung-fu as well? Special areas of interest (besides what I
> might assume from visiting bytesforall.org)? Would you be willing to
> assist in writing up case-studies of progress and accomplishments with
> clients/NGOs?
> 
> I think we will need literature or 'whitepapers' along the lines of
> case-studies to show other nonprofits and NGO's what we have done with
> prior organizations: costs-saved, infrastructure added, user-happiness,
> ethical value, et cetera.
> 
> What information can I give you? Can we take things from here forward,
> tell me what sort of action items you suggest and are interested in, and
> I'll see if/how we can fit them into our mission?
> 
> In the long run, what the nonprofit structure in DC accomplishes should
> transmittable via a rocksolid case-study to be spread acround the USA, and
> transcontinentally within months or years, depending on how well
> volunteers and colleagues can assist in the mission. (The language and
> literature will have to be exciting, and open, not too critical overall,
> but if we have several sections, like in a newsletter, we could certainly
> have a 'critics corner' where the more radical, grassroots ideas are
> appropriately verbalized.) In general the literature should not be too
> cutting and mudslinging about anyone, nor should it toot its own horn, of
> course. Sorry if that idea was too basic or obvious. No offense meant by
> my brainstorming and oversimplifying.
> 
> The work of migrating nonprofits to Free Software has already begun...
> 
> 
> I look forward to your hearing your thoughts.
>  -Karl
> 
> 
> ___________________________________________________________
>      http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html
> ___________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> On Wed, 27 Nov 2002, Frederick Noronha wrote:
> 
> > I'd really like to help this going... FN
> >
> > On Fri, 6 Sep 2002, Karl wrote:
> >
> >
> > > Hi RMS, and Frederick,
> > > and Sunil, Niranjan,
> > >
> > > Thanks for writing to me about your interest. Your journalistic
> > > contributions, and a global level of collaborations and connections, as
> > > you have mentioned below, might be a great asset to our group. At the very
> > > least we ought to stay in touch and ping each other about things.
> > >
> > > Let's dialogue together, and make notes of our insights.
> > >
> > > I'd like to hear a little about what Sunil does, who he advocates to, if
> > > you'd tell me about it.
> > >
> > >  -Karl
> > >
> > > On Sun, 1 Sep 2002, Frederick Noronha wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi RMS, Karl: I'd love to help NGU in any way. Please keep in mind though
> > > > that I'm a journalist and acutely lack techie skills. My friend in
> > > > Bangalore, Sunil Abraham, is shaping up into a very articulate campaigner
> > > > for NGOs taking to GNU/Linux. I think people like him will have a crucial
> > > > role to play in linking these two never-intersecting parallel lines -- the
> > > > NGO world and the Free Software movement, which have such close
> > > > perspectives and goals. Niranjan Rajani is a Finland-based researcher of
> > > > Pakistani origin; he's working on a study to see the contribution of
> > > > GNU/Linux to development worldwide. FN
> > > > RMS: Thanks for raising the critical (from a Third World
> > > > perspective) issue of affordability in your OneWorld meet. I know those
> > > > guys in India... doing interesting work. How about pushing things with
> > > > UNDP/Unesco? They're both interested in Free Software....
> > > >
> > > > On Sat, 31 Aug 2002, Richard Stallman wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > >     Regarding NGOs, I have understood that GNU is launching a
> > > > >     program/campaign called NGU which is said to be directed at NGOs,
> > > > >
> > > > > Not exactly.  I encouraged Karl Pena to start NGU, but it is an
> > > > > independent activity, not part of the GNU Project.  The GNU Project is
> > > > > the project to develop GNU, the operating system.
> > > > >
> > > > > Are you interested in helping to work on NGU?  It looks like you are.
> > > > > How about if you write to karl@tux.org and offer to work with him?
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>