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3273 discussions

Estimating true costs of proprietary software
by Thomas Etter 26 Jun '17

26 Jun '17

Hi all Recently I found myself in a discussion with someone in charge of purchasing decisions in an IT department. Obviously I argued that the true cost of proprietary software is much higher than just e.g. licensing costs per year. Therefore free software solutions should be preferred even if their support contracts were to cost several times as much as proprietary competitors charge for the same time frame due to the inherent risk of using proprietary software. Do we have any models on how to compute the real costs, including the cost of lock-in? In our section on public procurement [1], we do not really propose a way to do that. Do you have good models for this (can be from personal, corporate or public procurement)? I believe that if we can put some cost to the risk, we can argue much more successfully for free solutions. Thanks Thomas [1] https://fsfe.org/activities/procurement/procurement.en.html

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Re: Is it acceptable to use proprietary software (platforms) to promote software freedom?
by Paul Sutton 23 Jun '17

23 Jun '17

Sorry my reply to this went to Theo rather than the list so resending, Paul On 23/06/17 09:10, Theo Schmidt wrote: > Am 21.06.2017 um 12:22 schrieb Erik Albers: > ... >> Now I would be interested what you think? Do you think that - although the use >> of proprietary platforms is ethically not supportable - the chances of >> convincing new people to use and further Free Software are worth the punishment? >> Or do you think that our message should not occur on platforms like Facebook >> or Twitter at all, because it contradicts our efforts in getting people to use >> decentralized services, run with Free Software and therefore potentially harm >> us in the long run? > Thanks for the discussion. My vote is to not use proprietary platforms > like Facebook or Twitter at all. > > Theo Schmidt > > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion(a)lists.fsfe.org > https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion What information packs are available to help promote decentralized social networks. Here in Torbay there is a drive to tackle social isolation, and well-being one way to do this is to de mystify the Internet to older people. Now mostly this is going to involve people being told about facebook / twitter, this is inevitable but I have a chance here to promote alternatives such as diaspora / gnusocial. The problem is the same arrangement people sign up to fb because their family are on it, The FSFE do several flyers on gpg and free software so some to explain decentralization generally would be good plus a getting started guide for each, however we cannot expect people to set up their own servers, We still need to address the situation where people don't know anyone on these networks, but in a class of 5-10 people it is possible to say well sign up and add each other. >From what I understand one big issue with decentralization is explaining how to sign up, to sign up to fb you go to www.facebook.con, to sign up to decentralized networks you go to one of any number of places, and sign up, this in the case of joindiaspora.com has put huge pressure on the server. Back to the original question, there is a difference, between using and having a presence on facebook, a simple fb page, with an explanation as to who we are l and a link to the website may be all that is needed. Same for twitter, perhaps the occasional posting keeps the page active. Paul

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Re: Is it acceptable to use proprietary software (platforms) to promote software freedom?
by Katja Gucek 22 Jun '17

22 Jun '17

Hi, On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 5:04 PM, Evaggelos Balaskas <ebal(a)fsfe.org> wrote: > > For me one important thing is this: > If you want to invite people to opensource then you need somehow to > reach them! > I very much agree with Evaggelos, even though sometimes I am an idealist. If we only use free software services, there is a big chance we will promote them only to people who already use floss and know much about it. Katja

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Brazilians Rebel Against Data Caps
by willi uebelherr 22 Jun '17

22 Jun '17

Brazilians Rebel Against Data Caps. The Rest of the World Should, Too. Agustin Rossi and Rafael Zanatta, June 21, 2017 https://morningconsult.com/opinions/brazilians-rebel-data-caps-rest-world/ Dear friends, this email i received in the BestBit email list. A very good proposal. many greetings, willi -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: [bestbits] Op-Ed Against Data Caps in Brazil Datum: Wed, 21 Jun 2017 10:24:34 -0400 Von: Gus Rossi <gus(a)publicknowledge.org> An: bestbits(a)lists.bestbits.net, Rafael Zanatta <rafael.zanatta(a)idec.org.br> Hi all! Rafa Zanatta (CC) and I just published an op-ed celebrating Brazilians standing against data caps, and signaling the importance of that for the whole world. Let us know what you think: https://morningconsult.com/opinions/brazilians-rebel-data-caps-rest-world/ Gus Rossi Global Policy Director (202) 861-0020 (x123) | (202) 651 1337 <(202)%651-1337> (mobile) @agustinrs <https://twitter.com/agustinrs> @publicknowledge <https://twitter.com/publicknowledge> www.publicknowledge.org 1818 N St. NW, Suite 410 | Washington, DC 20036 | CFC 12259

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RFC: Terms of use for a new Git hosting platform for educational projects
by Dominik George 19 Jun '17

19 Jun '17

Hi everybody, we, Teckids e.V. [0], a German youth organisation around free software, are in the process of making some of our internal systems and services public for use by everyone contributing to or running educational projects, or using free software in education. The two major services will be Edugit, a code hosting platform running GitLab, and a remote desktop system that can be used to use and develop free software for education (RDP and browser-based access to a full Debian desktop). Edugit is, in our view, very necessary because all code hosting platforms, like GitHub and GitLab.com, have terms of use that not only may be bad for privacy or freedom [1], but above all lock out an important group of contributors. Mainly because they are hosted in the US where COPPA applies, all individuals underthe age of 13 are denied access. However, we believe that people of all ages should be able to contribute in education. Therefore, we have started Edugit for our projects, and are now one footstep away from making it public. Please try to *not* discuss the usefulness or what you belive in this thread - please contact us directly if you have concerns. Today, we want to ask for your comments on our drafts for Terms of Use. We tried to keep them as short and easy to understand as possible, while imposing limitations only on the range of use of the platforms. Please also do not provide legal advice - the terms will be reviewed by a lawyer in addition to this RFC ☺. Here are the drafts in German and English: https://www.teckids.org/cgit/verein.git/plain/intern/tou_de.txt https://www.teckids.org/cgit/verein.git/plain/intern/tou_en.txt The drafts were created by people who are concerned by it most - a group of contributors from 10 to 27 years of age (children are involved in everything we do, fwiw). We ask for all feedback, ranging from "cool, ack, go on" to all your concerns (content-wise) and ideas. But please think before you post - please do not flood your community's mailing list with "+1", only post there if you want your post discussed. But please always keep me <dominik.george(a)teckids.org> in the recipients, as I am not subscribed to all lists this is posted to. Looking forward to your feedback, Nik P.S.: If you can - and want to - support the projects financially, please see https://www.teckids.org/spenden.htm (German) or just ask. We always need it ☺! [0]: https://www.teckids.org/ [1]: https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria-evaluation.html -- Dominik George (1. Vorstandsvorsitzender, pädagogischer Leiter) Teckids e.V. - Erkunden, Entdecken, Erfinden. https://www.teckids.org/

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Books explaining Free Software for Children
by Matthias Kirschner 17 Jun '17

17 Jun '17

Hi there, does anyone of you have good recommendations for books explaining Free Software topics, basics of computing, source code, etc. to children. I am interested in books for the age from 3 to 12. Also things which are slightly connected would be appreciated. Best Regards, Matthias -- Matthias Kirschner - President - Free Software Foundation Europe Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290 Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | (fsfe.org/join) Contact (fsfe.org/about/kirschner) - Weblog (k7r.eu/blog.html)

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ASF on bug bounties
by Matthias Kirschner 16 Jun '17

16 Jun '17

You might have seen that already before when we had some discussion about the FOSSA project, but as I was just commenting a policy paper which was mentioning bug bounties, I thought it is a good to remind you about this write-up by the Apache Software Foundation: Chapter "Bug Bounties - a Panacea?" in https://blogs.apache.org/foundation/entry/free_and_open_source_security Would be interested what people here think about that. Best Regards, Matthias -- Matthias Kirschner - President - Free Software Foundation Europe Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290 Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | (fsfe.org/join) Contact (fsfe.org/about/kirschner) - Weblog (k7r.eu/blog.html)

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Re: Books explaining Free Software for Children
by J.B. Nicholson 16 Jun '17

16 Jun '17

Evaggelos Balaskas wrote: > I don't know about that age (3-12) but one of the classics in that area > (my opinion) is The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond That essay focuses on developmental methodology and business interests ("...and listen to your customers", case reviews on businesses like Netscape). Free software focuses on ethically of treating other people with regard to computers; free software isn't anti-business but the free software movement doesn't give primacy to business interests. These different philophies reach radically different ends when comparing the reaction to reliable, featureful proprietary software (as https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html describes toward the end). Raymond's essay refers to "Linux" as an operating system (or outright claims "the Linux operating system") despite that Linux is and was a kernel. For free software rationale I recommend the material on https://audio-video.gnu.org/, the collected rms essays in "Free Software, Free Society", and asking rms directly by emailing rms(a)gnu.org.

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Re: Books explaining Free Software for Children
by Andres 15 Jun '17

15 Jun '17

Web Design for Kids. https://www.bookdepository.com/Web-Design-for-Kids-20-Sr-John-Vanden-Huevel… The version on sale now has pop ups which I don't have. I don't know if it is any good but it certainly helped me understand HTML5. My children are in the 3-12 age range did not find it just as interesting. There are others with similar titles like "web for babies" and so on. Cathedral and Bazaar is good but I think (taking my children as a reference) is aimed at older people. The FSFE comic regarding open standards would be a better option. The humble bundle ebook bundle had some interesting books but mainly "make" magazine stuff. There was a book called IPSUM or LOREM which was like a cross between "Sophie's world" and "Alice in wonderland" but relating to programming. Very interesting but sadly I can't find a link for it. It will be mostly aimed to the 10 and up range IMHO. The Cory Doctorow novels like "little Brother" "homeland" and "pirate cinema" should also work for that age range though they might be a bit scary (they were scary for me!). They are found in the teen section in my local library https://wiki.richmondmakerlabs.uk/index.php/File:LibraryProjectV1Install.jpg On 15/06/17 08:54, Evaggelos Balaskas wrote: > I don't know about that age (3-12) but one of the classics in that area (my opinion) is The Cathedral and the Bazaar > by Eric S. Raymond > > > > June 15, 2017 10:25 AM, "Matthias Kirschner" <mk(a)fsfe.org> wrote: > >> Hi there, >> >> does anyone of you have good recommendations for books explaining Free >> Software topics, basics of computing, source code, etc. to children. I >> am interested in books for the age from 3 to 12. Also things which are >> slightly connected would be appreciated. >> >> Best Regards, >> Matthias >> >> -- >> Matthias Kirschner - President - Free Software Foundation Europe >> Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290 >> Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | (fsfe.org/join) >> Contact (fsfe.org/about/kirschner) - Weblog (k7r.eu/blog.html) >> _______________________________________________ >> Discussion mailing list >> Discussion(a)lists.fsfe.org >> https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion > Evaggelos Balaskas > PGP: '0x1c8968af8d2c621f' > https://www.linkedin.com/in/evaggelosbalaskas > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion(a)lists.fsfe.org > https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion -- Andres (he/him/his) Ham United Group RichmondMakerLabs

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Re: Books explaining Free Software for Children
by Mattia Monga 15 Jun '17

15 Jun '17

Rushkoff's Program Or Be Programmed is short and written for a non-technical audience: not sure it is ok for kids, though. The best parts are the introduction and the last chapter: clear explanations with easy to grasp analogies. http://www.anobii.com/books/Program_Or_Be_Programmed/9781593764265/011c34f8… Best regards, On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 9:54 AM, Evaggelos Balaskas <ebal(a)fsfe.org> wrote: > I don't know about that age (3-12) but one of the classics in that area > (my opinion) is The Cathedral and the Bazaar > by Eric S. Raymond > > > > June 15, 2017 10:25 AM, "Matthias Kirschner" <mk(a)fsfe.org> wrote: > > > Hi there, > > > > does anyone of you have good recommendations for books explaining Free > > Software topics, basics of computing, source code, etc. to children. I > > am interested in books for the age from 3 to 12. Also things which are > > slightly connected would be appreciated. > > > > Best Regards, > > Matthias > > > > -- > > Matthias Kirschner - President - Free Software Foundation Europe > > Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany | t +49-30-27595290 > > Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | (fsfe.org/join) > > Contact (fsfe.org/about/kirschner) - Weblog (k7r.eu/blog.html) > > _______________________________________________ > > Discussion mailing list > > Discussion(a)lists.fsfe.org > > https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion > > Evaggelos Balaskas > PGP: '0x1c8968af8d2c621f' > https://www.linkedin.com/in/evaggelosbalaskas > _______________________________________________ > Discussion mailing list > Discussion(a)lists.fsfe.org > https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion > -- Mattia Monga

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