[Marketing] OT: Calling for Patent Reform
Hi all, I realise my post is a bit OT, but... For what it's worth, I think we're way overdue for patent reform here in the USA: http://blue-gnu.biz/content/when_bullies_rule_call_patent_reform_america Arr! Don -- D.C. Parris Minister, Journalist, Free Software Advocate https://www.xing.com/profile/Don_Parris http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcparris
[Marketing] New News Site
I'm not sure how many here are aware that I am no longer with LXer.com. I launched a new news site last month, focused primarily on the Free Software movement (GNU/FSF), but anything that is libre-licensed is fair game, in my book. The site is Blue GNU: http://blue-gnu.biz/ If anyone wants to submit news/announcments about the OpenOffice.orgproject, please let me know, as you will need to be set up for that. I would like to be able to post something about the upcoming 2.3 release. Many thanks! Don -- D.C. Parris Minister, Editor, Free Software Advocate https://www.xing.com/profile/Don_Parris http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcparris
Re: [Marketing] ODF petition passes 5,000 user mark.
Daniel Carrera wrote: Hello, The ODF petition now has 5,153 signatures representing 156,657 computers. http://opendocumentfellowship.org/petition/status.php Today marks 1 week after the petition started. Please advertise this petition anywhere you can. We have nice images right on our front page that you are free to reuse. Please post to mailing lists, podcasts, blogs and add mention the petition on your signature (feel free to copy my signature). Cheers, Daniel. Thanks for this! I wrote a brief article about it for LXer, and have received feedback from some who have signed as a result. BTW, I am now an editor for LXer! I'll be keeping my eyes on this list. ;-) Regards, Don - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Demand OpenDocument! Sign the petition.
Daniel Carrera wrote: Hello all, Microsoft has said that they will support OpenDocument in MS Office if there is customer demand for it. The OpenDocument Fellowship has started a petition for Microsoft to support OpenDocument. To show that there /is/ demand for OpenDocument: SNIP I just signed the petition a short while ago (while admittedly I am not a user of Microsoft's software). However, I also forwarded your post (almost verbatim) to my family (most whom still are Msft customers), and the core Christian libre software community, many of whom still use Windows software. Even though I do not use Microsoft's software, I still have a vested interest in being able to share documents with those who do. I don't understand why not being a Microsoft customer would make my signature somehow illegitimate, as some have suggested. Even if Microsoft claims I am not *their* customer, I have to work with their customers all the time. So those of us who use OOo on GNU/Linux (or whatever office suite on whatever OS) have a legitimate reason to ask them to support ODF. As with others on this list, I agree that the ODF petition is relevant to the Marketing list, since ODF support is a selling point for OOo. Regards, Don - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Technology Standards for Michigan government offices (cost-savings measure)
Steven Shelton wrote: As you are no doubt aware, Michigan is currently (and, it seems, perpetually) facing a budget crisis that has resulted in deep cuts to state programs and the budget for personnel. That's why we're forced to close state police posts, reduce benefits for the people who need them the most, and so on. Obviously, we need innovative solutions. One of the mandates facing all of the state's government branches is saving money, both in the short-term and in the long-term. The Department of Information Technology is in a unique position to save the state millions of dollars while simultaneously making access easier for taxpaying citizens (like me) and to safely maintain valuabe data. This is why I am writing. snip Thanks for this. It's worded pretty well, imo. Isn't there someone on this list in Raleigh, NC working on something similar? I'm in Charlotte, and would be interested in helping if/where I can. Don - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[Marketing] Fox News Airs Rebuttals
Fox News finally aired some of the e-mail rebuttals to James Prendergast's article Massachusetts Should Shut Down OpenDocument: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172063,00.html I didn't recognize the names, and my own e-mail didn't make the cut, but I did keep in touch with Fox News until they published this. My own e-mail did get published on LXer last week, in response to Adelstein's article about Prendergast's affiliation with ATL. I guess it all came out in the wash, so to speak. Anyway, I thought the e-mails published on Fox News were pretty representative of my own points. All in all, a good read! Regards, Don - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Re: what do you think of Massachusetts' proposal to adopt OpenDocument format
swhiser wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Microsoft is steaming Paula Rooney The press is playing it only through the Microsoft frame...this misses the point almost entirely. There seems to be no escaping that people see Technology through their understanding of a) Microsoft as the company behind the desktop system they have used; and b) one of the most financially successful businesses in modern times. Reality is that they are no longer terribly important because the nature of IT systems has changed for good. Here's the MassGove document; it is only 20 pages; I DO suggest, implore, that you read it as this story will be important for a long time and that would be good for you: http://www.mass.gov/Aitd/docs/policies_standards/etrm3dot5/ETRM_v3dot5draft_information.pdf What is impressive about the MassGov document declaring a policy for migrating to OpenDocument is two things: 1) they are not firing Microsoft but stating their standard specification for the file formats of documents they wish to produce and accept within the context of the business of the Commonwealth; this means that Microsoft can keep this account if its Office suite starts to use OpenDocument as its default file format. Whether they will do so is another question, but the key point to keep in the frame for readers is that if Microsoft loses the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a paying customer of its Office software then it would be **by Microsoft's own choice.** 2) the declaration for the OpenDocument file format falls within a short document which is like an executive summary laying out the State CIO's vision for a Services Oriented Architecture of the future based around the center-piece of the XML and its related markup standards. Office documents are only a small part of the aspect of a State government infrastructure that's impacted by this elegant, sweeping vision. What the State CIO is doing is he's leading the conversation down to the appropriate fundamental level about data granularity, reuse, interoperability, manageability, modularity, flexibility, et cetera-bility. Microsoft (the story of the impact on its business) is not that important in the wider context of the opportunity to embrace XML throughout a large organization's IT infrastructure; however that company must either go away or embrace OpenDocument (an open XML specification) for the State to successfully implement its vision for data. Paula- This is the moment for which I have been building since the day I joined OpenOffice.org in October, 2001. Our next job is to help the 50 other State CIO's understand the intelligence behind the Massachusetts vision and help them each implement the vision. It could take 5 years. -Sam - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I am not nearly so elegant as you, but I have long stated that Microsoft is in danger of locking itself out of the marketplace while trying to lock in their customers. In my observations over the last two years, I have drawn the conclusion that any company that does not adapt to the new (software) economy - libre licenses, open standards, etc. - will become extinct, or at least nearly so. I continue to believe that to be the case. I have also realized, since I discovered the OASIS process for OpenDocument (through this list), that once approved, governments would begin moving to adopt it. As they do, companies will need to move to adopt the new standard. Any responses to arguments set forth by Microsoft, et. al., should avoid the emotional dialogue, and focus on the technical merits of Mass' decision. - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Re: what do you think of Massachusetts' proposal to adopt OpenDocument format
swhiser wrote: Ian Lynch wrote: Any responses to arguments set forth by Microsoft, et. al., should avoid the emotional dialogue, and focus on the technical merits of Mass' decision. Thank you Don and Ian for your comments... Technical or economic merits. While MS might say it will cost MA to retrain staff, this is a one off short term investment for a long term gain. As we know, the commitment to training is not nearly as great as others make it (which explains the slowness at many of our OOo training business [Ian needs not confirm]). MA is already competent with OOo and has full view of the scope of the training and adjustment process, and if you asked them off the record they would grin and be silent. The case study about their migration will be a Tipping Point. In my book, Penguin in the Pew (a.k.a., PitP), I have a table demonstrating that the amount of productivity lost (on average), due to adjusting to the differences between Msft Office and OpenOffice.org, is really not all that great, and is frequently less than perceived. The point was that, even given the adjustment period of a couple of weeks, not all productivity is lost. Many scenarios that suggest it is more costly to retrain for the new office suite seem to assume a 100% loss in productivity. This is absolutely not true. Companies and governments often spend money up front to invest in the future so this is not different or unusual. MS have also said that they will respond to customer demand so here is the opportunity to show they mean it. They spend a lot on market research so asking large corporate and government customers if they would prefer MS to standardise on ODF would be pretty easy to do. They're done. Over. The FUD will be loud and it (we) will embarass them, because people get this now. I agree here. A short-term investment with an eye towards a long-term gain is definitely a smart move. Don - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Re: OOo For Religious Non-Profit Orgs
On Mon, 24 Jan 2005 20:10:05 +0100 Frank Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Don Parris wrote: On Monday 06 December 2004 23:03, Jonathon Blake wrote: SNIP You might also write about Church Website in a Box, http://www.shef.ca/ which is a ready-to-use website for local churches, based on open source modules. The author says about his project: Church Website in a Box' [CWIAB] is a MySQL/PHP based content management system designed to be easily deployed and used by all kind of churches. The website makes it easy to maintain a website. Content is uploaded, created, and managed using only a web-browser. Anyone can now have a dynamic professional, up to date website containing powerful features like a current events calendar, church publications, description of ministries, and previous week's messages and bulletins. Frank Thomas -- Thanks. I probably will include CWIAB, albeit with the caveat that it seems to be basedon one of the PHP-Nukes, which have suffered numerous security issues. A number of people are warning folks to avoid the nuke-based stuff. CWIAB is listed on CODN, which is one of several web resources for Christians who use FOSS. I also plan to mention Moodle, which is being deployed in missions organizations, as well as one of our local universities here in Charlotte, NC. -- evangelinuxGNU Evangelist http://matheteuo.org/ http://chaddb.sourceforge.net/ Free software is like God's love - you can share it with anyone anytime anywhere. - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
