Need Kochi / Palakkad web-posting

Dear people,

Palakkad asked 2 -3 questions ( sorry, not quoted, was deleted ).

Thank you for your welcome, and questions as well.

The answer goes something like this:
a) From your first question i gather you ask not only for yourself but
as the voice for
many with a "we" making Palakkad a singular ( all are one ? ).  i note
this because i
have to answer your second question.  But i certainly do not expect
all from Palakkad to
be involved in this effort.


Decidedly the proposal is a difficult one to frame and to achieve,
given that we are
30-years behind in a technology that moves "100 medieval years in one
modern year",
especially given that someone from Kerala had developed needed
material as a first that
many years ago at least.  ( The history is not being detailed here ).


Do i need programming help ?  Yes.  Will a Malayalam Linux entail such
?  Yes.  Always.
Will we need a LOT MORE than that ?  Yes.  Translators, community
users, training
specialists, business and marketing people, user application
specialists, money, computers,
and so on, down the line, assuming it ever takes off.  Participants
could be non-Plus from
say Kozhikode, or Mumbai, etc.


There are a lot of pitfalls.  Basic assumptions.  Team and group
formation.  Conflict
avoidance.  Enormous cultural differences at the technical and human
level.  Lack of
technical and resource needs.  And a certain large company more than
ready to kill us off.
There is much to look forward to:  new technologies, operational and
technical cohesion
and devleopment ( across Kerala, even India ), joy and pride in
Malayalam and being Malayali.


You can get some idea of how difficult things will be by trying a Red
Hat install,
and choose say Tamil, or some other India language.  So why are we
trying this difficult
thing when we know English ?  On the other hand over the last 200 -
300 years all the big
industrial powers are quite used to technology in their own language. 
If the people
are to be served, only we aren't even close, or trying very hard about it.


The proposal becomes visible only when we put it up ( in Malayalam ).
Your reply is a first encouraging step in that direction.



b) About me, the idea is from myself, not a group.
About you ( Plus ), [ also Kochi & other fsugs, lugs, etc.], please
note that no "we" matters,
because individuals create, build and achieve.  Individuals join the
effort based on
ability, interest, etc.  We are blessed that we have tools like the
Internet, computer
communications etc. to be in touch.  There is a "we" because these
individuals become a
cooperating team.  There is yet another "we" because all of us become
commentators, users,
and provide inputs.  These inputs might be a web-site, technical
talent, money, resources,
time, etc.  Then we start to make new developments and demands, and
much more, and all this is for some kind of Malayali "us" ultimately,
even an India "us".



c) i now ask you ( Plus and Kochi ): Do you have a way to computer
communicate in Malayalam ?
This question is asked two ways: With Internet, and without Internet. 
You could kindly
answer me individually or on the list mail using a subject line like
"Malayalam fonts".
You might mention your best fonts, the free fonts ( and your preferred
download site ),
best application(s) for e-mail, for just typing or for complex
operations that use
Malayalam.


The current sad state is that Red Hat ( Linux, Kernel 2.11-6...i686 )
doesn't even show
Malayalam language support though 5-other India languages are shown. 
Likewise on the
install option.  Meanwhile i imagine we all know that Microsoft has
released Malayalam
from 2004 onwards.  i don't have data on how many people anymore use
Leap ( word-processing ) that came out of GoI efforts through CDAC,
etc.


i see that all of you are merrily operating in English -- so Malayalam
couldn't be too
important.  i wonder who would join this Malayalam Linux effort ?



d) Currently Kochi and Palakkad are the dissemination ( put up notices
) / activation
points assuming we actually do so.  i notice that from Triv, Kottayam,
Kozhikode the
resources are so weak ( sorry folks there ) that they merely have chat
mail-lists on
"yahoo, geocities" servers.  But i could post notices there too if you
tell me that there
are technical specialists there who might be interested or want to join.



e) These more recent comments having come in, here are the answers
     <[email protected]> Mon, Feb 27, 2006 at 5:54 PM
> ..It would be great to work with these teams. If your ideas are something different
> then of course we can go ahead with these plans.
>    http://indlinux.org/
>    http://debian-in.alioth.debian.org/

i shall look there.  But i know what is going on.  These ideas ( of
mine ) are decidedly
different.


      <[email protected]> Mon, Feb 27, 2006 at 5:55 PM
> 1.What you need -we have to transalate or have to program?
> 2.Or you need a space to have your web/project hosted
> 3. Ph.D in what Malayalam or Computer any how I dont think that Ph.D. is one a bit and its
some thing GB or TB...

1. answered in the main note.  Basically plenty of both.
2. nice to have a space within Mallu locations as a starter.
3. Didn't understand the question or the English very well.  It is a
Ph.D. in Computers.

Yours sincerely, Sankaran.  End.