Dear Gunnar, Lennart, Hugo, Yong Peng and friends

Gunnar wrote:

Well, as they don't demand any pay for the CD anyway, I can't see what they have to lose.

If CSCD is to become an open source project, there is something they
must give up --- the ability to control. As far as I know, anyone can
freely take up the existing source code of an open source project to set
up a new project; it is perfectly legal to do so as long as the new
project is also open source. VRI would no longer have the proprietary
control over the project.

Lennart wrote:

> A couple of months ago i sent an inquiry to VRI proposing a similar idea. Unfortunately i did not get any response yet. This is a very good suggestion and i think everyone here would support such an endeavour.
>

Thanks, Lennart. As you said, we should try again.

Hugo wrote:

> I think this is a great idea, if needed, I can provide help setting up a Sourceforge project, or if they have questions regarding licensing,etc.
>

Thank you for your kind offer, Hugo. But I think our first task is to
persuade VRI to set the code free.

Yong Peng wrote:

> first of all, Gunnar is right to point out that the CSCD was freely distributed to anyone interested in the Pali Tipitaka. Only I am not sure if there is any more copies of the third version left. However,
> those days when you have to get a free copy from the distributor is over, i.e. with these CD-burners nowadays. ;-)
>

Sorry, I have failed to mention that I was not thinking of the financial
cost when I thought of making CSCD open source. Rather I have been
thinking of my own experience with CSCD.

As a closed source product, it is not free to modify even though freely
available. This fact has seriously hampered its usability. To mention
some from my experience:

1. CSCD is a windows-only software. So people using other platforms
cannot easily use it. I still remember the amount of time I have spent
trying to install it on Linux using Crossover Office. Nina once said in
a post of hers that she has to use the online version because she can't
install it on her Mac. (And those who can afford to have unlimited
access to the Net is still a minority)
1. There is a function for searching through all books or certain
categories but not for searching through a single book opened in the
window --- even web browsers have this function but CSCD does not.
2. The encoding of VRI Myanmar font is different from that of popular
Burmese fonts used in Burma. So we cannot edit the text in Burmese font
copied or saved to file. Of course, we can use macros to convert the
text, but I think this is a feature that should be available out of box.

Now, I am not complaining about a free gift. I just mean that we would
not have met those difficulties if CSCD had been open source. As you
know, the last version of CSCD was published in 1999, and the new
version is still in preparation. Such a delay is understandable when we
consider the amount of work involved. However, the glitches such as
mentioned above should have been solved by volunteers. And we can hope
to recruit volunteer work only if it is open source.

> I have indeed learnt elsewhere that VRI is preparing a newer version of CSCD, which I believe in another great meritorious task. I am not sure if the next version will still be free,

I think it would still be free. And I have reasons to think so.

VRI was founded by Mr. Goenka, who was born and brought up in Burma,
and who "discovered" Dhamma also in Burma. Accordingly, he has high
esteem for the Buddhist tradition in Burma. So I think he would maintain
what is good in that tradition.

When CSCD first came out, VRI was severely criticized by a famous
Burmese scholar for "taking credit for other people's work". However,
the Burmese people mostly appreciate and thank VRI for making a
contribution that they cannot accomplish themselves. They feel that VRI
is merely following in the footsteps of Burmese monks who have toiled
for several years to prepare Chattha Sangayana editions --- without
payment nor properly given credits (Have you ever seen any one
individually given credit in these editions? It doesn't mean credit due
to them has been stolen; it is just our tradition that no one is given
individual credit in a team work. Even the authors of Pali introductions
did not mention their names)

However, Burmese people would turn against VRI if they try to sell
something that Burma has given away for free. I think Mr. Goenka is too
good a man even to think of such a plan. In my opinion, VRI would have
to depend on donations to cover their costs --- it is also the Burmese way.

> but I would still look forward to it having better text formatting, improved clipboard functions, Unicode support, more contents, more and better utilities (such as the planned Pali-Burmese dictionary), and hopefully a Unicode font which include all the South Asian and Southeast Asian scripts.
>

How about platforms? I think they might give a version each for Windows
and Mac; we cannot hope much for other platforms.

And even a Unicode font cannot solve the Burmese font problem --- for
the present, at least. For Unicode-compatible Burmese fonts are still in
their infancy. There have been some scattered attempts to produce
Burmese input methods, but none of them are mature enough for public use.

In fact, ordinary computer users in Burma do not know even what an input
method is. Why? No company has cared to design a Burmese input method
even for Windows, and , until recent times, we have been lacking in the
necessary man power and resources to produce it on our own.

Therefore font designers in Burma have made fonts using ASCII encodings
of Roman script. It means that we use the English input method for
typing Burmese, and if we wish to type in English within a Burmese
document, we have to change the font. This approach has worked even
though non-standard, and, consequently, such fonts have been in wide
spread use for several years. Therefore, even if we can manage to get a
good Burmese input method now, it would take at least some years more
for the public to learn how to use it. In the meantime, we must still
live with those non-standard fonts.

In short, I'm sure Burma really needs an open sourced CSCD adapted to
her special circumstances, but I cannot speak for others. However, I
think countries such as Laos and Cambodia would be just like Burma in
this aspect.

> Bhante, your proposal is marvellous, but note that going Open-Source is not without its disadvantages.

Perhaps you mean the lack of control, and the danger of "forking"
projects. Or there may be other defects of open source that I'm not
aware of. Please let us know if there is any other disadvantage
applicable to the case of CSCD.

> By the way, how would you suggest we make a collective appeal?
>

In other words, who would bell the cat? Yes, you are right. In the real
world, we would collect signatures, but how can we do it on the Net? I
just can't think of a way. I'd like to make a request to you here, to
suggest a way and to help us organize a collective appeal.

with metta

Ven. Pandita