Category: Uncategorized

A couple of days ago I received a news article about our implementation of Linux computers in Nhulunbuy. Rock on! 🙂 It is hopefully the first of many small successes of Linux in Australia, where the communities that most need help can help themselves through the use of FOSS. Open Source solving our social problems, and not just business or technical problems 🙂

I`m in Spain for the Open Source World Conference, which has an fantasic array of people to speak and hear from. In only 24 hours I’m already meeting the most amazing people! I’ve already met FOSS advocates, users, teachers and policy makers from Mexico, Spain (obviously), Venezuela, Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, and more. Obviously Spanish is the language of choice for the conference so I am rapidly picking some up. I’ve made a deal that if I learn working Spanish by June, I’ll go to a FOSS conference in Colombia, which would be awesome! I’ve been bouncing my talk ideas around and people are very keen to hear it, which is a relief. It is the worst when you aren’t sure of your audience, but I am covering enough that even the most knowledgable here will get something out of it, I hope 🙂 The plan is to cover the evolution of FOSS, how it is going from a technology solution, to a busienss solution, to a social solution. Already here I am seeing countries at all three stages. I’ll also be covering what makes up ‘Open Love’, or Open Source/Licences, Open Knowledge, Open Community and Open Standards, without any one of which you wouldn’t be able to succeed. I’ll also be covering some case studies around the world, what we are doing in Australia, and the many challenges and opportunities for FOSS around the world. Should be fun 🙂

I’m looking forward to seeing Maddog this afternoon, Maureen tomorrow, Jeff tomorrow, and who knows who else I’ll meet here 🙂

So tonight I was on the set of Insight (SBS) for the topic of the potential of a bird flu (or other) pandemic in Australia, and our ability to cope with that. It was a fascinating night, with speakers from Australian Government, the World Health Organisation and a few local experts. I even got to say my piece about my SARS scare in Adelaide after getting back from China (which is the annoying reason why I missed most of LCA 2004). Check it out Tuesday night, 7:30pm on SBS of course 🙂

I’m going to paste an entire article from the Sydney Morning Herald website (because you’ll have to log in to get at it otherwise, and that sucks), but basically all Aussies should be thinking about how our IP systems needs to change to remove the existing and future threats to Open Source and software development generally in Australia.

IP Australia is reviewing the five-year-old innovation patent system, designed to allow small and medium-sized businesses to protect lower-level and short-lifespan inventions.

Last week IP Australia, the Federal Government agency that administers trademark and patent applications in Australia, released a discussion paper and invited written submissions on the system, which was introduced in 2001 as part of the Backing Australia’s Ability program.

According to the paper, twice as many innovation patents are being filed as petty patents, more than 1000 a year. Three times as many are being sealed. The statistics indicate the system has better met the needs of innovators.

The old petty patent system required the same level of innovation as a full patent, however, the innovation patent system, which grants protection for eight years, extends patent protection to lower-level and incremental or staged innovation.

The paper also reveals the system, which is especially suited to protecting inventions with short life cycles, has been popular with developers of information technology.

Written comments on the review should be sent to IP Australia by December 16. The agency is particularly interested in issues such as how well the innovation patent is achieving its objectives, whether those objectives remain relevant, and the effectiveness of the eight-year term.

IP Australia has also launched a website, Smart Start, to help guide small businesses seeking to protect intellectual property.

SMH Article Link

I was pointed towards INGOTS today, which is a great office technology certification catering toward end users from complete newbies to advanced office-type users who can set up backup and install operating systems. It is based on Openoffice “because [they] encourage the use of free and open tools” and it looks really awesome. One of the greatest things is that in the assessment handbook, you’ll find that in some of the certifications, including the children and Gold levels there is a category for “Community” or “working with others”, teaching people the very core of what makes our community work! Whoever put this together, you rock! 🙂

My Dad will be so proud 🙂

Last night Sara Kaan and I were invited to present on a small panel about Open Source and the concept of a commons to a largely Greens audience. It was a great event, even after being advertised as fairly extreme (which it wasn’t) :). I put forward some views that Open Source can solve real social and economic issues for our country, which went down well, and then that working cooperatively with the Government is useful, the Australian Government is actually starting to understand and where useful embrace Open Source, and that patents as a concept isn’t completely evil in that granting a temporary short term monopoly to an inventor can be incentive to create, however the evil is in the implementation and broadening of what can be patented and that large companies run the show now, not the inventors by any stretch of the imagination. Anyway, these last points were obviously quite controvertial to some of this crowd, but it did get people thinking. There was much debate and it was a really fun night. It’d be great if there were more open forums right across the board and I’m certainly happy to help out with any that come up. I’ve got two NGO/Co-op functions coming up, a few industry functions, and a bunch of Open Source events. I’m certainly keeping myself busy 🙂

Cool, it isn’t often you get press coverage just for changing career direction 🙂

I have moved on from Volante, and am now starting the most exciting period in my career. I realised very quickly that my biggest asset at the moment is my neutrality in the Open Source market. I have not aligned with any vendors and thus am in one of the best positions to give neutral and practised advice about creating Open Source strategies, doing research on Open Source in Australia, assisting Aussie Open Source companies to succeed, and generally driving Open Source in Australia forward. I also plan to use this opportunity to solve social and economic problems with Open Source by participating more in commnity centre and school rollouts (such as recently in Nhulunbuy), and by getting Open Source onto the political agenda by speaking to as many politicians as I can with a polished set of points and examples (currently on discussion on osia and linux-aus for anyone interested). This is something that needs to be done, and I’m quite excited to be taking the opportunity to our pollies.

My first actual contract is doing some consulting for Linuxworld Australia which is in March 2006, ensuring they have a relevant conference programme (to be announced in about 3 weeks), that all the right people are there, and that the business and Government community in Australia get all the information they need to move forward, with all the right partners. My biggest challenge is to get the word out there. So few people even know it is on at the moment, and yet it is the biggest and first real opportunity for Australian business and Government to get the information they need, see the case studies all in one place, and meet the businesses working in Open Source. If anyone is interested in sponsoring or speaking at LWE, please drop me a line at pia at waugh.id.au.

It is sad but true that mining companies define the living standards, they control the power, water and everything that a lot of outback remote and rural communities life. Yet again I’ve heard of a large mining company that plans to just redirect a river, seemingly without any care or consensus of the local people. Up an Nhulunbuy the miners had electricity still running when even the local public hospital didn’t have power, because keeping the miners happy is more important that the health of the locals. Pretty scary stuff.