For those who are #NewHere, I'd like share another aspect of #mastodon that brought many of us here much before the current wave. Mastodon is Free Software (sometimes called as Open Source or Free and Open Source Software). It means anyone is Free to use, study, modify and share the software. This means we are not dependent on any single entity (person, company, country...) and we can be self-reliant.
@praveen
He he. I don't think even 10% of the folks care. But then, like @balasankarc tells, കാറ്റുള്ളപ്പോ...
@akshay
Yes, many would be hearing these for the first time. They are all sharing what they are passionate about, we should too.
It should; I didn't interfere much with the working setup I had (it was on Mac OSX).
@mujeebcpy it is
@akshay and joice (is he here ?) They can give more insight
@mujeebcpy @akshay @wyatwerp @praveen
As of March2019 we @smc got this done https://blog.smc.org.in/malayalam-support-in-lyx/amp/
Trying to build this. there was a name mismatch in qt5 library. took lot of time to figure it out. now stuck at
`configure: error: cannot compile a simple Qt executable. Check you have the right $QTDIR.
` here
got compiled. installed these packages
1.) libqt5x11extras5-dev
2.) libqt5svg5-dev
3.) libice-dev
4.) qtbase5-dev
@praveen hi Praveen. I remember your talk from hackbeach about alternatives. Would be good for you to do a separate thread here right now because many from India are looking for big tech alternatives
by @nixxin @praveen there was a thread by @akhilvarkey yesterday
@nixxin @praveen why is that after only some big event people start to look for alternative, can't they make an informed decision right from the start?
Amusing to see the exodus after the twitter blocking. When many free software activist were ignored earlier it is only now people value privacy and freedom :)
Anyway, it is never late to learn, welcome to the fediverse.
I always mention Michael Corleone from Mario Puso's Godfather. He was not involved in the mafia activities till he got hit on the face by a police officer. Most people usually don't care as long some one they don't know is suffering. So when someone they know gets hit, they wake up. Same for #Scribus migration, it started when some news papers got fined by Adobe.
@raghukamath @praveen because of community. I first joined 6-8 months ago. People I'd like to follow weren't here. I didn't know whom to look for. Now many of them are. So I am too. Network effects
@nixxin @raghukamath @praveen People join a platform through their network, not for the benefits of the platform. Once they find out the disadvantages collectively, they'll move but would want to keep their network intact.. That is their prerogative.
Adding the following.
Mastodon is licensed under GNU AGPL, a free software license. Free refers to the freedom not the monetary value.
It doesn't prohibit any from selling the software with modifications made ( should provide the modified source code to whom you sell ) or setting it up on a server - providing it as a service and charge a fee.
Always be mindful of that when using the ad free, donation run, no fees charged instance you use.
https://mastodon.social/@akhilvarkey/103094607396268028
Some of you may think freedom to modify software is useful only for techies. I'd like share the story of #scribus, a page layout software replacement to Adobe PageMaker and InDesign. This software only supported English and other Latin languages initially. Then a programmer from Oman, Fahad Amar Salim All Saidi added support for #Arabic with funding from Oman government. Along with Arabic, this change brought support for all Indian languages. #FreeSoftware