open source

Becta's Home Access Scheme...not really a scam

I was asked by a colleague in Holland to explain Becta's Home Access scheme and give an update on how it was going. He was concerned that 'it had all gone a bit quiet' and he could not find out much about it.

As an (sorry, the only) accredited supplier of Free Open Source software to schools we had looked into tendering to become an accredited supplier of the Home Access Package so this presumably is why he thought we might know something.

My current interest in the topic was quite low but was given a fillip by two things:

Linux Users, the coolest cats in town.

Only one topic in town this week and that's bullying …

This post however was originally inspired by Glynn Moody's unrelated latest blog (in Computer World) which broadly was a treatise on the simile between organising Open Source folk on any large scale and herding cats...

...this activity is, as we all imagine, a futile pastime ... and moreover transposed into an office context, represents for a manager of 'cats' a role of terrifying proportions.

Microsoft and Child Protection

At a click of a button on Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 (and only on Microsoft Internet Explorer 8) a secret code is launched which reports an individual to a Government organisation called CEOPS which in turn accesses the Police databases.

What exactly does this button do?

I have no idea.

I never do know exactly what proprietary software is doing so this button is no exception, but nor do the developers of Firefox, Safari and Chrome. Who are CEOPs and why are they promoting Microsoft and 'Maddie' on their front page (www.ceops.gov.uk)?

Open Source 2010: New Year's predictions.

New Year predictions are of course a licence to speculate. What's more the normal boundaries of sanity are loosened sufficiently to make the predictions fun rather than libellous.

Open Source Revolution in the Public Sector

I was asked two very interesting questions by a thoughtful technical architect who worked for a major Local Authority who now, like many many others in this sector, wanted to know more about open source software.

He wanted to know, in the light of the Government's well-publicised new found enthusiasm for open source software, whether I thought they would all be using open source software in ten year's time and if so when and how would it all happen?

The first question was easy.

Is Open Source selling out?

This post poses questions rather than positing answers. It's about the development of modern technology and asks whether it is time to stand back and take stock of where it is taking us.

If time had stopped on the day Michael Jackson did his first 'Moon Walk' we would not now have the PC which brought us word processing, electronic spreadsheets, relational databases and image manipulation software. We would not have the global communication infrastructure which created electronic trading, e-mail, mobile telephony, satellite navigation and the world wide web.

Open Source Could Save UK Schools £60 Million A Year: eWeek Europe

A national partnership has been launched today at Bletchley Park, to encourage UK local authorities to look at implementing open source solutions in all areas of their education services, in order to save up to £60 million a year.

Bletchley Park, the home of the Enigma machine and where most of Germany's codes were cracked during the Second World War, is today playing host to the launch a national partnership, that aims to encourage UK local authorities to look at implementing open source solutions in all areas of their education services.

Is open source software finding a home in Whitehall?: Silicon.com

The UK government may have been slow to adopt open source software but there are signs that the tide may be turning.

Open Source can save schools billions

Sometimes I think the BBC's on-line news front page is written just to wind me up. This weekend it carried a Gov report from the DCSF (Department for the most recent Government Edu Acronym) who commissioned ex WHSmith Chairman, Richard Handover, to conduct a "value for money review" in education.

Why Open Source?

Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.