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This month's discussion group is tomorrow
by Ben Sturmfels 18 May '11

18 May '11

Hi Folks, Sorry for the late reminder, but this month's discussion group is on tomorrow night 19 May, 6:30 - 7:30pm at the State Library. We meet in the foyer just before 6:30. Proposed discussion topics: - Using free software for network services Look forward to seeing you! Ben

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Spinellis "Choosing and Using Open Source Components"
by rdbrown＠pacific.net.au 09 May '11

09 May '11

Diomidis D. Spinellis's latest IEEE Software column "Choosing and Using Open Source Components" is up at his blog http://www.spinellis.gr/blog/20110501 and may interest.

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test 1
by Ben Sturmfels 02 May '11

02 May '11

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Notes from discussion group 21/4/2011
by Ben Sturmfels 01 May '11

01 May '11

Hi Folks, It was great to see several regulars and also several new faces at the Melbourne Free Software Interest Group the week before last. Notes from the discussion are below. Ben Discussion group notes from 21/4/2011 Getting involved in free software projects: - important to find a project that matters to you, ideally a program you use regularly - interpreted languages are easier to get started on since compilation can be a bit fiddly - many non-programming roles - finding others physically near you helps with motivation - interesting talk at OSDC on bug reporting Cargo - the free software game Alex is working on: - http://phatcore.com/portfolio/cargo.php - commercial with sales of game on DVD including artwork, models etc. - looking for assistance with Blender modelling and animation, see contact details in footer of website - also discussed Whipfrog game created for recent game competition http://www.globalgamejam.org/2011/whip-frog Trans-Pacific Partnership - increasing copyright duration - increasing penalties for circumventing DRM - patent "evergreening" (allowing patent renewals) - Alex wrote to Kim Weatherall (University of Queensland) and Brendan Malloy (Pirate Party) to see how we can help Commercial free software agreement: - an agreement between client and supplier specifying that software will under a free software license - permission to contribute changes to existing free software upstream - Alex has discussed possibility with Brendan Scott - may require some funding

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Next interest group meeting: this Thurs 21 April
by Ben Sturmfels 19 Apr '11

19 Apr '11

Hi Folks, Our next discussion group is on this Thursday 6:30pm at the State Library. Meet in the foyer a little before. Look forward to seeing you there! Proposed agenda: - How do you get involved in free software projects? We have some experience amongst the group, so it would be good to hear how people got started. Any other ideas, please reply to the list. Sounds like I missed some very interesting discussion in March. Thanks to Alex for organising it. Cheers, Ben

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Interesting 'rant' on free software in relation to maths/scientific
by Patrick Sunter 15 Apr '11

15 Apr '11

Hi all, just came across an interesting self-described 'rant' arguing the benefits of free software in relation to mathematical modeling - http://jordi.platinum.linux.pl/rants/mathematica-en.html cheers, Patrick.

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Next FSIG meeting: Thursday 17 March
by Alex Fraser 20 Mar '11

20 Mar '11

Hi all, Next Thursday is the 3rd Thursday of the month, and as usual, we will meet State Library at 6:30pm. If this will be your first meeting, try to arrive a few minutes early so you can find us in the foyer. Agenda: - Australia's upcoming copyright reform[1][2] - perhaps we should have some input into it? ... So that's a fairly short list. Feel free to add to it by replying :) Would anybody like to meet beforehand (5:30) for dinner? See you then, Alex [1] http://delimiter.com.au/2011/02/28/attorney-general-reveals-copyright-revie… [2] http://www.lawfont.com/2011/03/01/building-the-case-for-fair-use-in-austral…

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TTPA IP proposals and Australia, plus Secret Australian Piracy Report Revealed and Debunked
by Chris Samuel 17 Mar '11

17 Mar '11

First, on the TTPA front here's Kim Weatherall's take on the now leaked US IP proposals and their affect on Australia should they go through: http://www.lawfont.com/2011/03/16/more-on-the-tppa-ip-proposal-aarrgghh-eve… Includes patent evergreening (no requirement for an extension to involve an improvement) and copyright term extensions to 95 years from publication. Secondly, the "new" anti-piracy report that the Australian govt, newspapers and IP folks have been touting, but nobody had seen (not even the journalists who were writing about it) turns out to just be a rehash of the fatally flawed "Building a Digital Economy" report that went around in the EU recently. http://torrentfreak.com/secret-australian-piracy-report-revealed-and-debunk… Amongst the howlers is the attestation that a doubling in bandwidth means a doubling in piracy.. -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC

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This week's patents and copyright news
by Alex Fraser 23 Feb '11

23 Feb '11

Hi all, A couple of things in the news that might be of interest: A nice description of one aspect of the problem with patents: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110216/02440113126/chinese-researcher-po… If anyone will be in Canberra on the 4th of March, you could go to a forum on copyright reform: http://www.lawfont.com/2011/01/25/australian-digital-alliance-to-hold-a-for… But I'm not sure what outputs the forum will have. Registrations close this Friday. Cheers, Alex

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Government
by Alex Fraser 17 Feb '11

17 Feb '11

Hi all, As discussed in the meeting today, the Government has a new, friendly policy concerning free software: http://www.katelundy.com.au/2011/02/03/welcome-news-for-open-source/ http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/guide-to-open-source-software/index.… Cheers, Alex

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