We are back. After a long hiatus, we are wait--for--it--BACK. And we are sorry for the delay. But remember we are budding engineers (really?) and we needed some time to prepare for CAT, GRE,XAT and what not and submit our SOP and applications for MS/PhD programs abroad.
But most importantly we wanted a issue that was awesome, a masterpiece. After all this one was very close to our hearts. You ask why? Well there are very few things we value here at Renesa (including but not limited to hot chicks, chicken, bunks, booze) and this issue touched on the most important of them -freedom and a flat world.
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Click here to download the Howtos
Freedom of expression, freedom to do what we like as long it does not adversely affect others, freedom to write what we want in Renesa. Freedom is non negotiable if we are to progress. And a flat world enables people to share ideas and benefit from the ideas of others, it allows you explore opportunities anywhere in the world without any fear or hindrance. And we wanted an issue that cemented these concepts in the minds of our readers, made them think, made their aware of their freedom and most importantly how to guard it.
And that is why we have Richard Matthew Stallman, founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation, in Renesa this month. He is undoubtedly the most formidable, untiring champion for freedom. A crusade that started with writing a non-proprietary UNIX for PDP -7 has now grown into a worldwide movement. The GNU Compiler Collection(GCC), the GNU Debugger, Emacs all owe their existence to this one man. He has alone written more and better code than what team of developers can accomplish. From software, his crusade for freedom has moved on to other creative areas like music, movies, work of arts and literature and now encompasses freedom in every aspect of human life. A mere glance at this personal page on http://www.stallman.org will give you a list of cause he espouses.
Stallman's piece is supported by our Cover Story, "Is the Future Free?", where we take you to 2050 (don't worry no Love Story 2050 here) and show you the perils of not being vigilant about your freedoms. The Hindi Cover Story talks about great Free and Open Source replacements to proprietary software. A must read.
In "Walk When You Talk", we have Prof D.B Naik the head of the Training and Placement Division talking to us on the current placement scenario in our college and answering that one question that (sadly) lingers on the minds of every engineering student from their first day in college, "JOBS?". Also read the adjoining piece on placements and the placements experiences so far from the final year. Third years, this one's for you. Faculty Speak features Prof D.C Jinwala who talks to us about the need of free software and open source and our own initiatives in that regard.
"Should Gujarat remain a dry state?", a question asked by many including Vijay Mallya. And this is what we talk about in View-Counerview. The Op-ed this time features a personal experience of Sanchit Suman and is a must read. TechChase will give you the low down on the Fighter Jets being considered for Medium Range Multi Role Combat Aircraft deal worth $126 Billion. We talk about the aircrafts, their pros and cons, and then provide our own judgment on the matter.
Jack n Jill features Chetan Dahal and Priyanka Agarwal while Lolzz digs deep into the status-o-sphere and classifies people on their status messages. We also get into Politics this time with an analysis of the Babri Demolition and the riots that followed. The most significant Indian scientific feat of the decade, the discovery of water on the moon has been featured.
Also check out Rumour Mill to find the goss and whos with whom. The Tree Speaks has been enlarged this time. Have fun.
Since it was all about freedom, the ACM Student Chapter teamed up with Renesa to deliver 2000 OpenSolaris CDs, courtesy Sun Microsystems(errr...Oracle). We hope everyone got their CDs and those who did not can ask ACM members for their copy. More information and downloads will soon be made available at http://www.svnit.edu.in/acm/foss . Also ACM guys have asked us to provide you with the
Howtos on Installing OpenSolaris. So here they are, pretty descriptive with screenshots for every step. You shouldn't have much of a problem installing OpenSolaris after this. The ACM Chapter guys and Renesa would specially like to thank Kumar Abhishek from Sun Microsystems for providing them with the CDs.
We also wanted to include NewSense and Ubuntu CDs but were unable to do so due to financial constraints.
Do provide us with your feedback.
