Wednesday, March 27, 2013

A Pledge for Document Freedom Day


Today is Document Freedom Day. Today is Phalgun Poornima, what we call in India the Festival of Colors, Holi. Today is the day when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born 500 years ago and spread the message of Krishna Consciousness. Today is also birthday of my wife Rachna (who has to often struggle with GNU/Linux) and my elder daughter Arundhati (who wonders why people do not use GNU/Linux and ODF?), and who was also born on Phalgun Poornima. Today is the birth of Amtron Informatics (India) Ltd, the entity which brought a new meaning to AMTRON in March, 2002 and paved the way for us to march on...

So many coincidences happen together once in decades.. So I thought why not write a pledge....

I, Mahendra Kumar Yadava IFS, do hereby solemnly resolve today on the holy day of the Document Freedom Day in the name of the 4 Freedoms (which for the uninitiated are Freedom 0 Freedom to use a software, Freedom 1 Freedom to change the source code of the software, Freedom 2 Freedom to distribute the software and Freedom 3 Freedom to distribute the software with changed code)

  • Pledge 0: That I shall always create editable documents only and only in ODF;
  • Pledge 1: That I shall always share editable documents with others only and   only in ODF ;
  • Pledge 2: That I shall persuade all those whom I know, to the fullest of my energy and conviction, to come on the virtuous path of the ODF and ODF alone;
  • Pledge 3: That I shall use in all situations under my control only and only GNU/Linux;
  • Pledge 4: That I shall persuade  all those whom I know, to the fullest of my energy and conviction, to  adopt in all their computing the all powerful GNU/Linux and only GNU/Linux;
  • Pledge 5: That I shall not touch even with a long pole anything unholy that is not ODF or not GNU/Linux.
May the 4 Freedoms that rule the Earth and Heaven keep the world free of all that is unholy that is not ODF or not GNU/Linux.

May the tribes of GNU/Linux rule the heart of all computing devices in all times to come...

Hail ODF!
Hail GNU/Linux!!
Hail Free Software Movement!!!

The Rules of the Pledge:
Rule 0:  The pledge will be administered by one who has pledged himself till Pledge 4
Rule 1:  The  person(s) taking the pledge must fully understand the intent and purpose of the pledge, and must be at least partially aware of the great powers of the 4 Freedoms and must be mentally prepared to tread the path of ODF and GNU/Linux
Rule 2:  The pledge can be administered publicly or in private
Rule 3:  The pledge can be freely translated in any language and dialect...
Rule 4:  The pledge can be administered on any day or night
Rule 5:  The pledge can be taken in parts starting from Pledge 0...
Rule 6:  Substitute " the holy day of the Document Freedom Day" by "this day of ......", as every day is auspicious to take pledge for ODF and GNU/Linux.
Rule 7:  Each one reciting the pledge may substitute "Mahendra Kumar Yadava IFS" with his/her name.
Rule 8: This pledge is released under GPL