andylockran’s blog

OLPC - Is advocacy a profitable business model?

Posted by Andy under Africa, BBC, BECTA, Conspiracy Theory, Debian, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Personal, Political, Projects, Python, SBLUG Planet, Software, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

Having just read Rory Cellan-Jones article on the BBC News Website about the OLPC choosing to use the Windows XP operating system, I felt it sensible to put forward the reasons why I think it may/may not be a bad thing, and who’s going to benefit from the deal.

Education versus Training

Unfortunately, I think the UK IT Education System passed under this bridge so far up river, that it would require getting out of the river, and a hard trek upstream to ever get back to fixing the problem.  Since 1997 (the year I started secondary school, and the year the Labour government came into power), there has been a worrying trend toward using the education system as a training system.  I enjoyed my first couple of years IT lessons - we played with things like Logo - and used some very simple database software (key-plus?) to understand the power of databases.  We also used MS Excel to enter data into spreadsheets, and learn some basic formulae - as well as being told how to write the same formulae on the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software I had at home.

The difference that occurred in Year 9 (when RM ‘upgraded’ the IT suite at school) - was that we were now using MS Office.  Sure, we’d had Word and Excel on the PCs before, and I guess the financial costs of upgrading to Office rather than having the two separately are minimal, especially once you take into account the “educational discount” that schools are entitled to from Microsoft.

This meant that everything we did was MS based.  The simple database has gone, we were using MS Access.  In essence, IT lessons involved being trained in how to use basic productivity tools for our future office careers; which, in my opinion, is not something that the Education System should pay for.  I’d prefer to see people have an understanding of the difference between the ‘web’ and ‘email’;  the difference between what a Spreadsheet can accomplish in comparison with a Database; and hopefully a way for people to be taught on looking after their data, online and offline.
Advocacy as a Business Model

I recently watched a lecture given by Nicolas Negroponte in 1984.  In it he discussed his ideas for the future of Computer Interfaces.  It was an interesting talk, as he spoke about experiments he was doing in some African Countries on UI design.  However, he also noted that he’d done a dry-run of these experiments in New York previous to heading out to the African Continent.

In the school in New York, there was a child of around 14.  He didn’t know how to read and was seen as needing Special Needs treatment.  However, he was simply left to fend for himself in the IT rooms.  One of the days, a local council worker came to visit the school, and happened to notice this child in the library, so asked him what he was doing.  He showed him what he’d created on the screen using the ‘LOGO’ program.  The council visitor was suitably impressed, and asked him if he could do a little variation on his work.  Rather than simply say ‘no - I don’t know how,’ the child reached for the manual, worked out how to do it - and did it - clearly pleasing the visitor.

The visitor then went to the Principle’s Office (his reason for attending the school in the first place) and happened to mention the child.  The principle was certain that the visitor was the victim of some kind of ’set-up,’ therefore took the visitor down himself to see the child demo his abilities.  Lo and behold the child was able to do a further variation on his work by looking through the manual.

When asked why the child could read the manual, yet could not read the books provided to him in class, his answer was akin to the following: “What the teachers give me in class is boring, and I don’t get anything out of it.  However, when I’m on the computer and working, I can see the results of my efforts straight away and get rewarded for them.”

OLPC - Sugar UI

The Sugar UI for the OLPC project, for me, was a symbol of the ‘LOGO’ program for this child.  Someone that the teachers has written off as a massive underachiever had been able to produce ingenuity and learning independently - given the resources to do it.  Encouragement wasn’t necessary, as the learning process is something organic to the human mind.

The Sugar UI isn’t about being Free and Open Source (thus cheap) - it’s about so much more than that.  However, it’s also not the be-all and end-all of the OLPC project.  There are thousands of Open Source applications that can run on top of Windows XP that the OLPC users will be able to access.  It will also open up their opportunities for developing for FLOSS software on Windows Desktops - and thus be able to access the Windows Market in developed countries.

Why did OLPC do the deal?

For those of you that have been following OLPC, you’ll know that the ‘Intel Classmate’ has played some underhand tactics in order to get their processor on the OLPC - and then pulled out once they’d hijacked the relationships that OLPC had with important African leaders.  There’s so much corruption in Africa, that XP was probably an (unofficial/off the record) requirement.  Sometimes you’ve got to get in bed with the bad guys to help the small guys.

Where does this leave OLPC in the future?

OLPC ‘Ltd.’ will always be the pioneers to the concept of OLPC.  The aim is a noble one, yet in what is essentially a commercial market - pure advocacy fell to the power of multi-national marketing.  However, it has opened up a new market in the developed countries too - of Ultra Mobile Personal Computers - many of which run Free / Open Source Software.  This can only be a good thing in the long run, with more and more people using FLOSS and seeing the benefits.  Coupled with the coming-of-age of Ubuntu, and the fantastic marketing effort that’s coming with that, Nicolas Negroponte can be confident that where his company may have compromised - his idea is still being pushed by those supporting him.

15th May - Panic Buy Carrots!!!

Posted by Andy under Facebook, Funny, Personal, Ubuntu, twitter

It’s a little bit funny. On facebook a couple of months ago, Freya Valentine started this group. It’s not the most exciting of ideas, but has generated a bit of a cult following. It’s been mentioned on Sky & the BBC’s Steve Wright Show.

I’d be interested to hear on how the Panic buying is getting along, therefore suggested setting up a twit-feed to monitor it - however, twitter has been down for the last couple of hours.

Just goes to show that a de-centralised system is needed. A free, open source, de-centralised mechanism for twittering.

Oh well, I’ll just have to remain ignorant, and enjoy my carrot soup.

Inspiring, or soul-destroying?

Posted by Andy under BCS, Control, Digital Freedom, Funny, Hypothesising, Language, Marketing, Music, Software, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

I recently was introduced to www.ted.com, a site which hosts a number of inspirational talks given at the TED conference each year.

TED has been happening for a few years now, and is touted as a chance for some of the greatest minds to get together and share something unique - their ideas.

I’m quite a fan of lay-science, and getting to know more about stuff that’s really advanced.  We all have very different backgrounds and skill-sets - and I think it’s the ability to appreciate these differences that makes things really special.  When I look at the wonderful invention of the StrandBeest by Theo Jansen, I can’t help but feel inspired.

It’s fantastic to see how people’s minds tick, and this site is likely to provide me with hours of distraction in the future.  The phrase ’standing on the shoulders of giants’ is something that can be overused.  However, in sharing these ideas, we’re given access to a wealth of information.  It’s precisely for these reasons that I advocate the use of Free/Libre Open Source Software.  Enjoy the site.

Rest in Peace Guido

Posted by Andy under Africa, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Linux, Microsoft, Personal, Projects, Tech Geek, Ubuntu

What a surreal experience.

This morning, I logged into Google Webmaster tools to check what people have been searching for when accessing my blog. One item stood out more than others.

Guido Sohne facebook

Guido Sohne has only been mentioned in my blog once, on an article he wrote entitled “Things have gone too far.” I guess in some ways this article is part of what inspires me to work with ‘free software.’

Guido’s philosophy re: free software

After clicking on the link on google to see whereabouts I came in the rankings, I was shocked to see that Guido has unfortunately passed away, 6 days ago aged only 34.

Rest in Peace Guido.

Obituary of a friend.

‘Gnu’ Free Software.. How ‘free’ is ‘free’?

Posted by Andy under Control, Digital Freedom, Linux, Political, Tech Geek

Last Thursday I went to see Richard Stallman (RMS) deliver a lecture in room C9 of the Renford Building, North Campus, University of Manchester.

For those who do not know, RMS is the guy who ‘invented’ free software.  His organisation ‘Gnu’ was created in 1983 to create a 100% ‘free’ operating system.  He also proposed the ‘4 freedoms’ which he regards as essential for computer software to be truly ‘free’.

At the talk, RMS went through the four freedoms, and gave a good explanation of what each of them meant, in terms of both technical and social responsibility.  I liked this part of the talk very much.  However, the second half of the talk really got under my skin.  It’s for this reason that I’m disillusioned with RMS’s opinions.

For the second half of the lecture, RMS clearly had an axe to grind re: Linus Torvalds, the ‘overseer’ of the Linux kernel.  Initially releasing his code as Open Source (rather than ‘free software’), Linus believed that the beauty of Open Source software was the ability for so many programmers to contribute and review the code - thus creating more powerful and better written software.  RMS made a point that it wasn’t released as ‘Gnu GPL’ software - until after RMS had convinced Linus that Linux + Gnu would make a good partnership - and fulfil their ‘different, but shared visions.’

RMS is clearly aggrieved at the fact that ‘Linux’ is now really popular, and ‘Gnu’ remains an pretty anonymous entity (as regards a lay-man’s perception).  Those of us who know enough about the OS are comfortable enough to afford Gnu an awful lot of credit for their work.. but seriously - a name like ‘gnu’ was never a marketable brand.  Whilst I understand his desire for proper accreditation - those of us who can appreciate the work do respect gnu.

The other thing that annoyed me about RMS is his tunnel-vision.  One guy in the audience at the lecture said something along the lines of -

“If my Microwave contains embedded software, is it necessary in your eyes for that software to be free.”

This is where I think RMS showed that he’s become so focused on self-promotion, that he’s actually not sat down in a long time and thought clearly about the free software philosophy.  Embedded software, in my opinion, is fast becoming a very grey area - as more and more devices become interconnected.  RMS response was similar to the following:

“It doesn’t matter what software your Microwave is running.  You press the buttons, and the Microwave cooks your food.  Get over it.”

I think the guy deserves a doctorate in narrow-mindedness.

One of the things that really inspires me about Free Software is the ability for both hardware and software to be modified above and beyond their original design.  In a few lines of python I can write a script that when I press a button on my scanner - it can upload the output to a webserver and then present me with a simple form on the screen to fill in some meta-data about that image.  This is not what that button on the CanoScan N6400U was designed for - but through the power of Open Source software - I can do this.

Now, back to the Microwave.  Sure, it could be unhealthy, but say I had 9 meals that I’d cook in a Microwave.  If I was able to see the code and edit the software on the microwave - it would be easy to re-program the microwave for each number to represent one of my 9 meals.  ‘1′ could be reprogrammed to scrambled eggs.. etc.  It’s not possible with a closed-source approach - it is possible using ‘free software.’

I also use gnu/Linux not because it’s necessarily free - but because I think it works better for me than other options available.  As a systems person, the freedom I get with ‘free software’ allows me to create scalable software that I would only have previously been capable of doing as Manager of a large IT project with the buying power to license lots of different pieces of software and stick them all together.  This is the beauty of free software for me.

Pay for it - no!  RMS also said that it’s ok to sell ‘free software.’  I think this is a stupid, stupid, stupid thing to say - and muddies the waters for people who are looking to utilise free software in their environments.  I think it’s ok to charge to modify free software on an ad hoc basis - but selling free software opens the doors for people to resell other’s work without any direct involvement in the creation of that work.  I could set up a business re-selling OO.org - that’s just not ethical in my eyes - however, producing an extension to OO.org - charging for the time to develop the extension and then bundling OO.org with the extension is a far more sensible way of charging.  Charge for service, not products.

The other thing about freedom, is that we should have a choice whether to be free, or un-free - that’s part of freedom.  Although we live in a quasi-democracy whereby we’re all meant to be free and can do our own thing - look at the mini-societies within that democracy.  There’s never been a truly democratic business - as it just doesn’t work.  An Admiral on a ship is a dictator of sorts.  Giving someone freedom is giving them a choice.  I should be able to choose whether to run free/non-free software.  Were there no longer the choice, then the points of freedom would be moot.

When Tim Berners-Lee released the code for the World Wide Web - he didn’t say that any changes made should be shared.  Some were shared and some weren’t.  It didn’t stop the Web from becoming the most pervasive information medium ever - in a unprecedented short timespan.  His ideas of freedom weren’t forcing people to be free - it was to give people a choice to be free.  Perhaps we can learn from that example, rather than by requiring that everyone subscribe to a Texan model of freedom.

I ended up leaving RMS lecture feeling a bit deflated.  This man obviously made a great start, and should be remembered as someone who has made a tremendous contribution to ‘free software’ - but I think his tiresome request for acknowledgement - when he already has that acknowledgement from the people that matter - is something that’s put me off the guy.  I think it would suit him better to sit behind closed doors and work out a ‘free software philosophy’ - rather that simply rely on a ‘cult of personality’ to direct Free Software in the way his gut wants it to go.

When should an application be a protocol?

Posted by Andy under Control, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Marketing, Political, Projects, SBLUG Planet, Software, Tech Geek, Ubuntu, twitter

I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m becoming more immersed technically in technology, rather than ‘functionally’ as I was previously, but it appears as though issues at the political level are clouding achievements at the technical level.

Zeth has posted before on a Social Networking protocol. That is to say that applications such as facebook, myspace and bebo share alot of similar datafields. Standardising these global fields and setting up a new social networking protocol would allow greater freedom of data-sharing, and enable more powerful “mash-ups” of data.

Tim Berners-Lee’s book, “Weaving the Web” (which I am currently reading) is opening my eyes to just how self-deprecating his work has been. Not only would his work have normally afforded him a very wealthy lifestyle should he have chosen to ‘close’ the development of the project and put restrictions on his work - but he actively encouraged other people to benefit from his work - even when the way in which they were taking his idea was contrary to his own.

Now, nearly twenty years after the ‘World Wide Web’ started to gain momentum into something recognisable as what we use today, we’ve not yet got to a point which has fulfilled Berners-Lee’s vision. He envisaged an open mine of information and collaboration. Wikified browsers were the original intention - where collaboration and editing was a key as browsing.

Another example of a good application that would work better as a protocol is twitter. I think the reason most people don’t get twitter is that in essence its just an RSS feed. Today, paulbradshaw suggested that there be a twitter feed created purely for football scores - not chatter, just results. An RSS feed would have the same functionality - but a different interface.

In the same way that programmers have now begun to separate the content from the design with the advent of Content Management Systems and ‘Blogs - so should things like twitter be more transparent about the platform on which it is built. RSS is expandable and usable - twitter has released an open API to allow integration and collaboration - yet it’s still hindered by having a Central Point of Control. The initial design of the Web implied there was no central point necessary. By manufacturing applications and functions so that a central point is necessary is to lose part of the magic and scalability of the Web.

Is FLOSS Recession Proof?

Posted by Andy under Software, Tech Geek

Is open source recession proof? by ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes — So, how might a recession affect open source software?

Can a cat survive falling from a plane?

Posted by Andy under Cat, Hypothesising, Personal, Terminal Velocity

Interesting discussion tonight on whether a cat can survive falling out of a plane.

Seriously.

Not one for boring discussions, this was initially proposed by me and -a first- seconded by another friend.  With two people objecting to the idea that a cat could survive, and lively debate ensued.  For survival TEAM A (indented). versus  “PETA’s not going to be happy” (TEAM B).

The first bone of contention was the terminal velocity.  TEAM B reckoned that the cat would hit the ground so fast it’s die for definate on impact.  TEAM A came up with the following:

The cat has a terminal velocity of 60mph, compared to a human’s T.V. of 120mph.

Ok, so we’ve got our first ‘fact’ agreed upon.  However, 60mph is still reckoned to be too fast for a cat to survive.

When the cat reaches it’s terminal velocity, it no longer sense that there are forces acting upon it and so relaxes.  We then end up with a ’spread eagled cat.’  This increases air resistance, so the cat does in fact slow down.

In what was probably a fair comment, TEAM B reckoned that even at 60mph a spread-eagled cat would have horrific internal injuries and still die.  Especially a spread-eagled cat whose stomach would hit the floor first.

TEAM A suggested that a spread eagled cat would infact be in a very good position to absorb alot of the impact.  The assumption by TEAM B that the spread eagled cat’s stomach would hit the ground first we hypothesised to be incorrect.  As the cat would not be able to put it’s legs perpendicular to the angle of descent (i.e. horizontal) they would provide the first point of contact, and absorb energy (unfortunately, likely breaking bones/tendons/muscle tissue) in the process.

TEAM B pounced at this point and suggested that a broken bone could quite easily be severe enough to cut an artery and kill the cat.

TEAM A responded saying that if the cat’s leg muscles were to absorb 20mph of velocity on impact (and not break), then there would be only a 30-40mph impact on the cat as a whole. Which spread out over the surface area of the cat should be enough to leave it stunned but not dead.

The night ended in a stalemate, with neither team wanting to concede defeat.  None of the debaters were prepared to test the hypothesis empirically, as none of us are interesting in cruelty to animals.  This debate was purely about the physical ability of a cat’s muscular and skeletal structure.  Something which is pretty amazing.

Please feel free to add your voice to the debate in the comment box below:

I did, however, find this rather shocking video.. I guess only the russians could get away with this.

Cat Jumps off a Plane and Lands on it’s legs

Who reads blogs?

Posted by Andy under BBC, Birmingham, CentOS, Chaos, Control, Debian, Digital Freedom, Freedom, Gentoo, Linux, Marketing, PCI DSS, Personal, Political, Projects, Python, SBLUG Planet, Software, Stupid, Tech Geek, Ubuntu, openLDAP

I was having a discussion with a few mates in the pub this evening about my blogging ‘antics.’ They’ve berated me for blogging before, but as it’s becoming more and more widespread I can see them getting more interested in my motivations for ‘blogging.’

One of the friends commented that it was purely the fact that he knew me that made the blog interesting. For someone that didn’t know me, the blog would be pretty dull and of no consequence. At this point, another chipped in saying - “Only bloggers read blogs.” Is this true? I don’t know, but I don’t think so.

My motivation for starting the blog was that it was a place where I could share my technical insights. Not profound insights such as the advent of structural-object-abstract programming methods that I’ve just decided are going to be the Web 3.0 - but short howto’s and the like, and to publish a few ‘Gotchas’ - problems that have few symptoms and a nice easy solution - but take hours of work to solve. I blog advice - There’s nothing quite comparable experience.

(un)Fortunately, which ever way you personally look at it - my blogging has branched out to cover all sorts of things. From the time when some guy smashed the window of my car, to re-living and walking through my car accident in 1999, to a short article on why to avoid Red Hat’s bundled openLDAP implementation because it’s crap.

I think it’s an interesting concept, for non-bloggers and bloggers alike. Who reads blogs? If you have a regular commentator on your blog, do you add him to your blogroll as a thanks for lifting your self-esteem by having him visit your blog? Do you think you have a regular readership, or just random visitors popping in and out after being directed from Google?

I don’t think it’s a negative thing that bloggers read blogs. It’s great. From the attendance at the spontaneous meet-up last Friday, it’s clear to me that there’s a nice little community of bloggers in Birmingham. However, this is a meeting of a cross-section of the readership who it’s worth meeting face-to-face in order to better your own blog.

Is blogging journalism? Is it art? Is it a cry for help from some pathetic moron wanting to share his story with the world? Is it ‘new media’? Does it matter?

I blog tech because I think some people read it and it helps them - and also as an easy reference for me. I blog ‘about me’ as a way to vent some thoughts and get some feedback from an audience who I think would be interested. This audience is dynamic, therefore I categorise my posts different to respect that.

When doing my Psychology degree, one of the things we covered was ‘online personalities and freedom of information.’ This blog is in the public domain. If it were a diary, having it leaked would immediately bring headlines of ’scandal and gossip.’ My blog is sort of a base for my online identity. ‘andylockran’ lives here. I happen to pop up on a mailing list or a forum or IRC and you want to know more about me. Much of it is here. It’s a bit like ‘CV 2.0.’ The web is my field - if I don’t market myself well on the web, how the hell can I expect anyone to be able to trust me to market their products on the web?

The best thing about it for me is the feedback, both positive and negative. Setting up a blog exposes you to both - and it gives you the opportunity to have a voice.

VirtualBox & ‘bridged networking’

Posted by Andy under Debian, Ubuntu, VirtualBox

I’ve just started using VirtualBox on my freshly installed Debian PC to do my Virtual Machines, as the kernel support from VMware was just not up to date with my recent kernel.  If I wait a few weeks, it’ll probably be there, but the ship has sailed for me.

VirtualBox is a nice qt styled Virtual Machine Server, being free and open source.  It’s nice and simple to set up a new machine, and can cope with a variety of hosts and guest Operating Systems.

However, one drawback was the networking support.  In vmware-server - I could just tick a box and it’d bridge over my  host computer’s network card to make it appear like it was on the same network as all the other machines.  With VirtualBox it isn’t quite so simple.

Run the command:

echo 1 >> /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

If you’re running Debian/Ubuntu add the following to /etc/network/interfaces

 # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# setting up the bridge #######
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet manual
up ifconfig $IFACE 0.0.0.0 up
down ifconfig $IFACE down

auto br0
iface br0 inet dhcp
bridge_ports eth0
# End setting up the bridge ###

I commented out (rather than deleted) my current setup, so that it’s easy to go back to if you move away from VirtualBox

That will set your PC up to have a bridged network for eth0.

You then need to give VirtualBox an interface to connect to:

Run:

 sudo VBoxAddIF vbox0 <user> br0
VBoxManage modifyvm “My VM” -hostifdev1 vbox0

In you VirtualBox Machine settings, make sure the VM is powered off and selected.

Click on the ‘details’ tab.

Click on ‘network.’

Make sure the network adapter is enabled.

Select the ‘attached to: HOST INTERFACT’option in the top box, and enter vbox0 as the Host Interface Name in the bottom box.

Click ‘OK’  - and restart the computer to allow the bridge settings to take effect.

You should have the desired setup now :)  Enjoy!