Virtusa, an IT services company founded in 1996, was using proprietary version control and collaboration systems to develop software for its clients until Sri Lankan founder Kris Canekeratne decided that a custom solution built on open source components was a better fit for internal use. As a result, the company ended up saving millions of dollars on licensing fees and acquisition costs. (more…)
August 8, 2008
March 7, 2008
Red Hat High campers are bridging the digital divide
One of the things Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik loses sleep over is the digital divide, especially when it comes to children. He wanted to do something about the disparity in the availability of computing resources and skills between social classes, so he set aside corporate funds to create Red Hat High, a week-long technology summer camp for eighth- and ninth-grade students.
March 6, 2008
Classic Gasperson: FSF asks Lindows, “Where’s the source?”
Bradley Kuhn, vice president of the Free Software Foundation, says the organization is contacting LindowsOS representatives because the company has not included source code with its “sneak preview” releases. Lindows CEO Michael Robertson says his company will comply with the GPL when the product is released to the public. (more…)
October 11, 2007
Linux distro for women? Thanks, but no thanks
The idea is floating around again: Let’s make a special Linux distribution for women! We’re smarter than that, aren’t we? I say, let’s spare ourselves and the world yet another pointless and less-than-useful version of Linux. (more…)
September 17, 2006
Software Freedom Day: Not just for geeks
The third annual Software Freedom Day (SFD) will take place worldwide on September 16. Project organizers say the event, designed to raise awareness about the benefits of using free software, is drawing more interest this year than ever before, with participation from 150 countries.
Free software fans around the world are forming local teams that will work together to create events specific to their localities, including educational seminars, product giveaways, and free software demonstrations. “The day is completely free and there will be giveaways, prizes, and further information about how you can do your bit to help ensure technology doesn’t act to lock down our human rights,” says Pia Waugh, the newly elected president of Software Freedom International (SFI), the official support organization for Software Freedom Day. Nine board members from around the world chart the course for current and future Freedom Days, facilitating team requests for organizational help and giveaway items such as T-shirts.
This year, teams and individuals can compete in categories like “Best Event Photo,” “Best SFD Blog Coverage,” and “Best SFD Event.” IBM is giving away five POWER5 servers to the top-winning teams, and individuals will get free Software Freedom Day T-shirts signed by board members.
Matt Oquist, an SFI board member and one of the founders of Software Freedom Day, says that response to this year’s SFD has been good. “In 2004 and 2005 we contacted LUGs via email to encourage them to start SFD teams,” he says, “but this year we just contacted the team leaders from [last year] and we still grew by approximately the same percentage.” Oquist says SFD is so much fun that people are naturally drawn to it. “It really charges up everybody involved. Immediately afterward we always get a bunch of feedback, emails, and pictures. Each successive SFD draws in more people who would’ve been involved the year before if they’d just known about it.”
Waugh says this year there are more than 150 teams so far, with more entries coming in every day. Each team consists of anywhere from two to 30 volunteers. Waugh says each team can reach up to 3,000 people with the message of free software, which is important, she says, because our lives revolve around technology. “This means ultimately our basic human freedoms such as the freedom of association, or the freedom of speech, are only as free as the technology we use to exercise those freedoms.”
For Oquist, SFD is about changing minds. “One important step on the road to Software Freedom is for a majority of the world to recognize the availability and quality of free software. People have been talking for years about the ‘year of Linux on the desktop.’ There are a multitude of factors affecting the delay of Linux desktop adoption, but one of the primary ones seems to be this chicken-and-egg problem. Nobody wants to be first. I’m hoping to see 10 years during which a tidal force sweeps through the world, decimating beyond recovery the degree of the proprietary stranglehold on computing freedom.”
The official deadline for registering teams for SFD has passed, but you are welcome to make a late entry, says Waugh, or simply join a nearby existing team. “Check out the Web site or a team near you, or even start an event yourself. It could be a barbecue, a picnic, an installfest, talks, competitions, whatever you like.” She stresses, “Freedom isn’t just for geeks. Freedom is for everyone.”
August 12, 2006
Open source project may help end homelessness in Toronto
Dr. Tomislav Svoboda spends a lot of time working to improve the plight of the homeless in Toronto. He began his residency by working at the Seaton House, Canada’s largest homeless shelter, which cares for about 700 men. Svoboda and Seaton House director Art Manuel are transforming the way the homeless receive services in this city. In their quest to provide the best care possible and to fulfill their vision to end the problem of homelessness in Toronto, Svoboda and Manuel aren’t afraid to challenge paradigms by using non-traditional tools, like a small glass of wine and a full-blown open source development project.The homeless in Toronto are mostly single men from 20 to 70, and the vast majority of them suffer from alcoholism, mental illness, and all the other medical issues one might expect to go along with the condition. In the throes of their illnesses, they tend to be devoted to one thing: the bottle. Many homeless outreach programs have failed because potential clients were unwilling or unable to leave the alcohol behind long enough to enter the doors of treatment programs and overnight shelters in a sober condition. In a well-publicized 1996 case that spurred many grassroots reform efforts, three homeless men froze to death on the streets of downtown Toronto because a shelter turned them away. (more…)
July 17, 2006
Building a free software community in a PC Garage
Four Debian enthusiasts in New York City got together in 2003 and created the Community Free Software Group (CFSG), a non-profit entity to promote the use of free software in the local community. Since the group’s inception, CFSG members have been busy helping young people in city neighborhoods learn how to install and run Debian Linux on hardware donated by area businesses and individuals. (more…)
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