As smart phones are becoming more common, we all know the routine of entering someone's contact details into your phone..name, email, website, phone numbers etc.

One of the best projects which helps overcome a barrier to Open Source adoption is the Freedom Toaster which is a conveniently located, self-contained, computer-based, 'Bring 'n Burn' facilities.

The Freedom Toaster project began as a means of overcoming the difficulty in obtaining Linux and Open Source software due to the restrictive telecommunications environment in Africa, where the easy downloading of large pieces of software is just not possible for everyone. You can find out more here http://freedomtoaster.org

Seems I am behind the 8 ball these days with my blog posts...been a busy week...I was remotely assisting with Ubuntu Desktop training & troubleshooting for a  group in Northern Ghana in the Tamale region. 

 Mark & I were invited as guests on the "Let's Talk Geek" podcast as part of Software Freedom Day back on Sept 19th.  Here is the feed...
http://vimeo.com/15136714

It was a good time & lots of interesting conversation on a 'variety' of topics.  They have an impressive setup for recording and it was an experience to be live.

Thanks for the sharing the love...and its great to work together to promote Tech in ZA!

Its hard to believe that I have been in South Africa for a month already!!  I hit the ground running and took in Software Freedom Day which was in Pretoria a few days after my arrival.  Despite the jet lag, I had a great time and enjoyed the presentations.  We wrapped up the day as guests on 'Lets Talk Geek' video cast.  http://vimeo.com/15136714

Our last podcast was with Dwayne Bailey from Translate.org.za and I found the interview was very timely as I work towards expanding open source projects in South Africa.  

Being able to adapt to a new user's language requirements narrows the 'digital divide' considerably.  The project has translated key programs such as OpenOffice and FireFox to be available in the 11 official languages of South Africa.

 In our recent interview with Karl Fischer, one of the topics we touched on was brand recognition in relation to Linux adoption.

Back in the day when I started my IT career, Novell Netware was still a contender in the server room along side Unix.  

Today, there is still strong Novell brand recognition in government and business, Though they are basically closed source, in South Africa, organizations still have an affinity for Novell products. 

 While i was in Montreal recently, I took the opportunity to pay a visit to Canonical's office as I wanted to increase my knowledge of the business offerings which are available to Enterprise customers who choose the Ubuntu OS.

I started my IT career when Novell was the dominant name in the enterprise space and it is good to see other options emerging that complement & support choice in desktop operating systems.

 Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Jon Gosier,  the CEO of Appfrica, where he incubates and invests in East African entrepreneurs. Through my work with CrisisCommons, I was introduced to Swift River, the open source application which can be used to filter crowdsourcing information from sites such as Ushahidi.  Jon is part of the Swift River development team.

Last February I organized a CrisisCamp in Calgary, which took place in coordination with several other cities.  The focus was on developing apps that could be utilized real time during the Haiti earthquake crisis.

Recently I read through the writeup from iHUB Nairobi's RHOK (Random Hacks of Kindness) camp and it was kind of cool to see them also picking up on projects we had worked on such as the We have/We need project and the Haiti AMPs Network.