☞ Misguided

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Simon Phipps
  • UK looks to US on piracy blocking
    Ed Vaizey’s views at outrageously uninformed if this report is correct. He seems to think that flawless blocking is possible and that its benefits outweigh its disadvantages. He also seems to be speaking from notes written by the media and proprietary software industries. Exceptionally disappointing lack of insight.

  • Open Rights Group Meeting with Ed Vaizey
    Vaizey and the government in general seem to have no clue at all about the technical consequences of their political kow-tow to the media industry. Presumably the lobbyists they are having write their policies aren’t explaining those things to them.

  • Harmony Agreements reach 1.0
    I was going to write about this but Dave’s post summarises most of what I think. I have been participating in Harmony to a small degree with the intent of making sure the project includes FOSS community-friendly options (use the License variant with an explicit license choice) and to ensure that there are voices saying we really don’t need these agreements by default, only to handle specific exceptions caused by history and/or bad choices.

  • When zombies attack! Bristol city council ready for undead invasion
    Forward thinking in other areas (they are pioneers in using open source for local government in the UK), Bristol City Council shows they are not only prepared for zombies but also for pirates.

Filed under: Cloud Computing, Links | 1 Comment »

☆ Brazil Signs Up To Develop Office Suites

Posted on July 6, 2011 by Simon Phipps

Ripening Coffee BeansAt FISL in Brazil last week, I had the opportunity to speak as the co-presenter in a session about the evolution of OpenOffice.org – I think there will eventually be video of it. As Richard Hillesley observes, the developer community for that codebase was always stifled, and while there are some excellent and experienced developers on working on it, very few have affiliations beyond Sun/Oracle. This will prove to be the biggest issue in “rebooting” development, and I believe the overall OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice community needs to set aside its differences to address it.

During the meeting, I called for developers to start work on the code-base now, regardless of their eventual expectations of which of the two open source projects they will join, so that their skills and their familiarity with the code are developed. Change in the codebase is inevitable, but skills and familiarity gained today will remain valuable. This uniting message was well received by the audience.

Also during the presentation, Jomar Silva announced that he had just met with representatives of the Brazilian government and representatives of both the Apache (Jomar Silva) and TDF  (Olivier Hallot) communities had signed a letter of intent with the government that Brazil should start engaging directly with the office suite they depend on, rather than just consuming the code.

This growth in the developer base seems to me to be exactly the sort of news we all need at the moment, and I’m looking forward to hearing from Olivier and Jomar as the first developers are identified and start work on the LibreOffice Easy Hacks.

Filed under: ODF | Tagged: , , | 3 Comments »

✈ TAPped Out

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Simon Phipps

If you don’t like whingeing by frequent fliers, skip this post!

I spent all day Tuesday travelling back from Brazil on TAP. Having taken four flights with them (LHR-LIS, LIS-GRU, VCP-LIS, LIS-LHR) I feel partially qualified to say that TAP are not a great airline. To recite the litany in no particular order:

  • All the flights I took were late departing (so much so I nearly missed the connection outbound in Lisbon – fortunately that was late too),
  • the planes are cramped and old-fashioned,
  • the Lisbon airport frequent-flyer lounge is small and poorly equipped (and by the way is inaccessible from the non-Shengen gates so expect a long walk or an uncomfortable connection),
  • the airline fails to communicate adequately about delays,
  • boarding procedures are inefficient,
  • many of the staff are brusque (apart from the crew on the last flight who were charming)
  • carry-on restrictions are unreasonably small (1 lightweight item)

I tried really hard to think of some positive things to say here. So thanks to the great cabin crew on the LIS-LHR flight for redeeming things, and to the security checker at Lisbon who was lots of fun (and who I expect will read this as she has my card!).  I actually missed being on United, if you can imagine that. I’d only fly them again if the fare was really cheap (maybe that’s a positive – they aren’t on my no-fly list!).

Filed under: Travel | 2 Comments »

☞ Declaring Independence

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Simon Phipps
  • “We the corporations” – Move to Amend
    A very happy 4th to all my friends in the USA! A great way to celebrate is to go consider this timely Move To Amend campaign, aimed at creating a new Amendment to the US Constitution that clarifies that corporations are not people and thus are not entitled to engage in politics nor to assume the privileges of individuals. Both are happening today essentially without the consequences of the associated responsibilities that real people face in exercising those same privileges. Go take a look now, then celebrate your independence at that BBQ later and consider the issues as you do.

  • Movement to Abolish Corporate Personhood Gaining Traction
    More discussion of the Move To Amend.

  • “If Microsoft ever does apps for Linux then I’ve won”
    Seems Linus Torvalds’ vision is finally coming true. Now we need Microsoft to deliver on Bill Gates’ promise to make Office and other apps available…

Filed under: Links | 2 Comments »

☝ FUD Barriers For Open Source Non-Profits?

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Simon Phipps

In a post to a private mailing list I follow, Software Conservancy chief Bradley Kuhn has confirmed that an unexpected problem highlighted recently by CASH Music is indeed a real issue for open source groups in the USA seeking to formalise non-profit status. I asked Bradley if he’d be happy to share some of the information from that posting and he agreed.

You can read all about it on ComputerWorldUK.

Filed under: ComputerWorldUK | 1 Comment »

☞ Liberty Plus

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Simon Phipps
  • Google Takeout
    Google seems committed to what I’ve long called “the freedom to leave”, and that’s giving me a lot of confidence trying out Plus.

  • Community Standards: A Comparison of Facebook vs. Google+
    Interesting discussion of the differences in the approaches Facebook and Google are taking to community self-management. Personally I find the Google approach much easier to explain to others already.

  • LibreOffice 3.4.1 provides stable new features for every user
    The Document Foundation keeps up the momentum with a fresh release of LibreOffice. The graphic explaining their release philosophy is especially helpful as the scheme they are using is somewhat cryptic to most people.

Filed under: Links | Comments Off on ☞ Liberty Plus

♫ 5

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Simon Phipps

I’ve been a fan of the music made by Lamb for a long time, but I’d assumed that when they broke up we’d not be hearing any more from them. Indeed, Lou Rhodes new solo career has produced some good music since then. But on the flight to Brazil, I saw in the TAP in-flight magazine that Lamb were back together and on tour – with a new album.

The album, 5 (that’s a US link – naturally it’s available in the UK too) seems to me to be a great come-back. Both musically and lyrically strong, it has a new smoothness to the music that harks back to earlier greatness plus an orchestral depth on many of the tracks that to my ears makes the new album my favourite Lamb so far. Very much recommended.

Filed under: Music | Comments Off on ♫ 5

☞ Peril By Sharing

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Simon Phipps

Filed under: Links | Comments Off on ☞ Peril By Sharing

☞ Barriers

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Simon Phipps
  • The tough road to 501(c)(3) status for open-source
    I’m aware of a number of potential open source foundations in this position and it’s definitely a problem that needs dealing with generally with the IRS. One interesting question would be who has told them there is a problem about which they should be cautious.

  • The decline of ‘open source’ as an identifying differentiator
    There’s more to this than meets the eye. I agree with Matthew that the industry’s pervasive embrace of open source has made the term less of a differentiator, but another factor is the realisation by some of these vendors that their product is not fundamentally about delivering software freedom.

  • Google Swiffy
    Nibbling away at Adobe’s stranglehold on rich content on the web – extremely welcome.

Filed under: Links | Comments Off on ☞ Barriers

☞ Proof Points

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Simon Phipps
  • The Failed Experiment of Software Patents
    One day one of these cases will have an outcome so outrageous that legislators will be forced to hold up a hand to the corporate hawks and ask them why they want even more regulation. It would have to be a case where a market was ruined and a major corporation bankrupted in a highly visible and global way, of course.

  • I Spent A Coin (And I Liked It) — How I Bought Lunch in Manhattan with Bitcoins
    While I can’t see this becoming common using the setup tested here, it’s a proof-of-concept that puts BitCoin into perspective.

  • On LulzSec, Censorship & CloudFlare
    Great attitude here. There’s no reason for them to act – in fact my take is that to do so would put them at greater risk – and anyway, the experience is simply training their software to resist exactly the sort of DDoS attacks being practised…

Filed under: Links | Comments Off on ☞ Proof Points

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    All views expressed on this blog are those of Simon Phipps and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other entity, including current and former employers and clients. See my full disclosure of interests.

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