Proofreading is a skill requiring meticulous attention to detail. However, something clearly went wrong in respect of this camera advertisement, as the product description sounds really crappy. 😉
Microsoft announced some time ago that it will be ending support for Windows XP, now 12 years old, on 8th April 2014.
The Bristol & Bath Linux Users’ Group (BBLUG) has seen this as an opportunity to introduce people still using XP to a reliable free and open source Linux operating system and has planned an event called “Linux Live 2014” to be held from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm on Saturday, 15th March 2014 – a couple of weeks before the official end of XP support – at the Pervasive Media Studio, Watershed, 1 Canons Rd, Bristol, BS1 5TX (map).
Linux Live 2014 is part of a worldwide initiative to turn tired old computers running XP into efficient, well running ones running Linux. An old, tired computer can be given a whole new lease of life by installing a modern Linux operating system (Linux has lower system requirements than MS operating systems. Ed). BBLUG has decided to plan an event for people in Bristol and the surrounding area to inform them of the various uses and benefits of Linux.
BBLUG’s Peter Hemmings says: “As Windows XP is not being supported from April 2014 we have decided to hold ‘Linux Live 2014’. It is a free workshop held by Linux user groups like ours where members get together to introduce new users to various distributions and give them a Live USB Stick to try on their hardware without interfering with other operating systems. Time permitting, it can be installed on hardware during the event or the Live USB Stick can be taken home to install. In holding an event such as this, we help extend the life of the hardware, saving people money in time of austerity. Simply bring your personal computer/laptop to the event and we will help you get Linux up and running on it, for free!”
The BBLUG Linux Live 2014 event has its own website and is being sponsored LinuxIT of Emerson’s Green.
Last year, Romanian supermarket chain Profi donated laptops running Edubuntu Linux to schools in that country. Quoting Romanian TV station Pro TV, Joinup, the EU’s public sector open source news website, now reports today that some of those schools are letting their donated laptops gather dust because the teachers don’t know how to use Linux. In at least one school the laptops are still in their boxes, whilst other schools have replaced Edubuntu and its bundled software with Windows and proprietary alternatives.
About half of the 1,800 laptops donated to schools are still not being unused, according to Pro TV.
Edubuntu log-in screen
Writing on its website, Pro TV states that only a few teachers know how to use Linux. When asked about the laptops gathering dust, one headteacher is reported to have said: “It is impossible for teachers to teach using two different programs.” Pro TV also quotes one IT specialist who stated that it would take just a few weeks to learn how to use the laptops. “It is easy and the great advantage is that it is free.”
Romanian free and open source advocates are concerned upset about teachers’ poor IT skills. “I’ve been contacting the Linux groups across the country to get them to help the schools get started”, says Răzvan Sandu. “But it is possible that schools will hesitate to accept help from outsiders.”
WhatsApp is a mobile messaging company; or it was until the story fell into the hands of the illiterati in the BBC newsroom, who suffered one of their periodic vowel movements. 🙂
When work restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants were relaxed at the start of the year, the usual xenophobic elements of the British media stoked fears that every criminal in eastern Europe would make a beeline for the UK and crime would soar.
Emotive language was (ab)used, with the nation being told Bulgarians and Romanians would ‘flood’ into the country and dear old Blighty would be ‘swamped’ and similar such tosh.
If crime had increased due to Bulgarian and Romanian migrants, this would have resulted in a massive rise in the criminal justice system’s use of linguists, as suspects and defendants are entitled to understand and follow the proceedings in their mother tongue.
However, this surge in the use of East European linguists hasn’t actually happened.
Indeed in response to Freedom of Information (FoI) Act queries, Cambridgeshire Police has revealed its spending on services for Bulgarian and Romanian linguists has actually declined, as revealed by the Cambridge News:
Data has revealed the force spent just £9.10 on Bulgarian and £1,357.84 on Romanian translators in January last year when the restrictions were in place.
But after they were lifted at the start of the year, the force spent zero pence on translators for the two languages.
It was announced a few days ago that future versions of the open source Firefox browser could show advertising in freshly opened browser tabs (posts passim). To date these have shown up to nine thumbnails of frequently visited websites. However, on a newly installed browser these so-called ’tiles’ are blank and only fill up over time and with use. Heise writes that Mozilla Foundation boss Mitchell Baker has now justified the plans in a blog post.
Mozilla Foundation CEO Mitchell BakerIn the past, Mozilla developers have always declined to display content with no previous user activity. Baker writes: ” This made sense at first when the web was so young. But over the years many people have come to expect and want their software to do things on their behalf, to take note of what one has done before and do something useful with it.”
She continues: “So we look at the Tiles and wonder if we can do more for people. We think we can. I’ve heard some people say they still don’t want any content offered. They want their experience to be new, to be the same as it was the day they installed the browser, the same as anyone else might experience. I understand this view, and think it’s not the default most people are choosing. We think we can offer people useful content in the Tiles.”
Baker promises that the advertisements shown in the tiles will definitely have no tracking functions. It’s ultimately a matter of gaining revenue for the Mozilla Foundation. The Foundation has so far survived mostly on funding from search engine companies like Google and other web companies. In 2012 these revenues amounted to more than $300 mn.
The Document Foundation’s blog has announced that the LibreOffice Conference 2014 will be held at the University of Bern in Switzerland from 3rd September to 5th September.
“Holding the LibreOffice Conference in the city of Bern will definitely improve the awareness of Open Source software in Switzerland, and hopefully trigger the migration process in public administrations which has already started in France, Germany and Italy”, say organising committee members Nicholas Christener and Matthias Stürmer.
LibreOffice for all your office suite needs: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database, drawing and formulas
Bern is the federal city of Switzerland (i.e. its de facto capital. Ed.) and the seat of the parliament, government and administration of the Swiss Confederation, the Canton of Bern and the City of Bern. Its old city district has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1982.
Murphy’s Law was working well when Lakewood High School of St Petersburg in Florida decided to hold a literacy event for parents back in 2012 (on 29th February apparently to tie in with the leap year. Ed.), as shown by the illuminated sign below.
It’s February 14th, St Valentine’s Day, a busy day for florists, restaurateurs and people selling greetings cards.
I’m declaring my love here online: I love free software.
If you are unaware what free software is – and it has far more to do than merely being gratis (think free as in speech, rather than free as in beer. Ed.) – look at the Free Software Foundation’s free software definition.
From the Debian GNU/Linux operating system to the Gimp graphics package and the LibreOffice productivity suite, I couldn’t do without it.
If you love free software too, show your passion too in one of the following ways:
Writing an e-mail or letter to contributors expressing how much you like what they are doing.
Sharing your feelings about free software on social networks and microblogs using the hashtag #ilovefs. Or you can write a blog post about your favourite piece of free software.
Buying your favourite contributor a drink. Or buy someone else a drink and while enjoying it, tell her/him about your favourite free software program.
Giving a contributor a hug (ask for permission first). You might be amazed how many free software developers live in your area!
Taking a picture of yourself showing your feelings for free software and posting it online.
Donating to free software initiatives or the FSFE to express your gratitude. They depend on your contribution to continue their work.
Finally you can help spread the love by sharing the campaign banners by e-mail, (micro)blog or by social media (please use the hashtag #ilovefs for this).
Microsoft announced some time ago that it will be ending support for Windows XP, now 12 years old, on 8th April 2014.
It was announced a few days ago that future versions of the open source Firefox browser could show advertising in freshly opened browser tabs (posts passim). To date these have shown up to nine thumbnails of frequently visited websites. However, on a newly installed browser these so-called ’tiles’ are blank and only fill up over time and with use. Heise writes that Mozilla Foundation boss Mitchell Baker has now justified the plans in a blog post.
I’m declaring my love here online: I love free software.