Tuesday January 11, 2005 (02:00 PM GMT)
By: Ankit Malik
You run GNU/Linux. You play games on it, surf the Net, write documents, and edit pictures, and all for free, thanks to the multitudes around the world who contribute to the open source movement. Now it’s payback time — time to give back to the global fraternity giving you so much. Here are 10 ways you can help right now.
1. Thou shalt speak thy native language
Software worldwide is translated into a plethora of languages, yet some regions remain overlooked. Help create an indigenous version. Select a Unicode font, choose a bilingual dictionary, and translate. You can start with a small project and then move on to higher levels.
2. Thou shalt post bugs
No software is perfect. In spite of the developers’ best efforts, glitches appear. Some may be specific to your distro or platform. The next time you encounter a bug, post it at the developers’ Web site in the application’s bug tracking system or mail it direct to the developers. Time consuming? Maybe, but it’ll go a long way toward improving the software.
3. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself
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