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Free Software Day Around The World
depechemodem writes "In a follow-up to Microsoft Leaves U.N. Standards Group, it appears that it may have been in reaction to the UN's sponsorship of the 1st annual Software Freedom Day in which its International Open Source Network (IOSN) will educate Asian users on the benefits
of Free and Open source Software (FOSS). FOSS promotes several high-profile applications including OpenOffice, Mozilla, MySQL, and Apache." An anonymous reader says of the U.N. effort, "Events will be organised in Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam on Saturday, August 28th." According to another anonymous reader, "Go Open Source, funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation and HP, expects up to 10,000 visitors at the various Linux install-fests around South Africa this Saturday, says the Mail & Guardian."
the problem is, if this is just the "1st", then the next one will be the "2nd", but the "1st annual", and the whole thing gets messy unless you're used to offsetting numbers and counts by 1 anyway.
When will anyone at slashdot start to check even the most basic stuff?!
actually here: http://softwarefreedomday.org/
LUG Cape Town is already busy discussing the details of the coming install parties.
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The 'proper' word for 'first annual' is 'inaugural.' I don't know whether it guarantees a second one like 'first annual' does though.
Dudes, no! That article is in error and the people in charge of IOSN have been desperately trying to correct them before it got into really wide circulation. They are giving publicity to Software Freedom Day which is the brainchild of someone else and can be found here:
www.softwarefreedomday.org
Note that there are no interviews with the staff of the IOSN or the UN in the article. No direct quotes. Some reporter just looked at the web site and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
Don't believe me? Email the IOSN people. They can be reached at sunil [at] iosn.net or khairil [at] iosn.net. They are the current torch bearers at the IOSN.
The UN is not "sponsoring" this. That implies far too much and is too dangerous a position to take. You can't imagine the UN would take such a controversial stance would you? However, the Free and Open Source Software section of the UN can widely publicize FOSS so long as they do not claim it is the UN's official position.
A new release just came out (2 CD-ROM's)
on 12 August 2004.
The idea is to give folks a chance to "try"
free software that's made for Windows...
Once they see how much better it is, they
just might give a free OS a try, later.
"Don't cause pain, give pleasure!"
Novell (Suse Linux) India (Including other counties like Hong Kong and Australia), recently announces latest strategic and technical information seminar on Open Source and Linux technologies for enterprise computing.IBM also sponsors this seminar. What's more participants can win latest Linux based Motorola A760 mobile phone :)
The important thing is not to stop questioning --Albert Einstein.
Not to mention FreeDOS, if it comes to that, and all those old DOS programs, including graphical shells and games, still work.
FreeDOS, the 100% Microsoft compatible Open Source operating system.
Roger Wilco, over and out.
KFG
It was intended to be sung to the tune of Sadi Moma (a Bulgarian dance tune).
The Free software song on the GNU website.
The sheet music.
[Un]fortunately you can also actually listen to RMS singing it. You can find that on the web page I've linked.
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
The story is wrong, wrong, wrong and needs corrections.
I know the founder of Software Freedom Day, it is not the IOSN, they are simply supporting and organizing several teams. The correct site for Software Freedom Day is here:
www.softwarefreedomday.org
Also, please provide a source for the speculation that Microsoft withdrew because of this or retract the article. I think it is simply unhealthy speculation.
However,
In fact, they have, for long. For one thing you have the FSF/UNESCO Free Software Directory, and UNESCO has had a Free Software Portal, AFAIK for many years. Full with gnus and penguins. There are many people who really Get It in UNESCO, who realize that Free Software is all about promotion of Education, Science and Culture, and proprietary software is not.Furthermore, they (I think it was the UNESCO, couldn't find the link), issued a very critical report on DRM, exposing it for the pending cultural disaster it is.
Unfortunately, this understanding doesn't penetrate throughout the UN. On the other extreme, you have WIPO, which is completely dominated by a *cough*superpower*cough*, takes their orders from entities like USPTO, is not open to debate and works tirelessly to strip away the rights you thought you had to participate in the cultural and scientific advancements of society.
Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid