Is Open Source more environmentally friendly? - London 14/05/07
Thu, Apr 26th 2007 15:11 Posted by markelkins
Zahl Limbuwala Chair and founder of the Data Centre Specialist Group (DCSG) will give a presenatation to prime debate on the question put forward bythe Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) - Is Open Source more environmentally friendly? This will be a combined event between OSSG and DCSG.
Venue - BCS Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA
Time - 1800 hours for 1830 start.
Free buffet and refreshments including wine.
Please email your name to the events coordinator to book a place at this event.
For further information please contact Mark Elkins via email at mark_elkins@bcs.org
Zahl has been involved in information technology both from a career perspective and through personal interest over that last 15 years. Having started out as an electronic engineer he rapidly moved into software development, real-time system and embedded process control. He also embraced the systems, networks and security design and administration disciplines during the technical hands-on part of his career.
Since then Zahl has held a number of operational management and strategic planning roles with the managed services/service provider world. Zahl has been involved with the evolution of the data centre from the initial engineering approach to the slightly more scientific approach that’s taken nowadays.
Zahl founded the DCSG after having spent a number of years unsuccessfully trying to find a forum through which data centre skills, experience and best practices could be shared.
Posted in OSSG Events, Uncategorized | 1 Comment » | Permalink »
LinuxConf Europe 2007 - Cambridge, England (02/09/07 - 04/09/07)
Wed, Apr 25th 2007 13:02 Posted by markelkins
LinuxConf Europe http://www.linuxconf.eu/2007/ is a new conference for linux developers organised as a collaboration between the UK Unix User Group (UKUUG) and the German Unix User Group.
It will take place at the University Arms Hotel, Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 1AD
http://www.devere.co.uk/heritage/university-arms/ from Sunday 2nd September to Tuesday 4th September 2007, immediately preceding the invitation-only Kernel Summit (organised by USENIX) at the same venue. LinuxConf Europe will consist of two or more streams of talks and tutorials alongside a small exhibition.
Speakers on any aspect of Linux development and use are invited. The programme aims to cover a variety of topics, including kernel and desktop development, tools, applications, networking, security, performance and case-studies of linux deployments. Any topic likely to be of interest to Linux developers and enthusiasts will be considered.
Potential speakers should view the Call For Papers page for the conference at:
http://www.linuxconf.eu/2007/cfp/
Please use the form on the cfp to submit an abstract.
UKUUG Secretariat
PO Box 37
Buntingford
Herts SG9 9UQ
Tel: 01763 273475
Fax: 01763 273255
office@ukuug.org
www.ukuug.org
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PyCon UK (Python Conference) - Birmingham (08/09/07 - 09/09/07)
Wed, Apr 25th 2007 13:00 Posted by markelkins
The first PyCon UK is new a conference all about the Python programming language, it’s aimed at the Python community: Python users and programmers, of all skill levels.
It will take place at the Birmingham Conservatoire, The School of Music, University of Central England, Birmingham, West Midlands, England from Saturday 8th to Sunday 9th September 2007.
For further information please visit: http://www.pyconuk.org
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2007 AGM
Sun, Apr 22nd 2007 17:46 Posted by mikendall
The 2007 AGM will take place at after the event on Monday 14th May.
The location is BCS London office, First Floor, Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street WC2E 7HA.
All members welcome.
Agenda to follow.
Posted in OSSG, OSSG Committee, OSSG News | No Comments » | Permalink »
Vista, Open Source, procurement, and the environment
Sun, Apr 22nd 2007 11:17 Posted by markelkins
With the advent of Microsoft Vista it seems to me that there are now some particularly good environmental reasons (which ought to be of critical importance given the Government’s climate change led commitments) to choose/procure Open Source alternatives such as the Ubuntu Linux Operating System. Reason’s for this include:
(1) Vista’s heavy hardware requirements, which means that more powerful machines are needed. These tend to consume more power.
(2) The manufacture of new machines needed to run Vista, which by its very nature means some environmental impact will be felt.
It could be argued that this is a pertinent example of where the environment and the goals of capitalism conflict. This is because capitalism is constantly seeking growth and thus computer hardware manufacturers will like any other business tend to seek growth, which is something shareholders (including pension funds) generally push for . Thus some form of environmental restraint is required by business as we currently know it, but the way the system is stacked this is not likely to have a good impact on such things as the pensions crisis. Of course Open Source ways of achieving things might actually be better than what capitalism can achieve, but I guess this can be discussed another time. However, (if you have the time and inclination) please feel free to browse some on my past thoughts around this on this website at:
http://ossg.bcs.org/category/business/
and
(3) The environmental impact of disposing of machines that are unable to run Vista.
Outside of the above environmental arguments are the timeless considerations of cost. That is the savings that can be leveraged by using lower specification machines that consume less power, not having to buy new equipment, and not having to pay for the disposal of Vista redundant machines. The latter point includes the security issue of making sure that information on the hard drives of such machines is removed, which can be of very high importance given some of the sensitive information stored on public sector machines.
Mark Elkins
Posted in Business | No Comments » | Permalink »
