News from around the world
Kerala IT News reports that the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) was inaugurated on 24th February by Kerala’s Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan in Thiruvananthapuram. ICFOSS will focus on providing technical assistance for using FOSS to implement various government projects in Kerala in an endeavour to promote open source software. In […]
The Estonian Ministry of the Environment has saved millions of Euro over the past 10 years by using OpenOffice, the open source office suite, according to Meelis Merilo, the head of the Ministry’s IT department, in a news item posted on OSOR. Using the open source package has cost the Ministry no more than €64,000 […]
Why not make this February 14th a very special Valentine’s Day? On Valentine’s Day, FSFE calls on Free Software users everywhere to show their love for Free Software . It is the perfect occasion to show our love for Free Software and the possibility to use computers in freedom. On its campaign page , FSFE […]
Sexism in free and open source software (FOSS) culture has been increasingly discussed and documented over the past couple of years. However, little has been done about it. Moreover, the lack of women contributors to projects such as Wikipedia has been highlighted by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales (news passim) and in Australia, Collective Action is […]
One of the facts that came out of Jimmy Wales’ recent talk in Bristol (news passim) was that the majority of contributors to Wikipedia (aka ‘Wikipedians’) are male. Indeed, only 13% of current contributors are women. News now reaches the lab via Collective Action in Australia that a Women for Wikipedia campaign is running between […]
Debian News announces that next weekend, Debian developers and users from all over the world are organizing release parties for the release of Debian squeeze, which is due on the weekend of the 5th-6th February. For those interested in organising a local release party in their respective part of the globe, get cracking with the […]
News reaches the lab (hat tip: Lugbikaner) that Nigeria now has its own open source advocacy group called the Open Source Foundation for Nigeria (OSFON). According to OSFON’S website, its mission is The mission of Open Source Foundation for Nigeria (OSFON) is to promote and educate decision makers in government, educators, NGOs, businesses and citizens […]
OSOR reports that the Greek non-profit organisation ‘Free Software / Open Source Software’ (aka Ellak, in Greek) granted the northern Greek Municipality of Kozani four wireless access points and a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) line of 24Mb down/1Mb up in the town’s Lassanis square. Furthermore, Ellak undertook the installation, configuration, operation and technical support of […]
News reaches the lab that Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, the Linux operating system which we install on our refurbished machines, is organising a Developer Day on 27th January 2011 in Bangalore, India. The event will be held at Bangalore’s Leela Palace Kempinski Hotel. Ubuntu is different from other commercial Linux offerings that preceded it, […]
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is gathering information about the use of Free Software by the public sector in Europe. The information will help them to evaluate the current situation and will also be used to decide who will be the European Free Software Champion in 2012. The FSFE is asking public sector bodies […]
Just before Christmas, PCWorld.com ran an article speculating on the differences if the world ran its IT on secure Linux-based systems rather than insecure closed source proprietary operating systems. One reason for such speculation is that, for as long as we advocates can remember, it’s always been the next year that’s going to be the […]
OSOR informs us that open source moves are afoot in Portugal. Two of Portugal’s left-wing political parties want to make the use of open standards mandatory for the country’s public sector. On Friday, 10th December the Portuguese parliament will discuss two motions, filed by the Left Bloc, with sixteen of the 230 seats in the […]
Public administrations in Norway are increasingly turning to open source, says Martin Bekkelund, business developer at Friprog, the country’s open source competence centre. This year, all 19 county administrations are using some form of open source, compared to 76 per cent in 2005. Uses vary from server operating systems and content management systems to OpenOffice. […]
After three years of continuous running battles, India’s Department of Information Technology has finalised the country’s national policy on Open Standards. Over the last 3 years, it has worked with government, academic, civil society and the media to push the Indian government in favour of a policy that mandates a single, royalty-free standard. With this, […]
As previously reported (news passim), France’s Gendarmerie Nationale decided to review its IT infrastructure. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, now reports the force has upgraded 85,000 PCs to Ubuntu Desktop Edition, removing its reliance on the Microsoft operating system almost completely. As well as simplifying maintenance and improving ease of use, Ubuntu Desktop Edition is […]
Tomorrow, 18th September 2010, is Software Freedom Day. Software Freedom Day (SFD) was started by a group of FOSS believers, Matt Oquist, Henrik Omma and Phil Harper with the idea of distributing The OpenCD to everyone. Software Freedom Day is an international event with hundreds of teams from all around the world running local events […]
Today, 30th July 2010, the last Friday of July, is the 11th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. It’s a day to appreciate those people who look after your IT from unpacking new hardware from its box, installing operating systems, configuring said systems, fitting cabling and other infrastructure and basically dealing with anything afterwards that crops […]
Who said the following? Many authorities have found themselves unintentionally locked into proprietary technology for decades. After a certain point that original choice becomes so ingrained that alternatives risk being systematically ignored, no matter what the potential benefits. This is a waste of public money that most public bodies can no longer afford. Strong words, […]
This morning my inbox was graced by an email from the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) headed: ‘Bolzano, please don’t waste your money’. It refers to a recent decision by the Province of Bolzano-Bozen in northern Italy to spend € 2.2 mn. over the next 3 years renewing existing Microsoft proprietary licences and buying new […]
I wonder if any lawyers read these posts (probably, given your scurrilous style. Ed. 😉 ). If you fit the description of legal eagle, it’s time to take your hands out of somebody else’s pockets and grab some reading matter as Volume 2, No. 1 (2010) of the International Free and Open Source Software Law […]