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September the month i'll never forget, but i'll need this post to remember
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September has been for the past couple of years a very busy time for me in deed. The beginning of a new academic year, the beginning of a new year at Linux Society, and all the upheaval that this brings. I say upheaval in a very passionate way, I have a pretty cool job for a Linux nut, i met lots of new fresh faces coming to university to follow their academic paths, and i watch some who have only ever seen the proprietary windows XP world discover the world of Free and Open Source Software (more Vista users this year. i also say job loosely as i don't get paid, but i do have to be available most days and dedicate some hours to it).
I also have to try and cram in has much learning as i can, and this year i have a new addition to my little family coming (it's not so little now, and due in January 2008)
I was talking to my girlfriend the other day, and i remember saying the same thing to her as i did last year, namely that this was the busiest September that i have ever had, and i think few would disagree with that.
This year not only did we get ready for what turned out to be a truly spectacular event celebrating Software Freedom Day on the 20th September, then we had to be ready for Freshers Fair 4 days later. As a society freshers fair is an incredibly important time. It's a chance to speak to massive amount of people about Linux, i suppose for us its like our own special trade fair.
One thing i noticed this year was the amount of people running ubuntu that i met this year, in all i would say i spoke to more Linux Users at freshers fair then ever before, i would argue that this maybe due to the amount of sub laptops that are making their way on the market, i met quite a few ASUS EEEPC owners.
It's be a long September, we (me, girlfriend and daughter) moved the day after freshers fair, and then back to classes the day after that. However i must have spoken to more people this year about free software then this time last year, and looking at the achievements that the Linux Society made last year i can only imagine that this year i'll speak to more than last year.
We have a sort of weekend off this weekend, me, my girlfriend, and my daughter are going to a family wedding and we're off the reservation so to speak, we're all looking forward to it.
Software Freedom Day - Dundee - 2008 was just a whole new experience for me, and for most of the people that worked on it. It's hard not to be emotional when you watched friends and people i have known for over two years, that i see every two weeks put their personal fears aside, stand up and talk to an audience mostly made up of strangers about something they love in the world of Free Software. Not only did they put their nerves into a box, they delivered talks that even to professional speakers would have seemed good. I saw a blog post after the event that i though showed our event in a good light (http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,..., and thank PeterJudge for his kind words. It was a lot of organisation and a lot of time put to getting this event of the ground, and left me some what exhausted after it all finished.
I made new friends this year, and forged deeper friendships with people i already knew (some where even rewarded with new nicknames). I think in whole i'm proud of the event we held, the feedback i got was heart warming. We managed to record some of the talks and they are being published on www.hackerpublicradio.org soon, my talk entitled What is Free Software, went out the other day and can be found at http://thelinuxsociety.org.uk/conten.... I'll let the Tayside Linux User Group mailing list know as and when each one comes out, the TayLUG mailing list can be found at https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/l... - We also recorded something a little special for my friend over at www.linuxbasement.com Chad_W, should be heading out on his cast sometime soon
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18 days ago
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Notification: Software Freedom Day - Dundee - 20th September 2008
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Notification: Software Freedom Day - Dundee - 20th September 2008
The UAD Linux Society Are Proud To Announce
Software Freedom Day 20th September 2008
10am - 4 pm
Hannah Maclure Centre
University of Abertay Dundee
Top Floor Student Centre
1 - 3 Bell Street
Dundee, DD1 1HP
01382 308 324
exhibitions@abertay.ac.uk
The Linux Society and the Hannah Maclure Exhibition, Cinema, and Performance Centre will be celebrating the global Software Freedom Day event, shared around the world this 2oth September.
Everyone is welcome and please feel free to share this invitation around with all your friends and colleagues.
Software freedom day is an event that is held globally to support and celebrate Free and Open Source software. The Abertay Linux Society and the Hannah Maclure Centre are proud to announce a day full of talks designed to highlight the empowerment, liberty, innovation, ideas and community spirit that free software can offer people. In addition, at this year's Software Freedom Day we will also be screening "The Elephants Dream" and "Big Buck Bunny", two pioneering films developed and made using Free and Open Source software and released free online for everyone in the spirit of that freedom.
With topics such as Free Software and it's community, Windows and Free Software, Virtualisation technologies & Servers using Free Software, Open Source Communications and how communities can benefit. Free and Open Source Gaming, Open Source Security and it's community, there will be something to interest all, whether you are a developer , a user, confused or just plain interested. There will also be demonstrations of some of the practical applications of free and open source software on display during the event.
There will be a light yet free lunch served before the screening of the films, the event is free for everyone and open between 10am and 4pm on Saturday the 20th September. Feel free to attend the whole or event or just drop in, we will be glad to see you participate in this global event celebrating and promoting Software Freedom and it's many uses in benefiting everyone.
More information available at http://sfd.thelinuxsociety.org.uk
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34 days ago
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Linux Society May News Letter
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May News Letter
Hi Guys and Welcome to May's newsletter.
A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks, and there is a little bit to talk about, but as usual i will try and keep it short. I would like also to take this opportunity to wish a good summer to all of our members, some of who will be travelling back to their non term time homes, and some of who will have finished their studies at Abertay and will be moving on to new things. I hope you all enjoyed your academic year, and to those moving on, good luck and you will be missed, please feel free to keep up with what's happening both via the mailing list and the web site.
Well i suppose the biggest news we have to deliver is in partnership with Hannah Maclure Centre we are holding an all-day event for Software Freedom Day on the 20th September 2008. This is a fantastic opportunity to promote and celebrate free software. We have a number of ideas already however nothing has been set in stone, but the general feeling is to have a number of talks planned, a number of workshops, and a couple of discussion groups set up. We're hoping to bring a lot of groups and individuals together who are interested in how freedom in software can have positive effect on both their life's and their interests such as artists, writers, students, hobbyists, and businesses.
At the moment we are canvassing ideas and thoughts for the event at http://thelinuxsociety.org.uk/conten.... I would ask everyone to have a look and add your ideas and thoughts as soon as possible.
We have had some very interesting ideas on the site, and at the last meeting. I must admit i was somewhat shocked when a member mentioned at the last meeting that there where only five meetings until the event. A pencilled outline of the kind of topics we're hoping to have seems to be;
* Business
* Science
* Home
* Multimedia / Audio/visual
* Schools / Education (OpenEducation Disc)
* Tecchies, Linuxistas, Converts, Sysadmins, BoFHs
* Community
There is also the usual call for speakers, volunteers, and participants. This is an event that can truly showcase the best parts of our community and the freedom we take for granted, and a event not to be missed.
We had a great run of security related talks, and a virtualization talk and i would like to thank Gordon Dunlop, and Tim Spencer for their talks in the past month or so.
It is important not to forget that we have a freshers fair to prepare for and with it just being days before the Software Freedom Day it seems a great way to both get new people interested in free and open source software, as well as a dry run of some of the demo's we're hoping to hold at the SFD event.
I would also like to takes the opportunity to mention the Scottish Developers meetings that are taking place on the opposite week to our meetings, i was unable to make the last meeting but the feedback i received was fantastic, to find out when the next meeting is come visit the events section of the Linux Society website.
As usual there has been a run of great howto guides, articles and editorials at www.thelinuxsociety.org.uk and i would like to thank everyone that has contributed and like to encourage people to post their work on there too. Don't forget to visit the site and keep up-to-date with the events section on the site, and remember to send us your events as well.
Well as promised i'll wrap up now, and hope to speak to everyone over the forth coming couple of weeks.
Arron M Finnon
President
University of Abertay Dundee
Linux Society
www.thelinuxsociety.org.uk
Software Freedom Day 20/9/08
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122 days ago
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I hope you enjoy. My boyfriend is getting one soon also! 194
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