TECTONIC NEWS Tracking the shifts in technology www.tectonic.co.za 27 February, 2006

AFRICAN FREE SOFTWARE ON A FIRM FOOTING -----------------------------------------

This week's newsletter is a little late because I have just returned from a few fantastic days in Nairobi, Kenya. I was there for the FOSSFA Idlelo2 conference which was a great opportunity to gauge how the free software movement on the continent has fared over the past two years since Idlelo1 in Cape Town. (Read more at http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=892&s=news)

The good news is that African free software looks to be in robust health and it was heartening to see the links being developed between groups around the continent, in particular those with West Africa.

As with any continental movement there are challenges of course - of language, experience and expections - but on the whole the trip well worth the time and an encouraging precursor to what we can expect over the coming year.

Here's to a good African free software year, Alastair

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SITA TENDER WINNERS NAMED http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=884&s=news Eight companies have been selected to be the suppliers of open source software and support services to the government and the State IT Agency over the next three years. News of the winners of potentially South Africa's most lucrative open source deal ends months of nail-biting for tenderers involved.

FREE SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS DO IT TO LEARN NEW SKILLS http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=883&s=news Despite an increase in the number of corporates involved in the development of free and open source software applications, the majority of FOSS code is still being developed by individuals and the vast majority of these do it primarily to learn new skills. Rishab Ghosh of Maastricht University said this during the opening of the Idlelo 2 conference in Nairobi, Kenya this morning.

SHUTTLEWORTH URGES TELECOMS REFORM http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=888&s=news Entrepreneur and Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth yesterday hit out at the African telecoms sector saying the existing monopolies in the sector were not able to deliver effective and affordable bandwidth to the continent. He urged national regulators to unbundle their wired networks and develop competitive strategies to improve broadband access to Africans.

SA TAX MAN EYES DESKTOP LINUX http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=882&s=news The South African Revenue Service has issued a tender for a proof of concept Linux desktop solution for the tax-collecting government department with a R355 billion ($58 billion) revenue. While SARS admits that the challenges of moving to Linux on the desktop are numerous, a successful proof of concept could see 14 000 desktops running Windows migrated to Linux.

FOSSFA RATIFIES CONSTITUTION, ELECTS COUNCIL http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=887&s=news The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa last night formally adopt its constitution and elected a new council to take the organisation forward for the next to years.

======================================== TECTONIC SURVEY 2006: TELL US WHAT YOU THINK AND WIN ---------------------------------------------------- What do you think of Tectonic? What are you interested in? What do you want to see us write about? Now it is your turn to tell us by taking part in the Tectonic 2006 reader survey. (www.tectonic.co.za/survey/) All we need is five minutes of you time and in return we'll enter your name into a draw for a box of Linux goodies kindly sponsored by Obsidian Systems. There are also a handful of Tectonic Magazine subscriptions up for grabs. ========================================

UBUNTU GOES SMALL http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=889&s=news The family of operating systems based on the Ubuntu platform continues to expand – this time to the ever-growing embedded world of small, light devices like PDAs and Internet tablets. A new Ubuntu project, Embedded Ubuntu, hopes to bring Ubuntu down to size.

LENOVO BRAND LAUNCHES IN SA http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=890&s=news Lenovo South Africa launched its products officially on Friday, with desktops and laptops that look distinctly non-IBM. The new company is hoping to capture a slice of the lucrative home user and SME markets with its 3000 series, while the Think brand continues to play in the corporate arena.

PROJECT HIGGINS FOR USER-CENTRIC ID MANAGEMENT http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=891&s=news IBM, Novell and Parity Communications today announced that they are contributing code to an open source initiative -- code-named 'Project Higgins' -- that will spawn a new generation of security software, giving people more control over their personal online identity information. Project Higgins builds upon a concept developed by Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

FREE SOFTWARE MOVEMENT HEADS FOR NAIROBI http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=878&s=news Free software developers and advocates from across the African continent will be heading for Nairobi in Kenya this week as they gather for the second Free Sofware and Open Source Foundation for Africa conference. Keynote speakers during the opening day of the conference will include Ubuntu's Mark Shuttleworth as well representatives of Google.

INNOVATION HUB HOSTS OSS SHOWCASE http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=881&s=news 1 April is the date set for an open source event to be held at the Innovation Hub near Pretoria. The event will include LPI certification exams, guest speakers and an open source technology showcase.

OPINION ----------------------------------------------------- THE STATE OF AFRICAN FREE SOFTWARE Alastair Otter http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=892&s=news A trip to Nairobi, cocktails with Microsoft, and a conference room full of African free software advocates. Alastair Otter checks in with the growing African free and open source movement to see how things are going.

IN BRIEF ----------------------------------------------------- PANDA SECURES DESKTOP LINUX http://www.tectonic.co.za/viewatw.php?sel=885&s=news REDHAT'S ANSWER TO NOVELL'S EYE CANDY http://www.tectonic.co.za/viewatw.php?sel=886&s=news

---------------------------------------- Contact Tectonic: Editor Alastair Otter alastair@tectonic.co.za 083-267-7657 -- Tectonic's newsletter is sent out weekly to subscribers and delivers the best of open source news from around the continent direct to their desktop. To subscribe visit http://phplist.tectonic.co.za/lists/?p=subscribe or send your email address to news@tectonic.co.za.

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