Archive for April, 2012

The BCS Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) will be holding an event at the BCS Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA (http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/london-office-guide.pdf) on Thurssday 3rd May 2012, from 1800 to 2100 hours exploring the question: Can Open Source alter and potentially remove the concept of unemployment in the UK?

This bookable event is free and open to all with buffet and refreshments. To book a place to attend please email Mark Elkins at mark_elkins@bcs.org

Background Argument/Proposition
For some time now in the United Kingdom (UK) and many other advanced economic nations there have been high levels of unemployment. This means that a large number of people are simply not able to exchange their labour for monetary wages. There are many problems associated with this phenomenon such as higher crime rates, serious health problems, low self-esteem, and a general feeling of not being part of society.

So what can Open Source activity do about this? In the first instance might it not be acceptable to suggest that those unemployed in the traditional sense could still add to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by being involved in Open Source software projects? Therefore in an unconventional sense they might be seen as employed. At the very least such involvement with Open Source software projects might help in making individuals feel of value to society. It might also be suggested that this idea fits with David Cameron’s Big Society concept in that the opportunity is there through Open Source to produce benefits for society through voluntary activity.

Another possibly way Open Source could alter the concept of unemployment is that people engaged with the Open Source community are in fact keeping their skills up to date. Such opportunity probably would not be possible in the traditional world of employment simply because unemployment offers no chance to practice skills in such a meaningful way. Better still the unemployed can engage in ‘cutting-edge’ innovative Open Source projects that push forward technological boundaries. In the traditional world of business, ‘spin-offs’ from such projects might well lead to increased employment opportunities as indeed could the resulting interaction between the unemployed and business working in partnership.

Alternatively if Open Source software coding brought about by open collaboration can solve problems then perhaps Open Source activity might be able to crack economic and social code to bring about solutions to reduce or even eradicate unemployment.

The Speakers

Mark Elkins, Chair, BCS Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG)

Gerry Gavigan, Chair, Open Source Consortium (OSC), http://www.opensourceconsortium.org

Michael Judd, Akuna Group, http://www.akunagroup.com

The BCS Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) will be holding a detailed event around the future of HM Government Desktop/Client side computing at the BCS Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA (http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/london-office-guide.pdf) on Wednesday 4th April 2012, from 1000 to 1700 hours.

Rationale for this event

With HM Government looking with renewed vigour at its computer systems and in particular what benefits open source may bring, this event intends to take a detailed look at what HMG Desktop/Client side computing may consist of in the near future. For example should it be based primarily around web services where accessible would not be platform dependent so that for instance Civil Servants can load whatever operating system they like on to an HMG funded laptop. Alternatively could the future follow more closely the success (http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/limux-munich-linux-migration-project-reports-success) of the City of Munich using the Limux operating system based around Ubuntu Linux 10.10 or perhaps should some form of rigidly controlled thin client system running off of blade servers be used.

Another possible way forward is through the use of what has been termed the ‘Jigsaw approach’ where business applications are all fully vendor independent of each other and can be swapped from one product to another with relative ease. For instance one Office Suite or Browser product might be used for say 6 months and therefore form part of the HMG desktop for that period of time, but can easily be changed for another product after that period of time.

This bookable event is free and open to all with buffet and refreshments (Breakfast served from 0930, Lunch from around 1300, Afternoon Tea and Cakes from 1530, Wine and Nibbles from around 1700). To book a place to attend please email Mark Elkins at mark_elkins@bcs.org

The Speakers

Gerry Gavigan, Chair, Open Source Consortium (OSC), http://www.opensourceconsortium.org

Chris Kenyon, VP Sales & Business Development, Canonical http://www.canonical.com/about-canonical/overview/management-team Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu. Chris has had the privilege of being responsible for Canonical’s  commercial engagements with industry partners Dell, HP, Intel and ARM and has helped lead commercial growth of the company over the last five years.  Chris spends much of time on the road with customers in North America, Europe and China.  His present role spans commercial engagements with both end customers and industry partners.

Event Abstract:
- What do desktops of the future look like?
- How do we give civil servants, health-care professionals, teachers and the armed services access to the tools, they need?
- How would an alternative HMG desktop look like?
- Learning from large Linux deployments globally:
- What are some of the best practices for using Linux desktops and proprietary software together?
- What are some of the obstacles that large non-Microsoft desktop deployments face?
- Is a bring your own device culture an opportunity or a threat to the HMG desktop?

Steve Lamb, Open Source Strategy Lead, Microsoft UK. Steve works with Open Source developers, communities and business leaders to enable & encourage a growing ecosystem of Open Source projects on Microsoft technologies including Windows Azure. Steve is a technologist with solid business and communications experience who’s worked at Microsoft for the last ten years with the previous ten being specialised in UNIX. He thrives on breaking down unnecessary barriers, working with amazing people to understand complicated problems and helping communities be more successful. He has paid great attention to cloud technologies (and social media) for many years. Steve has spoken at major conferences around Europe including TechEd – he’s not “a speaker” by trade.

Event Abstract: Hands up who’d like to use a computer that takes forever to boot, is inflexible, obsolete and expensive? Anyone? No I thought not! Sadly this is the reality for users of the current HMG standard desktop. It really doesn’t have to be this way. My peers will present a range of alternative Open Source platforms. Open Source runs REALLY WELL on Windows Client, Server and in the (Azure) cloud. A MODERN version of Windows can give a MUCH BETTER experience though changing the desktop Operating System is only part of the solution. Having a sensible configuration is critical. Keeping it up to date is key. Keeping costs down is important. Freeing people to work HOW THEY WORK BEST is critical.

Richard Melville, Systems Architect, runs Cellularity (cellularity.co.uk), a company committed to developing and producing the “Stellar System”, a small, silent, user-friendly, distributed desktop system running only free software. Interested in electronics at an early age, and designing transistor radios for fun, Richard first worked in the telecoms industry. Moving on to machine control and thyristor-driven dockside equipment he then decided to take time out and took a Sociology degree at Essex University. On leaving University he ran a PCB design company before joining Racal Electronics, a founder member of Vodafone, when the company was working on installing the UK’s first mobile phone network.

Event Abstract: The landscape of the computer desktop is changing fast, driven in part by the rapid developments taking place in the mobile arena.  Howling towers stuffed under office desks, running proprietary software, and creating an unpleasant noisy working environment are giving way to smaller, more energy-efficient systems.  Over the years we have seen vacillations between server-client to peer-to-peer and back again.  With the proliferation of cheap multi-core processors the time is now right for small distributed desktop systems.  With the low power consumption of such systems and the advancement of battery technology there is the potential of freeing the desktop from the constraints of the mains electricity supply.

Tariq Rashid, Lead Architect HOIT Technology Solutions & Assurance, Home Office, HM Government, explaining the “jigsaw” model and its suggested benefits.

Sam Tuke is UK Coordinator for the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). He has been using, developing, and promoting Free Software since 2003, organised and spoken at conferences in Sweden, Britain, and Germany, and is currently working on the Document Freedom Day 2012 campaign for Open Standards.

Event Abstract: Public bodies in Europe and beyond are making use of Free Software in a major way. From Munich City Council, to the schools and universities of Brazil, to the local authorities of Belgium, Free Software is providing new solutions in highly competitive public sector markets. Sam will introduce the most interesting of these deployments, and discuss why Free Software was chosen in each case and what benefits it brought. The talk will conclude with an exploration of the advantages that Free Software can offer to the British public sector.

Jan Wildeboer,Open Source Evangelist, Red Hat

Event Abstract: Building the New Now with Open Standards and Open Source – After a short definition of terms we will go through the history, present and possible future of solutions based on open principles. We will revisit some of the early projects that have worked and more importantly those that didn’t work to learn from their failure.

Full day Training Course by Damian Conway – ‘Presentation Skills’

Monday 16th April 2012

Ambassadors Hotel, 12 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0HX

see: http://www.flossuk.org/Events/PresentationSkills2012

Description: The best and most effective presentations capture the audience
quickly, hold their interest effortlessly, educate and entertain them in equal
measure, and sometimes even inspire them.

This class explores simple and effective techniques for achieving those goals
in any kind of presentation.

The first half of the class focuses on preparation, content selection, visual
design, delivery, handling questions and effective techniques for presenting
various kinds of technical information (code, data, statistics, charts,
structure diagrams etc.)

The second half of the course is an in-depth tutorial on improving the ‘look
and feel’ of presentation materials – especially Powerpoint/Keynote/Impress
presentations. In particular, it demonstrates practical techniques for making
your slides not suck!

Tutor: Damian Conway is a renowned programmer, speaker and educator, best
known for his work on Perl programming language.

Previously as Associate Professor in Computer Science at Australia’s largest
University, for the past decade he has made his living entirely by giving
conference keynotes, technical presentations, programming tutorials and
professional training courses.

He has been keynote speaker at major technical Conferences such as OSCON,
linux.conf.au, OLS, Webstock, DebConf, and GOTO, presenting on topics as
diverse as quantum physics, website design, computational linguistics,
bioinformatics, and programming language design.

He has also been invited to speak and teach at Institutions such as Harvard,
MIT, Carnegie Mellon, U. Toronto and ETH Zurich and has delivered seminars and
taught classes for major corporations including Apple, Yahoo!, Amazon,
Canonical, Xerox, Qualcomm, Canon, Michelin, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Places are limited – early booking is essential Early-bird rates available
until 15th March 2012

Thursday 12th April 2012

Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London WC1B 5BB

Intensive Introduction to Google App  Engine with Python’ Tutorial / Training Day

Prerequisites:

Course attendees should have prior experience with Python, Web Development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), and RDBMS technologies.

Course Content:

Review of the Python you need for App Engine
Preparing your computer for App Engine development
Building a Real World App Engine webapp
Understanding the webapps requirements
Working with App Engine’s web application framework (webapp)
Defining your webapps data model
Building your webapps user interface with templates
Tying your webapp together with code
Deploying your webapp to the cloud
Updating your webapp with new features
Outgrowing webapp and scaling your app
A lightning review of the App Engine framework landscape
Advanced App Engine features
Wrap-up

Tutor biography: Paul Barry lectures at The Institute of Technology, Carlow in Ireland, where he has taught for 15 years on topics such as cloud computing, web development, network programming, scripting technologies, Linux and systems management.

Prior to joining the academic world, Paul spent a decade in industry in software development and IT management roles, both in Ireland and in Canada. Paul has an M.Sc. in Computing. He is author (or co-author) of four books: two on Perl (for Wiley) and two on Python (for O’Reilly).

Paul’s latest book, part of the popular Head First Series from O’Reilly Media, is Head First Python (published in November 2010). Paul has been writing for Linux journal since 2000 and has been a Contributing Editor with the magazine since 2005. Find out more about Paul at his website: http://paulbarry.itcarlow.ie

See http://www.ukuug.org/events/Googleapp/ for on-line booking form