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Software Freedom Day - Ideas, Thoughts, and discussions

Wed, 28/05/2008 - 15:46 — finux 
Well i'm very proud to announce that the Linux Society, in partnership
with Hannah Maclure Centre are holding a all-day event for software
freedom day on the 20th September 2008.

This is a fantastic opportunity to promote and celebrate free software.
We have a number of ideas already however nothing has been set in stone,
but the general feeling is to have a number of talks planned, a number
of workshops, and a couple of discussion groups set up.  We're hoping to
bring a lot of groups and individuals together who are interested in how
freedom in software can have positive effect on both their life's and
the interests such as artists, writers, students, hobbyists. 

So as the first part of a long process i'm asking for people to start
talking and discussing ideas, either over the mailing list, or over @
http://www.thelinuxsociety.org.uk and maybe start thinking of
groups/individuals that may enjoy the event or would be interested in
helping out.

So i hope everyone is excited about this as i am, i'm looking forward to
the day, and with it being only a day or two after the freshers fare it
seems to me a great way of finishing a summer of activity.  There has
been sometime put to the side for at the next meeting.
Wed, 28/05/2008 - 15:48 — finux

Please feel free to start adding ideas and thoughts

Please feel free to start adding to the thread.

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Wed, 28/05/2008 - 22:02 — Taysider

all-day event for software

I can copy Live CD's and /or live DVD's of LinuxMint with a brief Getting started sheet in the sleeves. Just let me know how many.
Dave
Thu, 29/05/2008 - 08:45 — finux

n1111ce

Cheers man, that'll be much appreciated.

Just i suppose we should start talking about if you knew nothing about free and open source software, and you wanted to know more about it, what would you like to know first, and how would we go about delivering it.

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Fri, 06/06/2008 - 18:11 — Taysider

all-day event for software

I have downloaded and installed it on my laptop with the file below also on it.
OOo_2.3.1_Win32Intel_install_wJRE_en-US.exe
I can bring laptop to the all-day event so others can see it running and get a copy

Dave
Wed, 28/05/2008 - 16:23 — GordonC

I'd be happy to help

Well I don't have any ideas on the spot but I'll see if I can come up with any good ideas. I'd be happy to help in any way I can.
Wed, 28/05/2008 - 16:43 — finux

Cheers Gordon

Cheers Dude, thanks for the offer dude much appreciated

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Wed, 28/05/2008 - 16:48 — GordonC

No problem

Just let me know if you need anything doing and I'll see if I can manage it. I'll be on Gajim , IRC etc.
Thu, 29/05/2008 - 09:21 — zubenel

Linux Mint

We cannot have Linux Mint for Software Freedom Day as it ships with proprietary multimedia codecs and other proprietary software. It wouls have to be of the *Buntu variety where  all software shipped is free and open source.

Gordon
Thu, 29/05/2008 - 09:31 — finux

well, i think it's about a celebration

I think it's about a celebration of software that is free rather than a hard line about free software.  I agree it's not free software the media codec's however we could use the light one, and then in the howto guide look at showing how to install codecs if that's what's needed.  I don't think it's done directly through the free software foundation
 

Objectives

  1. to celebrate software freedom and the people behind it
  2. to foster a general understanding of software freedom, and encourage adoption of free software and open standards
  3. to create more equal access to opportunities through the use of participatory technologies
  4. to promote constructive dialogue on responsibilities and rights in the information society
  5. to be inclusive of organizations and individuals that share our Vision
  6. to be pragmatic, transparent, and responsible as an organisatio
But your right on raising the issue, like i say i think it's about the community impact of freedom, and open source isn't in it's direct nature isn't free as in freedom.

http://softwarefreedomday.org/about

Components of "Software Freedom Day"

 

Software

SFD is primarily about Software, but Software Freedom can affect almost every aspect of our lives. Software Freedom enables governmental transparency and openness; for example, voting machines and government records can be examined and available to a degree that is impossible when proprietary secrecy stands in the way of public scrutiny. Software Freedom empowers non-profit organizations (such as libraries, schools, and religious organizations) and businesses (especially in developing countries) to compute with state-of-the-art software without the undue restrictions and costs imposed by proprietary software licensing. Software Freedom can provide a higher degree of security than is possible with proprietary software, because the artificial barrier of proprietary secrecy is not in place to keep security experts from contributing ideas, and it's in those experts' best interest to make sure the software is secure.

Software Freedom has massive legal and economic benefits, and it ultimately empowers people on a local level to exercise enlightened self-interest concerning any area of life that involves software.

 

Freedom

The English word "free" is ambiguous. Here's how Richard Stallman disambiguates the term:

 

"Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer."

This now-famous distinction addresses the two most fundamental categories of benefits of Software Freedom: ideological and practical.

 

Ideology

Ideological proponents of Software Freedom are most centrally concerned with freedoms such as in speech, association, privacy, and education. The word "proprietary" refers to ownership and private control, and while ownership and private control are very beneficial to society in many areas, they are directly opposed to the public good when they are applied to software, which consists of expressions of ideas (and these expressions happen to be understandable by computers).

 

Practicality

Pragmatic proponents of Software Freedom are most centrally concerned with economic, governmental (see above), and educational benefits. Free Software is not produced without cost, and there is no guarantee that it will be available to you without cost. But in practice, almost all Free Software is free from licensing fees, and the licensed publication of Free Software source code guarantees that no private interests have the power to revoke this public economic benefit.

Software Freedom benefits society educationally in two primary senses:

  1. schools have access to a greater amount of high-quality software because licensing fees are not a limiting factor, and
  2. students of computer science are free to begin working directly with state-of-the-art software.

It is only fitting that the ideals and practical benefits of this academically-inspired movement are now turning full-circle and benefiting schools of all levels, around the world. Visionaries who wanted to improve their own educations have laid down a legacy that will improve the educations of billions of others.

 

The Day

Software Freedom Day is centered on a particular day each year in order to heighten the sense of unity that SFD teams around the world experience - we're all in this together, working simultaneously in scores of countries toward a common goal. Many proponents of Software Freedom have been holding publicly educational events for years; it is our hope that by concentrating such efforts on a single day each year we can achieve a worldwide awareness that remains elusive when our efforts are chronologically dispersed.

http://softwarefreedomday.org/sfi#head-d88923557a79f2e168eedc956cb424279...

Like i say though, this is the issue.  We take a hard line on what we promote in the name of freedom we may need to seriously look at saying no to open source and i don't think that's what the day should be about.

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Thu, 29/05/2008 - 11:02 — zubenel

Not a hardline issue

Is not true that the recent release of Hardy Heron has it when a user uses an applicattion that requires a proprietary multimedia codec, Hardy Heron will offer to download and install the codec therefore it is now no longer a problem for the user? If this is the  case, people don't need distros like Linux Mint, if *buntu distros can manage everything O.K. I am a Fedora man so maybe *buntu users can let us know if the above scenario is correct.

Gordon
Thu, 29/05/2008 - 11:15 — finux

horses for courses

I agree totally that the codecs issue is one of importance and i think they could be great scope for having a workshop on using non-proprietary codecs such as ogg, and why due to licensing issues mp3's are on their way out.  I think if we have Audio/Visual hobbyists at the event they may really appreciate a workshop/talk on the subject.

However i don't think the scope of the day from what i can read from SFI would discourage giving out Linux Mint CD's, or any other FLOSS distribution. 

There is a Ubuntu derivative i think called GNUSense that is made of totally free software, but if you take a partisan line with it you could say that the BIOS that boot's it in most cases is proprietary.  One of the things i'm wanting to do on my system is swap it from the freeBIOS but that's slightly off topic.

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Fri, 30/05/2008 - 07:53 — finux

The Open CD Project

In addition to Linux Live CDs, an obvious handout is the opendisc and
the openeducation disc
http://theopendisc.com/
http://www.theopendisc.com/education/
These are programs for Windows, which are good for
1) informing about Open Source Free software
2) being easy for most passers by to accept!

It may also be useful to keep in mind that Ubuntu now includes a
Windows Installer (WUBI). This means that putting the CD into a
running windows machine brings up the option of installing into
windows as a windows application! No formatting, no undue cautions
about serious backing up first etc etc. Uninstall is also trivial and
reliable.


Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Fri, 30/05/2008 - 08:42 — GordonC

I agree about Ubuntu being a

I agree about Ubuntu being a good distro to hand out , wubi will save less technical people alot of hassle when they insert the cd into the computer when windows is running. Just have to hope that they don't have any bad experiences like alot of people have been having with hardy.
Fri, 30/05/2008 - 09:53 — finux

backup, backup and backup

It's the point you need to reiterate constantly to people, anything you do to change the state of your system, as the potential to destroy functionality or data.

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Fri, 30/05/2008 - 09:59 — zubenel

Hardy Heron issues

I can't put on Hardy Heron on my Toshiba Satellite 1800 laptop due to a known bug that makes the screen go blank, it even goes blank using the install cd. So I chucked on Debian Etch with the xfce desktop, it flies compared to the other normal distros and I did not even have to use the bcm43xxfwcutter for my broadcom wireless card. I just downloaded network manager via an ethernet connection and my wireless was up and running, I am going to upgrade to Lenny later to see how good it is.

Gordon
Sat, 31/05/2008 - 12:34 — finux

aberTAY-Dundee

Hi Guys,

That's our team for software freedom day registered - http://softwarefreedomday.org/teams/europe/uk/abertay-dundee

The team name is aberTAY-Dundee


Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Sun, 01/06/2008 - 13:06 — finux

Drupal Workshop

Just an idea, but do you think we could set up a drupal workshop.  I mean i reckon a few will be interested in that as well

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Sun, 01/06/2008 - 17:13 — GordonC

Yeah , that's a good idea.

Yeah , that's a good idea. What sort of things would it involve? Demonstrating drupal to an audience? Taking people through making a drupal website?
Thu, 05/06/2008 - 10:17 — finux

Open Document Formats, and what's wrong with Proprietary

I don't really think we can talk about freedom in software if we don't talk about the gross misuse of government, academia, and business giving commercial advantage to one companies proprietary file format, why this isn't in the spirit of freedom, and a hindrance to many.

Maybe a takl would suffice for this rather than a workshop, ideas please.

Arron M Finnon President Abertay Linux Society


Thu, 05/06/2008 - 10:20 — finux

Short URL for this topic

Here's a short URL for anyone that needs it for this subject

http://tinyurl.com/5tokvb

Arron M Finnon
President Abertay Linux Society


Thu, 05/06/2008 - 22:51 — RickMoynihan

Focus...

I think there's a risk that we cover too much, go too indepth and lose focus of what outcomes we want in our audience.

Firstly who represents the main demographic of people who are likely to attend?  Sure there'll be geeks, but I don't think we need to preach to the choir.  My view is that we need to primarily focus on the FLOSS projects which aim to be used by the average user.

Though choice is important, we need to reduce the scope of our message and focus on some key projects to push.  We don't want one person to be selling Fedora, another Ubuntu, Slackware, SUSE, Gentoo, Mint etc...  The paradox of choice will result in a confusing message and a bewildered audience.

I don't wish to be dogmatic though, and if we're expecting lots of interest in video/audio then perhaps we can recommend a specific distro for specialist uses, but generally I think we should *ALL* just push the same  mainstream desktop distro.  For business users we might decide on another, but I personally see no need.

My take on this is that we pitch at the non-technical Windows user, and consequently push:

- Ubuntu* Linux (over simply "Ubuntu", as the Linux bit is important - and can lead to the discovery of choice, even though we don't mention it upfront)
- Firefox (and it's extensions?)
- Open Office
- Other great cross-platform OSS projects that target mainstream users (anything on the open cd)

I think talk of codecs and ODF directly is a mistake.  Instead we should sell the specific products, and perhaps talk more generally about the problems with proprietary data formats, where we cite codecs and ODF, OOXML etc as examples.  Also I think we should try and focus more on DRM than proprietary codecs, as DRM is more emotive and a greater threat to freedom.  Codecs are a boring technical talk that most people can't relate to where as DRM represents a bigger more important take home message, which isn't just a technical detail users shouldn't have to worry about.

Also, wouldn't the eeepc and other cheap ultra mobile linux based laptops be a great thing to push?  People always seemed amazed at their price and form factor, and hardly anyone I've met has considered Linux to be a problem on that class of device.

Just my thoughts...

* Ubuntu was just my suggested choice, but I don't really care as long as it's a big mainstream desktop distro.



R.
Fri, 06/06/2008 - 09:36 — finux

Agree with most, if not all

Yeah the DRM thing sounds like a better idea, it kinda crosses the main bit i was interested in, using open formats in audio stuff basically limits the issues.  I think your right about pushing a specfic distro, and i'm not sure about if the same applies to freshers fair, but i hazard a guess if we get new users who have never had Linux before then it makes sense.  Just on a documentation level, so if we write guides to do things we have a standard to write to.  Knowing what the OS is for the person your writting the guide for is easier IMHO.


Arron M Finnon
President Abertay Linux Society


Fri, 06/06/2008 - 10:55 — finux

respun

This is just thrown up in the air, but i wonder if there is any worth in respining a distribution, keep it close to the orginal but put on tools that and documentation for the events (freshers fair & SFD)

Just an idea, what do you guys think?

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Fri, 06/06/2008 - 09:54 — Barry

Ideas Discussed last night

Hi Arron,

Here are the ideas I put forward last night:
  • Get in touch with the Dundee Chamber of Commerce and ask them to inform thier member ship. I don't if its worth while getting in touch with the equvalent organisation in Perth or not. It might also be useful to get in touch with the Small Business Gateway as well.
  • In any open office demos be sure to highlight that new user may need help in getting macros converted from MS Office to open office.
  • This idea could work with the freshers fair as well: Prepare a cd/dvd that contains the Windows version of VirtualBox (or equivalant) and a pre-prepared virtual linux (KUbuntu?) machine image. The image could have all or some of the free software that is being demod pre-installed on it.
Cheers
Barry
Fri, 06/06/2008 - 12:00 — RobertLadyman

Ideas

Perhaps we could divide the day/space into sections for
  • Business
  • Science
  • Home
  • Multimedia / Audio/visual
  • Schools / Education (OpenEducation Disc)
  • Tecchies, Linuxistas, Converts, Sysadmins, BoFHs
...or somesuch

For Business:-
Open source also means Windows
Why are we promoting it via SFD?
Software
Accounting:
  • Quasar (What about Payroll?),
  • GNUCash
Other
  • FireFox
  • Inkscape
  • Citrix Client
Commonest problems seen in businesses:-
  • Expired Anti-virus
  • Insufficient Office licences
  • Illegal copies of software
  • Illegal copies of Windows
  • FAST and fines
Open Source 'cures' in Windows:
  • OpenOffice
  • ClamAV
  • Squid / Dansguardian
  •  
OpenOffice in detail (this would be of interest to all: Education, science, etc)
  • Licences for Word, etc.
  • Cost - Office is expensive
  • Retraining for Office 2007 (very different)
  • What about my CUSTOMERS - they all use Word / Excel, etc.
  • OO equivalents for Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Access
Trying Windows Open source software
Open Office, et al, under *Windows
  • "Here's a CD"- how much is it (free)
  • The OpenDisc CD (free)
  • "Here's a web-link..."

Linux
Why would you use it...
  • Re-use of kit, not having to upgrade to Vista (or whatever)
  • KDE looks like Windows
E-mail, Calendars, Project Management
Security:-
  • Viruses - how much will anti-virus cost me (free)?
  • Firewalls - how much will a firewall cost me?
Networking
  • Sharing with Windows
  • Wireless
What about the Internet?
Support: Where can I get it from

Trying Linux
  • "Here's a live CD" - try before you buy
  • "Here's a CD"
  • "Here's a web-link"
  • "Here's a magazine"

Could I ask that if we are going to give away a distro, that there be a KDE-focussed one as well as a Gnome-focussed one.

RJL

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Sun, 08/06/2008 - 09:36 — finux

That's a nice format actually

I kinda like your lay out;
 

  • Business
  • Science
  • Home
  • Multimedia / Audio/visual
  • Schools / Education (OpenEducation Disc)
  • Tecchies, Linuxistas, Converts, Sysadmins, BoFHs

That actually seems like i bit of the best from everything IMHO, and a wide enough range to interest a lot of different people.  One that maybe worth thinking about adding is community and it's involvement, i think that's a big part of it for a lot of people and sometimes one of the hardest things to get across.  I could be wrong though, it has been known.

Well need to get some volunteers, but at least with the above we can look at getting people in for their specialty.



Arron M Finnon
President Abertay Linux Society

Wed, 11/06/2008 - 13:00 — zubenel

Contributors determining content of Software Freedom Day

Just using the experience of last fresher's fair where it was the case of not what should be done but who was willing to contribute and what can they contribute.
I will start the ball rolling, I can demonstrate all the different types of virtualisation (for businesses, developers & ordinary users). I will have to bring my workstation in for this. It would be good to run 5 O.S's at the same time with 4 VM's on a different face of a 3D cube (My dual-core Opteron will handle this easy and more). I have got 8 different O.S. systems on my computer, operated via a multi-boot manager so I can demonstrate different Linux operating systems. On my Fedora partition I have all the servers, mega-applications for sound e.g. audacity, video e.g. cinelerra, 3d e.g. blender etc.. etc.. All I need is someone to help me share out the demos. Anyway just some ideas going through my head at the moment.

Gordon
Thu, 12/06/2008 - 06:23 — RobertLadyman

OK, well I'm quite happy to

OK, well I'm quite happy to don the suit (and even shave) and talk about Open Office, FLOSS for Windies and Open Source 'cures' in Windows (free Antivirus, etc.) ...and I can help Gordon hand out demos.

What would be good is someone to field the "How come I can't use BBC iplayer under Linux / play MP3's" sort-of-question: tecchie knowledge but pitched for Grannies.
Thu, 12/06/2008 - 08:10 — finux

you don't have the don the suit, and you don't need to shave

Dude your a legend, I can look at doing the reasons about DRM and proprietary formats, and the Beeb getting it's self into trouble over it.  Not sure if i'm the best to do it, but i'm sure i can put something reasonably informative together.

Of course if someone is more tuned into this then me then please shout now!!!

Thanks Gordon and Robert

Arron M Finnon
President
Abertay Linux Society


Sun, 15/06/2008 - 16:31 — RobertLadyman

Open Doors Day (Coincidentally)

Arron,

The 20th is Dundee Open Doors Day (link below):

If the Hannah MacClure centre can be persuaded to open its doors for this event, perhaps we could get it, and the event, listed in the brochure for Open Doors Day.

http://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/opendays/area_programmes.aspx?areaid=10

(Cross-posted to the mailing list)

Sun, 15/06/2008 - 16:39 — RobertLadyman

...continued

...and to update my own message, they were in last year's

http://www.dhet.org.uk/02DOD4.htm#23


Mon, 16/06/2008 - 11:25 — finux

Volunteers So far

Just to keep up with the volunteers, so far we have had both Gordon's Dunlop and Coupar, Robert, Barry and Myself volunter for the event, please add your name so we have a rough idea of helpers

I'll take for granted that all the officers will be there for the event i.e both Kris'es, Jen, Tim, and fingers crossed for Attila

Arron M Finnon President Abertay Linux Society




Tue, 01/07/2008 - 08:40 — RobertLadyman

Financial Software List

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=372
Mon, 07/07/2008 - 08:13 — RobertLadyman

Linux Magazine DVD

The DVD on this month's Lunix Magazine contains 6 different flavours of Ubuntu: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu Studio. Perhaps we should use the DVD as the one to give away.
Wed, 13/08/2008 - 21:07 — zubenel

Linux Multimedia Distros

I put a post on the TayLUG about specialist multimedia Linux distros, here is the article:
http://www.junauza.com/2008/08/7-best-linux-distributions-for.html

Does anyone want to run any of these distros as a demo on a computer. If necessary I can run one as a Virtual Machine.

Gordon
Sat, 16/08/2008 - 08:57 — finux

sounds like an idea

Sounds like an idea

Arron M Finnon President Abertay Linux Society