Archives par mot-clé : Tech

Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, Conférences, Communautaire, GNU/Linux

LibrePlanet 2012 D-1

(Lisez ci-bas en français!)

Starting tomorrow I will be in Boston for the annual conference of the Free Software Foundation, « LibrePlanet 2012« . We’ll be four people from Quebec (actually 5, just got last minute confirmation of another former colleague!), wanting to learn about what has been been brewing abroad and also wanting to share about our experiences here in Quebec. The LibrePlanet teams structure offers a way for people in the same area to gather and share their love for Free Software – much like the LoCo Teams welcome Ubuntu users.

I’d like to thank my employer, Microcom, for supporting my participation in this event by releasing me from work for the next few days and providing a vehicle for transport. I would also like to highlight a special sponsorship from  Avencall, which will make possible blogging our participation and two presentations summarizing the event withing the next couple of weeks. Keep a close eye at the Agenda du Libre du Québec

Avencall is the company behind XiVO, an open source (GPLv3) unified communications system based on Asterisk for small, medium and large businesses. XiVO communications systems are industrial and packaged solutions with a wide range of value added features such as unified messaging, conferencing, IVR, customer telephony integration, web services, contact center services, fixed-mobile convergence and so on. XiVO systems are a mix of powerful, scalable and cost effective solutions.

XiVO has been awarded by Digium as the First Asterisk Custom Communications Solution in EMEA. Did I mention all their work is freely licensed under the GPL v3? If you haven’t yet, take a look at their open hardware work.

You can follow our progress here and at my identi.ca microblog.

See you in Boston, then!

 

Comme j’ai écrit ces derniers jours, à partir de demain je serais à Boston pour la conférence annuelle de la Free Software Foundation, « LibrePlanet 2012« . J’emmène quatre autres libristes québécois avec moi (en fait 5, un ancien collègue vient de confirmer!), voulant en savoir plus sur ce qui se passe ailleurs en technologies libres mais aussi voulant partager nos expériences et activités ici au Québec. Les « LibrePlanet teams » offrent une structure semblable au LoCo Teams Ubuntu , où les gens peuvent se rassembler pour échanger sur leur passion – les logiciels et les technologies libres.

Je voudrais remercier mon employeur, Microcom, pour appuyer ma participation à cet événement en me libérant pour la durée de celui-ci et en fournissant un véhicule pour le transport. J’aimerais aussi souligner une commandite spéciale d’Avencall, qui rendra possible la rédaction de billets sur mon carnet pour documenter notre participation et deux présentations résumant nos activités d’ici quelques semaines. Gardez un oeil attentif sur l’Agenda du Libre du Québec!

Avencall est éditeur et intégrateur de XiVO, une gamme de solutions libres de communications unifiées basée sur Asterisk pour les petites, moyennes et grandes entreprises. Les solutions XiVO sont souples, puissantes et industrialisées. Elles permettent de bénéficier de fonctionnalités à valeur ajoutée (messagerie unifiée, SVI, CTI, services centre d’appels, convergence fxe-mobile, etc. )

XiVO a été récompensé par les « Digium Pinnacle Awards » en tant que Première Solution basée sur Asterisk dans la zone EMEA (« Europe/Middle-East/Asia »).

Savez-vous que tout leur code est publié sous license libre GPL v3? Si vous n’avez pas encore jetté un coup d’oeil, allez voir leur design de matériel libre.

Vous pourrez suivre nos activités ici ainsi que sur mon  microblog identi.ca.

On se voit donc à Boston!

 

 
Ubuntu Planet, Debian, GNU/Linux

Holidays spending – JUST DO IT!

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I’d like to share a few projects and organizations that I’d love to see reaching their goals this time of the year.

I want to stress how important it is to understand that donating even U$25 or U$5 or whatever you can is important. It’s also an easy decision for many people (I am not saying it is the case for everyone), to donate and make a difference, instead of spending that same money having lunch at the restaurant or taking a cab. You can also ask your employer to chip in – just ask! Your employer could donate to these projects, become a corporate member of the associations I mention, or pay your membership as part of mutual benefits (non-profit tax receipt + happy employee) 🙂 Just ask. The worse that can happen is you get a « no, sorry ».

« OpenStreetMap‘s Operations Working Group, who have the important role of keeping core OSM services running smoothly, have planned to invest in a new server which will provide [them] with a database back-up. This improvement is at the very core of the OpenStreetMap infrastructure, giving services greater resilience. It means [they]’ll bounce back quicker and easier in the event of a hardware failure. In time the new server will also bring about some performance improvements. » – you can read more details about the fund drive and donate here. I am donating 50€ to this project.

The Debian Administrator’s Handbook was first written in French (and is a best-seller already) by two Debian developers who are translating it to English and possibly publishing it under a free license. The latter will only happen if the liberation fund reaches 25 K€. A physical book is a big helper when doing advocacy for free software. Imagine if instead of just showing the book to anyone interested, you could also show them how to search it electornically, cite it, use it, modify it, circulate it, share it at will ? I donated 100€ to this project.

Become a member of the Free Software Foundation and/or The Linux Foundation. I don’t always agree with everything that is said and done by the FSF, although I consider myself an active member and advocate – I certainly couldn’t do any of my advocacy work without all I’ve learned from the FSF and other fellow members. My membership at The Linux Foundation is a way to contribute to finance important projects (such as paying Linus Torvals’ salary). If you have a local free software advocacy group (such as FACIL or APELL in Quebec), consider joining as a full member or even making a donation – meeting space, flyers, CDs and food/drinks go a long way when networking locally. Becoming a member also increases the organization’s footprint, if nothing else. Numbers speak! This coming year I am sponsoring a student associate membership at the FSF.

Do you have any other ideas on where to donate cold, hard cash to further free, open technologies and software ? I’d love to hear them.

Update: I am helping putting together an accordingly « freedom geek » buying guide here, if anyone wants to peek or get inspiration for it.

 
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, Mozilla, Conférences, LibreOffice, Formation, GNU/Linux

Software Freedom Day tomorrow in Montreal / demain à Montréal

Don’t miss it! À ne pas manquer!

This year I was able to bring two simultaneaous events together, in different locations.

Cette année j’ai pu programmer 2 événements différents, ça se passe demain, à deux endroits différents :).

Les détails à / All details at: http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2011/Canada/Montreal

See you there! À demain!

 
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, GNU/Linux

I backed NovaCut. Have you ?

631 BACKERS

$20,193 pledged of $25,000 goal

69 hours to go

I really like the ideas and work presented by Novacut, so I decided to help the project by pledging some money to it. You can do it too.

Here’s a fan video (by filmmakers, heh) that explains well why this project is important – Ubuntu logo included. If you haven’t read DoctorMo’s Letter to Creative Industry, take a look – then share it with anyone you may know in the film industry. You can also read about Novacut on the Yorba blog. Yorba makes Shotwell, the photo management app that replaced F-Sport in Ubuntu – and Lombard, a video editor for Gnome. Some heavy criticism also comes via Danny Piccirillo’s earlier post. Read the comments in Danny’s blog post, many people bring positive support to Novacut, which I agree with. I hope current FLOSS editors continue evolving and can hook into Novacut (or the other way around) and we can all have a huge mash up someday.

Oh, there is also a wiki page with most useful links to the project as it relates to Ubuntu.

 
Ubuntu, Ubuntu Planet, Mozilla, Debian, Conférences, LibreOffice, Trisquel, Formation, Communautaire, GNU/Linux, Logiciels Libres

Ubuntu in Haiti

If you’re in Haiti or know anyone near Grand-Goave please let me know, I am here for a week and I’ll be training a few teachers on a new lab we’re putting together thanks to a donation via Micro Recyc Coopération.

The training will focus on free software and its origins / advantages, using LibreOffice, the GNU/Linux desktop and installing Debian, Ubuntu and Trisquel. Oh, and making CAT5e cables 🙂 The goal is to have two full training days next week, Monday and Tuesday. Training is free and open to the public, but you need to contact me or add yourself to the wiki (see next paragraph).

I am also seeking help to work on the Ubuntu Haiti wiki. If you know any organizations using Ubuntu in Haiti, this would be a good time to add them there. I am susbcribed to it so I’ll get any updates as they happen.

Although my current Internet access is spotty, I can be reached by email, check my contact page.