- Free-software-melb - lists.softwarefreedom.com.au

OSDC conference - Free software/patents?
by Patrick Sunter 23 Nov '10

23 Nov '10

Hi guys, so a reminder that the Open Source Developers Conference starts in Melbourne tomorrow! http://2010.osdc.com.au/ Hope to see some of you there again - I think last minute tickets may be available still too. At the Melb Free software meeting I went to we canvassed the idea of having your anti-software patent petition there for people to sign - just wondering if this is going ahead? If so I'm happy to 'plug' it at the end of my talk, but I'm not speaking till the Friday afternoon (http://2010.osdc.com.au/proposal/62/open-sourcing-metropolitan-planning) so you might want to see if a speaker earlier in the conference would be happy to as well. -- Pat. On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Ben Sturmfels <ben(a)stumbles.id.au> wrote: > Thanks to everyone who came along last night, especially as I'd > forgotten to send out a reminder! > > We had six people which provided an interesting discussion on the > patents campaign and also on the potential for copyright law changes. > Great to meet some new people too. :) > > Discussion group meetings are monthly. Here are the next two for your > diary: > > - Thursday 18 November, 6:30pm at State Library > - Thursday 16 December, 6:30pm at State Library > > Regards, > Ben > > > _______________________________________________ > Free-software-melb mailing list > Free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb > -- Patrick Sunter VPAC Senior Computational Software Developer - AuScope Monash SAM Project Monash University Adjunct Research Associate (School of Mathematical Sciences) Ph: +61 (0)3 9905 4468 Mob: +61 (0)425 756 141 For VPAC/AuScope admin issues email: patrick(a)vpac.org For AuScope software development email: patdevelop(a)gmail.com

1 0

Meeting tomorrow (Thursday 21st) ?
by Chris Samuel 07 Nov '10

07 Nov '10

Hi folks, It's 3rd Thursday tomorrow night as I write this, are we meeting at the state library again ? cheers! Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC This email may come with a PGP signature as a file. Do not panic. For more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenPGP

7 12

Archives now public
by Ben Sturmfels 22 Oct '10

22 Oct '10

Hi Folks, I finally got around to fixing the list archives for the Melbourne Free Software Interest Group mailing list. Archives are now public: http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/pipermail/free-software-melb/ Regards, Ben

2 3

Re: [free-software-melb] Meeting tomorrow (Thursday 21st) ?
by Dennis K 21 Oct '10

21 Oct '10

I would be interested in coming along too. Provided I can make it there before 6:30. -original message- Subject: Re: [free-software-melb] Meeting tomorrow (Thursday 21st) ? From: Ben Sturmfels <ben(a)stumbles.id.au> Date: 21/10/2010 7:40 am On Thu, 2010-10-21 at 07:37 +1100, Ben Sturmfels wrote: > On Wed, 2010-10-20 at 21:36 +1100, Chris Samuel wrote: > > Hi folks, > > > > It's 3rd Thursday tomorrow night as I write this, are we meeting > > at the state library again ? > > Wow, where does the month go! Thanks for the reminder Chris, I almost > forgot. Yes meeting is on tonight. Sorry about the late notice. > > Proposed agenda: > - review the patents campaign and discuss plans from here > > - given it's around tax time, discussion of non-free software > distributed by our government eg. eTax And: - the proposed copyright law review that Alex mentioned _______________________________________________ Free-software-melb mailing list Free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb

1 0

Possible review of copyright law
by Alex Fraser 12 Oct '10

12 Oct '10

Hi all, It looks like we might be having a copyright review in Australia in the near future: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=84c0964f-35ff-4205-9bed-0d3a1… We should probably keep an eye on this. Let's talk about it at the next meeting. Cheers, Alex

1 0

The non-meeting in August
by Alex Fraser 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hi all, I have to apologise about the meeting in August. I tried to organise it, but it turns out I sent my message to the wrong address. One person did show up because he had spoken to Ben, and we had a good chat. For your interest, the emails that should have gone to this list are pasted below. Cheers, Alex ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Alex Fraser <alex(a)phatcore.com> Date: Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 1:14 PM Subject: Next gathering Thurs 19 August (this week) To: free-software-melb Hi everyone, The third Thursday is upon us, and it's time to meet again! Time: 6:30 - 7:30pm, Thursday the 19th of August Place: The State Library of Victoria Agenda: - Software patents letter follow up: Delivered; next steps (e.g. meeting with the Senator) - Oracle v Google: What it means for us; can we and should we help? - Software Freedom Day - Making meeting easier (e.g. having a recognisable sign for our table) If there is anything else you want added to the agenda, just write back to the list. As usual, we will meet in the lobby just before 6:30. If you arrive late, look for us where we sat last time or call my mobile: 0434 408 175. See you then, Alex ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ben Sturmfels <ben(a)stumbles.id.au> Date: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 12:20 AM Subject: Re: Next gathering Thurs 19 August (this week) To: Alex Fraser <alex(a)phatcore.com> Cc: free-software-melb On Sun, 2010-08-15 at 13:14 +1000, Alex Fraser wrote: > Agenda: > - Software patents letter follow up: Delivered; next steps (e.g. > meeting with the Senator) > - Oracle v Google: What it means for us; can we and should we help? > - Software Freedom Day > - Making meeting easier (e.g. having a recognisable sign for our table) > > If there is anything else you want added to the agenda, just write > back to the list. Thanks Alex. Although I won't be able to attend, could you discuss the initial scope proposed for the Australian Free Software Association? http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/ I see this an umbrella-type organisation to support local free software discussion groups and coordinate Australia-wide participation in things like the patents letter. One practical suggestion made by Steven McDonald is a free software jobs board. Also looking for suggestions of people I could approach to represent their state (particularly non-Victorians). Cheers, Ben ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Alex Fraser <alex(a)phatcore.com> Date: Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 1:04 PM Subject: Re: Next gathering Thurs 19 August (this week) To: free-software-melb Hi all, Very few people came to the meeting on Thursday, so we didn't fully discuss the items on the agenda. Was the meeting time not good? Are we meeting too frequently? We can consider changing these things for next time. It was great to meet Steven Sackett. We did briefly discuss a couple of issues: > - Software patents letter follow up: Delivered; next steps The letter has been sent with 1000 signatures. It may not be easy to get our patent law changed, but we're off to a good start. We should consider bringing this to the attention of the greater public - through campaigns against software patents, but also broader campaigns against the Free Trade Agreement. Organisations like GetUp could help with that. Steven recommends the book "How to kill a country" as a primer on the issues of the FTA: http://evatt.labor.net.au/publications/papers/140.html > - Oracle v Google: What it means for us; can we and should we help? Not much we can do, except search for prior art to attack the patents - follow the discussion on Groklaw. See you at the next meeting, Alex

1 0

[Fwd: Thank you on behalf of the Software Freedom Day Melbourne team]
by Ben Sturmfels 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

-------- Forwarded Message -------- From: Software Freedom Day Melbourne <info(a)sfd.org.au> Reply-to: info(a)sfd.org.au To: Ben Sturmfels Subject: Thank you on behalf of the Software Freedom Day Melbourne team Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:45:00 +1000 Dear Ben, Thank you for your recent support of Software Freedom Day Melbourne, held at the State Library of Victoria on Saturday 18th September. The event attracted hundreds of visitors to a number of free talks, workshops and demonstrations held during the day - some from as far away as Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra. As you might imagine, the event took an enormous amount of organisation, resources and planning, and would not have been possible without your support. We sincerely appreciate the contribution made by the Melbourne Free Software Group, particularly in promoting the abolishment of software patents, and for your very informative talks. If you would pass on our thanks to the group it would be much appreciated :-) As a symbolic token of our thanks, please find attached a Certificate of Appreciation in PDF format. This of course was created using free and open source software (Inkscape)! We're currently compiling our post-event report which will be made available on request to key stakeholders by mid-October. Please don't hesitate to contact us should you wish to receive a copy. We look forward to collaborating with you on future similar projects. With kind regards, The Software Freedom Day organising team Dale Dickens, Brianna Laugher, Donna Benjamin, Wen Lin, Ben Sturmfels, George Patterson, Kathy Reid and many others ========================= Software Freedom Day Melbourne http://www.sfd.org.au/Melbourne info(a)sfd.org.au 2011 date to be confirmed

1 0

Thanks for helping on Software Freedom Day
by Ben Sturmfels 29 Sep '10

29 Sep '10

Hi Folks, Just wanted to say a big thanks on behalf of all of us to those who helped out with Software Freedom Day on the 18th. I'd particularly like to thank Michael, Dave, Geoff, Alex and Daniel for attending to the Melb Free Software Interest Group table. They spoke to many people during the day, collect lots of registrations for this list and a heap of signatures against software patents. Big thanks to Dave for organising CDs of the brand new Trisquel 4.0. It was fantastic to be able to hand out copies of a fully-free distribution. It was exciting to see a sharpened focus on free software and freedom this year. I suspect this was helped by the excellent timing of Stallman's speeches earlier that week. On the other side of the library, the talks went very well. Attendance to my "Why is Free Software Important?" talk was bulked up by a strong attendance of my family members, who managed not to fall asleep. ;) Unfortunately we weren't able to hear from Pia Waugh due to a delay in Senator Lundy's flight, but we did manage to fill some time showing the large crowd videos on free software, DRM and having a discussion about software patents. Senator Lundy walked in the door to applause and gave an excellent speech about how the government is planning to work better with it's citizens, making several references to "free software". The other talks by Rami Olwan (Creative Commons), Andrew Cunningham (Multilingual Web) and Paul Took (Red Hat) were very interesting too. I haven't heard how the short talks went, but I have no doubt that they were great. There are some great photos by Chris: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissamuel/sets/72157624855903041/ And by Jiri http://luv.asn.au/sfd2010/hires.html Regards, Ben

3 3

Welcome to those who've just joined the list
by Ben Sturmfels 24 Sep '10

24 Sep '10

Hi Folks, Welcome to the many people who signed up to this list at Richard Stallman's recent speeches or on Software Freedom Day. It's been great to meet so many people interested in free software over the last week or so. This list now has around 100 participants. The Melbourne Free Software Interest Group meets once a month to talk about free software related issues. Our website: http://www.softwarefreedom.com.au/free-software-melb/ The next gathering is Thur 21 Oct, 6:30-7:30pm at the State Library of Victoria. We'll arrange some discussion topics before then and let you know via this list. Feel free to suggest a topic too. We usually go with non-technical topics. You may also be interested in (and perhaps have already signed) our petition against software patents. We see patents as being ill-suited to computation and information processing. Rather than promoting innovation, the severely inhibit innovation. We've collected over 400 signatures on a petition to the House of Representatives. Please take a copy of the petition to work if you're in the software industry, as this is our best chance to change the system. End Software Patents Australia (campaign run by our group): http://endsoftpatents.org/australia Copies of the petition are available from this website. Also, please consider being, or asking your CEO/Director etc. to be an ambassador to our campaign. You'd be among good company: http://endsoftpatents.org/australia#toc2 Regards, Ben

1 0

Skip meeting and go see Stallman
by Ben Sturmfels 15 Sep '10

15 Sep '10

Hi Folks, The next Melbourne Free Software Interest Group meeting is scheduled for next Thu 16 September. I suggest we skip the meeting and instead just attend Richard Stallman's speech the night before. Stallman: Free Software in Ethics and in Practise Wed 15 September, 5:30pm, Melbourne University Copeland Theatre RSVP required: http://nicta.com.au/nicta_events/events/event_repository/upcoming_events/bi… If you can't make it, there's also a second Stallman speech: Stallman: Copyright vs. Community in the Age of Computer Networks Thu 16 September, 12:30pm, RMIT Storey Hall. Details: http://goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au/~gingrich/flyer-1.pdf And then of course, there's Software Freedom Day on Sat 18, 11am-4pm, State Library of Victoria. I'm excited to be presenting a speech on "Why is free software important?" in the session starting at 11am. Lots of fun to be had. :) Ben

6 15