Dabba - Rael hits the Business Report

We've been working with Rael on Dabba for a few years, preparing and looking to setup some communities in the Western Cape. Finally Dabba gets a feature in the press, albeit still a little underground. I guess front page of the Business Report is no longer 'underground'.

The lead says "TALK IS CHEAP: Rael Lissoos, chief executive of Dabba Telecoms, says his latest venture aims to be the Vodacom of the people, with a spiritual slant". Read the interview and make up your own mind, less said the better...

Ubuntu printing - fixed

At the office the other day I noticed how the Feisty Fawn (Ubuntu Linux - April 2007 release) had fixed its printing. The 'Cups engine' just makes it easy to print. Another very good sign, IMHO, Ubuntu is ready for anyone who doesn't need to plat certain Microsoft games or other proprietary needs. At home it's our most stable (and oldest) machine.

btw, thanks to Mr Mandla, who helped me very quickly to identify the Lexmark Optra 321 driver for the Lexmark E232 (which incidentally cost me R699 (i.e. <$99) in South Africa) and works like a champ.

more earmarks

From Mays edition:
- I love the fact that Mark S won a rave award (well deserved and well written/photographed, check out the video)
- Worth checking out these delicacies, Marcels molecular gastronomy. I wonder if Marcels been reading about the kosher trend, check this out (America goes Kosher)! Marcel, get back to me please...
- Social network fatigue (from Jargon watch, how true... no need to define - mostly)
- Bartenbach LichtLabor artificial sky
- Instead of 15 minutes of sex, play 7 minutes of Wii tennnis to burn the same calories (lol)
- Parsons project still going strong
- Archos 704 wi-fi personal multimedia player - very nice, on my wish list

Open Source Software and Information Society for South Africa

Great news today - especially for me - as three years of work culminates in new National Government Policy. As reported on IOL, Parliament has accepted the Policy on Free and Open Source Software Use for South African Government. An exciting day for the future of South Africa. Phew... some relief!

It has five basic statements, each of which are important and have impact on information society:

1) The South African Government will implement FOSS unless proprietary software is demonstrated to be significantly superior. Whenever the advantages of FOSS and proprietary software are comparable FOSS will be implemented when choosing a software solution for a new project. Whenever FOSS is not implemented, then reasons must be provided in order to justify the implementation of proprietary software.

2) The South African Government will migrate current proprietary software to FOSS whenever comparable software exists.

3) All new software developed for or by the South African Government will be based on open standards, adherent to FOSS principles, and licensed using a FOSS license where possible.

4) The South African Government will ensure all Government content and content developed using Government resources is made Open Content, unless analysis on specific content shows that proprietary licensing or confidentiality is substantially beneficial.

5) The South African Government will encourage the use of Open Content and Open Standards within South Africa.

Some of the things that we worked on leading up to today:

2003/4 - We won the bid to develop the Policy recommendations for the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development on Open Source Software and the Information Society (2.8MB pdf packed with lots of research, insights into the economics and business models of Open Source, took a team some time). This forms the basis of the process in developing the new policy and provided a good basis for the next step.

2005 - Go Opensource Conference was held over two days in August at the Sandton Convention Centre. The campaign did a great job of contacting every government organisation in the country as well as representatives from academia, civil society and business. It's the first time I've been to a conference that's developed a declaration. Most of the content approved in Parliament over the past days, originates from the conference deliberations. Download the conference report here (pdf 464kB).

2006 - Working Groups on Free and Open Source Software were established as an outcome of the conference and for many months we tried to establish any committed projects. This step was largely unsuccesful. The project was abandoned in favour of supporting the next two steps (or different projects). See the http://wiki.go-opensource.org/wg/ for more info about the working groups and conference papers.

2006 - SANGONET (South African NGO Network) co-ordinated the Civil Society Petition to Government on Free and Open Source Software and Open Content, which hopefully assisted the process. Forty-eight South African NGOs endorsed the petition addressed to the Minister of Public Services and Administration.

2006 - Fortunately I had the opportunity to assist the Government IT Officers Working Group with the evolution of the final Cabinet submissions. (Linked to here soon)

It's really just a start. The strategy is a three year probably 5-10 year process and only then will part of it be completed. Government has made polcies before without sticking to them. This policy is a reflection of hope, of good intention and I'm excited to work with and continue supporting those few with a real commitment to these principles of openness. Well done!

Open Standards in SA - know the law

I'm sure you've reached a SA government site that breaks in your firefox browser. In 2002 I participated in a workshop at SITA to discuss the regulations on interoperability and I've recently got a bee telling me that it's time for an upate... Any champions out there, please get involved.

Here's some background...Published in the Regulation Gazette No. 7491 Vol. 449 of 2002, Ammendments to the Public Service Act states:
PART III. INTEROPERABILITY
A. PRINCIPLES
Building and continuously adapting minimum interoperability standards is necessitated by the quick obsolescence of information communication technologies, expensive nature of information communications technology products and services, and a myriad of non-compatible information communications technology products in the market. If interoperability is not carefully managed these factors can result in the public service investing in obsolete, expensive and non-compatible information communications technology products and services that impede effective service delivery. Mandatory compliance by all departments with minimum interoperability standards for the public service is essential for seamless and integrated service delivery.

B. MINIMUM lNTEROPERABlLITY STANDARDS
8.1 The Minister shall, after consultation with the Government Information Technology Officer Council (herein referred to as the “GITO Council”), issue Minimum Interoperability Standards (herein referred to as’ the “MIOS”) for the public service in the form of a handbook called the Handbook on Minimum lnteroperability Standards.
8.2 The MlOS shall include provision for standards and specifications for-
(a) interconnectivity;
(b) data integration; and
(c) information access regarding browsers and viewers.

Subsequent to the amendments to the Act the MIOS was developed. I attended a SITA workshop in 2002 where it was discussed and agreed.

Most recently an e-primer was released 29 june 2006 by IOSN, introducing readers to what and why they are important and explaining setting processes provides examples of policies (excl SA), initiatives and formats. It also addresses the challenges faced in implementing open standards.

At the establishment of the MIOS it was agreed that it needs to be extended and revised on a regular basis. I suggest that it's something that will have strong support from the GITOC and I am sure that SITA will be glad to facilitate the process again. If you want, I'm happy to assist by suggesting it through the GITOC OSS WG and/or through other individuals. Note: The MIOS is also mentioned in the FOSS policy docs (i.e. from the conference).