- SFD-discuss - lists.mailman3.com

Short delay in announcing winners for SFD competition
by Pia Waugh April 19, 2008

April 19, 2008

Hi all, my apologies, we have a very short delay in announcing the SFD competition winners. It will be done over the weekend, so stay tuned! :) Cheers, Pia Software Freedom International

4 5

Software Freedom Day 2008!
by Pia Waugh April 15, 2008

April 15, 2008

Hi everyone! The time has come to start planning your Software Freedom Day event for 2008! We will be opening registrations in mid May and increasing the number of team packs (shirts, CDs, balloons and such) to 300, so make sure you keep an eye out and register as soon as you can! We have a new board with new members (details at http://softwarefreedomday.org/sfi) A warm welcome to Fred and Peter! This years event will be September 20th, 2008 (please ignore the header of the website, it will be changed as soon as possible). Last years event ================ Last year we had an amazing event, with over 330 teams from over 90 countries. There were around 3000 participants reaching over 40,000 members of the public. Around 40,000 FOSS CDs were handed out, including Ubuntu, the Open CD, Mandriva, Fedora, Kubuntu, Debian, Suse, Knoppix, and more! The SFD events including installations of FOSS, demonstrations, conferences, presentations, radio, courses, some even used the day to collect food for disadvantaged families! The three events that won "best 2007 SFD event" were FOSS Nepal Community, SFD Nicaragua 2007 Team & Beijing Software Freedom Day (China). Congratulations all! Their event reports can be found here http://softwarefreedomday.org/Competition2007/Winners. Last year a lot of universities participated, however some schools also got involved, which was great to see. Loads of user groups always get involved to help get the word out about Software Freedom. There was excellent media coverage from many teams in many languages so great job everyone! Planning ======== The Software Freedom International team have been getting everything on track for Software Freedom Day 2008. Firstly thank you to you all for your great ideas and feedback from last year. It has helped us create a plan for this year which should see Software Freedom Day grow even more, particularly in the education sector. We will be providing more resources to teams, including a DVD with video and presentation content that teams can use or mashup on the day. We'll also be providing the OpenDisc (the new Open CD project) and more resources to teams such as artwork, templates and other useful resources. We hope that you all put stuff on the wiki to share with other teams and start emailing the list with your ideas and lessons learnt. We are hoping to have over 500 teams participate in Software Freedom Day 2008, and we should all try to reach a grand total of 100,000 members of the public! Start thinking about what is the most appropriate way to take Software Freedom to your community. Perhaps it is a stall at a festival, perhaps a computer literacy course using FOSS, perhaps some presentations at a local school or university. Get ideas for your SFD event planning from the Start Guide here http://softwarefreedomday.org/StartGuide. As per an email late last year, we are keen to get more translations of SFD content and information. We are in the process of setting up some infrastructure to facilitate this so stay tuned for more information about translations. New infrastructure ================== We are in the process of setting up new infrastructure as we migrate to a new hosting environment donated by Linode (http://linode.com/) This will increase our control over the SFD website and mailing lists such that we can avoid downtime, and also add new functionality. In the short term we will be doing a site redesign, a moin moin upgrade (the wiki), and some mailing list migration. We'll make sure this is as seamless as possible for you all. We are going to make reporting and registering much easier this year, with a few changes including a world map as the mechanism to find events rather than a list by continent. This will mean team pages will be http://softwarefreedomday.org/<teamname> rather than a really long URL as has been the case in the past. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on this! We'll also be adding a "planet" to SFD, to aggregate blogs from our community, a new online shop and more to be announced soon. Thanks ====== Thank you to last years sponsors, to the rest of the SFI board, and finally, thank you to you all for helping take Software Freedom to the world! We are looking forward to seeing what teams come up with for next year, and we will be supporting you all as much as we can! Cheers, Pia -- Software Freedom Day 2007 http://softwarefreedomday.org/

13 15

Document Freedom Day: 26 March 2008
by Robert Schumann March 8, 2008

March 8, 2008

Hi all SFD enthusiasts, Below is a press release from the organisers of Document Freedom Day, which is happening on 26 March. DFD is organised by a different organisation from SFD, but we're happy to support their message and encourage people to get out on the streets in support of open information exchange! Robert. ------------------------------------------------------------------- [ http://documentfreedom.org/News/20080220 ] Introducing Document Freedom Day 26 March: A global day for document liberation Sign up your DFD team today! The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation with grassroots action for promotion of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general. The DFD was initiated and is supported by a group of organisations and companies, including, but not limited to, the Free Software Foundation Europe, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, Inc. On 26 March 2008, the Document Freedom Day will provide a global rallying point for Document Liberation and Open Standards. It will literally give teams around the world the chance to "hoist the flag": A "DFD Starter Pack" containing a flag, t-shirt, leaflets and stickers is in preparation and is planned to be sent out in the first weeks of March to the first 100 teams that sign up. Sixteen teams already signed up during the preparation phase of the DFD prior to this release. Sign your team up now! "We're proud to support this global effort to encourage open and inclusive information exchange," said Marino Marcich, Managing Director, Open Document Format Alliance. "Document freedom means creating, exchanging, and preserving your electronic documents without having to buy software from a particular vendor." "Data lock-in and subsequent vendor lock-in are some of the most severe issues users are facing today," says FSFE president Georg Greve. "Yet most people only realise this connection when it is too late and they have effectively lost control over their own data. We are supporting the Document Freedom Day to help raise awareness for this issue by starting with something that affects pretty much all users of computers: text documents, spreadsheets and presentations." "Free document formats and open standards are important elements in the continued expansion of the global open source community," said Tom Rabon, executive vice president, Corporate Affairs at Red Hat. "Red Hat strongly supports Document Freedom Day and encourages participation by all who look forward to the day when documents are controlled by those who own them, not necessarily by those who create the technology to access those documents." Simon Phipps, Chief Open Source Officer, Sun Microsystems stated, "As I explained in my paper "Freedom to Leave<http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dhb29vwq_3dzb2cs>", it's fundamental in the emerging market for people to be free to use any software they desire tohandle their data. I fully support the goals of Document Freedom ." Alexandre Oliva of the Free Software Foundation Latin America (FSFLA) comments: "When you save your documents using a Free Open Standard format such as ODF, you're also saving your own future, ensuring your continued ability to access, decode and convert their contents." Graham Taylor Director of OpenForum Europe: "OpenForum Europe applauds the announcement of Document Freedom Day. The whole essence of 'openness' is captured by the right of users, citizens, governments... to be able to freely access and exchange documents todayand in the future. Nothing gives greater meaning to the prevalent danger of lock-in to proprietary solutions, and for the need for Government to act now." About Document Freedom Day: The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation. It is a day of grassroots effort around the world to promote and build awareness for the relevance of Free Document Formats in particular and Open Standards in general. The DFD is supported by a large group of organisations and individuals, including, but not limited to Ars Aperta, COSS, Esoma, Free Software Foundations Europe and Latin America, IBM, NLnet, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe, OSL, iMatix, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, Inc., The Open Learning Centre, Opentia, Estandares Abiertos. The list of DFD supporting groups can be found at http://documentfreedom.org/Who The list of DFD teams is available at http://documentfreedom.org/Category:Teams Further information: http://documentfreedom.org Contact: contact(a)documentfreedom.org Graham Taylor graham(a)openforumeurope.org Ivan Jelic jelic(a)fsfeurope.org Kerri Catallozzi kcatallo(a)redhat.com Marino Marcich mmarcich(a)odfalliance.org Marko Milenovic milenovic(a)fsfeurope.org Terri Molini terri.molini(a)sun.com FSFLA info(a)fsfla.org

1 0

Planning for SFD 2008 - Your ideas and input!
by Pia Waugh Feb. 16, 2008

Feb. 16, 2008

Hi all, The Software Freedom International team is starting planning for SFD 2008 with bigger and grander ideas! Software Freedom Day has almost doubled every year, and considering we had over 330 teams in 2007, this is an enormous goal for us all! Software Freedom Day really has become a regular yearly unifying force for taking software freedom and FOSS to the general population, and everyone one of you are contributing to that success. Thank you! Please make sure throughout the year you share your ideas and stories with the sfd-discuss mailing list so others can know about and learn from your successes. We will be releasing a report soon about the success of 2007 based on the hundreds of reports we received from teams. Thank you everyone! This report will help with media interest in SFD and also hopefully more support. As we are going through initial planning and in particular new ideas and brainstorming for 2008, I thought it would be great to invite responses from you guys, the Software Freedom Day community :) What would you like to see different in 2008? How could we better help you organise awesome events? How can we help you with marketing and such? We are a small team with limited resources and every year we do the best we can with what we have. Every year our support base and sponsorship is growing so some things we may be able to do this year, some things may be able to be planned towards in the coming years. Again, thank you all, and happy planning for SFD 2008! Cheers, Pia President Software Freedom International -- Software Freedom Day 2007 http://softwarefreedomday.org/

14 21

Multilingual website
by Eugene Fedin Feb. 16, 2008

Feb. 16, 2008

>Could everyone who would be interested in helping achieve this please let us know (on this list is fine, and state the language(s) you can help with so people can see what is and isn't covered). I can help with Russian. Best regards, Eugene. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/

4 4

FREE and OPEN SOURCEBULAWAYO exhibit at the 2008 ZITF
by xolani Ndlovu Jan. 18, 2008

Jan. 18, 2008

HIE everyone FREE AND OPEN SOURCE BULAWAYO(FOSB) is preparing for one of its major events for 2008 before SFD2008 that is EXHIBITING AT THE ZIMBABWE INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR AN ANNUAL EVENT HELD IN BULAWAYO THE HOME OF FOSB .FOSB WOULD TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY MAKE MASSIVE PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS AND SELL THE FLOSS POLICY TO THE PEOPLE.WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY HELP/SUPPORT FROM ANYONE IN THE FLOSS SOCIETY THAT(ANY KIND OF HELP/SUPPORT) .

2 1

Presenting the XO laptop
by Leandro Gomez Jan. 17, 2008

Jan. 17, 2008

Hi all, As one of the winners of this year contest, the SFD Nicaragua Team got a brand new XO laptop [1] (thank you guys!!!). The local Ubuntu community held a Barcamp for the occasion on December 29 where the community had an opportunity to test drive this amazing tool. You can find some photos in [2]. This month, on January 30 we'll be organizing the official presentation of the XO laptop in Nicaragua [3] with the Minister of Education and other top level governmental officers as special guests. I'll keep you updated on this. Cheers, [1] http://wiki.laptop.org/ [2] http://picasaweb.google.com/linuxtour/BarcampUbuntu2007 [3] http://www.linuxtour.org/index.php5?title=Pr%C3%B3ximos_Eventos

4 4

Fwd: Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Course
by Janet Hawtin Jan. 16, 2008

Jan. 16, 2008

Another course. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Romana Challans <timelady(a)gmail.com> Date: Jan 16, 2008 7:11 PM Subject: Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Course To: LinuxSA <linuxsa(a)linuxsa.org.au> http://www.tectonic.co.za/?p=2033 ¨In the latest Ubuntu weekly newsletter the Ubuntu folks announced the release of the Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Course. The modular course should take two days to complete all 10 of the lessons offered, but it is possible to cover topics and lessons independently of each other, learning whatever is of interest. Coming in two versions, both downloadable as PDFs, there is a student guide and an instructor guide. The instructor guide comes with instructor notes and answers to the exercise questions together while the student guide has no instructor notes and the answers are provided separately. The ten sections of the course include: introducing Ubuntu; exploring the Ubuntu desktop; using the Internet; using OpenOffice applications; Ubuntu and games; customising the desktop and applications; making the most of images and photos; playing music and videos; ubuntu help and support; and partitioning and booting.¨ -- -o) Romana Challans /\ \ Nothing - well, thats something. _\_V http://timelady.com/blog/ -- LinuxSA WWW: http://www.linuxsa.org.au/ IRC: #linuxsa on irc.freenode.net To unsubscribe or change your options: http://www.netcraft.com.au/mailman/listinfo/linuxsa

1 0

SFD2007 in Bitola/Macedonia
by Aleksandar Balalovski Jan. 15, 2008

Jan. 15, 2008

Hello, due to the fact that the SFD in our city is on 21st of September each year (fixed), we merged the two dates, and we celebrated SFD on 22nd of September, the last weekend. It was fun! We appreciate the help that Software freedom international gave to Lugola, (the GLUG that celebrated the event in Bitola/Macedonia) and we are happy to see how many teams got organized for 15th of September to celebrate this year in the world. Our silly proposal :) would be that the next year more balloons are sent to the teams, because they make great effect on the celebration aura in the city where SFD is being celebrated, young people want balloons, babies want balloons, mothers and fathers want balloons for their children, and thus, everyone wants balloon, and people actually READ what is on the balloon :) Whatsoever, the balloons are not crucial for the message of the event, hence we had hundreds of CDs of GNU/Linux distributions, prepared a pamphlet named "Make the Move" as helping guide for migrating towards GNU/Linux and some other gifts we gave to the people in our area. Images from the event can be seen on Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/lugola/tags/sfd2007 Have a nice time. -- Aleksandar Balalovski (keyID: FD341782) http://blog.gemidjy.info http://wiki.lugola.net - your future! gemidjy(a)lugola.net Coordinator of the Lugola (www.lugola.net)

5 6

Was: FLOSS educational programmes
by Pia Waugh Jan. 15, 2008

Jan. 15, 2008

Hi all, I was perusing through sfd-discuss and re-found this and I wanted to renew the discussion. <quote who="Steve Olive"> > It is up to us, the Open Source and Free Software Communities, to > encourage the use of qualifications that do not focus on a particular > brand of software. I also believe that these qualifications should not > be prohibitively priced, preventing students, who are often unemployed, > from taking the tests. They are better served spending the money on > computers and other hardware for use at home so they can better their > skills and find employment. > > Is this something the Software Freedom Day should look into? Registering > or certifying skills with software promoted on Software Freedom Day. Steve, what exactly do you have in mind here? We could certainly add something to the registration process or there is also the possibility of aligning with certifications and encouraging teams to do certification workshops and exams as part of their Software Freedom Day celebrations which would both draw attention to certifications and also get more qualified FOSS practitioners into the workforce every year. What do you think? Cheers, Pia -- Linux Australia http://linux.org.au/ "If you have any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it's done." - Scott Adams

5 5