Software Freedom Day

July 18, 2007 — Aaron Fulkerson

Software Freedom Day 2007 – Bigger than ever!

September 15th marks Software Freedom Day, the world’s largest celebration and outreach effort about why transparent and sustainable technologies like Free & Open Source Software are so important. Community groups in more than 80 countries organise local activities and programs on Software Freedom Day to educate the wider public about free software: what it is, how it works and its relationship to human rights and sustainability. We already have over 140 teams around the world registered: join them in spreading the word! Registrations for Software Freedom Day teams that want to receive a free SFD team pack close in two weeks, so register now!

“Software Freedom is about creating a digital platform for trust and longevity, particularly in a future where more and more of our lives are dependent upon technology” explains Pia Waugh, President of Software Freedom International, the organisation behind Software Freedom Day. “It is important we can participate in and trust the software we use in the same way we need to be able to participate and trust in a political system. Ultimately our basic freedoms are only as free as the tools we use, and thus our commitment to Software Freedom.”

Support for this year’s Software Freedom Day event is fantastic with Google, Mindtouch and the Free Software Foundation coming on board as sponsors as well as long term sponsors the Danish Unix User Group and Canonical. The event also has support from The Open CD, OsCommRes and the International Open Source Network.

“Software Freedom Day is a fantastic event that demonstrates the global reach of open source software.” says Jane Silber, COO of Canonical. “We at Canonical are proud to sponsor the event and encourage everyone in the Ubuntu community, as well as the open source community writ large, to participate in this important global event.”

Registrations of teams participating in SFD will continue right up to the event however teams who wish to receive a free SFD team pack, including stickers, tshirts, CDs and balloons must register before the 31st July! So get in quick! There is also an online shop where anyone can purchase tshirts and packs of The Open CD. Teams get a 50% discount on all prices marked. Teams that have difficult circumstances can write to the Software Freedom International Board with special requests for additional goodies.

Already this years event is looking bigger and better than ever before, so what will you do to help take Software Freedom to the world. After all, freedom isn’t just for geeks :)

Contact officer: Pia Waugh pia @softwarefreedomday.org

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Free Knowledge: Open Manufacturing

January 8, 2007 — Aaron Fulkerson

Aaron Fulkerson

That’s free like speech, not like beer. I received a link to this article in Minnesota Technology magazine today. It has a short piece about wikis and MindTouch. I wonder where my free knowledge shirt went. I love that shirt! This is what my focus has always been. Knowledge should be open and free (within reason). Obviously I’m not talking about publishing the recipe to saren gas, but I am talking about, among other things, opening up how we manufacture and engineer. Imagine if all our engineering were open and accessible to anyone who had the desire to review and contribute. I’m talking about chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, software, aeronautical, whatever engineering. People could review, contribute, and assist in improving. What if, for example, an electric car’s design, manufacturing, parts purchasing, etc was completely open? Think about how quickly this could improve. Surely there is more overhead in manufacturing than in software, but the process would certainly be improved were it open. Sticking with the electric car idea, perhaps all the laid off auto-workers could even start their own boutique car company. It’s not impossible or unrealistic. The costs of goods sold are significantly lower than what they used to be in car manufacturing. What’s the business model? The same that exist for open source software. Let’s say for the electric car it could support and services.

: I should have known. I mentioned this to Brian, the electric car example that is, and sure enough there is a post at MAKEzine about an open source car, which is really just a bunch of useful links on the topic. I would really like to explore this further. Especially since it would actually be practical for me now that I’m moving somewhere other than Minnesota, which simply wouldn’t be conducive to an electric car with my commute.

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Summer of Code

June 9, 2005 — Aaron Fulkerson

Google

The Summer of Code is Google’s program designed to introduce students to the world of open source software development.

This summer, don’t let your programming skills lie fallow. Use them for the greater good of open source software and computer science. Google will provide a $4500 award to each student who successfully completes a project by the end of the summer. (Payment details can be found in the FAQ)

By pairing applicants up with the proven wisdom and experience of established prominent open source organizations (listed below), we hope to make great software happen. If you can’t come up with a great idea to submit, a number of our organizations have made idea lists available.

What a brilliant idea! I would have loved to have had this opportunity while I was in school! I am so stoked about this!

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Analyst research 'distorted' against open source

March 3, 2005 — Aaron Fulkerson

Open Source, Linux News & Software – OSDir.com

A top HP executive has said that open source software is being under-represented in market share statistics because analyst firms are using outmoded measurement techniques

HP is hoping to persuade analyst firms to change the way that they measure the software market to take into account the open source business model.

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