Tag Archives: open source

Joomla Training by JUG Pune – 9th May

Events, , , , , ,

joomla-logoWhat: Joomla Training for beginners by Joomla User Group Pune
When: Saturday, 9th May. 11am to 1pm
Where: Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research, Atur Centre, Model Colony. Map.
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all to attend. You need to register here. The registration currently appears to be full, but if you are enterprising enough, I’m sure you can get registered even now

Details:

If you don’t know about the Joomla User Group Pune (JUG Pune), you’ve not been paying attention. They recently organized the very successful Joomla! Day India.

Now, for those who were always interested in Joomla! but were afraid to ask, JUGPune has organized a short training course introducing beginners to Joomla! The training will cover:

  1. Introduction to a CMS
  2. Key advantages of Joomla
  3. Creating pages and menus in Joomla
  4. Introduction to modules, plugins and components

Unfortunately, the registration page indicates that the registrations are full currently. But don’t let a little thing like a housefull stop you. I’m sure that if you are really interested, and if you pain the organizers enough, they’ll increase the registrations to allow you to register. The place to whine is the JUGPune mailing list, or even on twitter.

And as usual, keep an eye on the PuneTech calendar, because you don’t want to miss all the interesting tech events that happen in pune every week.

FREEconomics: The economics of free stuff

Money Matters, Overviews, , ,

GNUnify 09 LogoLast week, SICSR (Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research) hosted GNUnify, a conference on open source technologies, which attracted hundreds of students and other open source enthusiasts. Shirish has written a couple of posts on his blog about the talks he attended – read those to get a flavor of GNUnify (day 1, day 2). Usually, the presentations and discussions revolve mostly around the technology, but I decided to talk about not the technology, but about the economics of open source in particular, and free stuff in general.

If so much stuff is being given away for free, how is it sustainable? Programmers need to eat, even if they are immersed in the ideology of the free software movement. Businesses who give away free services exist for making money. So it is instructive to follow the money trail and look at who is paying for the free stuff, who is making money and how. As more of the business world is pushed towards free (whether they want to or not), it is important to understand the various fine points of the economics and sustainability of this situation.

I’ve embedded my presentation below. If you are not able to see it, you can download the PDF.

FREEconomics: The economics of Free Stuff

View more presentations from Navin Kabra. (tags: open free)

If you can’t see the slideshow above, click here to view it online, or download the PDF

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Mozilla for your business: Meet Seth Bindernagel and Arun Ranganathan of Mozilla – Sun, 15 Feb

External Visitors, , , , ,
Mozilla Foundation logo
Image via Wikipedia
  • Firefox
  • Firefox extensions as a business model?
  • Mozilla‘s mobile browser Fennec
  • JQuery and other such libraries – quick visual demos of what is possible
  • HTML5 & XHTML2 and W3C’s WebApps initiative
  • Localization
  • Emerging trends in JavaScript
  • The Bespin Web-based IDE – the google docs for code!
  • Exciting projects in Mozilla Labs

What to get first-hand information on any of these topics? Seth Bindernagel and Arun Ranganathan, Directors with Mozilla are in Pune this weekend, and we felt that Pune’s web-based businesses and web-developers should get a chance to interact with them to get an idea of the latest developments in the various products that Mozilla is involved in. There will be some presentations, and lots of time for Q&A.

What: Breakfast with Mozilla. Meet Arun Ranganathan, Mozilla Tech Evangelist, and Seth Bindernagel, Director of Localization for Mozilla
When: Sunday, 15 Feb, 9am to 1pm
Where:  Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research, Room 707, 7th Floor, Atur Centre, Model Colony. Map.
Registration and Fees: This event is free for all, but seats are limited. You must register at http://breakfast-with-mozilla.eventbrite.com/ (first-come-first-served).

Details:
9am-10am: Breakfast and Conversation
10am-1pm: A freewheeling, roundtable kind of discussion, loosely structured around the following:

  • Introductions of Seth and Arun. What we do, what we’d like to accomplish during our short stay in India, etc.
  • Introduction to the Mozilla Project (10 – 15 mins.). How we work, tools we use, etc. Brief history + discussion of our open source m.o.
  • Localization. *May* be able to demo Fennec, or mobile Firefox.
  • Extensions. Do the entrepeneurial community think extensions are a good model? Arun will also demo Personas. Essentially, discuss http://addons.mozilla.org/ and potential future directions.
  • Discussion about the Open Web. What do we mean by the Open Web? What tools, libraries, are available? Who supports it? What’s lacking? I’ll give demos of:
    • Libraries such as jquery — very brief, visual demonstrations about what can be done with it.
    • The Bespin IDE. It’s an open source project that we believe will alter how people think about web development 🙂 Essentially, discuss what web developers have been clamoring for, and what we’re doing to try and address that.
    • Discussion of video, and open codecs. Discuss 2D and 3D graphics capabilities that are being introduced into the web platform. Why use technologies like Flash? Why NOT use technologies like Flash?
    • What’s coming down the road? What should the platform be capable of? 3.5. Open discussion. What kinds of applications can be created on top of these tools? And, how can entrepreneurs and web developers help craft this direction?
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Lecture and Demo of SAGE Mathematical Software – 23 Jan

Events, ,
A three-dimentional wireframe plot of the unno...
Image via Wikipedia

What: A lecture and demonstration of SAGE mathematical software by Dr. K.K. Surendran
When: Friday, 23 Jan, 4:30pm
Where: Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana, 56/14, Erandavane, Damle Path, Off Law College Road, Pune
Fees and Registration: This event is free for all. No registration required

Details:
SAGE combines various open source mathematics software packages and seamlessly integrates their functionality into a common experience. Its aim is to create a Free Open Source equivalent to Magma, Mathematica, Maple and Matlab.

Sage can be used to study general and advanced, pure and applied mathematics. This includes a huge range of mathematics, including algebra, calculus, elementary to very
advanced number theory, cryptography, numerical computation, commutative algebra, group theory, combinatorics, graph theory, exact linear algebra and much more.

Sage was picked as the Hot Spot of the month in November 2008 by mathforum.org

The demo attempts to give a overview of SAGE with the aim of introducing mathematics students and teachers to appreciate the relevance of this wonderful open source software in contemporary mathematics education and research.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

An Introduction to Joomla! CMS

Overviews, Technology, , , ,

If you’ve been following the tech scene in Pune, you’d be aware of the tremendous success of PHPCamp Pune with over a 1000 registrants. One thing that quickly became clear during PHPCamp is the interest in having special interest groups for more specialized areas within PHP hacking – specifically Open Social, Drupal and Joomla!. To help you stay in touch, we asked Amit Kumar Singh, one of the primary movers behind PHPCamp, and behind the Joomla Users Group, India to give our readers an overview of Joomla! – what it is, and why is it so popular. This article is intentionally low-tech at our request – to give people just an quick overview of Joomla! If you want more details, especially technical deep dives, head over to Amit’s blog where he often has articles about Joomla!

Have you ever wondered how you can quickly build a website for yourself or your organization? If yes, then read on to find how you can do so.

What is Joomla!

Joomla! is a open source, content management system( CMS), written in PHP, licensed under GPL and managed by OSM Foundation .

Joomla is the English spelling of the Swahili word jumla meaning “all together” or “as a whole”.  You can read more about history of Joomla at wikipedia.

Well, in one word, secret to build websites quickly and easily is Joomla!. It takes the pain out of building and maintaining websites. It is designed and build to make managing websites easier for a layman.

Where to use

It can be used to build

  • Personal Websites
  • Company’s Website
  • Small Business Websites
  • NGO Websites
  • Online magazines and publications websites
  • School and colleges Websites

This is basically list of things that can be done with Joomla out of box.  Some of the core features of Joomla are

  • Article management
  • User registration and contacts
  • Themes
  • Search
  • Polling
  • Language support
  • Messaging
  • News Feeds and advertisement

If you need more, then you can easily extend Joomla to do lot more things and even use the framework to build some powerful applications. For example if you want to add additional fields to user registration form you can use community builder, if you want to put e-commerce shopping cart you can use vituemart, if you want to add forum you can use fireboard.

You can also see how others are using Joomla at Joomla sites showcase forum.

How to Extend

For me the best part of using Joomla is that it is very easy to customize and enhance. You can find extensions for your needs by simply looking in JED, just in case your need is really very unique then you can extend Joomla to suit your specific needs by writing simple components and modules.

If you get stuck while building something you can always find help from very active and helpful community members either at main Joomla Forum site or at Joomla User Group Pune.

About the Author – Amit Kumar Singh

Amit works as Technical Architect at Pune It Labs Pvt Ltd. He considers himself as a jack-of-all-trades related to technology, and trying to master PHP. Along with others he has started Joomla! Users Group Pune and is am part of un/organisers for PHPcamp, barcamp pune, opensocial developer garge, Joomladay. He has also created opensource plugins for Joomla, wordpress, jquery.

Calling all open-source product development companies

Miscellaneous, ,

Browne and Mohan, a global consulting firm is attempting a maiden research study on Open Source Product Development companies from India. So if you are aware of a company that develops some open source product (or offering open-source based productized offerings like SaaS) please get in touch with Browne and Mohan (ganapathy@browneandmohan.com or trmadanmohan@gmail.com). Please note, the report will be free to share and remix for all future studies and references. Also, this study is not supported by any vendors and all the costs are completely borne by Browne & Mohan only.

Sounds like a useful study, and the fact that the results will be made freely available (as in beer and as in speech) makes it a good effort to support. Also, a strong participation from Pune-based companies will benefit Pune’s visibility. So please participate, encourage others to participate, and forward this to your friends.

Additionally, we at PuneTech would love to feature such interesting companies and technologies on PuneTech – so get in touch with us too.

Here are more details of the Browne and Mohan study from TR Madan Mohan:

Open source products are a reflection of maturity of entrepreneurship and innovation in an economy. Understanding the status of open source product companies, their offerings, the challenges they are facing and how they are responding to the larger economic turmoil is important. Moreover, it is unfortunate the attention of media, researchers and analysts covering India is predominantly focussed on software services only. Little is known or published about the Open source products from India. Towards filling up this gap, Browne & Mohan, a global consulting firm is attempting a maiden research study on Open Source Product Development companies from India. The objective of the study is to highlight their product, the strategies adopted, growth options for these companies in international markets etc. Based on the extensive study, a report shall be released through a Creative Commons License. Hence, the report shall be free to share and remix for all future studies and references. Pl. note this study is not supported by any vendors and all the costs are completely borne by Browne & Mohan only. We expect the report and subsequent coverage benefit the Open Source Product Companies directly and the larger cause of innovation from India indirectly. A copy of the report shall also be sent to Punetech members.

We request Punetech members support and encouragement for this endeavor. ny company that has an open source product (those offering productised services such as SaaS) are the targeted audiences. Pl. forward the details of the companies you are aware of, including the email id’s of key contacts and help us speard the reach. Thank you for your support. Pl. forward the information to ganapathy@browneandmohan.com or mail to trmadanmohan@gmail.com

Thanking you in advance:

TR Madan Mohan

About Browne & Mohan

Browne & Mohan is a management consulting firm that employs integrated approaches to solve client issues. Browne existed as an independent consulting company till February 2008 registered in Toronto and keeping in with the growth of new partners it was rechristened as Browne & Mohan in March 2008. With offices in India, Dubai, USA, Canada and Singapore, we bring together multi-cultural expertise and best practices across countries, industries and verticals. With backgrounds in management, finance, KPO, legal, medicine, our consultants work in an environment which nurtures creative analysis and integrated approach to issues. Browne & Mohan team consists of thought leaders, industry experts and experiences professionals drawn from different industries. We pride in attracting entrepreneurial professionals who not only can “think out of a box”, but “walk the talk” driving the implementation. Indian arm of Browne & Mohan consists of former academic who had taught at prestigious Indian Institute of Management, consulting professionals, investment banking professionals, and heads of analytical research of large multinational companies. for more details see, http://www.browneandmohan.com.

Code Camp – A hackfest organized by PLUG

Events, , , , ,

What: A two-day hackathon, with (possibly) a focus on developing open-source and/or linux software
When: From 22 November 9am to 23 November 10am (overnight!)
Venue: Bhaskaracharya Prathishthan
Registration and Fees: This event is free and open to all. No registration required

Details

Code Camp is a 24-hour hackfest organized by the Pune Linux Users Group (PLUG). The idea is for a bunch of developers to get together and develop code, talk about code, answer each others’ coding questions on specific coding projects.

Code Camp is a new type of community event where developers learn from fellow developers. All are welcome to attend and speak. Code Camps have been wildly successful, and this one is  going to bring that success to Pune.

The Code Camp Manifesto consists of six points:

  • by and for the developer community
  • always free
  • community developed material
  • no fluff – only code
  • community ownership
  • never occur during working hours
Here are more details about Code Camp Pune in the words of one of the organizers:
Over the past 2 weeks a few of us have been working in the background to get things moving for the code camp. Initially we had decided to restrict the number of problem statements to 2. However we felt that by doing so we might end up keeping away quite a few potential participants. Hence we have decided to allow any number of problem statements to be tackled, as long as it is a serious effort.

There also seems to be a misconception that this is some sort of an ‘event’ that is being ‘managed’ by ‘PLUG’. Quite like the misconception the the ‘Government’ is responsible for running the ‘country’. This is not going to be an event where a few people will swoop down from different places and give you some gyan. This is an event where you, in your individual capacity, have to make things happen. This event is for you to get together with a few like-minded and come up with something constructive. The ‘organisers’ will just provide a few facilities and try their best to keep things from getting in the way of your main task. Things like creating a wiki to enable you to discuss. The wiki is at http://www.plug.org.in/wiki. You can follow the ‘Code camp’ link and see whether you find anything interesting. If you don’t find anything interesting, but have something interesting to propose to others, and have the drive to take it to the end, then you can add it to the wiki.

So, here are a few facts:

  • The Venue is confirmed: Bhaskaracharya Prathishthan
  • Dates: 22nd November 0900 hrs to 23rd November 1000 hrs.
  • Provision for overnight stay for at least 12 people has been confirmed (if you wish to hack away through the night)

Also, its improbable that you think of something a couple of days prior to the event and successfully finish it on the day. Generally a lot of groundwork is needed to even freeze on a good problem definition. I would suggest that anyone who is interested should start now. Start discussing on the wiki, start exploring, and start coding now. The idea is that on 23rd November we have something substantial, usable and useful to show. i wonder whether the ‘community’ is capable of doing that.

Azingo to raise Rs 200 cr for acquisitions in India

News, , , ,
LiMo FoundationImage by mtlin via Flickr

Azingo, a mobile platform development company, which provides a full Linux-based mobile stack, as well as services, (and which has a development center in Pune), is planning to raise Rs 200 cr in a Series-B funding from US-based private equity firm Garnett Helfrich Capital and a few other VCs.

Azingo, one of the core members of UK-headquartered LIMO Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to creating an open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices, helps the foundation’s 55 members, including nine tier-I operators like Verizon, Orange, SK Telecom and Soft Bank Mobile, to develop, integrate and tests its Mobile Linux software platform.

“Our Mobile Linux operating system is currently in the beta stage and we are in the process of commercialising the technology. The funds will be utilised to build applications for service and delivery to large operators and vendors, besides scaling up our workforce in India through the inorganic growth route,” Azingo’s chief executive officer Mahesh Veerina told Business Standard.

Veerina said they had identified a couple of companies in India and abroad that could bring in engineering talent, mobile application development, intellectual property IP or customer relations. It expected to wrap up the buyout deal in the next six to nine months. Azingo currently has 300 engineers working out of its Hyderabad and Pune centres. It will add close to 700 engineers in the country in the next one year.

Source Azingo to raise Rs 200 cr

Related articles by Zemanta
Zemanta Pixie

Upcoming Event: Python and Fedora Session

Events, , , ,
CPythonImage via Wikipedia

What: A detailed day-long session consisting of an introduction to Python, and opportunities for contributing to the Fedora project. Organized by LinuxChix Pune.

When: Sunday, 13 July, 11am to 5pm.

Where: RedHat office, Kalyaninagar

Registration: The event is free, but open only to the first 15 participants who register

Details:

Python Session by Ramkrsna

  • Instant Python :: Basically Teaching all of Python in the first Hour, before going deeper.
  • Lexcial Conventions and Syntax
  • Types and Objects
  • Operators and Expressions
  • Control Flow
  • Functions and Functional Programming
  • Classes and Object Oriented Programming
  • Modules and Packages
  • Input and Output
  • Execution Environments

A session on opportunities for volunteering at the Fedora Project, by Rahul Sundaram.

For more details see:
http://linuxchix.org.in/wiki/index.php/PunePythonSession

Please note, since the room has a maximum capacity for 15 people do ensure that you have your name
within the first 15. The names can be enlisted in the above mentioned page.

For further assistance, please do contact any of the following:

Runa Bhattacharjee (runa.misc at gmail dot com)
Smriti Garg (smritigarg87 at gmail dot com)
Shubhra Samnani (shubhra.samnani at gmail dot com)

Zemanta Pixie

Pune engineer honored as RHCE of the year

News, ,

From Red Hat News:

The achievements of Red Hat Certified Engineers (RHCEs) from around the world will be honored for the third-consecutive year at the upcoming Red Hat Summit, June 18 – 20 in Boston, Mass. RHCE of the Year awards will be granted to five individuals – one each from the United States, Canada, Asia-Pacific, India and Europe.

The RHCE of the Year award gives Red Hat an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of five extremely resourceful and capable individuals whose winning submissions highlight the value of the Red Hat certifications for the enterprise, the career and the community. The awards also recognize the contributions of our certified community as a whole. More than 500 RHCEs entered this year’s contest by answering the question: “why should you be considered RHCE of the Year?” in 1,000 words or less.

[…]

Anil Waychal, India’s winner, led his company’s efforts in migrating more than 350 systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The end result was a large cost savings and a significant boost for Suma Soft’s overall security.

Suma Soft is a Pune-based company that provides development and support services in web technologies and security.

Zemanta Pixie