Perhaps because I was born in Mexico and lived there (DF) for many years, and perhaps because so much of my family anchors there--or perhaps because Latin America--not just Brazil--is so immensely important to this century's present and future, that I find this article, and the concerted efforts to realize the potentials of open source, open data, open access so very affirming.
2011-12-29
‘Developing Latin America’: Open Data Projects · Global Voices
‘Developing Latin America’: Open Data Projects · Global Voices
2011-12-24
Open Source - Generic Tools - COSI 'Open' Government
Open Source - Generic Tools - COSI 'Open' Government
COSI is an important endeavour, and this list it has posted may be both a little dated and hardly complete but it is nevertheless very useful. But let's consider the future. All at some point will be tablet or dumb terminal related; the beefy desktop installed into our lives by IBM and MSFT 30 years ago will dissipate in the glare of the future. Open standards and open data will be of paramount importance, else the apps that run on the tablets and terminals won't be able to communicate with each other and we'll be babbling, at some cost, too. Open source builds the implementations that express the data and allow it be manipulated. And some things will be open source but not all. It will depend upon circumstance, market interest, and everything else that makes for risk in the real world of commodities and communities.
Query: Where are the risk models for open source products? Let's say that I devise such a model; it need not be open source, of course, as I could charge people its use..... I think it would prove very popular. And so I wonder if there are not already such in circulation at VC firms.
COSI is an important endeavour, and this list it has posted may be both a little dated and hardly complete but it is nevertheless very useful. But let's consider the future. All at some point will be tablet or dumb terminal related; the beefy desktop installed into our lives by IBM and MSFT 30 years ago will dissipate in the glare of the future. Open standards and open data will be of paramount importance, else the apps that run on the tablets and terminals won't be able to communicate with each other and we'll be babbling, at some cost, too. Open source builds the implementations that express the data and allow it be manipulated. And some things will be open source but not all. It will depend upon circumstance, market interest, and everything else that makes for risk in the real world of commodities and communities.
Query: Where are the risk models for open source products? Let's say that I devise such a model; it need not be open source, of course, as I could charge people its use..... I think it would prove very popular. And so I wonder if there are not already such in circulation at VC firms.
2011-12-23
Productivity Suite: Email / Calendar Solution
Productivity Suite: Email / Calendar Solution
Compelling reading, in particular for the key points itemized.
Compelling reading, in particular for the key points itemized.
2011-12-17
NVDA
NVDA
I had heard about NVDA at an accessibility conference a short while ago but had not had the chance to test it. It's open source, and free (as in cost), and supposedly only so far works with Windows(TM), and that's a shame. Given the range of projects to work on, and given the satisfaction to be gained, as well as the market value--well, I should think that porting it to Linux, or Mac OS X would make sense.
Or even, to extend the idea, having a Web-based service that does this. I'm ignorant here, and as I type, am not doing the needed research. But does a screen reader exist for, say, Google Apps? For iCloud? The scenario I envisage is that a person has a tablet; she or he may not even have a visual disability but could, say, be dyslexic or not even particularly fluent in reading. The tablet does not support Windows (digression: are there apps that do screen reading on a sophisticated level for Android, iOS? There must be....beyond what is already in iOS, with which I'm most familiar), nor iOS but does Android or an equivalent Linux-based system, such as Meego.
How is this person to navigate the Web using the tablet? And suppose she is not even dyslexic but simply aged, and so cannot read very well because no matter what the font, it's too small and blurry. Would we (those who live in society: all of us, minus the outliers currently running--certainly not standing--for the Republic nomination in the US) really want to consign this very large population to having to buy licensed software? Wouldn't the cost to society, or even just to the affected persons be extraordinary?
Think about it: The baby boom generation's oldest have breached 65, and despite their best efforts, their bodies are falling apart and that process will accelerate as they get older. Many are now already using computers and many more will start using tablets, as they will shortly prove to be consistently cheaper and even, for most uses, easier to work with.
It's a large and so far mostly untapped market; but it's a market that can only come into being if some things are made freely available, like paving roads so that people can then go to the shopping malls.
I had heard about NVDA at an accessibility conference a short while ago but had not had the chance to test it. It's open source, and free (as in cost), and supposedly only so far works with Windows(TM), and that's a shame. Given the range of projects to work on, and given the satisfaction to be gained, as well as the market value--well, I should think that porting it to Linux, or Mac OS X would make sense.
Or even, to extend the idea, having a Web-based service that does this. I'm ignorant here, and as I type, am not doing the needed research. But does a screen reader exist for, say, Google Apps? For iCloud? The scenario I envisage is that a person has a tablet; she or he may not even have a visual disability but could, say, be dyslexic or not even particularly fluent in reading. The tablet does not support Windows (digression: are there apps that do screen reading on a sophisticated level for Android, iOS? There must be....beyond what is already in iOS, with which I'm most familiar), nor iOS but does Android or an equivalent Linux-based system, such as Meego.
How is this person to navigate the Web using the tablet? And suppose she is not even dyslexic but simply aged, and so cannot read very well because no matter what the font, it's too small and blurry. Would we (those who live in society: all of us, minus the outliers currently running--certainly not standing--for the Republic nomination in the US) really want to consign this very large population to having to buy licensed software? Wouldn't the cost to society, or even just to the affected persons be extraordinary?
Think about it: The baby boom generation's oldest have breached 65, and despite their best efforts, their bodies are falling apart and that process will accelerate as they get older. Many are now already using computers and many more will start using tablets, as they will shortly prove to be consistently cheaper and even, for most uses, easier to work with.
It's a large and so far mostly untapped market; but it's a market that can only come into being if some things are made freely available, like paving roads so that people can then go to the shopping malls.
2011-12-14
ACTA Adopted By EU Governments, Now in EU Parliament's Hands | La Quadrature du Net
ACTA Adopted By EU Governments, Now in EU Parliament's Hands | La Quadrature du Net
Acta is not insignificant and does affect regular consumers and producers of just about anything that can be commodified and traded over the Internet, as well as other media. Read the synopses on the page, and express yourself.
Acta is not insignificant and does affect regular consumers and producers of just about anything that can be commodified and traded over the Internet, as well as other media. Read the synopses on the page, and express yourself.
2011-12-12
HP's webOS is going Open Source. Now what? | ZDNet
HP's webOS is going Open Source. Now what? | ZDNet
I tend to side with Jason that Apache would make a fine home for webOS. But who will actually develop the code? Coding for substantial projects actually requires substantial investment, however distributed. Volunteers--those who will devote time and energy without pay now or ever--can only do so much and it is not likely that an enterprise, say, would welcome the idea of depending on a volunteer group to sustain an OS it may come to depend upon. So, to develop something that may become pivotal to enterprise usage of the Cloud, say, requires companies and developers to recognise that it makes business sense, not just gives pleasure, to develop (code and all the project engagement implied) something as seemingly belated as webOS. Belated, for the market for tablets and smartthings is already dominated by iOS and Android, and the peripheries by such meritorious OSes as Meego, for instance, and other Linux-based systems. To be sure, webOS has some rather unique and even compelling features--Jason itemises these--but is that enough?
I'd be interested to learn what HP plans. I am sure I'm not alone. I should hope that it recognises that webOS if properly managed would bridge the huge gulf that's so very apparent to all who simply look: Tablets, dominated by iOS and its wannabes, are consumer commodities, still. Their UI is unforgiving to most enterprise use, and that includes education use.
But tablets are the only real option for future computer use. Everything else larger than a phone is too costly in the aggregate: Uses too many resources to make, distribute, maintain, whereas a tablet linked to mesh network (or even cloud, but I prefer p2p meshes) requires far fewer resources in the making and use (less energy to use, for instance). Numerous other benefits are obvious, not least of which is that the tablet is likely to last longer. But we are not there yet. At present, there are something like 1 billion computer users, and most I'd guess use fairly old desktop machines. These will be replaced with better, more efficient devices (most of the old ones will doubtless do their bit to add to global pollution, landfill, heavy-metal poisoning, and so on), but there will also be another two or even three billion coming to the table in the next decade, if not sooner. Plus: more children than ever before and fewer teachers with fewer classrooms with fewer educational resources all married to a changing social structure that, for environmental as well as social reasons is marginalising traditional livelihoods and teaching methods make for a reliance on modern technologies. These include distance learning and, yes, tablets.
Or at least modified tablets, those that can be worked on and are not designed as consumer objects. And webOS fits that bill. It is quintessentially an OS for productivity, not for entertainment. Coupled to a device that supports the usual means of input ("keyboard" or equivalent), and modified to include an ODF editor, webOS could quickly come to dominate the new market--the Real Politik--for real productivity tools for all.
I tend to side with Jason that Apache would make a fine home for webOS. But who will actually develop the code? Coding for substantial projects actually requires substantial investment, however distributed. Volunteers--those who will devote time and energy without pay now or ever--can only do so much and it is not likely that an enterprise, say, would welcome the idea of depending on a volunteer group to sustain an OS it may come to depend upon. So, to develop something that may become pivotal to enterprise usage of the Cloud, say, requires companies and developers to recognise that it makes business sense, not just gives pleasure, to develop (code and all the project engagement implied) something as seemingly belated as webOS. Belated, for the market for tablets and smartthings is already dominated by iOS and Android, and the peripheries by such meritorious OSes as Meego, for instance, and other Linux-based systems. To be sure, webOS has some rather unique and even compelling features--Jason itemises these--but is that enough?
I'd be interested to learn what HP plans. I am sure I'm not alone. I should hope that it recognises that webOS if properly managed would bridge the huge gulf that's so very apparent to all who simply look: Tablets, dominated by iOS and its wannabes, are consumer commodities, still. Their UI is unforgiving to most enterprise use, and that includes education use.
But tablets are the only real option for future computer use. Everything else larger than a phone is too costly in the aggregate: Uses too many resources to make, distribute, maintain, whereas a tablet linked to mesh network (or even cloud, but I prefer p2p meshes) requires far fewer resources in the making and use (less energy to use, for instance). Numerous other benefits are obvious, not least of which is that the tablet is likely to last longer. But we are not there yet. At present, there are something like 1 billion computer users, and most I'd guess use fairly old desktop machines. These will be replaced with better, more efficient devices (most of the old ones will doubtless do their bit to add to global pollution, landfill, heavy-metal poisoning, and so on), but there will also be another two or even three billion coming to the table in the next decade, if not sooner. Plus: more children than ever before and fewer teachers with fewer classrooms with fewer educational resources all married to a changing social structure that, for environmental as well as social reasons is marginalising traditional livelihoods and teaching methods make for a reliance on modern technologies. These include distance learning and, yes, tablets.
Or at least modified tablets, those that can be worked on and are not designed as consumer objects. And webOS fits that bill. It is quintessentially an OS for productivity, not for entertainment. Coupled to a device that supports the usual means of input ("keyboard" or equivalent), and modified to include an ODF editor, webOS could quickly come to dominate the new market--the Real Politik--for real productivity tools for all.
2011-12-08
7 Free Office Tools to Save Non-Profits Money
7 Free Office Tools to Save Non-Profits Money
It's always striking to see how the press (aka media) normally only thinks of open source and the American consumer/business in the context of poverty: as if, If you cannot afford the good stuff, settle for this, the free junk.
Elsewhere that is not always the story. The narrative is as often about "freedom" (remember that?) and what that implies: being able to do things (innovate, again, remember?) that are not proscribed and prescribed. Open source, and in particular something like OOo, gives users the freedom to do things that are out of bounds.
Put another way, for open source, consumer freedom (not having to pay) is coupled with developer freedom. To be sure, in many regions of the world, especially in those where markets are tight and where the luxury of being able to choose freely is rare, the primary mode of engaging open source is using it without the fear or cost of (un)licensed software. And where there is the wealth to engage in the market as a free agent, alone or as part of an organisation, then there is the freedom to do that can be acted upon. I envision that as government sees the benefits of strategic investment, we'll see more and more developer groups. Sustainability, of this sort, more than saves money: innovation makes money.
It's always striking to see how the press (aka media) normally only thinks of open source and the American consumer/business in the context of poverty: as if, If you cannot afford the good stuff, settle for this, the free junk.
Elsewhere that is not always the story. The narrative is as often about "freedom" (remember that?) and what that implies: being able to do things (innovate, again, remember?) that are not proscribed and prescribed. Open source, and in particular something like OOo, gives users the freedom to do things that are out of bounds.
Put another way, for open source, consumer freedom (not having to pay) is coupled with developer freedom. To be sure, in many regions of the world, especially in those where markets are tight and where the luxury of being able to choose freely is rare, the primary mode of engaging open source is using it without the fear or cost of (un)licensed software. And where there is the wealth to engage in the market as a free agent, alone or as part of an organisation, then there is the freedom to do that can be acted upon. I envision that as government sees the benefits of strategic investment, we'll see more and more developer groups. Sustainability, of this sort, more than saves money: innovation makes money.
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