From dh at iucr.org Wed Dec 6 12:46:09 2006 From: dh at iucr.org (David Holden) Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:46:09 -0000 Subject: [Chester LUG] Fwd: [Wylug-discuss] Fwd: Early Day Motion in the House of Commons Message-ID: <200612061246.04596.dh@iucr.org> Hi Chester luggers: Can I ask people in the chester area to consider writing to Christine Russell MP on the issue below. Early Day Motion in the House of Commons entitled "Software in Schools", number 179. as said in the forwarded mail below the text of the motion can be found here http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31752&SESSION=885 and more information can be found here http://www.openschoolsalliance.org/ and easy way to contact her is here http://www.writetothem.com/ Dave. ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: [Wylug-discuss] Fwd: Early Day Motion in the House of Commons Date: Wednesday 22 November 2006 13:13 From: Phil Driscoll To: WYLUG discussion list Leslie Fletcher, who spoke to us at last month's meeting has asked me to forward this message to WYLUG members: Dear UKUUG/LUG member John Pugh MP has tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons entitled "Software in Schools", number 179. Please write to, or email, your MP within the next week with a request that (s)he add his/her name to this motion. I would be grateful if you could keep me informed about the letters you send and replies you receive. Yours sincerely Leslie Fletcher Leslie.Fletcher at ukuug.org BACKGROUND INFORMATION The text of the motion can be found at http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31752&SESSION=885 CONTACTING YOUR MP An easy way to contact your MP is by email using the step-by-step guide at: http://www.writetothem.com/ The Open Rights Group (ORG) have sensible and practical information on how to write to, or email, MPs: http://www.openrightsgroup.org/orgwiki/index.php/Letter_writing If you decide to follow up your letter with a visit to your MP's constituency surgery, please look at ORG's advice: http://www.openrightsgroup.org/orgwiki/index.php/MP%27s_surgery POINTS TO COVER IN A LETTER You may wish to cover some of the following points * Schools receive questionable advice on IT procurement from BECTA, the government agency responsible for the use of IT in education. * BECTA's framework agreements look only at the long-term financial performance of suppliers, seriously hampering the involvement of SMEs and ignoring the risk that schools could become locked into expensive and restrictive contractual arrangements. * Lists of approved suppliers are very limited both in number and variety - only only fifteen suppliers for non-curriculum software for example, none of which has any commitment to open source software. * BECTA's own case studies found considerable savings in cost for schools using open source software. * Government policy claims to promote a level playing field for open source software. This is not happening in schools because BECTA's advice is partial and inconsistent. If you have some connection with an SME (proprietor, partner, employee, ... ) please make this clear in your letter as the impact on SMEs in their constituency is something MPs can relate to. If you are involved with a school, on the staff, a governor, parent, ... , mention that also. Again the well being of schools in their constituency is something MPs are keen to be seen promoting. John Pugh MP has tabled Early Day Motion number 179, entitled "Software in Schools" expressing concern about this and I urge you to add your name to it. (MAKE SURE YOU FINISH OFF WITH A SENTENCE LIKE THIS BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT YOUR MP TO DO!) SOFTWARE, PARTICULARLY MOODLE, BEING USED BY THE OU AND OTHERS You can read about the OU's innovative use of FLOSS and about the lukewarm support from the DfES here: http://www.ukuug.org/mediawatch/?p=789 There is a Wikipedia entry for Moodle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle BECTA AND ITS FRAMEWORKS There is a Wikipedia entry on this topic; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becta This ZDNet article, referred to in the Wikipedia entry sets out the issues for FLOSS very clearly: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39256053,00.htm EARLY DAY MOTION An Early Day Motion is a parliamentary device to introduce an issue to MPs and to gauge support; you can find out more from the Wikipedia entry about EDMs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_day_motion HOW WE GOT HERE This EDM is the first parliamentary result of UKUUG's initiative to raise the political profile of free and open source software. Several other groups are involved, particularly the Open Source Consortium; you can find more information on the website of the Open Schools Alliance, a newly-formed pressure group: www.openschoolsalliance.org.uk -- Leslie Fletcher ------------------------------------------------------- -- Phil Driscoll _______________________________________________ Wylug-discuss mailing list Wylug-discuss at wylug.org.uk https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/wylug-discuss ------------------------------------------------------- -- Dr. David Holden. See: regarding Word or PowerPoint. GPG key available on request. ------------------------------------------------------------- From les.pritchard at gmail.com Thu Dec 7 09:15:38 2006 From: les.pritchard at gmail.com (Les Pritchard) Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:15:38 -0000 Subject: [Chester LUG] SkyOS Message-ID: Hi all, Has anyone used SkyOS for anything useful? I've just been looking at their new BranchFS, which looks interesting in concept. Having never played with SkyOS I was just wondering if anyone has had any good / bad experiences with it. Thanks Les -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From smedley358 at btinternet.com Thu Dec 7 19:59:23 2006 From: smedley358 at btinternet.com (Richard Smedley) Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:59:23 -0000 Subject: [Chester LUG] SkyOS In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200612071925.55246.smedley358@btinternet.com> On Thursday 07 December 2006 09:15, Les Pritchard wrote: > Has anyone used SkyOS for anything useful? I've just been looking at their > new BranchFS, which looks interesting in concept. Having never played with > SkyOS I was just wondering if anyone has had any good / bad experiences > with it. Hello Les, I took a brief look a few years ago, when I was rounding-up the so-called successors to BeOS. However: From the FAQ: > Does SkyOS use X Server, XFree86 or another X system? > SkyOS uses its own GUI system called "SkyGI", which is integrated into the > kernel. This system has nothing to do with X or XFree86, and is not based > on either of these systems or their forks. Hm, integrated into the kernel - not a good idea :-/ > Is SkyOS a commercial operating system? > Yes. When it is officially released to the public, SkyOS will be a commercial > operating system. I think they mean proprietary... > Is SkyOS open-source? > No. SkyOS is a closed-source operating system. ...see :-( So, nothing worth distracting me from Syllable, Haiku, *BSD, GNU/*, FreeDOS, or the remains of OS/2. =oP As to the BranchFS http://www.skyos.org/?q=node/582 well, we won't get to see the code to learn from it :-( Sorry to sound so negative, it's just that I don't understand the thinking behind non-free software :-/ Pob hwyl, - Richard -- Richard Smedley, richard at sc.lug.org.uk Sustainable IT Consultant http://m6-it.org/ ``Software Freedom for the Voluntary Sector'' From les.pritchard at gmail.com Fri Dec 8 11:52:07 2006 From: les.pritchard at gmail.com (Les Pritchard) Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 11:52:07 -0000 Subject: [Chester LUG] SkyOS In-Reply-To: <200612071925.55246.smedley358@btinternet.com> References: <200612071925.55246.smedley358@btinternet.com> Message-ID: Oh dear - doesn't sound like an attractive option at all! I think I'll stick to playing with ZFS instead. Thanks for the information - saved me a few hours downloading and installing it! Les On 12/7/06, Richard Smedley wrote: > > On Thursday 07 December 2006 09:15, Les Pritchard wrote: > > Has anyone used SkyOS for anything useful? I've just been looking at > their > > new BranchFS, which looks interesting in concept. Having never played > with > > SkyOS I was just wondering if anyone has had any good / bad experiences > > with it. > > Hello Les, > > I took a brief look a few years ago, when I was rounding-up the so-called > successors to BeOS. However: > > From the FAQ: > > Does SkyOS use X Server, XFree86 or another X system? > > SkyOS uses its own GUI system called "SkyGI", which is integrated into > the > > kernel. This system has nothing to do with X or XFree86, and is not > based > > on either of these systems or their forks. > > Hm, integrated into the kernel - not a good idea :-/ > > > Is SkyOS a commercial operating system? > > Yes. When it is officially released to the public, SkyOS will be a > commercial > > operating system. > > I think they mean proprietary... > > > Is SkyOS open-source? > > No. SkyOS is a closed-source operating system. > > ...see :-( > > So, nothing worth distracting me from Syllable, Haiku, *BSD, > GNU/*, FreeDOS, or the remains of OS/2. =oP > > As to the BranchFS > http://www.skyos.org/?q=node/582 > well, we won't get to see the code to learn from it :-( > > Sorry to sound so negative, it's just that I don't understand the > thinking behind non-free software :-/ > > Pob hwyl, > > - Richard > > -- > Richard Smedley, richard at sc.lug.org.uk > Sustainable IT Consultant > http://m6-it.org/ ``Software Freedom for the Voluntary Sector'' > > > _______________________________________________ > Chester mailing list > Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/chester > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From les.pritchard at gmail.com Sat Dec 23 12:32:55 2006 From: les.pritchard at gmail.com (Les Pritchard) Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:32:55 -0000 Subject: [Chester LUG] Happy Christmas! Message-ID: Hi all, Just wanted to wish everyone on the list a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. I hope you all have a good holiday - eating, drinking and being merry! As our LUG meets are the last Thursday of each month, December's is on the 28th. I should be able to make it, please let me know if you are planning on coming along. Usual venue, usual time. Best wishes Les -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: linux-tux-xmas.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 26131 bytes Desc: not available URL: From dh at iucr.org Sat Dec 23 16:48:34 2006 From: dh at iucr.org (David Holden) Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2006 16:48:34 -0000 Subject: [Chester LUG] Happy Christmas! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200612231648.17917.dh@iucr.org> On Saturday 23 December 2006 12:32, Les Pritchard wrote: > Hi all, > > Just wanted to wish everyone on the list a Merry Christmas and a Happy New > year. I hope you all have a good holiday - eating, drinking and being > merry! > > As our LUG meets are the last Thursday of each month, December's is on the > 28th. I should be able to make it, please let me know if you are planning > on coming along. Usual venue, usual time. > > Best wishes > > Les Merry Christmas, should be able to make this. Cheers, Dave. -- Dr. David Holden. See: regarding Word or PowerPoint. GPG key available on request. ------------------------------------------------------------- From les.pritchard at gmail.com Wed Dec 27 12:42:23 2006 From: les.pritchard at gmail.com (Les Pritchard) Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:42:23 -0000 Subject: [Chester LUG] LUG Meet Message-ID: Hi all, hope you had a good Christmas! This is a reminder that they'll be a LUG meet tomorrow evening at 7.30 at The Old King's Head on Lower Bridge Street. So if you fancy getting out of the house and can face missing some of that great Christmas TV ;-) I'll see you there! Les -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: