With only a week away, we are we well underway for the Ubuntu Ireland Global Jam, however this year we’re going to make it a bit more interesting and open it up for everyone to come along.

The idea behind Open Jam is that it will be a chilled out type of community event. Where you can work on your projects, help folks if they have some questions, hack, logs bugs, documentation, translations, whatever you like the big thing being we get to do it together in one place.

It would be great to have as many people from the different Open Source communities mingling on the day as possible. So whether your from PHP, Ubuntu, Debian, KDE, GNOME, Python, Ruby, Alt.NET or the human race at large, then come on down and check out why it’s great to be Open! And have your chance to contribute!

Thanks to Enterprise Ireland who’ve come on board to support this venture and are our lovely hosts for the event. – Enterprise Ireland’s Head Office, The Plaza, East Point Business Park, Dublin 3

Sign up page for the event is here

Note. You need to sign up (costs nothing) for this event if you want to be able to access the Internet on the day (as network access accounts need to be provisioned in advance by Enterprise Ireland admins). You can turn up on the day but your bits and bytes will need to find their own way into the cloud

More information is HERE More info .

HOUSEKEEPING

We hope to have the event streamed pop in and say hi to us.

10am start  Welcome to Open Jam (2 rooms joined into 1 room)

The importance of getting the different Open Source groups together under one roof.

Explain about other aspects of Global Jam – Documentation, Translations, Wiki clean up, bug triaging etc.

10.30 The ‘I Like..’ Slot (get everyone to stand up and give one line shout out on what project/area they’re into

10.35 approx Split rooms into 2
- one ‘talker room’ for presentations
- one ‘activity room 1′ (we can add more activity rooms as we need)
10:30 TALKER ROOM: How to log into Launchpad
10:35 TALKER ROOM: Creating GPG keys and signing the code of conduct
10:45 TALKER ROOM: How to log bugs / Triage bugs
10:45 ACTIVITY ROOM 1: Ruby Ireland Coding Dojo, etc
12:30: TALKER ROOM: Round of lightning talks
1-2pm Lunch
2pm Do a general check around to see what activities are going on

People split into groups and work on projects or help one another.

use #gbj#openjam hashtag on twitter for tweeting and

Ireland is a small country full of amazing talented people will some pretty good coding skills under the belts.  Problem is and this is just my opinion, we all work separately  in our own communities even though we could be all within a 5 mile radius.

Global Jam coming up next month got me thinking. Ubuntu Ireland has come on leaps and bounds in the last few months.  We’ve regular IRC meetings, meet ups events and groups end up going to events together. This is all great! But we still need help, we still have questions, that probably we ourselves cannot answer, so why not ask the great community. The IRISH COMMUNITY.

With that I’ve created Open Jam, a event where everyone is welcome to come along and work on their own projects side by side.  I’ve come up with a way where EVERYONE from all areas,PHP, Ubuntu, Debian, KDE, GNOME, Python, Ruby, alt.net and anyone who wants to come along to do so.

You can work on your projects, help folks if they have some questions, hack, logs bugs, documentation, translations, whatever you like the big thing being we get to do it together in one place.

It’s not a conference, unconference, and very different from my ossbarcamp. But what I thought we could do throughout the day would be run a series of lightning talk, where folks could stand up and give a 3 min presentation on what they were working on.

Again, this was just an idea, and maybe folks won’t be interested in this kind of thing, but it would be beneficial to us all to work together. I’m still sorting the venue out, but hope to have details next week. It will be in Dublin as well, this is where I am.

If you’ve any thoughts pop onto #ubuntu-ie  spread the word.  I’ve create a sign up page also, if you’re interested jot your name down.

I know some of the guys who are behind the. We use open source who are trying to track down as many companies that use open source in their work place in their day to day tasks, one person Declan has written to our government regarding this issue and I thought it would be good to share here.

Open Source and Open Standards at Home – Positioning Ireland as an International Innovation Hub

Recent years show that openness and collaboration is essential to the generation of innovation in the software sector. Technology increasingly means software. In Ireland, we can see that the production of hardware technology in many, but not all, cases is providing ever diminishing returns. Here we outline some key policy recommendations that are crucial to fulfilling the vision of making the Irish Smart Economy a reality for the software industry through the adoption and encouragement of Open Source technologies.

In the interests of brevity it is only necessary to read our key policy recommendations to get the most out of this document. The remainder of the document gives some context for those who are not familiar with Open Source and Open Standards.

Key policy recommendations

1) Foster a vibrant Open Source software development sector through public commitments to Open Source technology; so that large companies such as Nokia, Red Hat, Google, IBM, Novell, Oracle and Sun know that Ireland means business when it comes to cutting edge Open Source technologies
2) Have Ireland (and the Irish government in particular) project an Open Source friendly image internationally. Differentiate Ireland from other potential software development locations by highlighting its Open Source credentials when attracting international companies. Software companies know that a thriving Open Source scene means the availability of high quality passionate software developers
3) Deliver value for public sector by gradually adopting Open Source technologies where feasible – for example, the use of the freely available office suite OpenOffice as well as the Linux operating system. Liaise with other European cities that have already done this. Directly contract Open Source developers to create and improve software used in Ireland’s public sector to ‘get software done’ for the public sector
4) To create jobs at all levels of the value chain by:
- Creating jobs for Irish software developers by providing incentives to internationally recognised companies (such as in point 1) to carry out Open Source development in Ireland
- Creating jobs for Irish software developers through contracting of indigenous Open Source development teams to carry out work for the public sector
- Training people to support the adopted Open Source technologies (as mentioned in point 2); as a starting point, partner with existing Open Source training support providers in Ireland
- Running programs such as ‘Not working? Get working with Open Source today!’ where out of work software developers could contribute to society by creating useful software. This serves to restore confidence, dignity and skills to those affected by unemployment
5) Open Source software development languages (such as Python and Ruby) are extremely easy to learn yet powerful (Google extensively uses Python for its infrastructure). These languages integrate with other well known Open Source languages, such as Java, thus legacy infrastructure can be built upon and harnessed. Skills in these Open Source languages should be fostered in secondary schools as well as third-level institutions. Their ease of use makes them accessible to a wider audience which reduces the cost of retraining
6) Startup software companies have a high tendency to use Open Source tools due to the low cost of procuring them and the flexible nature of these tools. Training students in languages (those mentioned in point 5) as well as other Open Source technologies, such as the database software MySQL, should have a stronger focus in the educational system. Familiarity with these technologies would greatly benefit students going on to join startup companies. This means more startups are likely to be founded thus giving a boost to the indigenous software industry
7) Mandate Open Standards when exchanging electronic documents within government. Over time, this delivers greater value for the public sector as it means that more than one product is available that can interact with your documents. This increases competition between software vendors to deliver value to the government. Mandating open standards helps avoid vendor lock-in and ensures that software in need of change can be re-tendered to a larger field of potential providers. It also eases inter-operability with existing systems. Finally, online services rolled out by the government should make data available to all Irish citizens regardless of what specific product they are using by using Open Standards
When the budget permits, the government should appoint an Open Source Coordinator responsible for these policies, who would also be responsible for projecting Ireland’s ‘Open Source friendly’ image at an international level (outlined in points 1 and 2)

What does Open Source mean and how does it generate revenue growth?

Open Source software is software for which the source code is publicly available and is freely redistributable. This allows consumers to build upon, improve and redistribute the software. A formal definition can be found at http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php. It provides businesses with the flexibility to tailor a product to their specific needs. The availability of the code increases the pressure on those that develop the software to produce it to a higher standard. There is usually no cost associated with procuring an Open Source software product itself, rather the commercial exploitation is in the consultation, services and support around the product. Often there is a hybrid approach where part of the product is Open Source and another part is not, where the latter is the engine generating the revenue. Because a large body of high quality Open Source software is freely available, it can be used to deliver value and increase productivity for businesses and governments. At the same time it can empower citizens, with many people availing of Open Source tools to publish blogs, produce video and audio podcasts, as well as carrying out other day to day functions such as browsing the Internet safely and securely with an Open Source browser. Additionally, Open Source software development tools helps bootstrap the software development sector by providing a low cost suite to get software development teams working more quickly and efficiently. These teams can then go on to produce value higher up the chain.

Is there a leading example of an Open Source software company?

Red Hat is an example of one of the best known Open Source companies internationally. They commercially exploit Open Source technologies by providing support and services around a technology platform called Red Hat Linux. From a humble start in the 90′s, they were recently chosen for inclusion in the Standard and Poor’s 500 stock index (http://press.redhat.com/2009/07/27/red-hat-included-in-sampp-500-index). Matthew Szulik, Red Hat’s former CEO and current chairman, attributed their success to how they approach Open Source software, “Think about [open source] like mining. There’s all of these natural resources buried under the ground. But unless you have a large aggregator to pull it out of the ground; to take the gold or the coal or the copper and turn it into something usable, then it’s really not useful for mankind.” That’s exactly what Red Hat do. They take a variety of Open Source technologies and package it into a single commercial product. The revenue of different Open Source based companies is generated by a variety of business models. Google’s backend architecture, that powers their search engine technology, is built on top of Open Source technologies – with Google’s revenue coming mainly from the targeted advertising built around their search product. A side effect of their involvement in Open Source technologies is that it excites developers, enabling Google to hire enthusiastic bright engineers.

What Open Source Software developers are there currently in Ireland?

Currently, there are several different groups of software developers involved in the Open Source arena. These developers aggregate in groups depending on the technology they are particularly interested in. There is also an overlap and synergy between the groups. For example, Open Source interest groups include the Irish Linux Users Group, the Belfast Linux Group, the PHP Users Group, Python Ireland and Ruby Ireland. Each group meets up on a regular basis, usually monthly, as a social event and also to discuss technological developments in their area. This social aspect to Open Source software development is important. It leads to the sharing of new ideas and technologies and gives people an interest in software that can go far beyond their day job. This enthusiasm leads to great ideas. With more government support – those ideas could lead to new startups and opportunities.

Closing remarks

It is natural for some existing software vendors to feel threatened by policy shifts towards increased Open Source usage. However, we envision working in conjunction with all vendors in a mixed Open Source and non-Open Source ecosystem. Co-optition is key in this ecosystem, with parties competing in some areas yet co-operating where there is a common interest. (When we talk of co-optition we mean co-operative competition – the practice of competitors working together where they believe there is a net benefit to both parties.) Finally, we would like to say that the adoption of Open Source should be gradual and targeted in order to deliver value at each step along the way. As with any new technology, it is crucial that the experiences from each step are fed into next so as to minimise any potential risks arising from the change and to ensure all stakeholders experience the benefits of the shift to the Open Source model.

Full paper with author information can be found here

I like going to events, but sometimes I miss out on hearing about them as I don’t find out about them till it’s too late. One has to troll the net or suscribe to multiple mailing lists.  Christel on freenode asked to join their team so I can work on community areas. One area I wanted to tackle was events and letting folks know about them.

There are so many groups and organisations who use freenode and who run meet ups, conferences, barcamps it would be great to know about them if you were travelling or just relocated.  With that we’ve been working on a new site Foss Events, I’ve added some events that I know of but would love to add more. So if folks have meet ups, geeknics, conferences, unconferences, giving a talk then let us know so we can have all of the events in one place.

I spent some time over the summer in Lahinch, nothing new there! As you know with Irish weather we can’t always get a perfect summer. You and I both know this, kids don’t and they don’t like to be kept indoors. TC has twins, they are cheeky monkies, adorable wee things, but like any two and a half year old have bundles of energy and like to play outdoors.

Kids play and mess in sand pits, along the prom jumping and splashing in puddlings, if they are wearing their clothes, they will be soaked and well it’s back to wherever to get changed again. So TC  found this clothing range for kids called Puddleducks, they are a life saver.

On they go over the kids clothes and off they go and play  and don’t get wet, or pass out with the heat. The kids can still play away and are kept dry.  They are cute and designed well, waterproof, light and and look pretty on the kids. If you have kids, or have any nieces or newphews, buy one, they are well worth it to keep the kids happy and out playing.

Twins in Puddleducks

Summer in the rain in Lahinch