Presentation at Penningtons LLP, Solicitors at Abacus House, 33 Gutter Lane, London EC2V 8AR on Wednesday 5 March 2008 from 6pm to 8.30pm

Open Source, one of the most exciting developments in computing in recent years is redefining the way software is written, sold and used. Typically created collaboratively across the internet, open source software is freely available for anyone to download, install and deploy. Open source companies generate revenue by providing extra services: customisation, training and support. Overall, this generally leads to a lower total cost of ownership for users, but just as important are the benefits of increased flexibility, security and control. The presentation will explore this intriguing new world, and look at ways open source can be used by any company for competitive advantage. Our two speakers are:

Chris Kenyon, Director of Business Development , Canonical Limited

Chris Kenyon joined Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu project in 2006. He leads the global team that handles Canonical’s relationships with Intel, Dell, SUN Microsystems and many others. Based in London and previously responsible for corporate strategy at Global Beach Automotive he is a graduate of Atlantic College and Edinburgh University.

Ubuntu is the world’s fastest growing operating system and is used by over 6 million users in 200+ countries including Google, San Francisco Airport and over 40% of school pupils in Spain. Ubuntu’s 10,000s of community volunteers, combined with these partnership, enable it to compete as a world-class operating system application suite that is free to use, share and distribute.

Glyn Moody, Journalist and Consultant

Glyn Moody, a journalist and consultant will take the commentator role at the event. He has been writing and lecturing on computers and technology for over 25 years, the internet for 13 years and open source software for 12 years. He is the author of the book “Rebel Code”, the first and so far only in-depth history of the subject and also writes a blog on open source and related areas at opendotdotdot.blogspot.com. He has an MA and PhD in Mathematics from Cambridge University and is based in London.

Glyn will be talking about the Why, How and What of Open Source: why it works, how people can give it away and still make money and what it all means for business.

Full details on the IOD website or to download the booking form click here

UKUUG is pleased to announce full details about the forthcoming Spring
Conference & Tutorials.

The event will take place on 31st March, 1st & 2nd April in Birmingham.

3 parallel tutorials will be held on Monday 31st March.

T1. An Introduction to Python, Tutor: John Pinner (Clockwork Software Systems)

Abstract: For people who may have some programming knowledge in other
languages and want to fast track into Python. You will get to know the
Python interpreter and look at Python’s introspective features, moving onto data types, sequences and dictionaries and finally functions and modules.

T2. A Perl Teach in, Tutor: Dave Cross (Magnum Solutions)

Abstract: This tutorial covers some of the more advanced Perl topics
that may be missing from your Perl programming knowledge. Topics include: CPAN tools, templating, ORM, testing, benchmarking and object oriented Perl.

T3. Building the Network You Need with PF, Tutor: Peter N. M. Hansteen

Abstract: This tutorial focuses on building the high performance, low maintenance network you need. We shall explore the whys and hows and cover all bases from the basic one machine configuration and basic local area networks, all the way up to configurations with traffic shaping and load balancing with “self healing” networks and countermeasures against common problems such as DoS attempts and spamming. A basic understanding of TCP/IP and some Unix knowledge is assumed.

A two day conference (with parallel streams) will take place on Tuesday
1st & Wednesday 2nd April.

All Conference delegates receive a free place at the Conference Dinner (Tues 1st April).

In addition the UKUUG is hosting the UK’s first PostgreSQL User Conference on Wednesday 2nd April at the same venue.

All the information, including abstracts, bios, and an online booking form can be found at:

http://spring2008.ukuug.org/

Unicom seminars have offered a substantial discount for OSSG members wishing to attend their “Web 2.0 and Beyond” conference on 5-6 March. The first 5 members to register can do so for £175 plus VAT (compared to the full conference price of £750). Any subsequent registrants get a 25% discount off the full price.

Further details for this event can be found at www.unicom.co.uk/socialtools. To claim the discount, enter “OSSG discount” in the comments field when making your booking.

The British Computer Society (BCS) Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) will be holding an event on Wednesday 13th February 2008 from 1800 hours on the SQO-OSS project about open source software quality at the BCS Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton Street, London WC2E 7HA. This open source event is of course open and free to all to attend.

Abstract
What do you know about the quality of the software you are using? A well-known conjecture in software engineering is that external quality characteristics are correlated to internal quality characteristics and thus the measurement of source code provides useful data for the assessment of its quality. Uniquely, open source software allows us to examine the actual code and perform white box testing and analysis of it. In most open source projects we can also access their version control system, mailing lists and issue databases. The SQO-OSS project is building a BSD-lisenced tool that exploits the availability of publicly accessible software data to evaluate the quality of various OSS projects.

Biography
Gergios Gousios is a researcher at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He holds a Diploma in Information and Communication Systems Engineering from the University of the Aegean and an MSc with distinction in Advanced Computer Science from the University of Manchester. He has contributed code to various open source projects and worked as independent software consultant. Currently, he is pursuing his interest in the area of virtual machines at the Athens University of Economics and Business and also managing the SQO-OSS project. His interests include operating systems, virtual machines, software architectures and software quality.

To book a place at this event please email your name to the events coordinator.

Free buffet and refreshments including wine available from around 1800 hours.

For further information please contact Paul Adams at chair@ossg.bcs.org

Map & directions: http://www.epsg.org.uk/locations/bcsss-guide.html

The UK Unix and Open Systems User Group (UKUUG) are holding FAB 2008 - File and Backup seminars in Central London on the 19th and 20th February 2008. The UKUUG Secretariat are allowing all OSSG members who wish to attend to do so at the same rate as UKUUG members.
Disk storage capacities have taken off enormously in the past few years, while user expectations of data storage have become more exacting as data is being produced at a frantic rate and the management of this data has become critical to the core functions of many organisations. This has changed the problems of data management that the system administrator has to cope with. These seminars, held in Central London, is a review of current best practice and technologies for the system administrator.

Tuesday 19th February topics include:

• Clustering with GFS2 shared-storage file system - RedHat
• An introduction to High Availability
• How companies achieve High Availability
• Secure Network Filesystems with OpenAFS - Simon Wilkinson
• Storage at 1billion km per hour - CERN

Wednesday 20th February topics include:

• Reliable backups without tapes
• Orchestrating your Data Center
• Backup and Recovery with Bacula (by it’s lead developer and founder)
• Backup integration with filesystem snapshot capability
• plus a session of lightning talks of experiences adn tips by attendees

Send abstracts or questions to fab@ukuug.org.

Early Bird rate (until 23rd Jan):

• UKUUG and OSSG members: £94 inc. VAT for either day, or £164.50 for both days.
• Non-members: £111.62 inc. VAT for either day, or £199.75 for both.

Booking: online or read our information booklet and PDF for printing .

Each seminar will start at 9:45 and finish at approximately 17:00. Delegates are invited for a complimentary ‘beer’ in the hotel bar area at the end of each day

For further information please visit : http://www.ukuug.org/events/seminars/fab/