I knew those folks at Adobe had it going on.

“Adobe announced Monday that it is joining the Linux Foundation and alpha-released a Linux version of its new Adobe Internet Runtime environment, which allows Internet-enable applications to run on Windows and Mac OS desktops, for Linux. According to Adobe, the alpha version lacks some key features that will be available in the final product and only runs with Sun Java, not GNU Java. Adobe also released an alpha of Flex Builder for Linux Monday.” from slashdot

OOXML Vote: Irregularities in Germany & Croatia and a Call for an Investigation of Norway

Could not have said it better, full report on Groklaw

Microsoft for once can’t you play by the rules or at least obey the law!

As we come to the end of Document Freedom Day (I know it was on the 26th but I’ve been sick) I can’t help but think there was a damn good reason to have a Document Freedom Day. As reports keep coming in of the fishy and lets just say it, illegal tactics Microsoft is employing trying to get OOXML ratified as a standard I now come across this report:

“The editor of the Open Document Format (ODF) standard has written a letter that strongly supports recognizing Microsoft’s Open Office XML (OOXML) file format as a standard, arguing that if it fails, ODF will suffer.” Please head on over to CIO Magazines web site to read the thing for yourself. What a load of horse shit, I don’t have any proof but did this guy get paid off or something? You work your ass off to get a standard recognized and then you turn around and give your competition the green light, nope that just don’t happen not unless some unscrupulous deal has been made and unscrupulous deals are the hallmark of how Microsoft does business .

How deep is the pile getting when South African Minister of public service and  administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi had the nerve to say software patents are hurting innovation. “I paraphrase the honorable Minister”. Microsoft responded aggressively, saying that “there is no such thing as free software. Nobody develops software for charity.” Oh Really? Hey Microsoft I have a few developer’s of free software I’d like you to talk too. No one is against open source software I repeat no one (well except Microsoft) , and yes you can make money with open-source software and there is nothing wrong with that. However, it time to stop all the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt), it’s getting old and no one is buying it.

Back to the OOXML crap, look story after story is popping up all over the place from a report that Cuba had it’s vote miscounted to this article saying OOXML could pose a patent threat to GPL-licensed software. Just do a little research and you will smell the stench of Microsoft all over this. Look I’m all for companies making money, I run two myself, defrence is I don’t break the law or stab people in the back to do it. The bottom line is OOXML is way to complex to be a standard (just check out this picture of the print out of the specifications)  and there will be no way third party developers will be able to implement, so who do you think will have the advantage?

The Unexpected (good) side effect of using Ubuntu

I am a Ubuntu believer, as one of those total converts for almost two years now Ubuntu has answered my every computing need. Even Ubuntu games are coming of age and I find myself not even using Wine but sticking to the native Linux games. Sure I knew the power of Ubuntu and run many of the critical applications my company relies on, on that very platform. Then something happened that I never expected. Slowly but surely as I involved myself with the Ubuntu community I started learning more about the world getting to know cultures and people from everywhere. I started this blog and then joined the Planet Ubuntu Users in doing so I met gouki I’m pretty sure from Portugal this guy runs the Planet Ubuntu Users, love his website it’s simple but fantastic. One day my post on the planet stopped working while trouble shooting this I found out that a few others post had stopped working as well one of those was Isabelle Duchatelle from France, was this person some kind of smart her post have taught me a thing or two, after a few emails back in forth we found the issue and where back on the planet as usual. Soon after I starting getting heavily involved in my local Ubuntu Users group and while asking some questions here and there I had some correspondence with the legendary Jono Bacon from the United Kingdom a man I found who is always willing to help or turn you on to a band you never heard of, for a guy like me who loves music that alone is worth talking him. Because of Ubuntu I got involved with Software Freedom Day, Document Freedom Day, and Open Discussion Day. All of which has introduced me to people from Nigeria, Malaysia, India, South America, and a host of other countries. What has happened with me on the local level is just as amazing my Local Ubuntu Users Group in New Mexico has become an official group and have started some pretty successful projects of our own. I’ve also gotten involved with the US Teams and met some great people like Aaron Toponce. So what’s the side effect you say? Well, when I used Windows I was in a cocoon plugging away day after day I sure never cared about a Bill Gates blog like I do a Mark Shuttleworth blog, and while I love other Linux distributions, ( I live in New Mexico so there is a special place in my heart for Gentoo ), Ubuntu has brought me into a community, a community of people that really do want to make computing free and open. A community that treats the newbie as respectfully as the seasoned users. I’ve learned so much in the past couple of years and this year I’ll be presenting at Ubuntu Live (hey guys in charge of Ubuntu Live, think we can get that registration price down a little) where I’ll be able to shake hands and say thank you to the community I’ve come to love. So I’d say a pretty good side effect for a guy who two years ago had no idea where Nigeria was.

Speaking at Ubuntu Live

What a good Friday, I just found out this morning I’ll be presenting at this years Ubuntu Live. I’ll be talking about the practical use of open source software. I’m very exited about the Ubuntu Live presentation. This month I presented at HDI 2008, but that audience was manly call center managers, Help Desk technicians, and had few if any network administrators in attendance. Ubuntu Live promises to be a much more technical group of people including developers of some of the software I use with my organization every day. I’ll primarily be focusing on nagios and network monitoring in general and I’d love to hear some of your experiences that I could include in my presentation. Hope to see you in Portland, Oregon July 21-22, 2008.

New Mexico Loco In Ubuntu Weekly News Letter Issue 82

I want to thank all of the New Mexico Loco Members for all the help and hard work they have put in to our Community Projects. Special Thanks to Michael Rimbert for starting and leading the group. This week The New Mexico Loco got a little mention in Issue 82, I want to thank the Ubuntu Community at large for all that they do it really does set us apart from other organizations. I learned a long time ago that a little thank you goes a long way….so, thank you.

New Mexico Loco’s Computer Lab Project Takes off.

In October of 2007 the members of the New Mexico LoCo wanted to start a project that would really be in the true spirit of what Ubuntu is all about. We had just had a fairly successful finish to our Software Freedom Day in September 2007 and felt that our organization skills had grown for us to take on a more robust project. As luck would have it Ubuntu Member and New Mexico LoCo member Eric Krieger’s company had PC’s to donate, so we started asking around to deferent non-profits as to who might need them. We were privilege enough to be contacted by The Endorphine Power Company and better yet they wanted us to build them a computer lab and place computers in the residents quarters, plus Ubuntu sure sounded like their cup of tea. So just what is The Endorphin Power Company? The Endorphin Power Compnay is dedicated to improving the lives of people, with special focus on the substance-dependent and homeless, thus alleviating many of the challenges faced by current emergency medical systems. Additional purposes are the promotion of mental and physical health through exercise, and the promotion of energy consciousness and volunteerism. They sure sounded like something that an Ubuntu LoCo should be part of.

This project was very ambitious as it called for multiple visits to the facility as well as support on a routine basis. We needed “and still do” a comprehensive service level agreement, internet filtering, and changes to their Information Technology infrastructure. Well the good news is we jumped in feet first and in February of 2008 after many meetings and changes we completed the first phase of the project. The following is a small sampling of what we have done so far.

The resident quarters in the building phase if you get a chance visit their web site and take a look at their documentary you’ll be amazed at what the resident quarters were before they were turned into what they are today.

The meeting hall of EPC, to the right is the Library and the computer lab.

New Mexico Loco Member Chris Brotherton eying the donuts before we get started on configuring the lab.

Ubuntu Member and New Mexico LoCo member Eric Krieger making patch cables with his huge spool of Cat5 he just had laying around the house…Really who has spools of Cat5 laying around the house…

Michael Rimbert Ubuntu member and founding member of the New Mexico LoCo working on a Sony Vaio, Sony’s were cruel to Michael that day if he touched it and it said Sony it died…

Ubuntu Member Tina working with the alternate install disk because of some touchy hardware.

Thats me David Thomas and my Son Adam we were given the task to make sure everything was documented. In the future we hope to make this a case study on working with Ubuntu LoCo’s and non-profits

The Lab starts to take shape.

Oh those beautiful Ubuntu Desktops.

The lab is ready and open for business, Albuquerque New Mexico’s first full Ubuntu Lab.

We are far from done and need to do things like web filtering, wire the residents quarters, and start Ubuntu desktop training. For more information please visit our EPC project page and check back from time to time this project is so big we make changes and updates regularly.

Document Freedom Day 03/26/08

What better better way to usher in DFD than to let you know what happened to me yesterday at work, in what can only be described as a milestone. In the course of doing my job as Manager of Technical Support “among other things” an end user requested from my Help Desk, help in opening a document that Microsoft Word could not open. She had attached the document in her email, the technician did not recognize the extension .odt and ask me to look at it. I of course knew it came from Open Office converted the document to a .doc and sent it back. But then the greatest thing happen, because this document came from a firm that sends us plenty of correspondence our legal department requested we install Open Office. I thought this was such a great idea the IT department needed Open Office installed as well. I’ve moved to using nothing but Open Office and have started Beta testing with key personal as well, let the revolution begin.

Hot on the heels of HDI is Ubuntu Live

Hot on the heels of my HDI 2008 Conference presentation, which I think went really good (but then again I think I might be a little biased) I was notified today that my presentation proposal for Ubuntu Live was put on the wait list. This is pretty cool, I mean it was not picked out right, but I’m pretty new at all this and I take it as a good sign, so wish me luck and I hope I get in at a later time. Now the trick is how do I convince the people I work for that I need to be in Portland, Oregon this June.

HDI Conference day 1

Nice to be at a conference I’ve been before, lots of people I know and meeting new ones as well. Met Emmet Smith and talked with him a little while. He was very nice came off as real down to earth kind of guy, not what I expected at all. This year is much larger than in past years so I hope I get to all the sessions I want to go to. My session is tomorrow  and I can’t wait, I have plenty of Ubuntu disk to hand out, desktop, server, and 64 bit version as well. Plus I have plenty of nagios quick start guides printed too. So wish me luck….