It’s been indicated to me that I never put out a report on Software Freedom Day in Sydney. Well, better late than never

Advocates of free software celebrated at the University of New South Wales on 16 September for the fourth annual Software Freedom Day. Members of SLUG, Ubuntu-AU and the general FOSS community collaborated to spread the message of free software to the general public.

Interest and buzz was generated in the days leading-up to the event through a poster campaign across the campus. At the UNSW Computer Fair, we piqued the curiosity of many computer users with our displays, screencasts and spiels. Those who were enthusiastic migrated to our room in the nearby Law Building, where we could explain and demonstrate in greater detail. Not only did we have many expressions of interest from newcomers in free software and the free software community, we also succeeded in bringing those who already use FOSS into participation in the local community.

Regrettably, I was not able to take any decent photographs of the event. If anyone has pictures, I’d be grateful if they could be sent to me.

I would like to give a big word of thanks to everyone who helped on the day:

• Andreas Fischer
• Brendan Puckeridge
• David McQuire
• James Dumay
• Jim Tsao
• John Ferlito
• Ken Wilson
• Lindsay Holmwood
• Matt Moor
• Peter Baker
• Pia Waugh
• Rodger Dean
• Silvia Pfeiffer
• Anyone else who I may have forgotten (if I have, sorry!)

In addition, I would like to thank those who provided resources in support of our efforts:

• Computer Fairs Australia (tables at the computer fair)
• David Vaile, Abi Paramaguru and Alana Maurushat at the UNSW Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre (room in the Law Building)
• John Schilit (IBM and Robocode materials)
• Solutions First (Unwired modem)
• Ubuntu Screencasts Team (screencasts and subtitles)
• Canonical (Ubuntu CDs)
• The worldwide free software community

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Whilst codifying the plans for Software Freedom Day in Sydney, I decided to put together a mock press release. A little of the content is lifted from the SFD Web site. Feel free to modify it for your needs (localised to your city, etc.) and redistribute.

SYDNEY CELEBRATES SOFTWARE FREEDOM, THIS SUNDAY

For the second time running, The University of New South Wales (UNSW) has been selected to form the centrepiece of Software Freedom Day in Sydney.

Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Our goal in this annual celebration is to educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in education, in government, at home, and in business — in short, everywhere!

Have you ever had your computer software crash, lose data or get a virus? Imagine if after only a few years that the thesis that you worked on for ages was no longer readable, or that your precious home movies were no longer watchable. If you complain to the software company, they try to talk you into spending yet more money on an ‘upgrade’, which only turns out to be slower and buggier than the previous version. Ever bought a new music player, only to find that it refuses to play the music that worked just fine on your old player?

Unfortunately, most people are living in this world today.

Software Freedom Day exists to show the general public that there is a way out of this vicious cycle. Through the use of free software, you regain control over your computer and your data. Every person has the freedom to participate in and use free software, whether it be on a totally free operating system like Linux or on a non-free platform like Windows or Mac OS.

This Sunday, the Sydney FOSS community will demonstrate how easy it is to install and use free software to achieve a variety of tasks. Our activities shall gravitate around two venues in UNSW:

• At the computer fair in the Roundhouse (10am-3pm), we will be demonstrating FOSS technologies to vendors and visitors.
• In Law Room 203 (8am-5pm), we will be hosting a series of talks and tutorials.

We will also have people roaming around campus spreading the news. We will be happy to answer any questions that you may have pertaining to FOSS. We will have CDs and other items to hand out, to get you started. If you bring (or buy at the fair) a USB drive, we can transfer free software onto it for you.

If you’re buying hardware at the fair, we can help you to get it running with FOSS. If you’re a student, or just plain curious, we can show you how you can maximise the potential of your computer, all at no cost to you.

Unlike with non-free software, FOSS is typified by extensive community networks that are able to provide detailed support should you need help. Examples include the Sydney Linux Users Group (SLUG), which hosts e-mail lists, monthly meetings, and other events for people of all skill levels.

With the financial support of IT market leaders like IBM, HP, Dell, Intel and Google, as well as countless governmental bodies and companies in other industries, FOSS is growing from strength to strength at a phenomenal rate.

If you have any further questions, please see our list of resources below. Otherwise, come and see us on Sunday, and we’ll show you in person!

If you’d like to get involved as a volunteer, read our plans for the day (linked below).

 

RESOURCES

• To view our plans for the day, see http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/teams/oceania/au/Sydney
• For more information on the meaning of Software Freedom Day, see http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/about
• For more information on FOSS, see http://www.linux.org.au/linux

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Tighten your belts and buckle your shoes, for Software Freedom Day is just around the corner! This year, the Sydney team is hosting their event one day late (on Sunday instead of Saturday), to take advantage of the computer fair at The University of New South Wales. We’ll have a couple of tables, which we shall be using to show off the wonders of FOSS to consumers, students and other vendors.

I have chronicled our plan at the Software Freedom Day wiki. If you’d like to get involved, please get in touch with me.

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Two different tests, one same outcome. Things that make you go hmmmm…

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"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." — Optimus Prime

This one throwaway line in the new Transformers film is in fact homage to the original Transformers series. As observant readers of this blog may have noticed, I am quite a fan of the Transformers multiverse, particularly of the 1986 animated film (amongst other things, it has an awesome soundtrack and some great vocal work). Optimus Prime was a childhood hero of mine, so this motto has always struck a chord with me.

It also makes me wonder, if the Autobots are such strong advocates of freedom, are they themselves programmed with Free Software? Conversely, are the Decepticons proprietary?

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Things have certainly been crazy as of late. Being elected onto the SLUG Committee (at the March AGM) has given me a greater appreciation of local community issues and of what it takes to co-ordinate a group. At the same time, managing the Linux Australia stand at Open CeBIT has also been a tremendous learning experience. My official report is here.

I’ve had a few requests to elaborate upon the ‘brush with death‘ mentioned in that message. Driving home after the second day of CeBIT, I experienced a car accident. While travelling at at least 60km/h, I somehow lost consciousness, and woke up phoughed into the side of another car. Fortunately, the car was parked and unoccupied. Nobody was involved aside from myself. The car was a write-off, but the passenger cabin was fully intact and I experienced no injuries. The other car was part of a company fleet, and its custodian wasn’t bothered much at all. Insurance took care of the costs on both sides.

I was quite shaken after the crash, and I very nearly didn’t go to CeBIT the next day. After being cleared by a paramedic and two doctors (one on the night of the crash and another the following morning), I decided that I wasn’t going to let this get in my way. It was probably the best decision that I made, since it forced me to get back on my feet doing something that I love, rather than sitting at home in misery. I was unable to moderate the Linux Australia panel discussion that I had helped to organise, but I was there at the stand just like on the previous two days.

Otherwise, CeBIT was a resounding success. It proved to be a fantastic springboard for us to launch the inaugural SLUG Bootcamp. More on this later.

I can’t fully explain why I blacked out in the first place. When I was younger, I would occasionally black out under certain circumstances. Neurologists at the time couldn’t identify what it was, but told me not to worry about it. I was probably just exhausted, from the exhibiting all day, the planning in the lead-up to the event, my new job, TAFE, and various other things. The doctors that I spoke with agreed with me that it was probably just a microsleep.

I’m still recovering from the after-effects of the accident. I get stressed more easily when driving, but I can feel that slowly receding with time. Most of all, I feel exceptionally lucky that I didn’t hurt myself or anyone else.

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It’s New Year’s Day in the Tamil calendar, so happy new year! I didn’t know about this until only a few days ago, and coincidentally I concluded my job yesterday. Also coincidentally, yesterday was Friday the 13th. So it looks like I might be at the mercy of two superstitions, one good and one bad. I’m hoping that at worst they cancel each other out, leaving the commencement of my new employment next week to be a neutral affair.

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When I was little boy In Grammar school
Always went by the very best rule
But Evertime the bell would ring
You’d catch me playing with my ding-a-ling

Thus goes Chuck Berry’s classic, ‘My Ding-a-Ling‘.

At the ripe old age of twenty-five, I have been the lucky recipient of an inguinal hernia. As mentioned earlier, I carried it through linux.conf.au (whilst exercising a degree of diligence). My operation was one week later, conveniently scheduled for January 25. That left me mostly immobile for Australia Day. I passed the time with my laptop whilst the Fox Classics channel broadcasted a marathon of Kingswood Country. I have harboured fond memories of this classic piece of Australiana since my childhood, and I was glad to be able to see it again. Presumably, modern-day political correctness keeps it off the air for most of the time, which is a grand shame considering that the un-PC elements were intended as humorous plot devices and were not meant to be offensive to viewers.

Two days later, against my better judgement, I was walking around and playing Wii tennis. I had never played a Wii before and it looked like so much fun that I just had to do it! Apart from some dressings which lost adhesion (due to the abdominal twisting associated with tennis), I was no worse for wear. Now, nearly two months later, I feel completely fine. It sure feels good to have the procedure over and done with. Now I can resume my ironman training…

What do you do when you’re in the city and need to kill some time? Watching a film sounded like a fair option to me. The cinematic masterpiece (!), ‘Epic Movie‘, caught my eye. I wasn’t expecting much from it at all, so I placed myself into Low Expectations Mode™, gritted my teeth, and went in. It went according to plan, with the LEM buffering me somewhat from almost-certain disappointment.

One thing struck me, however. I was sitting through the closing credits, and I noticed an attribution to a character named ‘Steve Irwin‘. That’s strange, I thought. I didn’t remember a Steve Irwin character. The closing credits were punctuated by short video clips, each followed by a change in music as the standard credits scrolling returned. A minute later, the screen flickered for a split-second, the credits returned, and the music suddenly changed. Did they cut something out? At the end, there was still no sign of Steve.

Was the Steve Irwin scene removed somewhere between the film studio and Hoyts? It could not have been done by the studio - the cut was far too amateurish for that (although I might be giving them too much credit, given the mediocre quality of the film). While I understand that Steve Irwin died not too long ago, in my opinion that is no excuse for anyone to tell me what I can and cannot watch. The cinema probably calculated that the risk of public backlash from maintaining the scene would be greater than the opposition to censorship. If so, they were probably right. That still doesn’t change the fact that I paid money to view a title that has been rendered incomplete at the (likely perceived) behest of extremists.

Censorship has its place in society, but this is going too far. Within reason, a free and open flow of information is the hallmark of a healthy democracy. Of course, the perceptions of what exactly ‘reason‘ is is debatable, and that’s what lies at the heart of such debates. I prefer to err on the side of openness, in the same vein as ‘innocent until proven guilty‘. I don’t like being told what to think, and what I can view. If I wanted that, I’d be using Windows Vista with all of its Digital Restrictions Management nonsense.

There’s always the chance that I’m completely off the mark with my accusations. I’d appreciate it if someone could verify/dispel my claims.

Is it already February? January must have been the busiest month of all time for me. My birthday was on the 6th, and I still haven’t been able to do anything about it. My family and friends have been bugging me about it since December. If any of them are reading this, I’m sorry.

The chaos of January has carried into February, I’m afraid. This write-up of my January escapades would be best split into several parts, so view this post as one of a few.

linux.conf.au (LCA) was extraordinarily enjoyable. I had volunteered to help with a few activities, and most of my time was spent as part of the Audio/Visual Team. My job consisted of sitting in lecture theatres and encoding video (passed to me in the form of DVDs) to Ogg Theora on my laptop. The exercise was a tremendous stress test of some of the hardware, and I’m glad that it passed with flying colours. ffmpeg2theora doesn’t take advantage of SMP, so I engaged my Core 2 Duo CPU with two video streams in parallel.

Unfortunately, I was so focused on transcoding that I was not able to appreciate the presentations occurring directly in front of me. I’ll have to go back and watch the videos of those talks, which were likely transcoded by myself. On a positive note, our transcoding efforts meant that we were able to make video available online even before the conference was over. There was plenty more to transcode after the event, so my duties didn’t suddenly end on the 19th of January. It’s amazing to see that only two weeks after the closing of LCA we are on the cusp of finalisation. All that’s left are a few ‘problem’ videos and some documentation writing.

Silvia expertly managed our rag-tag team of volunteers to deliver some first-class results. I honestly feel that we set a benchmark for future free software events, not just in Australia but also around the world, and I am very proud to have been a part of it. Through Linux Australia, we have purchased equipment and formulated methods that will be carried on into the future. We have proven that quality video productions can be achieved on a modest budget, using entirely free software.

Aside from other miscellaneous volunteer duties at LCA, I took part in the Open Day, spending most of my time at the Ubuntu-Au stand. I also briefly covered for Chris Smart at the Make the Move stand. Thanks to the heroic efforts of Pia and company, Open Day was a resounding success. I believe that it has firmly established itself as a permanent fixture at future LCAs. It was truly encouraging to see luminaries like Keith Packard and Jim Gettys as exhibitors, interacting with the general populace.

Events like LCA are always special because of the people you meet. I had the privilege of interacting with many people for whom I hold a great deal of respect. Placing faces to IRC nicks is always fun, as is catching up with friends whom I don’t see often.

No write-up of LCA would be complete without an expression of gratitude and congratulations to the Seven Team for a job well done. So thank you Jeff, Pia, Sara, Jamie, Ben, Lindsay and John!

My one regret is that I opted to not reside on campus for the duration of the conference. You cannot fully enjoy yourself on a night out while worrying about how you will get home. It meant that I had to wake up earlier to catch the bus-train-bus combination to get to UNSW, and even then I missed some of the morning A/V Team meetings. The buses to Central from Anzac Parade end at around 22:45, and woe betide you if you miss them. On one night, it took me close to two hours to get home. Reliance upon public transport is a major hindrance upon after-hours activities, and curtails the time that would be better spent catching up on some sorely-needed sleep.

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