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Evan Leibovitch | 4 Dec 2003 08:20

[OS:N:] Linux <at> WSIS conference in Geneva next week

This it hasn't received much press in the US, next week the city of Geneva 
will host two major global IT conferences.

The first, the World Summit on the Information Society, is sponsored by the 
United Nations and the International Telecommunications Union. It brings 
together delegations from every country to try to reach consensus on global 
IT issues, especially related to the greater use of IT in lesser developed 
countries.

http://www.itu.int/wsis/

A second parallel conference, ICT-4D (Information and Communications 
Technology For Development) invites participation from non-profit groups, 
NGOs and (to a small extent) vendors.

http://www.ict-4d.org/Marketplace/en/default.htm

Amongst the issues being debates at WSIS and ICT4D is the growing use -- 
and government endorsement -- of open source. The Linux Professional 
Institute will be at the conference, with a booth at the ICT4D Forum 
(#502), a workshop on creating open source infrastructures, and a 
certification exam lab (where people may take LPI certification exams at no 
cost).

If you're going to be in Geneva we hope to see you there. If not we 
encourage you to learn about this conference, the outcome of which will 
affect inter-governmental relations on IT issues such as Internet 
regulation and intellectual property rights.

http://www.lpi.org/en/wsis.html
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Jeremy Hogan | 15 Dec 2003 19:27
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[OS:N:] How to Misunderstand Open Source Software Development

How to Misunderstand Open Source Software Development by Tom Adelstein

"How does one explain a "bad rap", especially one that isn't deserved?
Open Source Software development suffers from widespread
misunderstandings in the media from myths, false claims and
disinformation. As a commercial software program and development
manager, I view Open Source Software methods as simply a way to build
applications. It happens to be the most efficient one. 

Companies spread falsehoods about Open Source methods of development out
of fear that it threatens their revenue stream. I saw this first hand in
a Senate committee meeting when a member of the BSA testified against a
Bill I supported. Others simply conjure up images of wild-eyed hackers
breaking into computer systems and writing bugs. Simply put, anyone
under that impression suffers from hysterical propaganda.

"I learned my stock and trade when we wore expensive suits and polished
our lace-up shoes. Anyone who has seen my computer labs knows that we
manage them professionally, securely and properly. We also deploy Open
Source and Standards-based methodology. We put out quality products and
do so using quality management and continuous improvement. None of this
should seem strange to professional business people.

This article intends to clear up some misconceptions and can help people
transition from a closed development environment into an open one that
shortens time to market while cutting costs. I would like you to walk
away from reading this article with the notion that Open Source Software
bears a mark of professionalism..."

(more)
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Jeremy Hogan | 16 Dec 2003 22:08
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[OS:N:] Richard Stallman on the World Summit on the Information Society

This is an essay from Richard Stallman on the Geneva World Summit on the
Information Society Evan posted a week or so ago.

"The World Summit on the Information Society is supposed to formulate
plans to end the "digital divide" and make the Internet accessible to
everyone on Earth.  The negotiations were completed in November, so the
big official meeting in Geneva last week was more of a trade show and
conference than a real summit meeting.

The summit procedures were designed so that non-governmental
organizations (mainly those that promote human rights and equality, and
work to reduce poverty) could attend, see the discussions, and comment. 
However, the actual declaration paid little attention to the comments
and recommendations that these organizations made.  In effect, civil
society was offered the chance to speak to a dead mike.

The summit's declaration includes little that is bold or new.  When it
comes to the question of what people will be free to do with the
Internet, it responds to demands made by various governments to impose
restrictions on citizens of cyberspace. 

Part of the digital divide comes from artificial obstacles to the
sharing of information.  This includes the licenses of non-free
software, and harmfully restrictive copyright laws.  The Brazilian
declaration sought measures to promote free software, but the US
delegation was firmly against it (remember that the Bush campaign got
money from Microsoft).  The outcome was a sort of draw, with the final
declaration presenting free software, open source, and proprietary
software as equally legitimate.  The US also insisted on praising
so-called "intellectual property rights."  (That biased term promotes
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Kevin Verma | 19 Dec 2003 21:59

[OS:N:] Learning curve of open source ?

Hello Everyone,

During April-May 2003, I had an opportunity to perform as a training
consultant for Red Hat India, on the famous project of Rajiv Gandhi
Shiksha Mission (RGSM). RGSM is owned and run by Madhya Pradesh Govt.,
of India.

This was a bit customized solution based on RH8 to be deployed for
computer based education using Open Office presentations, Draw and
presentations and lectures made in Macro media Flash. My job was limited
to technical trainings of the initial support and teaching staff of
RGSM.

I am proud to say that RH India did a wonderful job well planning &
delivering the solution along the technical and non-technical trainings
and hard worked study material, throughout Madhya Pradesh. So did RGSM
preparing all the presentations and lectures for their school lectures. 

My own direct feedback from all those close to 150 folks is that they
were well satisfied and learned, and their commitments and dedication 
to wards the use of open source software, surprised and turned me emotional lot.

The project co-coordinator, and trainees liked this implementation so
much that they began discussing the future of this project as computer
education but of Linux based operating systems and software. Thats quite
positive perspective and the work is in progress. 

This is a happy project ending for all and lot more to begin. But I have
few self doubts:
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Kevin Cole | 23 Dec 2003 18:18
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[OS:N:] Re: [yhslug] Microsoft's Linux Survey makes the news

I'm forwarding my response to a Yorktown High School LUG posting:

On Tue, Dec 23, 2003 at 09:25:59AM -0500, relph <at> ibiblio.org wrote:
> I'm not sure if you guys saw this on Slashdot over the weekend or not, but
> check it out:
> http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/21/1655257&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=109&tid=185&tid=187

As at least a couple of Slashdot users have said, I'm suspicious of
their motives.  In particular the question on the survey regarding
"improvements you'd like to see in Linux".  While there certainly are
some, I see answering that question as just giving Microsoft
ammunition for further FUD.  (And since we now have a wolf in the
fold, I decided not to send this to the entire YHSLUG list.)  They
don't need a survey.  All they need to do is LOOK AROUND THEM.
There's no secret to why Linux users prefer Linux.  (Heck, Microsoft
could ask their own in-house developers and probably get a good
answer.)
--

-- 
 Kevin Cole                    |  Key ID: 0xE6F332C7
 Gallaudet University          |     WWW: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/~kjcole/
 Hall Memorial Bldg  S-419     |   V/TTY: (202) 651-5135
 Washington, D.C.  20002-3695  |     FAX: (202) 651-5746

_______________________________________________
Subscription and Archive: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/open-source-now-list/
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For K12OS technical help join K12OSN:
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Access Systems | 23 Dec 2003 18:58

Re: [OS:N:] Re: [yhslug] Microsoft's Linux Survey makes the news

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003, Kevin Cole wrote:

all I get is redirected and redirected until my redirection limit is
reached..never accessed either one.

Bob
> I'm forwarding my response to a Yorktown High School LUG posting:
> 
> On Tue, Dec 23, 2003 at 09:25:59AM -0500, relph <at> ibiblio.org wrote:
> > I'm not sure if you guys saw this on Slashdot over the weekend or not, but
> > check it out:
> > http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/21/1655257&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=109&tid=185&tid=187
> 
> As at least a couple of Slashdot users have said, I'm suspicious of
> their motives.  In particular the question on the survey regarding
> "improvements you'd like to see in Linux".  While there certainly are
> some, I see answering that question as just giving Microsoft
> ammunition for further FUD.  (And since we now have a wolf in the
> fold, I decided not to send this to the entire YHSLUG list.)  They
> don't need a survey.  All they need to do is LOOK AROUND THEM.
> There's no secret to why Linux users prefer Linux.  (Heck, Microsoft
> could ask their own in-house developers and probably get a good
> answer.)
> 

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve Neither liberty nor safety",    Benjamin Franklin
-   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
   ASCII Ribbon Campaign                        accessBob                       
    NO HTML/PDF/RTF in e-mail                   accessys <at> smartnospam.net
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Kevin Cole | 23 Dec 2003 19:13
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Re: [OS:N:] Re: [yhslug] Microsoft's Linux Survey makes the news

On Tue, Dec 23, 2003 at 12:58:08PM -0500, Access Systems wrote:

> all I get is redirected and redirected until my redirection limit is
> reached..never accessed either one.
> 
> Bob

Strange.  With Mozilla 1.5 under RH 9 Linux, both surveys came right
up for me.  (I also have Privoxy 3.0 running.)

> On Tue, 23 Dec 2003, Kevin Cole wrote:

> > I'm forwarding my response to a Yorktown High School LUG posting:
> > 
> > On Tue, Dec 23, 2003 at 09:25:59AM -0500, relph <at> ibiblio.org wrote:

> > > I'm not sure if you guys saw this on Slashdot over the weekend
> > > or not, but check it out:
> > > http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/21/1655257&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=109&tid=185&tid=187
> > 
> > As at least a couple of Slashdot users have said, I'm suspicious
> > of their motives.  In particular the question on the survey
> > regarding "improvements you'd like to see in Linux".  While there
> > certainly are some, I see answering that question as just giving
> > Microsoft ammunition for further FUD.  (And since we now have a
> > wolf in the fold, I decided not to send this to the entire YHSLUG
> > list.)  They don't need a survey.  All they need to do is LOOK
> > AROUND THEM.  There's no secret to why Linux users prefer Linux.
> > (Heck, Microsoft could ask their own in-house developers and
> > probably get a good answer.)
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Access Systems | 23 Dec 2003 20:59

Re: [OS:N:] Re: [yhslug] Microsoft's Linux Survey makes the news

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003, Kevin Cole wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 23, 2003 at 12:58:08PM -0500, Access Systems wrote:
>  
> > all I get is redirected and redirected until my redirection limit is
> > reached..never accessed either one.
> > 
> > Bob
> 
> Strange.  With Mozilla 1.5 under RH 9 Linux, both surveys came right
> up for me.  (I also have Privoxy 3.0 running.)

hmmm, I was using RH9 but minicom and Lynx

Bob

> 
> > On Tue, 23 Dec 2003, Kevin Cole wrote:
> 
> > > I'm forwarding my response to a Yorktown High School LUG posting:
> > > 
> > > On Tue, Dec 23, 2003 at 09:25:59AM -0500, relph <at> ibiblio.org wrote:
> 
> > > > I'm not sure if you guys saw this on Slashdot over the weekend
> > > > or not, but check it out:
> > > > http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/21/1655257&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=109&tid=185&tid=187
> > > 
> > > As at least a couple of Slashdot users have said, I'm suspicious
> > > of their motives.  In particular the question on the survey
> > > regarding "improvements you'd like to see in Linux".  While there
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