A few years back, in 2004, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno launched a Musicians' Union called Mudda to stand up for the rights of the musicians who were having their music stolen in the 'post-Napser' age of p2p downloads.  One of the taglines of Peter Gabriel's mission was the title of a confidential debate, How to compete with Free? As time has moved on the music industry has gained a few scalps by suing many organisations and individuals proactively sharing music over these peer to peer networks - the most recent casuatly being the Pirate Bay.

The initial victim of peer to peer sharing was the Music industry, but as bandwidth and disk space have got much cheaper, it has enabled users to share films and much larger files just as easily as downloading mp3s in the early days of Napster.  Rather than the industries going into meltdown, they've come up with innovative ways to get users accessing their information.  LoveFilm, Sporify and Last.fm are all solutions to the intial problem, however, as yet theyre not seen as 'perfect' solutions.  Too much power has been given to the consumer - the only problem is that it's only the industries affected who see this as a problem.

At the weekend's festivities at the Hop Farm Festival, I was lucky enough to watch 2 Many DJs play a set on the Sunday night.  Up til they I'd always been one for listening to pretty 'mature' music; mature as in age rather than maturity.  I grrew up with most of my Dad's music - and it's a good job he had good taste! :)   I'd never really 'gotten' the dance scene - loops and stuff were things that I did as a teen messing around on Software such as Sibelieus, Capella and Voyetra Midi Orchestrator.  Writing a drum beat and adding a synth track on top didn't sppear to be so hard.  However, with 2 Many DJs - these guys were remixing classic and modern tunes, and making them sound awesome together.  It wasn't just the music they were mixing, but they also had a monty-python-esque video screen with animated remixes of the original album covers blending into each other.

2 Many DJs have caught the essence of community and 'Creative Commons' in their approach to producing music.  They can use other people's tracks and beats in the way that software architects use difference software packages - put them all together and come up with their own unique packages.  It's a bit like lego - the blocks are all the same - but it's the way they are arranged that makes them unique.  If someone's already designed a car and you design a garage - doesn't it make sense for you to share your ideas to come up with a better model?  Needless to say I was looking at their music differently.

So when it comes to making money - if 2 Many DJs are simply remixing other people's work - where does the money change hands.  They remixed Michael Jackson, The Gossip, AC/DC, Daft Punk, Queen, amongst others - so how do these artists get paid?

When it came to the end of the night, I asked a mate who was familiar with 2 Many DJs how to get their tracks - can I buy a CD, or what if I want to do my own remixes.  His respose was that people simply download their music.  They like people remixing their stuff and want to hear more music made - so they actively support downloading via what most would say were illegal methods.  I need to get more information on whether this is 100% true, or just a 'laissez-faire' approach by the band rather than a pro-active promotion - but if it is true it's sure pretty.

So if 2 Many DJs can get round and survive giving stuff away free, then it's not a business model unique to the 'Open Source' world.  2 Many DJs have had plenty of success doing it, and get asked to headline at Gigs all over the world. When it comes to programmers, the high life of programming infront of thousands of people dancing to your programming isn't really a viable option (unless you're Air). So Open Source programmers have to sell 'free'.

That takes me back to the original question: How do you sell 'Free'

Since 2004 I've been successfully using Open Source Software to complete essays, do accounts, run websites, and update my mp3 player and listen to music.  I've been able to do practically everything I ever did using Windows - though much of it has involved alot of effort and a steep learning curve.  As time has gone on, the operating system I use, Ubuntu, has seriously improved its ease of use - up to a point when I can do a fresh install of ubuntu and know that I won't have to spent a few hours tweaking sound & video settings getting everything to work.  I know I can get it installed and all up to date in under an hour - and 90% of the software I use is already installed.  It also enables me to know the price of my computer.  Whereas before I was counting the cost in £s, I now count it in hours.

The problem is, that the majority of people count in £s.  OpenOffice.org may well be free, but thye've got to download and run an exe file - or even worse work out how to open a zip file.  Sure - to the intiated it's easy, but to the uninitiated they may just as well go and buy a CD and put it in the right hole for a little paperclip to tell them what to do.  That's life.

Free needs to be sold as simple.  We're getting there - but the truth of the matter is that people don't care.  As Rory Cellan-Jones commented earlier today regarding Google's Annoucement of 'Google Chrome OS'

but my point is that most people never choose to install an OS. they just live in a windows world. Only sophisticates choose..

That's the truth.  As much as people may like to choose Ubuntu or any other OS, to convert people they need to make a proactive decision.  Apple have solved that problem by generating some kind of cult following.  I'm not sure how they managed it - but the perception is that macs are easy and cool.  People don't mind the difficulty (or the price), when they know that the perceived view is that it's easy. No one wants to be seen as a fool.  Linux distributions are still seen as the realm of the geek, therefore it's not painful to claim it's too difficult.  When you're selling free - it's easy if people already want it.  If people don't want it already, then why should they want to want it?

I can't see Gnugle Linux (as I'm sure many of the FSF-ers would have liked it to be known as) being a massive break from the traditional Linux Distribution.  Microsoft probably think the same thing - Google might have a good team, but they can't design an operating system from a blank slate.  Google have already said they'll be using the Linux Kernel.  However, what they can do is implement HTML5 and CSS3 to enable the browser to draw.  Up til now, adding curves to a box in HTML meant using 4 pre-drawn graphics (or fewer if you were clever) - however, it still required a graphic to be placed upon a page - rather than drawn. Google are coming into the frame just as the 'browser' take over from the operating system.. and right now they're creating a hybrid as a means of migration from OS-based computing to browser-based computing.

Will Google OS 'Sell'?

If people want it - yes.  Right now Google have got to focus on marketing this as a viable alternative to the status quo - something that the traditional Open Source vendors have been unable to do through lack of capital, and a lack of ability to stand up to the false claims made by Microsoft.  However, the bigger battle is happening behind the scenes.  As was seen with OLPC v. Intel, the majority of decisions are made behind closed doors where representatives of Open Source Communities have never really stepped.  Google have been there before and have that extra arrow to their bow.  I just hope they don't turn into MS 2.0 in their quest for domination.

I'm looking to improve the way in which IT is used by the charity we're partnered with, and by the charity I work for directly.  Up til now there hasn't been much thought put into the organisation other than "We must backup" - which is a good enough place to start.. but not a means of providing a decent enough infrastructure to expand.

As regards the data we're storing on our own Laptops - I'm going to be moving much of the 'archive' data across to a NAS, which will rsync with remote servers for backup.  This seems like a sensible enough solution, and will a decent folder hierarchy is something that the guys working with me will understand.

However, the more complicated side of things is moving stuff which has traditionally been done on paper across to a computer-based system.  The initial period will be a hybrid of both paper and electronic records - so the two databases need to be congruent.  From my perspective, this makes it a bit easier as I already know all the fields required, and can link the field relationally where I can see a direct relationship.

My initial (and current) thought is to write a couple of django modules to deal with the database, as it's what I'm more familiar with regarding linking fields across multiple tables.  Using the django-admin modules, I can already see how much of the system would look.  However, there's also the case that this database will probably become the backend for more and more as the charity grows.

Currently we have paper records of all the orphanages.  Which couple are in charge, and a list of the 10 children in that home.  With the children moving between homes occasionally, linking the child to a particular home for a given time period seems the best way to store this data.

Currently, if a child falls ill then we have a 1st line health-care worker who takes the required details over the phone.  There are a few boxes that are filled in, and I'd like to be able to link this information with a child in the database.  This should be easy enough.  The system would then auto-email the healthcare worker after a given time (related to the feedback from the doctors regarding the illness) so that they can do a follow-up call.

I'm going to be working with a couple of doctors to make sure that the information we keep fulfils the medical needs - however, much of the stuff I want to collect will need encrypting, and I intend to make sure that the ACLs are set up correctly from the start.

I'm pretty wary regarding the application's security - however, I don't intend to implement it outside of our LAN, and should remote access be required, then a VPN can be set up to remote sites to allow access.

My questions are:

• Do you think that the approach I'm taking is a sensible one -as to keep the system as simple as possible and easy for both me and the Doctors I'm working with to understand?
• Do you know of a system which can already do this for me?
• Would you be interested in helping out with a system - it will be published under GPLv2?

Thanks for your time, and I look forward to your responses.

I thought I best write a short post on the announcement given on Wednesday, and pushed by Tom Watson MP - that the government are now going to be proactively supporting Open Source to lower costs in government.

The policy document is fairly basic to read, and fails to go into massive depth regarding what actions are actually going to be taken.  However, it is a 'policy' document, rather than an implementation document.  All change is a migration (you've got to be someplace else to move towards something) and I expect the migration to take some time.  However, there are some good noises coming out of the government - so here's hoping.

One of the things I've been most impressed with, is the aggregation of users comments as a method to gauge reaction to the announcement.  Using a netvibes page, the government are collating information from blogs, microblogging sites, and new sites, using the #ukgovoss tag.  It's a neat method, and one I hope they continue to leverage in the future.

However, the government have talked about collaboration and more 'open' co-operation before - the 'e-gif' framework.  Whilst essentially a good idea, it was also a prescribed way of forcing collaboration.  Hopefully this new method will help develop 'dynamic' collaboration.  Rather than prescribe a set of centrallised APIs, allow the community (of users/companies/officials) to help use their skills to develop methods over time.

One of the things that the document also touched on, but to a lesser extent as the 'freedom' of data. It recommends the use of ODF as a format for storing government data.  As a member of the OpenDocument Fellowship (albeit a very hands-off member) - I fully support the benefits of storing data in an 'open format' and no in a format which require reverse engineering for access - no matter how well the format has been reverse engineered.

Matt Asay recently wrote about the importance of Freedom of Information after the recent debacle regarding the change to Facebook's Terms of Service.  The thing that was most shocking about that episode was not the TOS themselves, but the apathy of the majority of users.  General End Users won't get pent up and passionate about freedom of data - it's a geeky topic.  However, like research into lower emissions, government should protect its citizens from the potential threat of closed data.

At the end of the day, it's a great announcement by the government in terms of increasing transparency in governement.  However, the point is moot if the current government continue to approve acts such as the one mentioned only a couple of days ago, preventing citizens taking photos of their army and police force.  As Francis Bacon so elaborately put it:

He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.

I don't admonish Tom Watson MP for his efforts regarding this policy document, however, there is a bigger question to be asked regarding recent events.  Hopefully I shall be proved wrong, and the independent counter terrorism review shall soon restore the level of freedom that my parents enjoyed.

It's a long title, but one that's going to become far more important to me as time progresses.  I got into System Administration via Open Source.  The philosophy is something that I really related to and believe.  A group of people contributing to each other using their own skills, to make the end result greater than the sum of all the parts.  Cheesy.

Open Code - so that if you do have a problem, it's easier to fix.

Open Standards - so that other people can link to your code without necessarily having to examine the source directly.

Open Documentation - so that other Sys Admins and End Users are able to work out how best to use the package to its potential.

Free Franchise. Odd one out?

There are sometimes projects that all of us have to complete that require premeditated infrastructure setup and integration.  One such example is with PCI DSS.  In order to fulfil the requirements of the specification, you need a minimum of three physical servers.  It's not explicitly stated in the specification (as that may change).  There are a number of things like this that require a high level of initial research, when if this knowledge is shared, can be replicated and used to minimise the total cost of a project quite dramatically.

There are a number of ways this is scalable outside of coding.  Massively so.

A couple of years back a friend of mine bought an Alpine Ski Chalet.  They're English.  When they moved over they got a British Architect to design a really nice bathroom for the chalet.  It was going to be a wet-room with tiled floors and mirrors embedded into the tiles.  It was a fantastic design and really suite the minimalism of the chalet.  However, when they showed their designs to the French Builder - he laughed.  "No, the building will move too much." - he said.  However, they went ahead and got this bathroom built, and sure enough, the tiles started cracking and falling off - as the wooden structure twisted and distorted under the snow in the winter, then returned to it's unladen shape in the summer.

The lesson that I'd learn from this, is that there's no point in trying to rubber-stamp an idea or solution onto anything.  Physical, medical or software.  You've got to tailor the solution to the individual instance - however, there are global rules you can use to help advise people doing similar tasks.  For example, the lesson above would teach a little to people wanting to tile chalets - DON'T!

Charities and NGOs often repeat tasks over and over again.  Hundreds of wells are built each year using repeatable principles and shared knowledge.  However, more often than not this shared knowledge is kept within a privileged circle - so that only those within the circle can benefit from the knowledge.  What the Internet does is to break down these circles and make the information freely available.  I'm fully aware that there are many to whom the information would be useless - but it gives everyone the potential to access it, with a much lower barrier than if it were kept in the original circle.

We need to start breeding a culture of sharing across charities.   I originally came across 'circuit riders' in 2006.. a group of tech support guys using their shared experiences to give charities better value help.   If a single person hadn't come across a problem before, the chances are someone else in the group had.  Now technology is the easiest place for this to start, as most of its already connected to the internet, and the people interested in technology are already literate in the ways of the web.  However, it doesn't take a genius to use a wiki (just look at wikipedia) - or a comments thread (youtube).  People know how to network (facebook) and get photos and information published (flickr, digg).  What we need to try and do in the coming year and beyond is to give the people who need it the loudest voice.

Peter Gabriel's Witness project, and more specifically 'the hub' is about giving a voice to the unheard people suffering from human rights abuses.  However, I don't want to focus on the negative.  I want to have information published which is useful to people who have little.  How to build a simple rope-ladder.. How to safely construct a staircase. . Get tutorials published and translated and make available to provide people with the tools necessary to release themselves from deprivation.  I don't know how to do it.  However, I'm sure that other people have better ideas and can be inspired.

One of the projects that I'm working on over the next few months is basic health posters.  I've been asked to create some and translate them to other languages.  We may think people know basic hygiene - but many don't.  It's important not to belittle or look down on people who don't - but give them the means to learn.  Things like 'don't eat raw chicken' may seem obvious to us - but to some people all they care about is getting something which they can eat.  This next year is going to be confusing for me (*as you can tell by the disconnectedness of this post) - there's so much to address.  However, once I have some direction I'll be able to address things one at a time rather than spewing out randomness like this post.

I hope you'll continue to read this blog, and follow me on my journey over the next few months (and possibly years)!

Thanks to listening to the #ubuntu-uk PodCast - I came across this little gem.

Pinax Project

It's a collection of reusable django apps - all designed to be reusable - together.

What this means?

This project needed a critical mass to get it off the ground.  Basically the way things are referenced across all the apps need to be the same.  There's no point having two reusable apps.. if they both require different ways of interfacing with the same object.  They break if one has 'name' as being fullname, and ther other requires name to have two separate name fields (for firstname and lastname).  You've then got to write a way of getting around this problem, which just increases as more features were added.

Well, the neat guys over @ pinax have started up a project on creating re-usalble apps that sing of the same hymnsheet - and they look awesome.  Having watched a presentation on youtube, the following phrase (quoted) stood out for me:

"If you want a man to build a boat, do not send him out for wood and nails, but teach him to yearn for the wide and endless sea." -Antoine St Exupery

It's really accurate for these kind of projects - writing reusable apps off some other guys prescribed instructions doesn't fill the heart with glee - but seeing what can be achieved by doing this makes you want to contribute.

So Cloud27 was born - it's a social network, but made up of the componenets developed on pinax - meaning you get to play with what you're about to download an integrate into your own project.

It looks really good, and there's a project I've been meaning to do which has been yearning out for a kickstart - I think this may have just done it!