Opening up to Change!

Open Source has been around for a long time now. Some of us have even been contributing to it, voluntarily or otherwise. Ever wondered about our roles in this revolutionary open world?

"What is open source?" is not the question that we intend to address in this issue of INDUS. A self-defined answer to this question and a sense of contributing to the entire world should get into our minds, so that we can make a difference, wherever possible.

Open source and proprietary streams of inventions are two realities we have to live with. We need to educate ourselves on how we can tread on the open source path. What is there for us to explore and gain from the "free world”? How can we make a difference to those users who use and develop open source software? These are surely some of the questions relevant at this juncture that need to be addressed.

When we started planning this issue, we had a lot of contradicting thoughts and apprehensions. There is not much information available about documentation in the open source; we do not have enough Technical Writers who specialize in this stream; getting authors to write is a problem. Still, we thought it would be challenging because of various reasons. There are some truly amazing products and technologies, about which we do not even know. There are some innovators and authors who have done excellent work to develop methodologies and tools to document open source products. A research into various open source documentation methodologies and tools available will surely break new grounds and trigger inventions in those minds that are always on the lookout for something new.

With these thoughts, we approached a few known authors to write for us. The initial reaction was very motivating. Within just a few days, Eric Raymond, Sam Williams, and Andy Oram -- to name a few-- responded. Most of them got back to us expressing interest to contribute something new to Indus. Others sent us some of their good works on the topic to choose from. It was indeed a fulfilling experience to interact with those we admire, and get to know how important we are for a community that is soaring to great heights in inventions.

The July issue of Indus is a tribute to all those open source pioneers who came forward to design a different future and create open skies where everyone has a stake. As a manifestation of our respect to those legends, we have the revolutionary pioneer Richard Stallman himself on the cover, educating us on the importance of open source documentation. Among others, Arnold explains the revolutionary single sourcing system called Texinfo, Andy lays out the priorities for Linux documentation, Sam unveils the idea of Wiki, and Aman tells us what copyleft is.

Hope you will enjoy reading them and be motivated to make a welcome difference to the open world.  Do give us your feedback on this issue. As one of the unique efforts in the world of technical communication, we have always been different and will continue to be.

Subash Babu and D Vijayalakshmi