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!
Today I went to Bureau en Gros, which is the same as Staples stores in the USA. Think of it as the office supplies and electronics / computing store. Although I knew netbooks were coming « sometime soon » I didn’t expect to see them here in Montreal, particularly at a « mainstream » store like BeG!
I took some pictures, but here are direct links to BeG online catalog:
Update: I am told this guide to install Ubuntu on the Acer Aspire One should be in my post 😉
Update 2: The Aspire One has since gone out of stock and is not even in the catalog anymore!
I find it very interesting they were side by side and had clear tech specs, including operating systems right down to the graphics chipset. I took more detailed pictures, although not very high res as I only had my phone camera at the time. I’ve put them all on Flickr in case anyone is curious. Can’t wait to see any Ubuntu netbook remix machines available in Canadian retail stores!
I got this via FSF Latin America, however it’s beeing reported in a few other places.
The Ecuador Government now has a free-software law and will pretty much mandate that its government uses free, open-source software only. They cite « technology sovereignty and autonomy » and the main concerns, among many others.
The Ecuador Ubuntu LoCo Team is also aiming at becoming official soon… coincidence ? I think not 🙂
Alcance libre, EcuaLUG and other sites mention the news. Esteban Mendieta even has an original scan of the signed law! (mirror)
In less than 1.5 years the Venezuelan governement went from zero, creating a partnership with a Chinese company, to mass production of affordable desktop and laptop computers running free software (full specs here), with a big price difference compared to other local offerings, up to 40%! This is less than 3 years after announcing a massive move to free software in all government agencies.
I’ ve blogged before about the action in Venezuela, but this blows my mind. Well, at least as much as the Guadalinex project and their 400 000 desktops deployment.
Although they remain vague in the choice of operating systems, all the annoucements about the « Bolivarian » Computers launch do mention they will run Gnu/Linux and » be compatible » with Windows. Even production is local. And what capacity do they have ? 150K units a year, that’ s right 150 000 systems every year. In case you haven’t noticed, Ecuador and Cuba have recently announced free, open-source software policies to replace existing IT operations agressively. Coincidence ? I think not.
Scrolling down to the very last question in their FAQ, we can see:
De manera consecuente con la misión de alcanzar la Independencia Tecnológica de la Nación, VIT promueve el empleo del Software Libre, por lo que los equipos son entregados a solicitud del cliente con sistema operativo bajo ambiente Linux, siendo compatibles con Knoppix, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Debian y otros.
which translates to
Followin our mission to reach Technological Independency of our Nation, VIT promotes the use of Free Software, so the systems are delivered to customers with Linux operating systems, compatible with Knoppix, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Debian and others.
Other related resources:
(old but surprisingly accurate)