Software Freedom Day 2006

The date for SFD2007 has been set for Saturday, September 15, 2007.

Preliminary local information is available here.

New portal for news and information about Free/Livre Open Source Software (FLOSS) is now available.  The url is FLOSSToday.com and specialized sub-domains provide information for FLOSS in Church and Open Source Software for Home Schoolers.

Hilary at the Susquehanna County Library has started a mailing list for FOSS in Susquehanna County.

General information about the list is at

http://mail.susqcolibrary.org/mailman/listinfo/foss_susqcolibrary.org

Click Here To sign up

Thanks, Hilary, you rock!!!

Each of the Susquehanna County libraries have been using FireFox, the Open Source web browser, for some time now. Recently Hilary added more Open Source Software. Each library computer now has a folder on the desktop titled “Free and Open Source Software”. In the folder is a “Read Me” file which is replicated here.

“In these folders you will find some of the most popular free and open source software for you to try out. See below for some frequently asked questions about open source software.

The software featured is:
AbiWord: simple and easy to use word-processing
OpenOffice.org - full office suite, equivalent to Microsoft Office
Base: databases (like Microsoft Access)
Calc: spreadsheets (like Microsoft Excel)
Draw: drawings and design (like Adobe Illustrator)
Impress: presentations (like Microsoft PowerPoint)
Math: equations (like Mathematica)
Write: word processing (like Microsoft Word)
The GIMP: image processing and manipulation (like Adobe Photoshop)
NVU: create websites (like DreamWeaver or Microsoft FrontPage)
PDF Creator: to make Portable Document Format documents

Use the Try It Out folder to use the software and Websites to visit web pages where you can find out more about these programs and download installers to use on your own computer.

What is open source software (OSS)?
Open source software is software that is developed collaboratively by developers across the globe. The software itself is available at little or no cost. The source code (the human-readable version of the software) is distributed with the executable form, giving users of the software the freedom to modify, adapt and improve the software to meet their needs.

What makes open source software special?
The basic idea behind open source is very simple: when programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing. At first sight, one might think that this seemingly uncoordinated method of software development would result in chaos, but on the contrary, open source software is well-known for its quality, reliability and security compared with proprietary software.

(If open source software is so great,) why haven’t we heard of this before?
Until recently, OSS was mostly developed by programmers in their spare time. They were doing what they loved ? writing software for themselves and sharing it with their fellow programmers. Consequently, the software was never marketed, but remained a “best kept secret” in the academic and technical communities. (In fact, the majority of the Internet is built on open source technologies, as the Internet initially grew out of academic institutions.) Contrast this with proprietary software companies who spend a large portion of their budgets on advertising and marketing.

Is open source software free?
Yes and no. In the monetary sense, open source software is free in that users may freely copy and distribute the software (see the open source definition for more detail). However, a total IT solution consists of hardware, software and services such as support and training. It is important to take all of these into account when discussing the cost of software. The free concept in open source software refers more specifically to freedom: free as in “free speech” or “free market”, rather than “free beer”. OSS gives users the freedom to use and modify the software to suit their own needs. For non-technical users, this means the freedom from being locked into a single provider for software fixes, upgrades, support and other services.

What can open source software do for the home user?
There are open source software equivalents for most (if not all) home users’ IT requirements, from document processing (office productivity suites) to dialup, email and Web browsing functionality, to games, multimedia and graphics applications. Since open source software may be freely used, copied and redistributed, it offers a very affordable IT solution to home users. Add to that the fact that open source software is often more stable and less buggy than many of its proprietary counterparts… What are you waiting for?”

Thanks to all, team members and guests, who helped to make Montrose Software Freedom Day 2006 a very successful event.

Requests for more discussion on Open Source Software and for a Linux User Group were received.

Oh, and of course for a Montrose Software Freedom Day 2007 (SFD2007)! Comments and feedback are welcomed and can also be sent to gbztechnoloy AT yahoo DOT com!

The Susquehanna Independent converted a press release into a nice news article. Read it here!

A few extra copies of TheOpenCD.org CD were ordered stateside from FrozenTech.com - they arrived yesterday. The CDs are very attractive and quite impressive for such a very reasonable price. Delivery time was just over a week (mostly in transit). I feel comfortable recommending FrozenTech.com for purchases.

Software Freedom Day is fast approaching, press releases are out, PSAs have been heard. Excitement is building as we help raise public awareness of Free and Open Source Software.

One of our sponsors, the Susquehanna County Library uses the popular Joomla! Content Management System (CMS). Read what Hilary, the frugal librarian, has to say about Joomla! and Open Source.

The updated Montrose Software Freedom Day 2006 Press Release is now available online at PressRelease.pdf and PressRelease.odt - the updated release has information and the location and a more local flavor to it.

Ok, team, let’s all do our best to spread the word!!!

It’s official! We will be at the Susquehanna County Library in Montrose, PA on Saturday, September 16, 2006 from 10:00 am until at least noon. A new press release with more emphasis on library resources will be available soon, probably Thursday. An updated flyer and a new poster are available now.

The updated flyer is available in OpenDocument Text (.odt) format sfd2006.odt and in Portable Document (.pdf) Format sfd2006.pdf

A new color poster is available in OpenDocument Drawing (.odg) format sfd2006color.odg and in Portable Document (.pdf) Format sfd2006color.pdf

Please feel free to print and distribute copies of any and all materials