Akademy 2008 is close to end and I this is my own summary.
Organization and atmosphere
As it always happens, nothing is always perfect. But this year the job done has been amazing and the result is relevant. We will have to work really hard to make it better next year than this one. That is good news. The people related with the organization have done a good job and I only can thank them all for the effort.
Celebrating Akademy in the middle of europe (Mechelen, Belgium) has made possible that 350 people have came to the event. We expect 400 for next year, eventhough it will be in the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria). It seems that KDE is growing faster than it used to. Probably helps that KDE 4 is now a usable result in comparassion with last year, that was just a great idea in development. It is amazing that so many people have made agreements about desktop innovation and have respected the decisions taken eventhough the results are taking a long time to appear and many good job will be left behind (3.5 series). Although a lot of work is still needed, the actual state of KDE 4.1 makes more people believe it is not just possible, but it is desirable to keep pushing in this direction. KDE 4 series will be a perfect example of genuine innovation. I feel proud of being a tiny part of this.
Talks
This year I haven't been able to assist as much talks as other years since I had many things to accomplish during these days. In general I am satisfy with them. Maybe, since the project is getting bigger, we have to begin to separate pure technical confs. from other types of talks, since there are people and level enough to satisfy everybodys wishes. More non technicians are getting involved and they get absolutely lost in pure technical talks. The opposite also happens. Since there are only 2 days of talks, we have to be more accurate in the design of the schedule. But I inssist, this year have been a good one in this particular point.
The place
It is well known that sun and sea are a combination I need in order to be happy. From that point of view Mechelen is not the best place in the world for me. But, hey, it almost didn't rain and it hasn't been cold most of the time. So, comparing with other years...Mechelen was not bad at all. If next year in Gran Canaria rains, ... I'll shave my head. That cannot happen.
The job
Beside my homework, I of course attended to some BoFs related with next year event. Everybody looks happy about the job done so far. Everybody has gave us a lot of good energy and information related with present and past events. It will be extremely useful for us. I come back with tons of suggesstions and the feeling that co-hosting the event with GNOME have been a smart move made by both projects.
We need to become players of the same team to go for the 98% of the market that doesn't use any desktop libre. That is the real goal, the true challenge. Do we want to add efforts or play the game by our own? We will be able to answer this question after next year's event probably.
KDE-España
One of the multiple good news about KDE during aKademy 2008 is that KDE-España has born (or almost). We made a non official assembly here to talk about many stuff that our president, Albert Astals Cid, will explain soon. I'll just say that we have talk with Pedro Jurado (ermelenas) about collaboration between KDE-Hispano and KDE-España. Good things will happen.
Hopefully next year, in Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting, the association will have a general assembly, like GNOME-Hispano. It will be a huge chance for spanish developers to show how good we are doing.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
What have I been doing lately.
A little more than four monthes has gone since I left Tenerife, Canary Islands, to work in La Axarquía, Málaga, in a migration to software libre project. Working with public administrations is different than working for private companies. Usually you have more time for finishing the projects but the administrative and management issues are more complex. Get away from problems and keeping focused on the job to do is the key for not getting frustated. The impact though will be enormous so it is worth it.
After surveying and interviewing hundreds of people, trying to figure out how they use computers and apps, we have almost done an inventory system we have made for this project (based on ltsp). Since it will be GPL, I hope more people use it, specially in migration to software libre projects, like the one I'm working on.
Since in summertime most of the public workers are on vacation in Spain, we will be able to check their computers easily. I hope we can make a good report with the data extracted. Then the technicians will concentrate efforts on testing how key private apps work when virtualiced (with XEN, VMWare, Virtual Box and Wine basically). This is important to define the migration project of the 31 municipalities involved (in fact it won't be that many since some of them do not want to migrate).
Between managing this project and the Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting, I have no time for almost anything else. By the way, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria (Gran Canaria's Gov.) have put me in charge of the relation with both, KDE and GNOME projects for the GUADEC+Akademy 2009 event. This was going to be my first Akademy with no specific job to do but, obviously, it won't. It will be another busy event for me. Maybe is better this way.
---
Last week it was announced that we will participate in the migration project of the Economics and Technological Innovation Department of Junta of Extremadura (Extremadura's regional Gov.). We are going to make the initial report of the current situation. That is, interviewing pubic workers, making an inventory of equipments and apps, defining by groups the knowledge of users related with software libre, etc. That is the milestone before the development of the migration project itself.
We are the only small company that will be working on this migration project so it has been a nice surprise for us. I'm travelling tomorrow to Extremadura for the very first meeting.
Can anybody give me the clue to work 25 out of 24 hours?
Windsurfers say.... No wind...no fun.
I say....no migration to soft. libre projects...no fun
After surveying and interviewing hundreds of people, trying to figure out how they use computers and apps, we have almost done an inventory system we have made for this project (based on ltsp). Since it will be GPL, I hope more people use it, specially in migration to software libre projects, like the one I'm working on.
Since in summertime most of the public workers are on vacation in Spain, we will be able to check their computers easily. I hope we can make a good report with the data extracted. Then the technicians will concentrate efforts on testing how key private apps work when virtualiced (with XEN, VMWare, Virtual Box and Wine basically). This is important to define the migration project of the 31 municipalities involved (in fact it won't be that many since some of them do not want to migrate).
Between managing this project and the Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting, I have no time for almost anything else. By the way, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria (Gran Canaria's Gov.) have put me in charge of the relation with both, KDE and GNOME projects for the GUADEC+Akademy 2009 event. This was going to be my first Akademy with no specific job to do but, obviously, it won't. It will be another busy event for me. Maybe is better this way.
---
Last week it was announced that we will participate in the migration project of the Economics and Technological Innovation Department of Junta of Extremadura (Extremadura's regional Gov.). We are going to make the initial report of the current situation. That is, interviewing pubic workers, making an inventory of equipments and apps, defining by groups the knowledge of users related with software libre, etc. That is the milestone before the development of the migration project itself.
We are the only small company that will be working on this migration project so it has been a nice surprise for us. I'm travelling tomorrow to Extremadura for the very first meeting.
Can anybody give me the clue to work 25 out of 24 hours?
Windsurfers say.... No wind...no fun.
I say....no migration to soft. libre projects...no fun
Thursday, July 17, 2008
GUADEC + Akademy in Gran Canaria...thanks
Thanks for choosing Gran Canaria to host GUADEC + Akademy 2009. You have made us really happy.
We have a lot of work to do now. Since it is the first time both events takes place at the same time and place, we will face many issues for the very first time. It is going to be tough sometimes but we have the determination for solving them with the help from both, GNOME and KDE, staffs. All I can say is that we will try to integrate efforts and people following the spirit that have made possible this adventure (GUADEC+KDE). It is an example that should guide us during the following year.
I want to make a call to every KDE and GNOME community member for thinking about how can we use this conference to spread free software in Africa and to support african developers. Maybe it is not a major goal for most of us, but a little effort can have a huge impact in the area close to the Canary Islands, and even in other African countries. The Canaries are a piece of Europe in Africa. We have a chance to do something special, not just for ourselves and our communities, but for those countries who have in their people, its first and only valuable resource. Free software change things everywhere, but specially in those places.
Once again, thank you.
We have a lot of work to do now. Since it is the first time both events takes place at the same time and place, we will face many issues for the very first time. It is going to be tough sometimes but we have the determination for solving them with the help from both, GNOME and KDE, staffs. All I can say is that we will try to integrate efforts and people following the spirit that have made possible this adventure (GUADEC+KDE). It is an example that should guide us during the following year.
I want to make a call to every KDE and GNOME community member for thinking about how can we use this conference to spread free software in Africa and to support african developers. Maybe it is not a major goal for most of us, but a little effort can have a huge impact in the area close to the Canary Islands, and even in other African countries. The Canaries are a piece of Europe in Africa. We have a chance to do something special, not just for ourselves and our communities, but for those countries who have in their people, its first and only valuable resource. Free software change things everywhere, but specially in those places.
Once again, thank you.
Monday, July 07, 2008
GUADEC + Akademy in Gran Canaria...why?
Why do we think GUADEC + Akademy 2009 should come to Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain? Well, here you have some ideas.
We have a compromise from the Gran Canaria island Gov and the Gran Canaria's college for spending a total of 250 thousand euros in this event. We will spend all the sponsorship we can get in other stuff because many of the things we offer will be already paid. Please visit this page to see the budget. It is well determined which concepts will be paid by the local organization: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Budget
But if money is not important for you, maybe the time you spend travelling is. There are a lot of companies that flies to Gran Canaria directly. When you get to Gran Canaria's airport, there is a bus that takes you to Las Palmas every 30 minutes. The trip takes 20 - 25 minutes and it leaves you at 10 - 15 minutes walking to any of the hotels we included in the wiki. All of them are close to the beach. So getting from the airport to any of the hotels is fast, cheap and easy: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Logistics
The Auditorium is in the city, not uotside of it, so there are plenty of places to go to eat or having a beer. That is really cool for going out at night so you don't need to pick up a car. If you prefer staying at the hotel hacking at night, the local organization will pay a room for hacking in two different hotels so everybody can choose what to do. There will be internet connection in those rooms, of course.
We have planned the visit to two different places of Gran Canaria for 1000 people, 500 hundred to each place. Enough buses will be rented with a guide that speaks english. Both visits are really cool so you all will have fun. We will also have tipycal Canarian food during the trip: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Official_planning#Sightseeing_and_touristic_visit
In order to ensure that the event will be more publicited than ever, the local organization will invite journalists from general international press and media (5 people). We want to make sure that the event has impact not just in technical media but in more general ones. We also will invite 5 representatives from oocidental african countries related with technology so they can get in touch with the free software community and begin to promote it in those countries. Our islands have a great relations in the area so this event can be used as a plattform to spread technology and free software among those countries: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Impact_and_publicity
Initially we have offered to celebrate the event from July 3 to July 11, but we can delay the event a week if it is neccesary. Gran Canaria is not too hot at that time since we have a subtropical weather so it is never too hot or too cold, but most of the year is sunny. That's why we are one of the most important touristic places in the world. In addition to that, we have a mature free software community. Both Canary Islands colleges have a Free Software Office that are part of the local staff, one of the oldest LUGs in Spain and the first spanish regional free software companies association are also a key part of it.
There is a lot of job behind this offer. We have been working for monthes to define every detail yo can see on proposal. Please, get into it and take time to read before voting. Even if you do not support us, you'll find out good ideas and interesting things you can suggest to other candidates now or in the future.
This is not a just a matter of where you want to go, is a matter of where would be better for both projects to celebrate the event.
I want to thank all the people that has collaborated with us in this project and also the people that supports us. This is beeing a great experience so far.
We have a compromise from the Gran Canaria island Gov and the Gran Canaria's college for spending a total of 250 thousand euros in this event. We will spend all the sponsorship we can get in other stuff because many of the things we offer will be already paid. Please visit this page to see the budget. It is well determined which concepts will be paid by the local organization: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Budget
But if money is not important for you, maybe the time you spend travelling is. There are a lot of companies that flies to Gran Canaria directly. When you get to Gran Canaria's airport, there is a bus that takes you to Las Palmas every 30 minutes. The trip takes 20 - 25 minutes and it leaves you at 10 - 15 minutes walking to any of the hotels we included in the wiki. All of them are close to the beach. So getting from the airport to any of the hotels is fast, cheap and easy: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Logistics
The Auditorium is in the city, not uotside of it, so there are plenty of places to go to eat or having a beer. That is really cool for going out at night so you don't need to pick up a car. If you prefer staying at the hotel hacking at night, the local organization will pay a room for hacking in two different hotels so everybody can choose what to do. There will be internet connection in those rooms, of course.
We have planned the visit to two different places of Gran Canaria for 1000 people, 500 hundred to each place. Enough buses will be rented with a guide that speaks english. Both visits are really cool so you all will have fun. We will also have tipycal Canarian food during the trip: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Official_planning#Sightseeing_and_touristic_visit
In order to ensure that the event will be more publicited than ever, the local organization will invite journalists from general international press and media (5 people). We want to make sure that the event has impact not just in technical media but in more general ones. We also will invite 5 representatives from oocidental african countries related with technology so they can get in touch with the free software community and begin to promote it in those countries. Our islands have a great relations in the area so this event can be used as a plattform to spread technology and free software among those countries: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es/index.php/Impact_and_publicity
Initially we have offered to celebrate the event from July 3 to July 11, but we can delay the event a week if it is neccesary. Gran Canaria is not too hot at that time since we have a subtropical weather so it is never too hot or too cold, but most of the year is sunny. That's why we are one of the most important touristic places in the world. In addition to that, we have a mature free software community. Both Canary Islands colleges have a Free Software Office that are part of the local staff, one of the oldest LUGs in Spain and the first spanish regional free software companies association are also a key part of it.
There is a lot of job behind this offer. We have been working for monthes to define every detail yo can see on proposal. Please, get into it and take time to read before voting. Even if you do not support us, you'll find out good ideas and interesting things you can suggest to other candidates now or in the future.
This is not a just a matter of where you want to go, is a matter of where would be better for both projects to celebrate the event.
I want to thank all the people that has collaborated with us in this project and also the people that supports us. This is beeing a great experience so far.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
What is not on Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting's wiki
I haven't read the rest of the proposals yet. I prefer not to talk about our project in relation with the other two. I know the effort made by the other teams to make a proposal, it is enormous. All my respect for them. I want to make this clear first.
...
After attending to some big free software events, one of the major issues we (Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting team) have noticed is that most of them were organiced by people that are not professionals of these kind of thing. I've been in that situation also and the effort made is always huge. Tha software libre community have gone from local meetings some years ago to Akademy + GUADEC, with hundreds of visitors expected. This is a reflection of what softwre libre is going through.
This jump needs new methods applied to the major events. This is exactly what we wanted to offer. The guys that vote will say if we have accomplish it or somebody else have done it better.
The proposal is presented by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, which is Gran Canaria's local Gov. It is not presented by the LUG (GULIC), the Canary Islands software libre companies association (ESLIC) nor any of the two Canary Islands Colleges (ULL and ULPGC). They are behind the Cabildo. This is a key point because it means we can count with people with a lot of experience in organicing even bigger events than ours. This is so true that the Cabildo has an organism, the Gran Canaria Convention Bureau, just for that. They have helped us a lot, not just giving us advice but also contacting people, hotels, asking for budgets, etc. They organice a major event per month.
Of course those organizations mentioned have actively participated in the proposal (and before that, the idea) and will be the heart and soul of the event, but we are only going to take care of those activities tlike the ones that needs technical skills or are directly related with the schedule. Since we are talking about two different events with some common activities, the complexity will be high. So not just many people is needed but also good coordination. This means more time spent by each of the local team members.
We are going to let the professionals take care of those kind of activities that are common to any big international event. This will allow the local team to focus energy in that extra job and also in stuff that haven't been done before and can make Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting the first of a new era of software libre inter community events.
For example, we describe in our proposal a variety of courses and other activities that need a lot of time to be made, but that can help a lot to increase the relations between GNOME and KDE people and, also, get new young local developers into both projects. They are affordable because we don't have to take care of the visit planned to the south and north of the island, for exmple. Professionals will be in charge of that. Moving 1000 people is really tough if you haven't done it before.
Following this line, we decided to celebrate the event (make the offer) in a place well prepared for big congresses: the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium and the Congress Palace next to it. Both are a first class infrastructure with, of course, a high cost, but it is worth it. The people that works there really know what has to be done to celebrate something like what we want to do. They will take care of the lights, the sound, the projectors, the security, the electricity and, with the collaboration of ESLIC, the internet connection.
Tha Cabildo can involve a travel agency, for example, to help organice the trip to Gran Canaria or nice activities for those who want to take a day off or bring your parents with you :), rent a car, etc.
Another thing that really make a difference is the place to stay the night. In a 20 min. walk from the Auditorium, there are more than 20 hotels that goes from 150 € to 20 € per night (regular prices). More than 20... that's a lot for a 350 thousand people city (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). The Gran Canaria Convention Bureau has helped us to select some. I've been in some of them before and I'm sure nobody will complain about this issue if we are selected.
Many people think the Canary Islands are too far away. We are a little piece of Europe in Africa. But if you take a look at how many direct flights you can find to go there and the prices you can get, you will find out that we are much closer than you thought.
We recieve 10 million tourists per year by plane (that is like Brazil). There are 6 international airports in the Canary Islands. The biggest one is Gando, in Gran Canaria, so it has to be easy and cheap to come. For example, it is chaeper to fly from Frankfurt to Gran Canaria than do it from Sevilla to Zaragoza (two big spanish cities). And it is faster if, from Sevilla, you have to go first to Madrid to get to Zaragoza. This happens in every country when flying by plane. You can spent more time in a non direct short trip than in a long but direct one. For those who come from other continents, you can connect to Gran Canaria directly from London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Berlin, Lisboa, and other european capitals. Distance is a relative concept after all.
For further information, please read the wiki and ask what you want, make suggestions or ...whatever you want:
http://grancaanriadesktopmeeting.eslic.es
...
After attending to some big free software events, one of the major issues we (Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting team) have noticed is that most of them were organiced by people that are not professionals of these kind of thing. I've been in that situation also and the effort made is always huge. Tha software libre community have gone from local meetings some years ago to Akademy + GUADEC, with hundreds of visitors expected. This is a reflection of what softwre libre is going through.
This jump needs new methods applied to the major events. This is exactly what we wanted to offer. The guys that vote will say if we have accomplish it or somebody else have done it better.
The proposal is presented by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, which is Gran Canaria's local Gov. It is not presented by the LUG (GULIC), the Canary Islands software libre companies association (ESLIC) nor any of the two Canary Islands Colleges (ULL and ULPGC). They are behind the Cabildo. This is a key point because it means we can count with people with a lot of experience in organicing even bigger events than ours. This is so true that the Cabildo has an organism, the Gran Canaria Convention Bureau, just for that. They have helped us a lot, not just giving us advice but also contacting people, hotels, asking for budgets, etc. They organice a major event per month.
Of course those organizations mentioned have actively participated in the proposal (and before that, the idea) and will be the heart and soul of the event, but we are only going to take care of those activities tlike the ones that needs technical skills or are directly related with the schedule. Since we are talking about two different events with some common activities, the complexity will be high. So not just many people is needed but also good coordination. This means more time spent by each of the local team members.
We are going to let the professionals take care of those kind of activities that are common to any big international event. This will allow the local team to focus energy in that extra job and also in stuff that haven't been done before and can make Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting the first of a new era of software libre inter community events.
For example, we describe in our proposal a variety of courses and other activities that need a lot of time to be made, but that can help a lot to increase the relations between GNOME and KDE people and, also, get new young local developers into both projects. They are affordable because we don't have to take care of the visit planned to the south and north of the island, for exmple. Professionals will be in charge of that. Moving 1000 people is really tough if you haven't done it before.
Following this line, we decided to celebrate the event (make the offer) in a place well prepared for big congresses: the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium and the Congress Palace next to it. Both are a first class infrastructure with, of course, a high cost, but it is worth it. The people that works there really know what has to be done to celebrate something like what we want to do. They will take care of the lights, the sound, the projectors, the security, the electricity and, with the collaboration of ESLIC, the internet connection.
Tha Cabildo can involve a travel agency, for example, to help organice the trip to Gran Canaria or nice activities for those who want to take a day off or bring your parents with you :), rent a car, etc.
Another thing that really make a difference is the place to stay the night. In a 20 min. walk from the Auditorium, there are more than 20 hotels that goes from 150 € to 20 € per night (regular prices). More than 20... that's a lot for a 350 thousand people city (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria). The Gran Canaria Convention Bureau has helped us to select some. I've been in some of them before and I'm sure nobody will complain about this issue if we are selected.
Many people think the Canary Islands are too far away. We are a little piece of Europe in Africa. But if you take a look at how many direct flights you can find to go there and the prices you can get, you will find out that we are much closer than you thought.
We recieve 10 million tourists per year by plane (that is like Brazil). There are 6 international airports in the Canary Islands. The biggest one is Gando, in Gran Canaria, so it has to be easy and cheap to come. For example, it is chaeper to fly from Frankfurt to Gran Canaria than do it from Sevilla to Zaragoza (two big spanish cities). And it is faster if, from Sevilla, you have to go first to Madrid to get to Zaragoza. This happens in every country when flying by plane. You can spent more time in a non direct short trip than in a long but direct one. For those who come from other continents, you can connect to Gran Canaria directly from London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Berlin, Lisboa, and other european capitals. Distance is a relative concept after all.
For further information, please read the wiki and ask what you want, make suggestions or ...whatever you want:
http://grancaanriadesktopmeeting.eslic.es
Monday, June 16, 2008
Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting: GUADEC+Akademy 2009 has been presented
The Hon. Cabildo de Gran Canaria, through its Secretary of Tourism, Foreign Trade and Technological innovation, under the leadership of its chairman D. Roberto Moreno Diaz, introduces The Canary Islands Generally speaking, and the island of Gran Canaria in particular as a candidate for the seat to hold GUADEC and Akademy 2009. An overview of the project, called Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting, which develops our proposal, is presented in this wiki.
The event will be held at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium and the Palacio de Congresos de Canarias, next to the former. Hotels in various categories are available aroud the area, since it is located in the Playa de Las Canteras, at the island's capital city, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In this Auditorium zone there are various bars, restaurants and leisure areas.
In addition to two government programmes, and in order to promote free software between the Canary Islands society, especially among young people, proposes a program of additional activities. To develop courses, workshops and other advocacy of free software.
This candidacy has the support of all actors of the Canary archipelago within the free software world. The Cabildo de Gran Canaria expresses its outright support for innovation in software as well as its commitment to free software. In addition, the nomination has support from major associations and National bodies, which gives a clear picture of the creditworthiness of the bid.
The Secretary of Tourism, Trade and Technological Innovation has to its credit events of great importance over the past few years. To do so, it has the support of the Gran Canaria Convention Bureau, specialized in this type of activity. This will provide the necessary professionalism in organizing an event of this nature.
Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es
The event will be held at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium and the Palacio de Congresos de Canarias, next to the former. Hotels in various categories are available aroud the area, since it is located in the Playa de Las Canteras, at the island's capital city, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In this Auditorium zone there are various bars, restaurants and leisure areas.
In addition to two government programmes, and in order to promote free software between the Canary Islands society, especially among young people, proposes a program of additional activities. To develop courses, workshops and other advocacy of free software.
This candidacy has the support of all actors of the Canary archipelago within the free software world. The Cabildo de Gran Canaria expresses its outright support for innovation in software as well as its commitment to free software. In addition, the nomination has support from major associations and National bodies, which gives a clear picture of the creditworthiness of the bid.
The Secretary of Tourism, Trade and Technological Innovation has to its credit events of great importance over the past few years. To do so, it has the support of the Gran Canaria Convention Bureau, specialized in this type of activity. This will provide the necessary professionalism in organizing an event of this nature.
Gran Canaria Desktop Meeting: http://grancanariadesktopmeeting.eslic.es
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Gran Canaria, Canary Islands on the cover
Have you ever thought about comming to Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, for hacking?
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Spanish small free software companies have a brand new voice: ASOLIF
The federation of spanish free software companies' associations (ASOLIF) was born few weeks ago. 7 regional small free software companies associations has joined efforts and have founded ASOLIF, which envolves a hundred free software spanish companies aprox.. Another 3 regional associations will get into the federation soon.
I wonder if there is such a movement in other european countries so we can collaborate in a more global scale. Since the federation of associations ASOLIF is formed by small companies, we need to become a big network to push strong and defend our points of view.
We do not have web yet, but you can e-mail us: asolif@asolif.org
I'll announce when it's done.
I wonder if there is such a movement in other european countries so we can collaborate in a more global scale. Since the federation of associations ASOLIF is formed by small companies, we need to become a big network to push strong and defend our points of view.
We do not have web yet, but you can e-mail us: asolif@asolif.org
I'll announce when it's done.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I'm alive after all
I've moved to Málaga two monthes ago for a year and I'm quiet happy about it. I came here to manage the first step of a project that will migrate 31 municipalities from a region called La Axarquía, which is close to Málaga.
After planning and scheduling the tasks, we are inventornig the computers and services these minucipalities have. I'm also surveying how public workers use the propietary apps they have installed so we can define the software libre tools we will install and the teaching project we will have to define in association with the migration process. We are also building up the team that will be working with us and explaining to politicians from these municipalities what we are trying to do. Nice job, isn't it?
We will present the first results in October probably. During june we will be working on a public wiki, so everybody can check and collaborate on what we are doing. The information will be mostly in spanish but we will translate what is relevant to english.
After planning and scheduling the tasks, we are inventornig the computers and services these minucipalities have. I'm also surveying how public workers use the propietary apps they have installed so we can define the software libre tools we will install and the teaching project we will have to define in association with the migration process. We are also building up the team that will be working with us and explaining to politicians from these municipalities what we are trying to do. Nice job, isn't it?
We will present the first results in October probably. During june we will be working on a public wiki, so everybody can check and collaborate on what we are doing. The information will be mostly in spanish but we will translate what is relevant to english.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Some lessons learned
During the last few days I've been working hard in configuring a Pundit to be able to use a big LCD TV with DVI and S-video. The technicians from Grupo CPD developed a simple app for a local company. They sent a couple of pundits to me to test the app and place them in some offices. The app showes the departure and arrival time of the ships this company has to the passengers in the ship station.
Anyway, since the company bought some TVs different from what we told them to, with no analogic signal entry, I had to configure the dvi out of the pundit (with a debian sarge) so the video signal could show up on the TV. I decided to get into it eventhough I'm not an expert.
After a couple of hours reading and trying stuffs, I supposed that I had to buy an analog to digital signal converter. So I did and I spent another couple of hours trying to configure the xfree server. In fact, I tryed everything I knew and a lot more.
Since nothing I tryed worked fine I though that converting the analogic signal (that comes out from the VGA) into digital signal (that get into the TV from the DVI) was not the best approach. I tryed then to configure the dvi out from the pundit. I failed again. Since I do not know much about xfree, I switched to xorg. I failed once more. Then I tried with different distros (live-cd), different configurations, different digital monitors.... no result. ...so I took it personal and I read a lot more about ati drivers and xorg. I spent another couple of afternoons working on it but couldn't make it.
After a couple of weeks (probably more) I gave up and sent back the computers to our technical department in Gran Canaria (from Tenerife). I was afraid they would solve it in 5 minutes and laugh at me the rest of the year.
They just called me today(I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago). They configured it in 30 minutes. After trying a couple of things, the plugged a simple vga-dvi adapter and...it worked.
What have I learned from this?
1.- Don't take computers too personal. They have no feelings.
2.- I reafirm myself now in the idea that technicians must be well paid
3.- Don't try to emulate technicians. You won't get well paid doing so.
4.- Don't laugh at technicians when they fail doing something they do not get paid for if you use a computer as an everyday tool.
5.- Do not give them your personal mobile phone number
What has happened to me is probably good from a personal point of view once in a while (realice you have limits) and for the technicians (they laugh at you telling tons of jokes).
Anyway, since the company bought some TVs different from what we told them to, with no analogic signal entry, I had to configure the dvi out of the pundit (with a debian sarge) so the video signal could show up on the TV. I decided to get into it eventhough I'm not an expert.
After a couple of hours reading and trying stuffs, I supposed that I had to buy an analog to digital signal converter. So I did and I spent another couple of hours trying to configure the xfree server. In fact, I tryed everything I knew and a lot more.
Since nothing I tryed worked fine I though that converting the analogic signal (that comes out from the VGA) into digital signal (that get into the TV from the DVI) was not the best approach. I tryed then to configure the dvi out from the pundit. I failed again. Since I do not know much about xfree, I switched to xorg. I failed once more. Then I tried with different distros (live-cd), different configurations, different digital monitors.... no result. ...so I took it personal and I read a lot more about ati drivers and xorg. I spent another couple of afternoons working on it but couldn't make it.
After a couple of weeks (probably more) I gave up and sent back the computers to our technical department in Gran Canaria (from Tenerife). I was afraid they would solve it in 5 minutes and laugh at me the rest of the year.
They just called me today(I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago). They configured it in 30 minutes. After trying a couple of things, the plugged a simple vga-dvi adapter and...it worked.
What have I learned from this?
1.- Don't take computers too personal. They have no feelings.
2.- I reafirm myself now in the idea that technicians must be well paid
3.- Don't try to emulate technicians. You won't get well paid doing so.
4.- Don't laugh at technicians when they fail doing something they do not get paid for if you use a computer as an everyday tool.
5.- Do not give them your personal mobile phone number
What has happened to me is probably good from a personal point of view once in a while (realice you have limits) and for the technicians (they laugh at you telling tons of jokes).
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