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Improving the Open Source Legal System

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In this talk I argue that open source licensing can be conceptualized as a unique international legal system, and I follow this premise by discussing ways in which this system can be improved by making it more legally certain and predictable.

Open source exists in tension with the country-specific system of so-called "intellectual property" law that supposedly underlies it. In this talk, I will argue that open source can be usefully regarded as a distinct international system of property rights transfer masquerading as a form of copyright licensing, based not on statutes or court decisions but on norms of code sharing practices that are rooted in developer custom and tradition.

Given this premise, we can determine how well functioning open source is as a legal system, and think about how it can be improved. In particular, I argue that we should enhance the predictability surrounding open source licensing, by achieving better community understanding, and legitimization, of this tradition-based legal system, and by developing better community-based means of dispute resolution.

Speaker: Richard Fontana
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Troubleshooting Linux

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General troubleshooting techniques and tools for LInux

This presentation will cover basic troubleshooting strategies and tools available for most Linux distributions. We start by by covering how to be prepared for troubleshooting – documentation, backups and spares. Then we'll look at logs and using debug options and command history to assess the scope of the problem. Troubleshooting the X11 subsystem and the GNOME Desktop Environment is explained. We'll review how to monitor and manage general processes. We'll discuss how to check important settings and preferences. Networking, both wired and wireless, is another key area that is covered. Key command line and graphical tools for diagnostics and configuration are explained along with the important configuration files and how to verify them.

Speaker: Keith Wright
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Bash Programming

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Basic to intermediate shell scripting.

One of the big areas wherein Linux and Unix beat out the competition is automation, and bash scripting is foundational to achieving this goal. We'll start with very simple scripts, and then begin to add features like globbing and command substituation, loops and logic. Time permitting, we'll also cover I/O redirection and features for making your scripts recyclable. Lastly, we'll take a peek into how to create a System V service management script from scratch. In this session we'll get an exciting look into the powerful features available in the shell most distributions use by default.

Topics:

Scripting Basics
Expansion
Loops
Conditionals
I/O Redirection
System V scripts

Speaker: Andrew Vandever
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Increasing Corporate Participation in Open Source

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Corporations under-participate in open source projects. Improving participation requires changes in company culture, business practices, and software development practices.

Corporations under-participate in open source projects. Improving participation requires changes in company culture, business practices, and software development practices. In this talk we'll look at each of these three issues, suggest some strategies for addressing them, and talk about first-hand experience with these issues at the CodePlex Foundation.

One approach to thinking about cultural differences is to think about the tension between control and innovation. Corporations often place an emphasis on controlled development, while open source communities place more emphasis on unrestrained innovation. Improved communication will come from each side understanding the values of the other. A mediating organization can play an invaluable role in enabling community and corporations to better communicate their values and the rationale behind them to each other.

Business practices issues center around the questions of what to release as open source, why, and how. While much work has been done on open source licensing, this issue really only address the "how". Corporations still struggle with the "what" and "why". Corporations assess risk very differently from the way community projects assess risk. A mediating organization can provide a legal and business framework that, on the one hand, reduces risk, and, on the other hand, improves education within corporations about the real risks (or lack of risks) with open source.

Software development practices involve reconciling a structured, sometimes rigid software development life cycle with more agile and iterative practices common in open source. For corporations used to dealing with a partner network or a group of ISVs, the amorphous nature of the open source community can be difficult to engage with. A mediating organization provides an entity that both sides can comfortably enage with, simplifying and streamlining the open source engagement process for corproations.

While the CodePlex Foundation is a relatively new entry to the group of open source non-profits, it was conceived as the kind of mediating entity that could address these challenges in corporate participation in open source projects. If the Foundation is successful in its mission, corporate participation should increase, to the benefit of both open source businesses and the open source community.

Speaker: Mark Stone
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the eLearning XHTML editor

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This session includes a contextual overview, a walk through and a few basic demonstrations of how to use this off-line XHTML editor which has been specifically designed to construct and package instructional based course materials for LMS distribution.

Easily develop standard based SCORM content for Learning Management Systems like moodle with eXe - the eLearning XHTML editor. If you can use a word processor to create lesson plans, you can use a tool like eXE Learning.

eXe Learning is one of the best editors for creating standards based, multi-platform SCORM content without any prior knowledge of SCORM, HTML or XML. eXe Learning's free license makes it extremely attractive for instructors and course designers. With the iDevices, eXe Learning is following a strategy of extending the tool. The integration of Flash films and Java applets are easy with the tool.

Speaker: Kenneth Wyrick
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Open Source Content Filtering with DansGuardian

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Installation, configuration and usage of the application.

Are you a parent trying to protect your kids from unwanted internet content? IT for a business with slumping productivity? Whatever your needs, DansGuardian is the Open Source solution that can handle it. This session is a DansGaurdian overview and will cover the installation of DansGuardian and squid.

From installation and basic configuration to filtering group management, blacklists, exceptions and regular expression matching, we'll cover what you need to know about DansGuardian.

Speaker: Andrew Vandever
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Saving Money by Using Linux to Deploy Windows

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Keep a Microsoft Windows desktop, but save money by using GNU/Linux to implement it. Save even more money by switching to Free Software applications. Employees don't have a visible difference on their desktops. Companies get to save money and IT effort.

Using GNU/Linux to deploy Microsoft Windows in a multi-campus K12 environment reduces annual desktop and server licensing costs. In this session, you'll learn how to realize many of the benefits of Free Software without visibly changing the end-user desktop experience. You can realize additional savings by moving to Free Software applications.

Students, teachers and staff get to keep using the same software software they are used to, but with better stability and flexibility. Using GNU/Linux as the deployment infrastructure also improves security and reduces firefighting for IT.

The presentation also includes tips on how to get users to request Free Software rather than forcing them to move over.

Speaker: Brian Cluff
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A Comprehensive Linux Back-End Infrastructure

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See real examples of school districts using a cost-effective approach to a global open source back-end infrastructure

This session describes Revolution Linux's cost-effective approach of using open source software to build large scale back-end infrastructure for various school districts in North America. The main goal of these projects is to centralize various information services (such as file servers, printing services, email and collaboration tools, web and authentication) in order to better manage resources and to transfer expertise locally. Using open source software enables the school board to offer more efficient services, such as automated schoolwork management and the automated generation of school website CMS.

Speaker: Benoit St-Andre
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The latest on Moblin

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Moblin is an open source project focused on building a Linux-based platform optimized for the next generation of mobile devices including Netbooks, Mobile Internet Devices, and In-vehicle infotainment systems.

We will review the latest highlights for Moblin, a Linux operating system project optimized for the Intel® Atom™ processor based platforms such as Netbooks, Nettops, MIDs, IVI and a broad array of embedded devices. The newest version of Moblin provides optimizations such as fast boot, extended battery life, a small footprint, an outstanding visual user experience for internet browsing, media consumption and social networking and application compatibility across product segments.

Moblin is hosted at the Linux Foundation’s www.moblin.org , and is an open source project where key Moblin technologies are incubated and enhanced by the Linux open source community. Moblin based operating system products are created and distributed by Linux Operating System Vendors.

Moblin is poised to change how Linux is utilized on devices. Period.

Speaker: Pete Kronowitt
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Learning python for non-programmers

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An introduction to python and an overview of its useful applications. Intended for those with little to no experience with programming/pythoneering.

This presentation is a gentle introduction to the free-to-use Python programming language, for beginners from the perspective of a beginner. The talk provides a quick and intuitive tutorial on how to create a simple interactive game using Python. This tutorial will go over the interpreter, basic syntax and semantics in a script, the standard library, and choosing a text editor. Additionally, there will be an overview of Python's efficiency as a dynamic language as well as its many useful applications. The increasingly popular Python can be used for anything from banal tasks to large applications in domains, such as web application development, database access, games, education, and more. The remaining time will be dedicated to a discussion of how to best find suitable learning materials, documentation, and guides (online, books, classes) for new programming languages.

Speaker: Diana Chen
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