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Domain: iosn.net
Stories and comments across the archive that link to iosn.net.
Comments · 13
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UN FOSS
I guess they only recognize their own stuff and not the UN's FOSS (free/open source software) and IOSN (International Open Source Network) programs
http://www.iosn.net/foss/foss-general-primer -
Re:If the software is making firms more productive
The difference is that copying software isn't comparable to stealing. It's more comparable to counterfeiting.
The U.S government doesn't want people countefeiting money for the same reason Microsoft doesn't want a business conterfeiting their software.
The significant difference is that money is used to exchange for something of value but software is used to produce something of value. Therefore, copying software to sell is comparable to counterfeiting, copying software to use is not really the same at all.
No country for example will allow counterfeiting of currency. Many software producers will allow copying of software, and not only F/OSS either, but shareware, freeware, and even proprietry software companies hoping to dominate new markets. Counterfeiting has never been advocated as a means to help economies, but the UN recommends and promotes open source (copying software) for the development of it's member nations. Until I see the UN advocating counterfeiting as a means of developing a nations economy, I'll consider consider copying software to be nothing at all similar to counterfeiting. -
FOSS Education PrimerThere is a FOSS Education primer released by the United Nations Development Programme.
Where and how FOSS can be used, why it should be used and what issues are involved. There are introductions to educational software such as Moodle learning management system and pointers to other software resources from primary school to university level. It also covers basic infrastructure (emails, network) and open content.
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GCF Global Learning's free tutorialsI work with nonprofit computer training programs in the US, and I've always been impressed by GCF Global Learning's free computing tutorials, at www.gcflearnfree.org.
Originally funded by the local Goodwill in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, GCF offers instructor-led online classes, as well as free training materials, for all sorts of classes, from "Computer Basics" to "Access 2002." The best part is that they also offer free materials for OpenOffice.org software!
The UN-funded International Open Source Network has an excellent "Intro to Linux Desktop" course at http://www.iosn.net/training/end-user-manual/. That page also has links to other free software training materials.
You should totally write up a detailed account of what you're doing and submit it as a Slashdot story -- I'd be interested to hear more. Or do you have a (shudder) blog?
Good luck!
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Re:Developing countries and OSS
The delegate from the government of Mongolia who attended the Free and Open Source Software Asia Pacific (FOSSAP) consultation in February had an interesting tale to relate.
In order to expand the reach of their ICT in schools program some years ago, they put FOSS on 20% of the PCs they installed in the schools there. Microsoft had refused to give them a discount, so to have full reach, they had to resort to this.
Their findings? No surprised to anyone who's used FOSS for a while - kids adapted equally quickly to both FOSS and proprietary software (Windows). For ICT education purposes, there was no drawback with using FOSS.
Other countries, such as Thailand with their successful Schoolnet program, have had the same results.
You can find references to Mongolia's report in the FOSSAP final report. -
Re:It could also be in reaction to this -
Nope. There are several UN funded projects that have assisted FOSS. If a single desktop manual got MS all worked up, then they would have quit a long time ago when UNESCO sponsored the Free Software Directory or when UNCTAD released a favorable report that said OSS could boost IT sector in developing countries.
They could even have gotten upset when the IOSN released their FOSS primer (introducing FOSS to govt policy makers) or worse, their upcoming FOSS policy primer (guide on how to create national FOSS policies). They even held a meeting where policy-makers from over 20 Asia-Pacific countries all called for greater exploration of FOSS.
Instead, Microsoft announces a slew of partnerships with the UNDP and other UN agencies. Microsoft doesn't quit in a huff. They are far more mature than that.
Ob disclaimer: I don't speak for the UN, IOSN or Microsoft -
Re:It could also be in reaction to this -
Nope. There are several UN funded projects that have assisted FOSS. If a single desktop manual got MS all worked up, then they would have quit a long time ago when UNESCO sponsored the Free Software Directory or when UNCTAD released a favorable report that said OSS could boost IT sector in developing countries.
They could even have gotten upset when the IOSN released their FOSS primer (introducing FOSS to govt policy makers) or worse, their upcoming FOSS policy primer (guide on how to create national FOSS policies). They even held a meeting where policy-makers from over 20 Asia-Pacific countries all called for greater exploration of FOSS.
Instead, Microsoft announces a slew of partnerships with the UNDP and other UN agencies. Microsoft doesn't quit in a huff. They are far more mature than that.
Ob disclaimer: I don't speak for the UN, IOSN or Microsoft -
Re:It could also be in reaction to this -
Nope. There are several UN funded projects that have assisted FOSS. If a single desktop manual got MS all worked up, then they would have quit a long time ago when UNESCO sponsored the Free Software Directory or when UNCTAD released a favorable report that said OSS could boost IT sector in developing countries.
They could even have gotten upset when the IOSN released their FOSS primer (introducing FOSS to govt policy makers) or worse, their upcoming FOSS policy primer (guide on how to create national FOSS policies). They even held a meeting where policy-makers from over 20 Asia-Pacific countries all called for greater exploration of FOSS.
Instead, Microsoft announces a slew of partnerships with the UNDP and other UN agencies. Microsoft doesn't quit in a huff. They are far more mature than that.
Ob disclaimer: I don't speak for the UN, IOSN or Microsoft -
Re:Walking on broken glass
This manual was on slashdot yesterday.
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An idea...
Why don't they also include PDF/OO.org copies of the Linux User Guide (mentioned on
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Open Source in MalaysiaLet me quality my position first, I am a Brit working in Malaysia for an MSC status company (Multimedia Super Corridor). I shall be shortly moving to my new office in the intelligent city..(CyberJaya).
Our company is heavily adopting open source software as I believe many others are, we are using SAMBA 3.x as our PDC/File Server, FreeBSD as our Firewall/NAT/Router/Traffic Shaper, Another *nix machine in the DMZ as Tomcat/mail server, OpenOffice.org as the productivity suite for the Windows machine, Thunderbird as the mail client and so on.
As mentioned above piracy is predominant here, the main reason being cost, as a poster above explained the cost for many things here is higher than Europe or America (if you use economies of scale not a direct currency conversion). Cars are expensive, housing is reasonable, food is cheap, technology stuff is average, software is EXPENSIVE. Most SME's here don't have domains, they are still using workgroups as the cost of Win2k server is prohibitive (The salary per annum for an average employee). Pirated software is easy to get (within every decent sized housing area there is 2-3 places you can go) and cheap ($1-2USD per CD). People do buy orginal software, but usally only larger companies and people who want to play online games (for example Warcraft III you need an original, unique CD key to play on Battle.net).
People are finally realising using pirated software is bad, and that licenced software is too expensive to be economically viable and as open source awareness spreads these are becoming more realistic alternatives. As far as I know many small companies are adopting Linux and OSS software packages or at least conducting some kind of testing/integration. There are quite a few Open Source advocates and groups/mailing lists here: From what I know the state of OSS looks good here, there are regular conferences, meetings and things going on towards the advancement of open source usage in the Malaysia I.T. community. (P.S. frist psot as a non-AC)
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Re:Afghanistan could certainly benefit from LINUX.
The UN is supporting Free/Open Source Software (not just Linux) through a variety of ways. Someone has already posted Netaid's site as a reply. Two others off the top of my head:
1) UNESCO's support of the Free Software portal. You can find it at:
http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft/
2) The UNDP's International Open Source Network found at:
http://www.iosn.net. This portal focuses on promoting Free/Open Source software to policy makers, government officials, etc. I believe there are other regional centers coming up as well.
There's a surprising amount of focus on Free/Open Source software in the UN, though most of it is only in the early stages. -
Re:List of Switchers?
There are a couple of sites focused on governments and open source. One is the IOSN run by the UNDP. It's currently Asia-Pacific only but I'm sure if you submit links, they will put up the information. They welcome all submissions and are currently in the early stages of setting up the site and the infrastructure behind it. Expect them to be more active in the near future.
Alternatively, if it is only Asia-Pacific focused, links can also be submitted to AsiaOSC. It's a Wiki page so anyone can post information (after registration of course).