Could you have put this another way?

Story: Somebody in India thinks they'll "Wrest Leadership in Open-Source Computing"Total Replies: 1
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raopm

Feb 11, 2006
7:23 PM EDT
The Indian Press focuses on the Indian part of any international phenomenon/event. The significance of the contribution is immaterial. They are given to hyperbole.

Let's keep that aside. You could simply have asked your readers to take the article with a pinch of salt.

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Firstly, I am rather disappointed with the content and tone of your editorial. I held you to higher standards than this.

I trust that your opinions regarding India, FLOSS and Indians (in general) are not immutable. That would be a pity.

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Here are a few glimpses of the FLOSS effort in India (or by Indians):

President Abdul Kalam on proprietary technology (during a visit by Gates) http://www.comminit.com/trends/ctrends2003/trends-136.html

Richard Stallman well received by President Abdul Kalam: http://www.gnu.org.in/node/25

RedHat India- Case Studies http://www.in.redhat.com/casestudies/

Localizing free software, for a free country http://indlinux.org/blog/

Reknowned Indian Technologist- Atul Chitnis http://atulchitnis.net/bio/

KDE Developer- Sirtaj Singh Kang http://sirtaj.net/projects/

Numerous such instances- One just has to want to find it.

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Lastly, a minor correction: The first time the general public became aware of Linux (FLOSS) was in 1996 (earlier in the case of academic institutions). Not 1999 as you incorrectly state. PC Quest (An Indian Computer Trade Magazine) distributed Linux in 1996. http://dxm.org/techonomist/01apr96.html

(And yes, we managed to get Linux running on our modest PCs back in 1996)

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Regards, Pandu
tadelste

Feb 12, 2006
6:48 AM EDT
Pandu: Hindsight is 20-20 and generalizations never work except when it comes to how the foreign press writes about Americans. Now, everything written about the imperialistic Americans is absolutely true. You shouldn't be disappointed with me, I'm an American and you know how we are.

But, I agree with you I could have taken another slant. The conventional approach to editorial writing says reflect the tone of the article you refute.

Does any of this change my love of India? No. Since the original article was absolute flame bait, I wanted to get you involved in the exchange. Silence about injustice is not the way to correct it.



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