Older blog entries for Burgundavia (starting at number 153)

It seems I am know on Planet OpenStreetMap. I have also been elected as a Member at Large to the OpenStreeMap Foundation board.

Still travelling

I am still travelling in Germany with my brother. We are are planning to leave rainy Frankfurt this morning, to stay with a family friend in a little town called Lohr am Main.

I am off travelling for the next 4 weeks in South Africa, visiting family. If you need something from me during this time, expect a slow reply. I would love to meet as many South African Ubuntu, Linux and general Open Source people as possible, so if you want to meet up, mail me.

On the way, I am going to be visiting Frankfurt from the 13th through the 18th of August, so if you want to me up, drop me an email.

There will be an Ubuntu presence at LinuxWorld Expo, run by the marvellous people from Canonical. Do stop by and visit them at Booth 1526. However, as I said before, there is going to be no community booth.

Due to some miscommunications, it seems that Ubuntu will not have a booth at LWE SF this year as the .org pavillion is full. Sad as this is, I would like to thank all those who emailed me and asked if they could help. See you all in 2008!

Need something to do on in early August? Want to come help me run the Ubuntu booth at Linux World Expo in San Francisco? I am looking for volunteers a couple of volunteers to help me out. This is a great opportunity to meet some really amazing people and enjoy the high that is working a conference (I have done more than a few myself). The conference runs August 6-9 at the Moscon Centre.

If you can give me hand, drop me an email

Ubuntu Live is done, but I thought I would share a picture of me hard at work:
Photo by James Davidson, licensed under CC-by-nc-nd

Yes, I am at Ubuntu Live. Now I must sign off before my current state of inebriation catches up with me.

A lot of people are followers. Companies, being run by people, are no different. One of the most recent examples of this behaviour is the spate of Linux companies signing deals with Microsoft. With a few weeks we had Xandros, LG and Linspire all signed deals. It looked like that the growing tide of deals would overwhelm even the most steady CEOs and make signing a deal with Microsoft just part of running a Linux business.

That isn't going to happen.

Why? Within a few short days, Ubuntu, Mandriva and Red Hat have all said "No deal" (In Red Hat's case, this was a reiteration of a previous statement). The herd has changed direction. As with any herd, there will be a few breakaways, as Novell did last year when they signed their deal, but to all the other Linux companies out there, signing a deal will not be "just part of running a Linux business".

So, thank you Mark, Red Hat and Mandriva management. Your courage makes the world a safer place for all Linux companies and users.

I have previously shared my newest obsession and I thought I would showcase some of the amazing work that all of us Canadians have done, as there are some beautiful maps coming together across Canada.

Victoria, British Columbia

Calgary, Alberta

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Toronto, Ontario

Halifax, Nova Scotia

What is OpenStreetMap?

For those that don't know, OpenStreetMap aims to create CC-by-sa licensing maps of the entire world, creating the first truly Free set of geographic data that covers the entire world.

How do I get involved in OpenStreetMap?

You don't have to live in Canada to get involved, although you will earn brownie points if you do. If you are lucky and live in a part of the world that has Yahoo Imagery, then all you need is a web browser. For those that don't, you will need a GPS. Regardless, the The Beginner's Guide will get your started.

Is there a Canadian community for OpenStreetMap?

Absolutely. We have begun to build openstreetmap.ca and you can always visit our Wikiproject.

I just read Kevin Carmony's piece about the GPL v3 and unintended consequences. I do not have a opinion about his ideas but I did have this thought: Is Linspire planning a patent deal with Microsoft?

In the related thread on the Freespire Forums there is an interesting post.