KSEB ready to discard Oruma?

[V. Sasi Kumar]

It seems KSEB is planning to discard the Free Software based billing
system they developed in-house. This seems to be based on the advice
given by their consultant for building the billing system for HT
consumers. We need to do something about it soon. I shall try to send
more details soon.

Best
Sasi

--
V. Sasi Kumar
Free Software Foundation of India
http://swatantryam.blogspot.com

[Rajeev J Sebastian]

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 8:16 AM, V. Sasi Kumar <sasi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It seems KSEB is planning to discard the Free Software based billing
> system they developed in-house. This seems to be based on the advice
> given by their consultant for building the billing system for HT
> consumers. We need to do something about it soon. I shall try to send
> more details soon.

Whats the difference ... doesn't seem like Oruma is available for
download anywhere.

Regards
Rajeev J Sebastian

[ashik salahudeen]

Sasikumar sir, if you can send us details, then we can try to
coordinate a state wide Foss user group effort to bring this to media
attention, as well as appeal to our ministry.

--
aashik

Mandatory Quote: "My one purpose in life is to serve as a warning to
others."  --  Jamie Zawinsky

Free your documents, use OpenOffice: http://openoffice.org and LaTeX :
http://www.latex-project.org/

[Kenney Jacob]

Waiting for the reasons as to why the consultant gave such an advice. 

Kenney

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 8:16 AM, V. Sasi Kumar <sasi...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Mon, 2010-07-12 at 11:12 +0800, ashik salahudeen wrote:
> Sasikumar sir, if you can send us details, then we can try to
> coordinate a state wide Foss user group effort to bring this to media
> attention, as well as appeal to our ministry.

Yes. I will send details soon.

[V. Sasi Kumar]

As you all know, there are two billing systems: for low tension
consumers like us and for high tension consumers like industries. The
billing system for LT consumers was the one built in-house on GNU/Linux,
called Oruma. This is now deployed all over the state and has been
working without any problem for one year. The billing system for HT
could possibly have been built by modifying Oruma, but for some unknown
reason, this is being contracted to some private company.

The request for proposals had apparently *mandated* FOSS platform. The
HT billing system is being implemented under the APDRP (Accelerated
Power Development and Reform Programme) of the Government of India. The
consultant for this programme is one Feedback Ventures ("India's Leading
Integrated Infrastructure Services Company"). There was only one
company, Omne Agate, that could meet the requirement of FOSS ( and,
obviously, this had to be somehow shot down. The Manorama story becomes
relevant in this context.) It seems the Manorama story did not succeed
in doing what it was expected to do. So Feedback Ventures said that
though Omni Agate is compliant on FOSS, it has proposed a large number
of applications which would be custom built for KSEB. This may be
fraught with high risk since this is a time bound program and timely
implementation is vital. Interestingly, though FOSS was a mandatory
requirement, they recommended that this may be put up to the board for a
"final" decision. The Board decision was that all the bidders be asked
to give an undertaking that thier solution would be accessed and
operated on a FOSS environment.

Originally, it seems, Omne Agate was given 37/50 for their technical
evaluation. But when it was found that they were the only company that
fully met the RFP, including the mandated FOSS, their score was reduced
to 33.5. Since a minimum of 35 was required to survive in the technical
round, they were got rid of.

I understand that the RFP, apart from mandating FOSS, had said that the
firm should provide KSEB 'unlimited license for unlimited period'. Now
it is 150 licenses for 5 years.

I am told that the work is already awarded but the contract is not yet
signed. So we need to act quickly.

[ashik salahudeen]

Interesting, and devious I would say. I think it would be good to
list out what can be done by fsug about this.

--
aashik

[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Mon, 2010-07-12 at 19:19 +0800, ashik salahudeen wrote:
> Interesting, and devious I would say. I think it would be good to
> list out what can be done by fsug about this.

Of course, one thing to do would be to write letters to the Electricity
Minister and the Chief Minister. Apart from the question of violation of
policy, I think we should also point to the possible corruption
involved. It is not clear why they would want to eliminate Oruma that is
working without problems for the last one year. We cannot say that we
know this is how things are happening simply because we don't know for
sure. We don't have any records with us, either. But we can certainly
say that we have come to learn that this is happening and that it has to
be looked into. We may later think of going to the media.

[ashik salahudeen]

Here is a wiki page for the letter

http://www.fosscommunity.in/wiki/Letter_to_Cheif_Minister_of_Kerala_Regarding_Oruma

We seem to be doing this quiet often :) , but the situation demands
it. Editing the letter can be done collaboratively on the wiki, but
the actual posting of the letter needs somebody to take a printout and
posting this to CM's office and Electricity Minister's Office by
registered speed post. It will cost money, which I am ready to refund.
Can anyone volunteer to do this once we finish the letter ?

Please don't let this be a meaningless discussion here on the mailing
list. We need to take action, and do it fast.

--
aashik

[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Mon, 2010-07-12 at 20:09 +0800, ashik salahudeen wrote:
> Here is a wiki page for the letter
>
> http://www.fosscommunity.in/wiki/Letter_to_Cheif_Minister_of_Kerala_Regarding_Oruma

I have added some text there. I request members to see and modify, if
needed.

[Ashik Salahudeen]

Are we being inactive on a critical issue again ? It is sad to note that there
are not many people taking interest in such a development.

Sasi sir, I read through the letter,and thanks for writing it. I do not know
if anyone will volunteer to get a print out and post it to the CM.

FSUG-tvm has always been an example to other FOSS groups when it comes to
voicing opinions on important free software related issues such as this. The
lack of response on this is saddening.

--
aashik

[Harisankar P S]

Can we see the code somewhere, if its the quality of the software then maybe the FOSS Community can help improve it.....

[Anish A]

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 9:53 PM, Ashik Salahudeen <aas...@gmail.com> wrote:

Are we being inactive on a critical issue again ? It is sad to note that there
are not many people taking interest in such a development.

I am attaching the full letter, ready to print. the fields can be filled and anyone can forward that via speed post. I have gone through the draft and fixed some spelling mistakes.

--
Regards,
Anish A

http://identi.ca/aneeshnl

[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 00:04 +0530, Harisankar P S wrote:
> Can we see the code somewhere, if its the quality of the software then
> maybe the FOSS Community can help improve it.....

It is not the quality of the code that has been a problem. The software
has been in use all over the state for about one year now and there has
been no problem. It was developed in-house and had become a model to be
proud about. Now the move seems to be to replace it with something
created at a high cost by some company in the name of "compatibility"
with the new software being created for HT users. Interestingly, this
seems to be happening when the engineers who built Oruma are in the
process of enhancing it to enable it to be networked. Right now, Oruma
works on stand alone machines.

To clarify, the software Oruma itself is not published. Not that the
people involved are unwilling to publish it under GPL. They feel that it
is customised for KSEB, and it would not be of much use for someone
else. Oruma was built by KSEB engineers on GNU/Linux and uses all Free
Software. The one proposed for HT consumers is supposed to be based on a
number of non-free resources like database. And the advice from the
consultant is apparently for one such piece of software to replace
Oruma.

[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 00:23 +0800, Ashik Salahudeen wrote:

> Sasi sir, I read through the letter,and thanks for writing it. I do not know
> if anyone will volunteer to get a print out and post it to the CM.

Is there a soft copy of the letterhead of FSUG-Tvpm? If there is, I can
take a printout and send the letter.

[Kenney Jacob]

To clarify, the software Oruma itself is not published. Not that the
people involved are unwilling to publish it under GPL. They feel that it
is customised for KSEB, and it would not be of much use for someone
else

So there is no option for a third party audit to ensure quality. 

Kenney

--

[ranjith s kumar]

Good work done by aashik and sasi sir Why such a luck-warm response from the community? reasons may be 1. Oruma is just another proprietary(property of KSEB ,might not be licensed??)software working in Gnu/linux platform 2. In my opinion Gnu/linux in just a choice (low cost) for them , they appreciate the software not ideology. 3. If KSEB is ready to share there codes in some Freedom Software licensing, then that is property of community and they resist any movement to sabotage that. (at least they can set a time line like Jan 2012 etc..) 4. their contention that no body else have interest in it is not convincing. The students do have academic interest to look in to ,how a good and proven billing software works, and others too. So far the efforts and pain taken by the KSEB employees are commendable from the view point of a ordinary citizen but not convincing enough in perception of a freedom software enthusiast.  My desire is that we should reach in position to exhort the world that one of the publicly funded organisation in our state have developed a freedom software working in Gnu/Linux and successfully implemented and running hassle free. Then that will a land mark in the history of freedom software in the country. with regards. Ranjith S. Kumar,Lecturer In Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College,Barton Hill,Thiruvananthapuram -35,Mob.9447295213

[V. Sasi Kumar]

I partly agree with Renjith. My agreement is in the point that KSEB
should publish the source. However, I am told that they are not averse
to this idea. Apparently, they didn't think this would be of use to
anyone else, so they did not publish it. I guess we can ask them to do
so.

My understanding of how they got to write their own software shows that
they are also aware of the philosophy of Free Software and do agree with
it. In fact, they were not familiar with the technology and had to
undergo training in GNU/Linux to develop the software. I am sure that
many in the team will be demoralised if Oruma is thrown out in favour of
something that is non-free. Perhaps, this is an opportunity for the
community to tell them the importance of publishing the source under GPL
and becoming part of the community.

Best
Sasi
PS: It would be good if members posted in plain text. Posts in html make
it difficult to post responses in-line.

[ashik salahudeen]

So what does the community say on this ? Post the letter ?

[Anish A]

Yes. We should post it immediately. I think the letter is ok. It is
proof read, and i have corrected some mistakes.

The soft copy of letter head is available in the press release of
ubuntu release party.

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[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 20:48 +0800, ashik salahudeen wrote:
> So what does the community say on this ? Post the letter ?

I have posted the letter to the CM and a slightly modified one to the
Electricity Minister. Let us see if something happens.

Best
Sasi

[Nishan Naseer]

On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 7:53 AM, V. Sasi Kumar <sasi...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 20:48 +0800, ashik salahudeen wrote:
> So what does the community say on this ? Post the letter ?

I have posted the letter to the CM and a slightly modified one to the
Electricity Minister. Let us see if something happens.

Best
Sasi

Posting copies to different media houses might be a good idea.

Nishan

[V. Sasi Kumar]

On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 08:08 -0700, Nishan Naseer wrote:
>
> Posting copies to different media houses might be a good idea.

I think let us wait for a couple of days and see what happens. I used
the letterhead in the list page, but we don't have an address for
getting replies. Yet, we may be able to find out whether our letter
makes an impact. Since this government has been responding to our
appeals positively, I thought let us not make it a controversy right
now. If nothing happens, we can try to go to the media.