http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog Freedom is the right of all sentient beings Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:17:03 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Just for a second, put yourself in the shoes of an average PC user. You use the software that came with your computer, plus perhaps some others that you downloaded, bought in a box or 'borrowed' from a friend. You've heard some good things about something called "open source", but ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/12/01/packing-foss/ I recently bought myself a Huawei e169 3G modem as part of a service with Exetel (based on the Optus network). There are a few guides online on how to get it to work with GNU/Linux, but either they didn't work as advertised or I wasn't happy with the approach ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/10/09/huawei-e169-3g-modem-on-ubuntu-804/ So the Pope is coming to Sydney, and the New South Wales Government is scrambling to protect him. What better way to shield an absolute monarch than with despotic legislation? We can bitch and whine about it. We can blatantly flout these laws and hand out free condoms, as some are ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/07/10/think-different/ Donna Benjamin rounded a small group of us together to write a letter to Julia Gillard, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education. The result was widely syndicated, hopefully building some mindshare in the process. The Education Expo proved to me more than anything else that FOSS is quickly becoming ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/07/06/great-start-but-the-hard-work-is-just-beginning/ Two weeks ago, we had the Education Expo. Here's my report, as co-ordinator of the Linux Australia stand: Education Expo Sat 14 to Sun 15 June Rosehill Racecourse, Sydney The Education Expo is an annual trades show targeted towards the K-12 educational space. Visitors consist of families and educators. Linux Australia once again had a ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/06/29/education-expo-report/ Bill Gates was interviewed by the BBC's Money Programme. As he prepares to significantly reduce his direct work for Microsoft Corporation, Bill reflects upon what got him started in the first place and what kept him ahead of the 'competition'. The video provides a brief glimpse into the character that ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/06/22/bill-gates-and-the-importance-of-source-code/ The Education Expo is on this weekend. I've sent a couple of missives to our helpers. The second one contains some advice that would work well in many situations regarding FOSS (especially where marketing is concerned), so I'll reproduce it (slightly edited) here: Subject: Education Expo, this weekend! Date: Tue, 10 Jun ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/06/11/education-expo-this-weekend/ The second Open CeBIT in Sydney ended last week. Forming a section of the much larger CeBIT expo, Open CeBIT focused on open source technologies and solutions. I was involved in three stands: BizCubed (my employer), Linux Australia and Open Source Industry Australia. In the market, FOSS is clearly maturing and ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/06/01/open-cebit/ Lately, I've been thinking more than ever about ways to promote free and open source software to a non-technical crowd. This has largely been prompted by the Education Expo in Sydney, for which I am co-ordinating the Linux Australia stand (Stand F9). Currently on my mind is Open CeBIT, which ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/05/20/marketing-foss/ Those who remember my ancient quest for the perfect IRC solution might be interested in these posts by Aaron Toponce explaining how to couple a remote irssi session with GUI notification. I'm still quite happy with my current Bip + Xchat combination, but I've always lusted after the 1337ness of ... http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2008/05/17/irc-on-the-run/