Archive for the ‘FOSS’ Category

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UP Manila National Telehealth Center conducts the Geolocate4Health contest

Friday, March 5th, 2010

The University of the Philippines Manila National Telehealth Center is now conducting the Geolocate4Health contest.

The contest involves the use of Google Map Maker in mapping health care facilities such as:

1. government hospitals
2. private hospitals
3. rural health units/local health centers
4. lying-in clinics
5. barangay health stations
6. private clinics
7. special health facilities such as dialysis clinics, stand-alone laboratories and
radiology centers
8. blood banks
9. drugstores

Contest period is from February 1, 2010 to May 31, 2010 and is open to all bona fide UP Manila students and and Doctors to the Barrios..

Using Google Map Maker, all participants will be tasked to pin and outline health care facilities (e.g. government hospitals, rural health units, lying-in centers, barangay health stations) inany areas in the Philippines. Monthly top contributors will be awarded with P5,000.00 each while an iPod Touch awaits the grand prize winner.

Registration is free and must be done at the following URL: http://plone.telehealth.ph:8081/NTHC/news/nthc-to-launch-geolocate4health-contest

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Ubuntu 10.04 to support iPod, iPhone, iPad out of the box

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Just came across this article about something a lot of us into free and open source software have been wanting to happen: (The main reason I don’t use iPod, iPhone and probably not planning to use iPad in the future is because they don’t use free and open source software. But that will soon change ;) )

“Another barrier to Linux adoption is set to fall with next month’s major Ubuntu release – version 10.04, otherwise known as Lucid Lynx – bringing iPod support right out of the box.

This breakthrough is bound to be a game-changer in the land of Linux and if anything in Ubuntu 10.04 is set to make the fabled “year of the Linux desktop” come closer, this is it.

We’re talking about a new level of hardware compatibility, and not the likes of finding the right printer or WiFi adapter. Support for Apple’s range of devices will make Ubuntu more accessible to legions of potential users in one move.”

Read more of the article by By David M Williams at ITWire
http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/the-linux-distillery/37290-ubuntu-1004-to-support-ipod-iphone-ipad-out-of-the-box

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Best practices for FOSS adoption and migration

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

“The migration and adoption process is a complex, multidisciplinary effort that touches different areas and require a complete understanding of how individual workflows are composed and executed and how people interacts with IT systems in their daily work. In this sense, a FLOSS migration is a major endeavor, and as most complex efforts can easily go wrong.

There are several hurdles in the execution of a migration, and some of those hurdles can be avoided easily by using simple practices.

Most of the difficulties are not really technical in nature, but organizational, and will require most effort from the upper management; another important aspect is the social impact of the migration (like user acceptance), that may require special attention.”

Here’s the link to the rest of the guide discussing the different aspects: Management, Technical and Social Guidlines.

From FOSSTOOLKIT:
http://fosstoolkit.iosnasean.net/index.php?title=5._Best_practices_for_FLOSS_adoption

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foss-for-health.org

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

We have just formally launched the foss-for-health.org web portal last week.

foss-for-health.org is part of the Open Source and Standards PCTA (PANACeA Common Thematic Activities) that hopes to help create awareness of Free and Open Source Software(FOSS) in eHealth, promote its use and build both capacity and support for those starting to adopt it.

PANACeA (PAN Asian Collaboration for Evidence-based eHealth Adoption and Application) is an initiative to generate evidence in the field of eHealth within the Asian context, by forming a network of researchers and research projects from developing Asian countries.

PANACeA supports multinational projects to evaluate eHealth solution in the field and generate evidence through methodologically sound research.

foss-for-health.org aims to build a FOSS for eHealth Online Community that can be a venue for networking and exchanging ideas and experience on FOSS use, best practices and business models for sustainability aside from providing online support to FOSS adopters and making available FOSS resources.

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Philippine COMELEC 2010 election software cource code should be open for transparency and credibility of the process

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Smartmatic needs to bare open the source code of the computerized election system it supplies the Philippine Commission on Election (COMELEC) for transparency and to allay fears that the 2010 election can be rigged.

There’s no justification for keeping it a secret. The more secret it becomes, the more mysterious how it will process the vote counting. The more mysterious it becomes, the more suspicious will the outcome of elections be. This will raise more doubts in the integrity of the election.

NO, we don’t want to go back to the manual process and YES, we really need to computerized the election to speed up the process and to lessen “human intervention.” The more time it takes to process/count the results and the more chance for “human intervention,” the more the opportunity for cheaters to make the election process a circus, a mockery of our democracy.

In the manual system (ideally of course), the counting up to canvassing is held in front of watchers and the public to show transparency of the process. With the computerized election, this method has been replaced by the machines with less human intervention making it less prone to cheating. But wait, isn’t the source code also done by humans prone to error and there’s the chance that it might have bugs or can be rigged. Therefore, to remove this suspicion / doubt, the source code should be open.

I think the issue of intellectual property here is no longer important, opening the source code does not mean violation of IPR or copyright since violation of copyright happens only if it is copied and used illegally by others. And if it does happens, they still have the law that they can apply to prosecute violators. But this is not the current problem and it is not the paramount interest of the nation. Copyright laws or the application of other laws will become useless if we will have an unstable government as a result of a failed rigged election.

Then there’s the issue of security. This “making secret of the source code for security purposes” is an example of “Security by Obscurity” which time and again has been proven to be a flawed method for securing software. The rising popularity of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and its increasing used in both government, scientific institutions and commercial enterprises has proven that the more open a source code is, the more it becomes stable and secured because the more people examines and audits the code the lesser the bugs.

[Got to go, will continue posting my thoughts on this issue later. If you have reactions both for or against this opinion, please post your comments.]

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Event: Global Conference on Open Source (GCOS) 2009 Update

Friday, October 9th, 2009

“Open Source practitioners from around the world will attend the Global Conference on Open Source, 26 – 27 October 2009 in Jakarta“

Jakarta, 07 October 2009, The Global Conference on Open Source 2009 committee held a meeting on October 1 2009 at the Department of Communication & Information Technology’s office to finalize the latest data regarding preparations for the Global Conference on Open Source and the availability of domestic and foreign speakers.

Open source experts that have positively stated their availability to attend and speak at the conference representing governments’ perspective are; MAMPU (Malaysia): Modernizing Public Service Using Open Source, USA: The Importance of Document Format on Government Task, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam: Serving The Society Efficiently and Effectively, Ministry of Information and Communications, Republic of Indonesia: Legal and Smart Solution in Building National ICT Capability, and many more (for more information go to http://gcos.info).

Speakers representing the private sector that have also stated their availability are Sun Microsystems: Embrace and Extend: Making Open Source Technologies Complement Incumbent Technologies in the Enterprise, TELKOM: To Open source or Not To Open source: A CIO Strategy and Migration Methodology, IBM: Open Source Adoption in Enterprise, NTT: Big Surge in the Use of Open Source in Mission Critical Systems, and others (for more information go to http://gcos.info).

The academic track has also attracted distinguished speakers. Those attending are CNRS France: The Use of Open Source in the Grid Computing and Data Acquisition System in High Energy and Particle Physics Research Projects, SEAMOLEC: Prospect and Experience in using Open Source for Distance Learning, The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University: Open Source Software and Open Data in Biodiversity Research and Education.

GCOS 2009 will also be discussing other topics that include open source in communities and open source in the creative world.

The meeting has also mapped the committee’s preparations related to the workshops and exhibitions that are also part of GCOS 2009, which will be held on October 26-27 2009. The committee is currently preparing three workshops, which are: Character Animation using Blender, Open Source For Health/Medicine, and Network Analysis & troubleshooting @ enterprise.

There are three other events that will be held parallel to the Global Conference on Open Source, which are Asia Open Source workshop, POSS Network Workshop and IGOS Summit 3.

The day after GCOS ends, Oct 28, there will be a Free (Bebas) Software event: Richard M. Stallman, founder of the Free Software Movement and leader of development of the GNU operating system (with which the kernel Linux is typically used) will give a speech to explain the ethical and political ideas of free software, which are differ from the ideas of open source, and how GNU was developed to realize these ethical goals. The talk, entitled: The Free Software Movement and the GNU/Linux Operating System

This event will be held at the 3rd floor Auditorium, BPPT II Building, Jl. M.H. Thamrin 8, Jakarta on October 28 2009 at 09.00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. InfoLinux Magazine will host this even, which is open for FREE to the general public.

Let us work together to make the Global Conference on Open Source 2009 a great success.

For more information regarding preparations, schedule and GCOS events please visit GCOS official website http://gcos.info.

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RP 20th in open source activity in government sector

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Would like to share this news about the progress we’re making in the Philippines as regards Free and Open Source Software. Thanks to Roli for sharing.

From the article: Open source adoption still strong in RP
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:34:00 10/05/2009
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20091005-228524/Open-source-adoption-still-strong-in-RP

MANILA, Philippines – Open source software development, particularly Linux, is seen to have a strong following in Asia Pacific as companies look to incorporate virtualization and cloud computing in their IT infrastructure.

New approaches to IT infrastructure building include managed services and software-as-a-service, which make use of third-party applications provider.

For end-users, these reduce the need for capital and operational expenditures and allow companies to focus more on their core businesses.

“It’s already obvious that open source, cloud computing and virtualization have done a lot for companies in the Asian region. But what about the complexities of implementing these, are they ready?” asked Red Hat Asia Pacific President Gery Messer.

Messer was in the Philippines recently to talk to customers about Red Hat’s latest services. But more than a product pitch, Messer also spoke of trends in open source computing amid the rise of cloud computing and virtualization.

The current economic crisis, Messer said, has somewhat sped up the adoption of open source, cloud computing and virtualization, which helped create a more streamlined system that won’t take up time, physical space, and man hours to manage.

Also, he noted a growing trend is on managed services delivered through telecommunications providers that have their own data centers. This growth is also accelerated by the economic crisis with company budgets slashed to curtail additional expenses and losses.

“Companies now only want to pay for what they are currently using, not what they think they’d be using in the future,” Messer said.

According to a Red Hat study published in April this year, the Philippines ranked 67th out of 75 countries that had overall robust open source activity.

The Philippines, meanwhile, ranked 20th in terms of open source activity in the government sector, largely due to many government-related IT projects running on open source.

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Event: GNOME Asia Summit

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Announcement From: GNOME.Asia

The GNOME.Asia Summit Vietnam Nov.20-22, 2009 in Ho-Chi-Minh-City is one of the top Free and Open Source Software events for developers, enterprises, officials and general users in Vietnam. Please join us!

- Learn more about GNOME, desktop applications and new mobile solutions.
- Take part in a FOSS course and get your own course certificate during the event.
- Participate in the install fest of new programs and make your computer faster and more secure.
- Meet us at the FOSS party and celebrate the fun of getting together with people from all over the world.
- Learn about job opportunities with global and local companies and get in touch with representatives.

The event brings together free and open source software projects from Asia and around the world. More than 500 multipliers from 10 countries are expected to participate in the summit, which is the first international community event of its kind in Vietnam. (more…)

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Event: Helping others / Mozilla Service Week

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Spread Firefox Affiliate ButtonFrom: The SourceForge.net Team

Helping others – it comes naturally to people who write open source
software. Now the Mozilla Foundation is trying to employ the power of the
community in a more direct and hands-on way during Mozilla Service Week
(http://mozillaservice.org/learn_more/volunteer/en_US).

During this week, Mozilla (and SourceForge) encourage you to volunteer in
your community. Tech savvy folks can apply their skills in a variety of
ways. Some ideas from the foundation:

. Teach senior citizens how to use the Web.
. Show a non-profit how to use social networking to grow its base of
supporters.
. Help install a wireless network at a school.
. Create Web how-to materials for a library’s computer cluster.
. Refurbish hardware for a local computer center.
. Update a non-profit organization’s web site.

Organizations and projects that need assistance can also register to get
help.

As a company and as individuals, we at SourceForge will be participating in
Mozilla Service Week. We encourage you to get out there in your own
community and make a difference!

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Event: Open your Minds: Software Freedom Day 2009

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Open your Minds: Software Freedom Day 2009
Reference: Rick Bahague
Contact: secretariat@cp-union.com / 4134196 / 09178840096
www.cp-union.com/sfd09

Software Freedom Day (SFD), the largest ever grassroots event promoting and educating the public about Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the Philippines, will be held on September 19, 2009 with registration starting at 8:00. This international event will be hosted by the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. SFD is an international affair that will be participated in by more than a thousand teams in over 90 countries worldwide, with the Philippine celebration marked by simultaneous events from Luzon to Mindanao that will also be simulcast over the internet.

The morning plenary sessions will introduce what FOSS and SFD is and run participants through its basics, and explain what Free and Open Culture is as the conceptual basis of this software movement. Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño will also provide an update on the FOSS Bill that they have sponsored and currently filed in Congress. The Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU), the main organizer of the event, will also be discussing the use of FOSS in social advocacy.

The latest versions of free operating systems and applications can be copied and written on a CD on site. There will also be fun games with exciting prizes as well as software freedom day t-shirts for sale during the event. High quality free software will be available for computers in the office and at home, even be well-polished games for the gaming enthusiasts.

Global participation has relatively doubled since 2008’s record of over 500 participating teams, with over 200 individuals having participated in last year’s celebration. Participants are expected to further increase this year, with more organizations and students from schools such as Adamson University, University of Santo Tomas, Philippine School for Business and Arts, Central Colleges of the Philippines, Asian Academy of Business and Computers and University of the Philippines pledging to participate this year.

The Software Freedom Day 2009 team is composed of CPU, the UST Computer Science Society as the hosts, AdU Computer Science Open Source University Meet-up, AdU Computer Science Society, AdU Web Development Team, Asian Academy of Business and Computers, Blender Users Group, Cybersercurity.Ph, Drupal Users Group, ICAII, Joomla Users Group, LAMP-Pilipinas, PHP Users Group, PUP Taguig Computer Society, Ruby Users Group, TXTPower!, Office of Rep. Teddy Casiño – Bayan Muna Partylist, and the University of the Philippines Linux Users Group.

Those who cannot attend the event but would like to view the live video broadcast may do so visiting http://www.cp-union.com/sfd09. For further information on SFD, visit the international website at http://www.softwarefreedomday.org and http://www.cp-union.com/sfd09 for the details of the local celebration.

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