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R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

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Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#21

Post by chris_wot »

RIP wrote: post #18
jacquesm wrote: post #3

Does anybody know what changes Atul Chitnis has caused in the open source world? Edit: the man has a wikipedia page, for the curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atul_Chitnis

@jacquesm, may I present the other side of the man? Readers can judge for themselves what upheavals he has caused: 1. He took over the Linux-Bangalore group and renamed it to foss.in in 2005. There was also another mailing list but those have been taken down now. http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug2/ http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug3/…

You wouldn't be the author of that blog by any chance?

I don't take kindly to "There is a strange relationship between bleeding heart westerners and some breeds of Indians" or "The westerners, burdened with guilt, tend to take any report from India at face value, and the Indians tend to only respect what is endorsed by the westerners".

I don't see any evidence from your links that he spoke to anyone's managers.

Frankly, I wonder what axe you have to grind and what side of the story hasn't been told by you.

Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#22

Post by anthonyb »

chris_wot wrote: post #21
RIP wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@jacquesm, may I present the other side of the man? Readers can judge for themselves what upheavals he has caused: 1. He took over the Linux-Bangalore group and renamed it to foss.in in 2005. There was also another mailing list but those have been taken down now. http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug2/ http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug3/…

You wouldn't be the author of that blog by any chance? I don't take kindly to "There is a strange relationship between bleeding heart westerners and some breeds of Indians" or "The westerners, burdened with guilt, tend to take any report from India at face value, and the Indians tend to only respect what is endorsed by the westerners". I don't see any evidence from your links that he spoke to anyone's managers. Frank…

Atul's response is much classier and gives a lot more background info: http://lawgon.livejournal.com/45791.html?thread=165855#t1658...

Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#23

Post by nikhilji »

ajju wrote: post #19
sandGorgon wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a large number of Indians who are using Linux today, that first encounter was through PCQuest magazine - which bundled every flavor of linux it could find in a DVD (along with a bunch of free software) and gave it away with the magazine. A lot of people I know started using OpenOffice after they first encountered it on PCQuest. He also founded and ran some of the biggest FOSS groups in India. RIP.

Actually it was a CD not a DVD, at least for a few years!

Yes, it was a Slackware CD that came with every copy of the PCQuest mag back in the 1995-1996 time frame. My first taste of Linux and more importantly, it satiated a thirst for hacking and knowledge. I still look back and recall fondly all the neat things I learned hacking Slackware. R.I.P. Atul.

Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#24

Post by tuxguy »

RIP Atul. I was hoping your spirit & enthusiasm will help you win the battle over cancer.

Thanks for your pioneering efforts to promote open source in India.

You were far too young to suffer such a tragic death. My thoughts are with your family & loved ones.

Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#26

Post by fakeer »

sandGorgon wrote: post #12
jacquesm wrote: post #3

Does anybody know what changes Atul Chitnis has caused in the open source world? Edit: the man has a wikipedia page, for the curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atul_Chitnis

For a large number of Indians who are using Linux today, that first encounter was through PCQuest magazine - which bundled every flavor of linux it could find in a DVD (along with a bunch of free software) and gave it away with the magazine. A lot of people I know started using OpenOffice after they first encountered it on PCQuest. He also founded and ran some of the biggest FOSS groups in India. RIP.

Couldn't agree more.

While in 1st year, I would, each month go to the market and buy last month's tech magazines mainly for software and those Linux distros. Now I am on X but I still have fond memories with playing and struggling with all those Linux distros.

When I recently saw his name in one of the news-letters somewhere I immediately checked whether he's the same guy I used to read in those magazines and I was glad to know he was.

RIP!

Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#27

Post by fakeer »

anthonyb wrote: post #22
chris_wot wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't be the author of that blog by any chance? I don't take kindly to "There is a strange relationship between bleeding heart westerners and some breeds of Indians" or "The westerners, burdened with guilt, tend to take any report from India at face value, and the Indians tend to only respect what is endorsed by the westerners". I don't see any evidence from your links that he spoke to anyone's managers. Frank…

Atul's response is much classier and gives a lot more background info: http://lawgon.livejournal.com/45791.html?thread=165855#t1658...

Agreed. But the accusations are not unfounded and he practically skirted the accusation and simply put a lot of jargon and misleading references and connections which Kenneth countered again in his "non-classy" style with no capitalization. Let's call a spade a spade when needed.

I still liked the guy, I knew these allegations. I read his articles while growing up, as I've mentioned above.

Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#28

Post by jbgreer »

I first traveled to India on business in the mid-90s. I had organized a Linux user group in my city and thought it might be fun to meet like-minded individuals in Bangalore on my first trip there. I reached out and contacted a local organizer who would turn out to be Atul Chitnis. He was a gracious and gregarious host. He organized a gathering during my visit; we met at his business (Exocore) and the traveled to a local pub where I spent the rest of the evening talking with him and many others about the impact of open source on their lives, their livelihood, and the world. We only left when they finally kicked us out of the pub after closing time. It is one of my favorite moments of that first trip.

Afterwords we remained periodically in touch, though I never saw him face-to-face again. I would usually write after hearing of his involvement in some new conference or having seen mention of him in some publication.

I am sorry to hear of his passing. He will be missed.

Re: R.I.P Atul Chitnis : The Man Who Changed the Open Source World

#29

Post by cnu »

chris_wot wrote: post #21
RIP wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@jacquesm, may I present the other side of the man? Readers can judge for themselves what upheavals he has caused: 1. He took over the Linux-Bangalore group and renamed it to foss.in in 2005. There was also another mailing list but those have been taken down now. http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug2/ http://kingsly.net/kingsly/Linux/bangalore/no-blug3/…

You wouldn't be the author of that blog by any chance? I don't take kindly to "There is a strange relationship between bleeding heart westerners and some breeds of Indians" or "The westerners, burdened with guilt, tend to take any report from India at face value, and the Indians tend to only respect what is endorsed by the westerners". I don't see any evidence from your links that he spoke to anyone's managers. Frank…

> You wouldn't be the author of that blog by any chance?

The author of that blog, "Kenneth Gonsalves" is dead for almost a year.

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