2007 Federal Election Commentary - Microsoft Laughing all the way to the Bank

In the last days of the Federal Election Campaign of 2007, the Australian Labor Party pledged funding for a computer for every senior secondary student. This makes Microsoft very happy. When negotiating software licenses for schools in the past, Microsoft proposed a volume license for schools, typically though their collective organisations based on the total number of computers that a school had, regardless of their operating system, or how thy were being used. This was, of course, provided at a lower rate under and Educational Licencing schemes. Much of this is hearsay from people I know within the education sector, but it includes Universities as well, and it paints a picture of a situation where Microsoft are indeed collecting a tax from the Australia people and our government is allowing them to do it. Let me ask a couple of questions: - (Reward for effort) What additional effort does Microsoft have to make to receive this revenue? - (A fair go) What risk have they taken in the past that justifies then receiving this reward? - (Taking it to the bank) What is the guarantee on this revenue? This revenue can only be called a tax. It's not 'a fee for a service' or 'purchase price'. It is a compulsory payment that is being made by the Government, through the public schools, and Australians through private schools on our behalf to an oversees entitly. ... and the amount money is not insignificant. In summary: A vote for Rudd is a vote for Microsoft, and a vote for Howard is a vote for the Government that allowed this situation to happen, and also a vote for Microsoft.

Software Freedom Day at Mawson Lakes

For Software Freedom Day last year, an event called "Software Freedom Showcase" was held at Mawson Lakes, organised by MawsonLakes.Org, with the help of many other people in the community. In the lead up to this years world wide event, Melissa Draper has published an article at Linux.com which discusses some of the fantastic things that came out of last years activities, and the event at Mawson Lakes get a really good mention. Thanks Melissa. The events planned for this year are really starting to heat up, with over 200 teams registered from around the world. This year, the event is being held on September 15. For more information, visit SoftwareFreedomDay.Org

Aussie Coder helping OLPC gets article

There was a recent article about Joel Stanley in LinuxWorld.Com.au. Joel is a mate, and has been mentioned here before. The article is here http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;193757623;fp;16;fpid;0

Adventures in Paramatta

This week I am in Paramatta, New South Wales at SAGE-AU (System Administrators Guild of Australia) annual conference. The conference is being held at The Sebal hotel in Paramatta, which is quite nice as far as hotels go.. not that I travel enough to judge properly. Today I had a tutorial on "Change Management". There were lots of common sense guidelines. ITIL was mention quite a bit.. this is a system that I haven't heard of before, but it is the sort of thing that could be useful, particularly is it helps me put system change requests into context and get more useful stuff done. After a day of being lectured at (as interesting as it was) it was time to go fo a walk and stretch the legs. The park across the road is particularly nice a and green. Looks like there is a production of "King Lear" currently on. I haven't ever seen this play. It would have been worth catching, but there are no tickets available for this week.

The Case of the Missing Dish

What is missing from this picture?

For those not familiar with Mawson Lakes, this picture is of the SPRI (Signal Processing Research Institute) building at the Mawson Lakes campus of the University of South Australia.

Normally, there is a dish on the roof which is used for tracking the FEDSAT satellite.

It looks like it was removed from the roof for a brief period (possibly for repair?) and is now back on the roof, much to everyones surprise.

An Operation on an XO

It works! Last week I finally got around to modify my OLPC B2-1 laptop with the mods which I mentioned earlier.. Never trust a software engineer with a soldering iron. With the help of a good friend, Stefan, and a bottle of Red we set about making the hardware changes. After following the 'dis-assembly' instructions from the OLPC wiki, we were able to get access to the motherboard and change the resistor and soldered the connecting wire in place. This image shows the change that was made to allow the keyboard to continue to operate while the processor is suspended. This as been successfully tested from the Open Firmware prompt, where the processor can be put into suspend mode (by typing 's'), keys can be typed, an then when the processor is brought out of suspend, by pressing the power key, the characters then appear on the screen. This is very cool. The second modification involved changing the position of another resistor and adding a short wire link. Unfortunately, in the process of removing the small surface mount resistor it was lost in amongst the solder waste. Luckily, Stefan has a spare 1k surface mount resistor from another project which he scavenged as a replacement. The modification can be seen if the photo to the left, on the top right of the Geode chip. The first mod can be seen coming in from the left below the chip. After reassembling the XO, I was able to test it (as mentioned above) and everything seems to be working correctly. Wahoo! For those that are interested.. also in the above photo is the 'ene' chip (bottom right). This is the system controller chip which controls (above other things) battery charging. This is what Joel Stanley is working on.

So ABC, where are the Open Codecs?

The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) has started offering program videos for download from their website. While this is a great start, there are some things that would make it even better. The BBC is currently under flack from the free and open source advocates in the UK after it proposal to release a video player (iPlayer) which was only provided for the Microsoft Windows operating system using the Internet Explorer. Content which is distributed by the national broadcaster is ment to be unbiased[1], non-discriminatory[2], and freely accessible by all[3]. A deliberate failure to provide any of these would certainly cause a public outcry. The programs and content available from the ABC website are available in several formats but they all currently use restrictive formats, namely Flash and Windows Media player formats. There are a couple of arguments used to justify not using open codecs and protocols. None of them address the three areas mentioned above. Regardless of whether the codecs can be downloaded by the end user for free[4], non-free[5] codecs:

• restrict access to only the supported computer platforms
• reduce availability for community members
• loss of options of assistance and contributions from the greater community
• cause alienation from viewing public and new media opportunities

Why is this issue important? If you are part of the Australian public that uses restrictive licensed software and codecs you may well have avoided these issues by paying for a license. The downside is that these licenses will continue to have to be paid for. Ubuntu, the popular Linux software distribution, offers built in support for many free and open codecs, straight out of the box, no additional downloads or restrictive licenses required. Support free and open codecs where you can.. more information soon. Notes

1. Unbiased - as in field of conduct, pursuit or occupation.
2. Non-discriminatory - against sex, race or religion (etc.).
3. Assessable - publicly available to everyone.
4. Free - as in no cost.
5. Non-free - as in restrictive distribution terms.

One Laptop Per Child

I was fortunate enough to be sent an OLPC laptop, when they did their run of the B2 (the second build of the X0-1). This came about through my participation in the Linux.Conf.Au conference in Sydney, earlier in the year, and was one of the coolest things that has ever happened at any of the LCA conferences.. ever. (Even better than the dunk tank in at the Adelaide Conference - sorry Michael). I've named it sparky, and he's starting to become known as a bit of a celebrity. For more information about the OLPC project itself, see their website: laptop.org

Connecting Up 07

Sparky recently appeared at the Connecting Up 07 conference in Adelaide in the Linux Australia booth, along with two of his mates. Lisa Harvey, the Managing Director of Energetica in New South Wales borrowed Sparky as an example in her talk - 'Clever Cookies, Innovation in the Non-Government Organisation sector'. Hand delivered by Joel Stanly, the three laptops had just come back from a weekend in Melbourne where they had put in a guest appearance at a teachers conference. Here you see Joel attempting to cross North Terrace in Adelaide, which is currently subject to construction work as the new tram line is being put in. Other people also had a chance to have a look and play. All in all, the everyone who came to the booth got a chance to meet Sparky. There was also a funky piece of networking (if I do say so myself) that was done to get Sparky to be able to access the local wireless internet service.. it involved two other laptops, a crossover cable and a 802.11b network card with some dodgy firmware, but nothing that a periodic shell script couldn't fix. I'll let you join the dots.

Since Connecting Up..

Sparky has also spent two weeks with Dave the 'life kludger', who spend some time looking at accessibility. You can find the writeup, with some great pictures in Dave's blog.

What next?

Sparky needs an operation. In order to fix a couple of hardware issues, he needs someone with some surface mounted component soldering skills. The details are here: B2_Suspend_ECR Watch this space.

Joel Stanley off on Google Scholarship

A good friend and fellow OLPC owner, Joel Stanley is off to the United States on a Google scholarship to work on the power and recharging system of the OLPC laptop. Details of his most excellent adventure can be found here: http://blogs.ubuntu.org.au/shenki

At ConnectingUp07

It has been a while since I have added an entry to this blog, but given where I have been the last couple of days, I thought it was about time I added an entry. I have been at ConnectingUp07, which is a very exciting conference, being held in Adelaide, on using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Not-for-profit sector and community groups. Talks have ranged from business orientated talks (what services are available), how to produce effective web fund-raising campains, and some of the more interesting ICT projects done in the wider Australian community. I have been looking after the Linux Australia booth, and it has been really great to hear from the people in the sector making use of Free and Open Source software in their projects. There are some definite lessons that Linux Australia can learn from this event, both in the information that was presented ("How to develop effective online strategies."), and how we can present ourselves in a way that is relevent to this sector. Some notes:

• Many of the talks were by businesses and organisations offering services to Not-for-profit sector. This included consulting services, bulk-buying (eg. computer hardware and telecommunications sevices) and software.
• Free and Open Source software was often mentioned in project reports, where budgets were limited. It was shown that Free and Open Source software was able to solve real problems
• Online services (myspace, youtube, flickr, blogspot, digg) were described as essential tools for building a community around a particular issue or organisation, as well regular targeted emails. Use of these systems need to be part of a complete online web strategy, and not individually seen as an end itself.

This article was written on one of three 'One Laptop Per Child' (OLPC) laptops which were being demonstrated in the Linux Australia booth.

Linux.Conf.Au 2007

Well.. the annual Australian Linux Conference is over again for another year. As usual it was amazingly fantastic, with a broad range of talks and tutorials. Bloggers and Flickr'ers have been asked to tag their uploads with either 'lca2007' or 'linux.conf.au', so searching on these in Google should enable you to get a taste of what th event was like. One huge feature this year was that videos were taken of all of the talks.. some of these appeared on the website even before the conference itself actually finished. They can be found on the conference website here: http://lca2007.linux.org.au/Programme Check them out.

..and we're off to the Linux Conference

It's almost better than Christmas. Linux.Conf.Au is almost upon us again, and this year looks to be better then every before. Already I'm struggling to decide what I am going to see and do as there is just so much happening. The biggest problem so far has been Thursday. I was hoping to be able to give a lightning talk on some of the Community building aspects of the MawsonLakes.Org activities, including the Ubuntu work, but it clashes with the keysigning session (important) and the Open Day (even more important). Either way, it is going to be a fantastic event.

2007: The Year of the Penguin

Here in Australia we saw the film 'Happy Feet' open on Boxing day (26 December). It had been released in the United States on November 17-19, and in other places around the world on December 8. The promotion of this film has got me thinking about my other favourite penguin and what 2007 may hold. Almost every year, since 2000, has been declared as the year that Linux will make it on the desktop, and while inroads have been made in some key cases, Linux hasn't managed to capture the hearts of desktop users just yet. I predict that this will all change in 2007, and would like to take this moment to announce that 2007 is the International Year of the Penguin. Well.. I can at least pretend. According to Wikipedia it is the International Year of Planet Earth and with the current issue of global warming, the Penguin makes an ideal mascot. How we can care for our environment is also important, and I can't think of any better way for making use of older PC's than installing Linux on them and allowing them to continue to be useful.

Ubuntu mentioned in South Australian Parliament

In a speech ("Matter of Interest") to the South Australian Legislative Assembly, Dennis Hood of the Family First Party spoke about Free and Open Source Software, and in particular about Ubuntu and it's founder. From the press release: FAMILY FIRST MLC, Dennis Hood, will make submissions in the South Australian Legislative Council today - calling for IT funding criteria to be opened up, so that our school children can benefit from the Free and Open Source Software 'revolution'. The Hon Dennis Hood will also call for a computer demonstration lab to be set up in S.A., so that schools, libraries, and other institutions can decide whether 'open source' is for them. "Open Source often has significant advantages over proprietary software. With developers all over the world freely and constantly improving the software, it is little wonder that many Open Source solutions are now outpacing Microsoft solutions", Mr Hood said. A copy of the speech can be found here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PaulSchulz/SouthAustralianParliament I would like to acknowledge Janet Hawtin as well as members of the Australian LoCo team for their assistance with the speech.

Apple, Linux Operating System, and others.

Something occured to me the other day, and that was how long will it be before Apple switches it's operating system to Linux. I cannot claim to be 'in the know' about anything in the greater IT industry. I have put together the following arguments given what I do know about the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and my general knowledge of the consumer IT marketplace. I have been using Linux on my PowerPC based Mac Mini for almost two years now, and I could not have asked for better hardware for my open source operating system. There are numerious links and discussions on the net about running Linux on Apple hardware, from the old and new PowerPC models, through to the new Intel based PC's and Laptops. A quick search in Google throws up the following: * http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7012 * http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/editors/apple_linux_0503.html * http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/apple.html As these, and other articles indicate, Apple has been very canny in it's dealing with the Free and Open Source Software community. The Linux Kernel runs on their hardware very well. In the past, commercial grade Linux systems have been driven by vendors who have produced their own distribution to sell (RedHat with Enterpiose Linux, Novell with Suse) or else have used certified their sytems to run with these distributions. Apple has steered clear of this, rather they adopted the Open Source Mach kernel, changed the system to meet their needs, and released it as their proprietory operating system MaxOS X. Why should they change? The world is maturing in it's use of Free and Open Software. There are now many examples of communities of software developers which support Free and Open Source software projects, and this community of communities has always learnt from each other, exchanging ideas, and continuing to grow and advance. As if it needed proving, over the last two years the Ubuntu community and Canonical have show that with good leadership it is possible to build a highly successful and popular FOSS project based on an open community development model. Recent agreements between Microsoft and Novell, owner of the Suse distribution, have shown that commercially controlled distributions are open to abuse. The developer and user community that is built around these distribution then suffers accordingly. Whatever the agreements are between these two organisations, Novell must have made some concessions to Microsoft. How can there be a deal without them. These concessions, if they are an acknowledgment of technology which is solely owned and controlled by Microsoft (in the form of software patents) mean that Novel will have to restrict what it's developers can and can't do, regardless of how small, of what that may be. The Free and Open Source Software movement is similar to the internet in this regard. To use a quote - "The Internet interprets censorship as conjestion and routes around it." So what should Apple learn from this? Apple is a single vendor, doing unique things, and reaping the benefits. It has made use of the Free and Open Source Community to open the market for it's servers, particularly in the Higher Education market. The FOSS community, with IBM, has fought and thought that they had won the battle against the unsubstantiated claims brought against them by SCO. Microsoft, a backer of SCO, has now signed a deal with Novell, and is making more intellectual property claims against the FOSS community and Linux in particular. The fact that this has been done under the guise of 'consumer protection' for Novell's customers, a small fraction of our community, makes it even more of a travesty. Apple have shown that they are open to change. They were able to move their entire product line from PowerPC to Intel based processers, and they were able to do this because they had build their Operating System on a base which is designed to be portable. Linux is now (if you believe the web reports) the primary platform for networking research and development. It used to be netBSD. Apple can hold onto their current system, as good as it is, and re-implement all the improvements that will be emerging, or they can (if they haven't already done so) port their gloss and shine to run on top of Linux. In the process, they will be building on the best software development community in the world, strengthening the Free and Open Source movement and guarantee the ongoing existence of this fantastic world wide resource.

Notes from Ubuntu Open Week

I have been listening in on the Ubuntu Open Week discussions on IRC (#ubuntu-classroom on the FreeNode network). Of particular interest was the forum with Mark Shuttleworth (sadfl), who was answering questions. One problem with the IRC forum is that is is difficult to respond in depth to the questions that are raised. The following are some of my thoughts based on the on-line discussion. From IRC Seveas: ToonArmy: QUESTION: What needs to be done to push FOSS software in UK schools today? I have come through schools that have used almost exclusively Microsoft software and other propriatery software solutions, for almost everything. It could save huge amounts of money o licensing etc. and the Vista upgrade looks a scary one for most education establishments. sabdfl: ToonArmy: we should not push the "save huge amounts of money" button sabdfl: instead, we should ask how the govt plans to provide for: sabdfl: - musician pupils sabdfl: - statistics pupils sabdfl: - physics pupils sabdfl: - language pupils sabdfl: - comp sci pupils sabdfl: ... This is also a problem in Australia, and I agree with the solution. We need to ask these questions of our educators and show that there are alternatives, provided by our community which are much, much better.

Why I Think Inkscape is the Best Software of all Time

Ever since each of us was old enough to hold a stick, we have wanted to draw stuff, on stuff. To make our mark. To create squiggles that mean something, and convey meaning in both time and place with our fellow humans. With the invention of the computer, it was quickly discovered that there was only so much that could be done with keys and the written language. Words do convey meaning, but to create a picture is something so useful that is couldn't be ignored. The mouse was invented, and the drawing tablet, and drawing and computer aided design programs were written which allowed images and pictures and sketches and designs to be created, saved, copied and distributed. Inkscape is a 'really free' drawing package that uses the openly available Scalar Vector Graphics (SVG) format. Together, this means that anything you draw with inkscape today, will always be available to you. Graphics using SVG are starting to appear all over the desktop and the web, and there are some that think, myself included, that it will even challenge the FlashMedia formats, as the dominant image format on the internet. Inkscape is the most widely used SVG drawing tool, it exports to Postscript, PDF and a wide array of other formats, and has a very active development community behind it. I'm looking forward to the next 12 months.

Opinion: 5 Reasons Why Vista Will Be Microsoft's Last General Purpose Operating System

Microsoft Vista is on its way, the beta has been released, and prices have been announced. The last update from Microsoft also contained several fixes for it. Everything looks to be heading the the right direction. so why am I saying that this will be their last general purpose operating system? Here are my predictions for the Australian Operating System Market over the next 12 months, and into the future. 1. Microsoft's Do-not Operate System The release of Vista see Microsoft expanding on their policy on distributing different builds for different types of users. At last count seven different varieties have been listed - Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Small Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate. While this may be seem like clever marketing, where a user can buy a product that suits their needs, it will be the source of a lot of frustration. There will be features and applications which will be only supported on the more expensive versions. They have tried the software subscription model in the past, and it looks like that are trying it again. Users will realise that when they buy a computer with Vista installed, you won't be getting an Operating System, they'll be getting a Do-not Operate System (DOS). With the inclusion of more Digital Rights Management (Digital Restriction Management) and anti-piracy measures, there will be things that you used to do that will no longer be possible, because Vista and Microsoft won't let you... unless you pay more money. This is not that far fetched. Imagine a world where you will need to buy a licence for every movie that you want to watch, and only those from the specified list. In the above business model, this is not very far off. 2. Linux captures the desktop I don't necessarily like the battle field analogies, but here I am going to make an exception. I have witnessed one public skirmish, and I am pleased to say that for the members of the community that mattered, Linux was the last man standing. It has been predicted for a long time, but the deciding battle will be fought and won by Linux on the desktop in 2006-7. Why? By way of an example, in it's short two year existence, Ubuntu have created and released five(5) full versions of their Linux distribution, each one significantly better than the previous. Based on Debian, which has been around even longer, with backing from Canonical, Ubuntu have build up an incredible amount of experience and expertise around making, producing, and distributing quality software. This all-round, general purpose software is 'really free', and will enable anyone, anywhere, with commodity hardware, to participate in the commercial market place with a fraction of the related expenses that existing companies have. Why would a commercial organization spend money on something that was not going to directly lower expenses and increase profits. Their competitors weren't. News of local and international Free and Open Source projects are being heard, and organizations are starting to listen. Institutions, both Government and Not-for-profit, which supply services to the public are under increasing pressure to supply more for less. They will have to take a long hard look at Vista and try and figure out why they should be paying their money. It will be possible to make money by taking the older PC's, incapable of running Windows Vista, and converting them to workstations running Linux, which will have everything that an organisation needs. -- Watch for it. This will happen very rapidly -- 3. Professional Linux Support Services The increase of use within the corporate environment is being be spearheaded by the the large Linux supporting companies - IBM, Novell and Redhat. From the outsider, they have looked to be struggling to get customers using Linux on the desktop. This is all about to change. With this help, IT departments will find out how easy it is to install, run, and maintain an environment of Linux desktops. There may be an additional catalyst, like a large virus outbreak infecting Microsoft hosts, but this may not be necessary. Sites with web based applications will be able to be rollout/changed immediately, particularly in places like call-centres. Businesses with internal applications written in C# and Java will follow shortly after. As this migration starts, additional savings will become obvious. Ongoing cost of virus protection and software subscriptions will diminish, which in turn can be put back into the organisation as IT training, taken an profit, or feed back to the Free and Open Source software community as contributions or even donations. 4. Linux in the Community The Linux developer community in Australia has begun to engage the rest of the community in areas of mutual concern. Copyright Laws, Digital Rights Management (or Digital Restriction Management) and the Free Trade Agreement are all things which will directly effect every person whether they know about it or not. Software will again become known as something that can be freely and legally shared and developed. Free and Open Source Software will become part of the education of our children. 5. Linux and the Economy Reports will emerge regarding the importance of Free and Open Source Software and Linux to the Australian economy, and the numbers will not be small. There will no longer be any excuses for not supporting its adoption, and government and non-government organisations will be scrambling to maximise the benefits. I would also like to suggest that Free and Open Source software will be a Federal Government election issue in 2007. How each of the major parties approach it is something I can't predict, but they will ignore it to their peril. Free and Open Source software and Linux is not going away, and a government that ignores this is not doing their people any favours. ... so where does this leave Vista? The only market for Microsoft that makes sense to me is the one for embedded computers and appliances. The XBox, Windows OS on mobile phones, and Media Centre are the places where Microsoft are able to use their technology to its best potential, and where people will continue to be willing to pay for it. A buyer of one of these items, purchases them with a particular feature set and use in mind. The hardware and software are purchased together as a complete unit. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and retailers want to sell lots of identical widgets, which they can service or replace easily. The operating systems required to get these products through the market will need to become more specialised. The days when a general purpose operating system could be used in this case, even on higher performance hardware, has pretty much gone. So what about Vista? This leaves Microsoft, after Vista's release, with two options. Either continue with the with the old Windows model, which doesn't make a whole lot of business sense, or reinvent themselves and again start to make something useful.

Entry in Software Freedom Day Competition

MawsonLakes.Org has been entered in the Software Freedom Day competition for a Power5 server kindly donated by IBM. The category is for Best plan for FOSS deployment project on new server for community benefit, and involves developing the contacts and resources that were on display at the Software Freedom Showcase event. The existing server that MawsonLakes.Org uses is in a desperate need of a upgrade as it is 10 years old, and while it may run for another 10 years, it has been faithfully serving this community 24x7 since 1999.

Future activities and projects - Bar Camps

After the highly successful Software Freedom Showcase, held at the Mawson Centre, Mawson Lakes, MawsonLakes.Org is looking for more interesting projects to get involved in. While organising the above event, we became aware of the 'BarCamp's, which are un-conferences which are held in a very similar way to the way the Showcase was. More details can be found on their website, BarCamp.org. A group has already met, mostly from those involved in the Software Freedom Day activities to discuss whether a BarCampAdelaide is possible. There was also interest from people involved in the Adelaide multimedia and arts community. A tentative date has been set for March 2007. Watch the above links for more information.