[unclug] want to be in the DTH?
Douglas A. Whitfield
whitdoug at email.unc.edu
Mon Sep 10 22:45:44 EDT 2007
LUGers,
The Carolina Open Source Initiative has an OpEd lined up with the DTH
for Wednesday, but the problem is our guy who was supposed to write it
is bailing. I don't have time to write it as I've been doing COSI stuff
non-stop all day and will be doing a fair share tomorrow too. The old
writer has written 450 words, but we need 650. UNC is helping a bid for
Wikimania to be in Atlanta, which I can talk to anyone about more, so a
good mention of MediaWiki, PHP and MySQL might be good for such an
article. Given the circumstances, I really don't care what it says as
long as it A) mentions the Wikimania bid and B) mentions software
freedom day. We'd prefer general open source to Linux, but this is a
LUG after all, so I won't argue with it. :)
Here's what our old writer wrote:
<blockquote>
Here's a question - what's the most expensive item you own? For many
students, it's a car, and the expense of a car doesn't stop at just
ownership - you also have to pay for insurance, oil changes, gas and
regular maintenance. These aren't cheap, but fortunately there are
competitive markets for these services - and then you could save even
more by fixing your own car or at least changing your own oil.
But what if you couldn't - what if your hood was welded shut and only a
trip to the car's original dealership - paying whatever the dealer
dictated - could fix whatever problems surfaced? Such is, in fact, the
case for many other students' most expensive items: their computers. You
might think you own your Lenovo, but you don't really own what makes it
go: the software. You - the user, the owner of your computer - are not
permitted to modify the way your computer functions, and must simply
accept how, say, Microsoft dictates your experience should be. But there
is a choice.
This Friday, September 14, the Carolina Open Source Initiative (COSI)
will celebrate Software Freedom Day (SFD). SFD is a global, grassroots
effort to educate the public about the importance of software freedom
and the virtues and availability of Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS). What is Free and Open Source Software? Briefly, it's software
that allows you - the user, the owner - real access to the functioning
of your computer.
It's software that is fully readable, fully modifiable, and free. COSI,
a group of which I'm a member, works to spread awareness and use of FOSS.
For instance, you probably are already familiar with at least one
example of FOSS - Mozilla Firefox. There's a reason it runs quicker and
crashes less often than Internet Explorer - an open approach to software
development means that rather than one company trying to make everything
work in every situation, there are also thousands of committed
volunteers around the world who work to make the software better. But it
doesn't stop at the browser - you can replace Windows with Fedora, a
Linux-based operating system; you can replace your Microsoft Office
suite with software from OpenOffice.org; you can replace Outlook with
Thunderbird (also from Mozilla), which is far less susceptible to
viruses. In fact, you can get a piece of Free and Open Source Software
to do pretty much anything you want on your computer, and you can find
the software online or stop by on Friday to pick up a CD packed with
FOSS. Stick around for free food and a lineup of speakers, including
Mark Finkle of Mozilla, along with Max Spevack from Red Hat, Amit
Bhutani from DELL, Joseph Mack of AustinTek and Pam Sessoms from the
University Library.
</blockquote>
Thanks for your time and helping us spread FOSS!
--
Douglas A. Whitfield
Carolina Open Source Initiative Co-President
http://www.ibiblio.org/cosi
Group SFD site: http://tinyurl.com/2qmreb
Cell: 919-360-0306
Software Freedom Day
*Friday, September 14th*
UNC Student Union, Great Hall
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