Commercial Open Source Software

Updates from September, 2008 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Roberto Galoppini 7:32 pm on September 24, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Interoperability gets hot in Europe, Bringing the Computer to the Elderly: links 25-09-2008 

  IT: ESIIG 2 – 2nd European Summit on Interoperability in the iGovernment – , during ESIIG 2, the second European Summit on Interoperability in the iGovernment, the iG 2.0 Award will be given. Since the award will recognize the most outstanding action or initiative in the field of interoperability, I am eager to read the finalists list.

  FR: Connecting Public Services Communities -  The European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA), on the occasion of the presentation of the exclusive edition of the European Review of Political Technologies, is organizing an half day event dedicated to Cross-Border Interoperability. The event is open, those interested are invited to send an informal email to j.castillo@eipa.eu indicating their interest in participating.

  IT/EU: Eldy releases Linux version – Eldy is a java platform enabling seniors to use email, a browser and other everyday applications in a GUI with big labels in a friendly language. Until now Eldy was available only for Microsoft Windows. The just released Eldy Linux (beta) runs on Debian/Ubuntu environments, but unfortunately is not open source. Considered the project size and keeping in mind that is funded by the EC, an open source licensing was highly recommended.

   

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  Roberto Galoppini 7:34 pm on September 17, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  MEPs petition, IST Event, European Journal of ePractice on Efficiency and Effectiveness: European Open Source links 17-09-2008 

  FR: ICT 2008 – The European Commission’s Directorate General Information Society and Media is organizing the biennial ICT Event, formerly known as the “IST Event“. The event, the most important forum for discussing research and public policy in information and communication technologies at European level, will take place in Lion on 25-27 November.

  European Journal of ePractice nº 4 -  This issue of the European Journal of ePractice is dedicated to efficiency and effectiveness. Is open source covered?

  MEPs petition European Parliament switch to Open Source – A petition to make the European Parliament switch its IT systems to Open Source has so far gotten the support of a hundred MEPs.

   
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  Roberto Galoppini 6:19 pm on September 9, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  European Summit on Interoperability in the iGovernment, Rome 20-22 October 

  ESIIG 2, the Second European Summit on Interoperability in the iGovernment, represents an unprecedented occasion to develop new synergies and create contacts with representatives of the European Commission, of the national and regional governments of Europe, of the research field, the Academia and experts of the ICT sector.

  Regione Lazio, Regional Ministry for Consumer Protection and Administrative Simplification, is organizing the Second European Summit on Interoperability in the iGovernment with the aim of:

  Promoting Interoperability as the key enabler for the development of the iGovernment among European regions
  Analysing the state of the art of Interoperability in Europe and the regional best practices
  Involving international, national and European stakeholders active in the field of Interoperability for the definition of the new priorities and the development of more and more efficient and innovative eServices.

  ESIIG 2 is an event organized with the patronage of Mrs Viviane Reding, member of the European Commission for the Information Society and Media.

  Join the facebook group or participate in the forum if interested.

  Boycott Novell » Links 11/09/2008: Many New Releases, KDE in CERN is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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  Roberto Galoppini 9:38 am on September 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Open Source Repository: Public Launch of the European Open Source Repository 

  The launch of the Open Source Observatory and Repository for European Public Administrations will be held in Màlaga on the 20th of October during the Open Source World Conference, one of the most important FLOSS event in Europe.

  The draft agenda, available at the IDABC website, starts at 9.15 with a an hour workshop on FLOSS procurement, a very hot topic at least by Italian public administrations. Marco Battistoni, Unisys OSOR Technical Manager, will later introduce the audience to the new European repository, talking about the platform and its services.

  In the afternoon a round table moderated by Karel DeVriendt, IDABC Head of Unit, will give highlights on a selection of European open source projects. Among them Wollmux and the Qualipso project.

  Technorati Tags: OSOR, Open Source Repository, IDABC, MarcoBattistoni, KarelDeVriendt

  Boycott Novell » Links 04/09/2008: Red Hat Buys KVM is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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  Roberto Galoppini 10:37 am on September 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Software Patents: World Day Against Software Patents 

  Five years ago, on 24 September 2003, the European Parliament adopted some amendments to limit the scope of software patentability, listening to many European SMEs and associations. Today A global coalition of more than 80 software companies, associations and developers has declared the 24th of September to be the “World Day Against Software Patents“.

  On 24 September 2008, the World Day Against Software Patents will provide volunteers with the opportunity to express the growing concerns of users, businesses and developers. The granting of software patents by patent offices around the world affects their freedom to innovate. The organisers expect 24h of activities across the globe. Volunteers will gather in front of patent offices to inform the general public of the problems underlying software patenting.

  A global petition demanding to effectively stop software patents worldwide will be launched on the same day. In some regions of the world such as Europe, the United States, or India, dedicated campaigns are being prepared by local supporters. The organisers intend to celebrate the World Day on an annual basis unless substantive clarifications are adopted in national laws that stop software patenting along with their effects on the digital economy.

  Sign the petition.

  Read FFII press release and go to the  Stop Software Patents website for further information.

  Technorati Tags: software patents, FFII, Stop Software Patents

  Dev Newz: Articles and Resources for Professional Developers » World Day Against Software Patents is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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  Roberto Galoppini 8:50 am on August 24, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Software Patents: Stop Software Patent Petition Initiative 

  A group of FFII activists have decided to set up big European petitions targeting national legislators of the members of the European Patent Convention to clarify the limitations of patentability.

  We are aiming to collect at least 1 million signatures, which implies the support of a large number of associations.

  We would like, as the first phase, to collect the names of local associations which will probably support the petition to stop software and business method patents. We are going to contact them for the details on a second phase.

  For this we need your help – please go to http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/

  and fill in the data of any organisation of your country which you think would probably support the petition.

  Thanks in advance,
  Iván Villanueva and Miernik, activists of the FFII and former board members

  In Italy Italian Linux Society and Associazione per il Software Libero have already signed the petition, I hope more will support the initiative soon.

  orbit is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    orbit 7:48 pm on August 28, 2008 Permalink

    http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-84519/slashdot:24-sept-is-world-day-against-software-patents

    pieterh writes “Veteran European anti-software campaigners have launched World Day against Software Patents on StopSoftwarePatents.org, writing: “The issue of software patents is a global one, and several governments and patent offices around the world continue to grant software & business method patents on a daily basis; they are pushing for legal codification of the practice, such as currently in New Zealand and India, and via the misappropriation of Free Trade Agreement instruments. We declare the 24 September as the World Day Against Software Patents, in commemoration of the European Parliament First Reading in 2003 with amendments stopping the harmful patenting of software, guaranteeing that software programmers and businesses can safely benefit from the fruits of their work under copyright law.”

    http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/

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  Roberto Galoppini 6:15 pm on August 5, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Network Neutrality: Test your ISP Software 

  Yesterday I mentioned that the EFF has just released “Switizerland“, an open source software aimed at to detect the modification or injection of packets of data by ISPs.

  Switzerland detects changes made by software tools believed to be in use by ISPs such as Sandvine and AudibleMagic, advertising systems like FairEagle, and various censorship systems. Although currently intended for use by technically sophisticated Internet users, development plans aim to make the tool increasingly easy to use.

  Switzerland was released few hours before the Federal Communications Commission took action against Comcast for violating the FCC’s net neutrality principles interfering with its subscribers’ use of BitTorrent to share files over the Internet.

  Fred von Lohmann, EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney, said:

  The sad truth is that the FCC is ill-equipped to detect ISPs interfering with your Internet connection. [..] Comcast isn’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last, ISP to meddle surreptitiously with its subscribers’ Internet communications for its own benefit.

  The Federal Communications Commission voted Friday to uphold the complaint against Comcast. The decision requires Comcast to end such blocking this year.

  What about Europe? Consider to take action.

  Technorati Tags: Network neutrality, internet freedom, eff, FCC, comcast

   
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  Roberto Galoppini 9:52 am on August 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Network Neutrality: Freedom not Fear 2008 

  Call for an international action day on the 11th of October, when many European will demonstrate against the total retention of telecommunication data and other instruments of surveillance.

  After the rejection of the Telecommunications Package many activists are organizing an action day to to recall the remembrance of the historical achievement of civil rights and liberties as a heritage of the Age of Enlightenment and to support the trust in security in our free society.

  Have a look at the concept, Rome is already enlisted among the cities supporting the initiative.

  Technorati Tags: Network Neutrality, Freedom not Fear, Telecommunication Package, European Telecommunications Packet Regulations

   
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  Roberto Galoppini 1:19 pm on July 31, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  Open Source Conference: Open Source World Conference 2008, Malaga 20-22 October 

  The Open Source World Conference, taking place in Malaga (Spain), from October 20 to 22, is one of the most important FLOSS event in Europe.

  The aim of the Conference is to demonstrate that free and open source software is a consolidated reality worth investing in, and not just a powerful, solid and safe solution.  

  Malaga in my open source heart by Trébol AzulI have been just informed that the paper I coauthored with Flavia Marzano entitled “The importance of being called an open standard: standards compliance and the role of European public administrations” has been accepted by the Open Source World Conference Technical Committee.As I mentioned before today IT vendors are not asked to prove that their software products are meeting open standards‘ specifications. Since there is no organization that assess standards compliance, citizens have just to rely on implementors’ statements of compliance. We believe that T this issue need to be openly addressed, and Public Administrations can play an important role.

  Technorati Tags: OSWC, Open Source Conference, Malaga, open standards

  Boycott Novell » Links 02/08/2008: More GNU/Linux on Laptops, in India and Nacho are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Nacho 10:23 am on August 1, 2008 Permalink

    Congrats! My paper “10 lessons learned launching open source startups” was also accepted. See you there!

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  Roberto Galoppini 12:12 am on July 23, 2008 Permalink | Reply  

  European Framework Interoperability Welcomes feedback on the Draft document 

  After the dispute about European definition of open standards happened after the release of the new version of the European Interoperability Framework, recently has been available the draft document on the basis of which the final EIF v2.0 will be elaborated.

  A summary of reactions – to be sent at eifv2@ec.europa.eu by 22 September 2008 at the latest- will be published on the IDABC website and will constitute another input into the EIF elaboration.

  Read the full article.