Idea of the day

March 7, 2008 gnome 5 Comments

Wouldn’t it be cool for GNOME to have partnerships with bookshare.org and Project Gutenberg? How about integrating evince to provide books for download?

LinkedIn group topping out

March 6, 2008 gnome 2 Comments

The GNOME LinkedIn group has finally calmed down – over the last 2 days I have had 12 requests to join (just approved) to bring the total number of members to 277 members, just a week after announcing it! I expect to top out around 300 members next week.

And we’re an international bunch! A quick sample showed: 53 from the USA,  24 from the UK, 17 people from India, 13 from France, 13 from Spain, 10 from Italy, 9 from Brazil, 4 from Chile, 4 from China, but only 3 from Germany! And half the members come from outside those countries (for those whose countries aren’t mentioned, if you *really* want to know, say so in comments, I’ll tell you).

It would be interesting to cross reference this group of GNOME fans with others we have – the GNOME map, the Facebook group, and even GNOME Foundation members

Not to mention the SVN committers list…

Primevère presentation

March 4, 2008 freesoftware, marketing 1 Comment

Putting this on my blog for posterity. This is the presentation I gave at Primevère with a bonus final slide containing links to stuff which we referenced during the Q&A session at the end of the presentation.

Quel logiciel pour quel usage?

Primevère

March 3, 2008 General Comments Off on Primevère

Giant Kapla constructions

Over the weekend, the Primevère salon was on in the Eurexpo conference center in Lyon. Thisis something of a regional mecca for everyone interested in organic living, holistic lifestyles, energy conservation, and everything to do with the environment. Over three days, more than 30,000 people come to see what’s on offer, educate themselves and mingle in this very particular ambiance.

Wide range of standsThere are a really wide range of associations, products and services on display – from the giant Kapla constructions above to Esperanto courses, Hemp beer, clothes and ropes, organically grown produce and solar panels.

In the middle of it all, my local LUG, ALDIL, had one of the most popular stands ofthe salon, spreading the gospel of Free Software with our ragtag group of volunteers. Over the three days, there were lots of presentations, including: “Which software for which usage?” (by yous truly) “Free software office applications”, “Communicating with Free Software” and “Free games”.

Esperanto stand

Primevere 2008, Lyon

This is one of the reasons I love this LUG – this is not the kind of event that you associate with Linux geeks, but it is exactly the kind of event where you find *lots* of people willing to listen, and sensitive to our arguments of freedom and community. This is the ALDIL’s third participation in the event, but the first time I’ve been able to go myself, and it’s been an eye-opening experience. It’s exactly the kind of public which all free software projects should be aiming to reach with their message.

links for 2008-03-02

March 2, 2008 General Comments Off on links for 2008-03-02
  • Eric did a great job co-ordinating the “stone soup” that is a GNOME stand at FOSDEM – here’s a detailed report he made of the weekend afterwards.

links for 2008-02-28

February 28, 2008 General Comments Off on links for 2008-02-28

LinkedIn GNOME group goes over 100 members in 9 hours!

February 28, 2008 General, gnome Comments Off on LinkedIn GNOME group goes over 100 members in 9 hours!

I’m always amazed at the network effect of free software communities – the LinkedIn GNOME group which I talked about 9 hours ago now has 107 members and growing as the time zones move westward. Update: A few hours later, roughly 12 hours after mentioning the group, we’re now at 143 members.

Colour me impressed!

Presenting GUADEC keynotes

February 28, 2008 gnome, guadec Comments Off on Presenting GUADEC keynotes

To the surprise of everyone involved in the GNOME project, GUADEC 2008 has been announced, and will be held in AnkaraIstanbul (just kidding).

OK – so this isn’t a surprise to anyone. GUADEC this year will be great, I’m sure, and we’ll all have our fill of Turkish Delight this summer. I for one am looking forward to it.

Some of the things I’m most looking forward to are the keynotes which I have been organising this year. For the moment, we have decided to limit the number of keynotes to 3 invitees – we will add one or two community keynotes, based on what happens in the project between now and the end of March, these will likely be papers submitted through the Call for Papers which will be “promoted” to keynotes by the program committee.

This years keynotes are a varied bunch, and I’m very happy with them.

Leisa Reichelt is a renowned user interface designer whose name is pronounced as “Lisa”, and who comes highly recommended. Some of her past presentations are available online, including this presentation which she gave at the IA Summit 2007, or this one from BarCamp London, or this one from te Future of Web Apps talking about “ambient intimacy, the idea that what we really get from social networks is the impression that we’re close to friends & family whenever we want to be, regardless of distance & time constraints.

Eric Sink is the author of a blog I’ve been reading for a long time – particularly for his articles on “business for geeks”, which talks about stuff as varied as accounting, marketing, sales, fixing prices, … It’s a lot like Joel Spolsky’s blog without the overwhelming sense of self-importance. He also happens to be a founder of AbiSource, the company which funded and wrote the initial versions of AbiWord, before going out of business. He’s going to give a presentation on the business of software, with particular emphasis on free software, and the challenges of finding a business model that will allow people to make money on free software.

Matt Webb, co-author of “Mind Hacks” and consultant in product design and R&D with Schultze & Webb has been described to me as “inspiring and devastatingly smart and just wonderful” – that’s a lot to live up to. He’s promised to speak on interaction design, the future of technology and software, and generally to be entertaining.

So here’s looking forward to seeing you all on the banks of the Bosphorus from the 7th to the 12th of July!

New LinkedIn GNOME group

February 28, 2008 gnome, marketing Comments Off on New LinkedIn GNOME group

A while back I created a GNOME group in LinkedIn (still one of the few social networking sites I find useful).

LinkedIn Groups let you see the profiles of other people in more detail, even if you don’t know them personally, because of the shared affiliation. For that reason, they are moderated, but I will be quick approving group requests.

Those who would like to join the group can join here.

links for 2008-02-27

February 27, 2008 freesoftware, General, gnome, marketing Comments Off on links for 2008-02-27

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