Show Notes

Submitted by mark on Sat, 07/18/2009 - 20:27

Episode 39 (10-07-2011) - Nintendo 3DS, Unity, Google +, Java 7 & Centos 6

In this episode of OTE I rant about:

 Download here or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Episode 38 (11-05-2011) - Natty Narwhale, Google IO and Thunderbird to replace Evolution in Ubuntu?

In this short episode of OTE I chat about:

 Download here or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Episode 37 (23-04-2011) - SOGo the Exchange Killer? Google Africa Challenge and Google IO Extended

In this episode I chat about FOSS groupware solutions, the much touted Exchange killers and give my views on the latest one we have tested. I also chat about the Androud Africa Tour and the Google IO Extended event for Jozi.

 

Download here or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Episode 36 (30-03-2011) - Making Money From Open Source, Ubuntu Fail and More

In this episode:

Download here or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Episode 35 (7-03-2011) - Open Tech Exchange - Gigabyte Q1000C, Nokia and MS and Ubuntu One

Download episode 35 here or via our RSS feed

Episode 34 (22-02-2011) - Open Tech Exchange - Gigabyte Q1000C, Nokia and MS and Ubuntu One

In this episode:

Download episode 34 here or via our RSS feed

Episode 33 (25-01-2011) - Open Tech Exchange -Amazon Kindle, Android and Oracle, Wikileaks and Telkom

In this episode:

Download here or visit our rss feed.

Episode 32 (09-01-2011) - Open Tech Exchange - Genuine, Reliable and Stable!


In this episdode we chat about

 Download episode 32 here or use our subscribe to our rss feed!

Episode 31 (13-11-2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Interview with Erik Hersman from Ushahidi and iHub Nairobi, Kenya

In this episode I chat to Erik Hersman from the Ushahidi project and iHub in Kenya, Nairobi. The interview covers Ushahidi, iHub, differences between South Africa and Kenya and developments in Africa. 

Download episode 31 here or try our rss feed!

Episode 30 (10-11-2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Interview with Bonfac Witaba from the Centre for Youth Empowerment and Leadership in Kenya

Bonface Witaba is one of the founders of the Centre for Youth Empowerment and Leadership, a non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering youth through ICT to achieve Kenya 's Vision 2030 and Global Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In this podcast he talks about the challenges facing the youth in Kenya and how open source is helping achieve the organisations objectives.

Download Episode 30 here.  

Episode 29 (05-11-2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Interview with George and Petra from Inwent and the ict@innovation capacity building project

In this episode we talk to George and Petra about ict@innovation a capacity building programme which supports small and medium ICT FOSS enterprises in Africa and aims to encourage the growth of African ICT industries based on FOSS. George and Petra work for Inwent, a non-profit organisation sponsored by the German Federal government, who have partnered with FOSSFA to deliver the capacity building exercise in Africa.

The programme conists of three pillars: 

  • Pillar A - Aims to grow the understanding of FOSS in Africa and develop African business models around FOSS,
  • Pillar B - Aims to build skills and capacity in Linux administratration  and,
  • Pillar C - Aims to build capacity and skills in developing software and applicaitons in Africa

Pillar Bs train-the-trainer programme is aimed at  certifying participants in the  Linux Professional Institute Certificaiton so that they will be empowered to roll out training programmes in their own countries. Currently the training for East Africa is in progress. Programmes for Southern Africa and West Africa will be rolled out in 2011.

Open Source advocates who are in keen to participtate in these programmes should look out for the call for participants on the FOSSFA and ICT@innovation web sites.

Download episode 29 here.

Episode 28 (25-10-2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Changes at Oracle, Tech scene in Nairobi, Apple & Java, Cool software we like!

Mark & I chat about recent events in Open Source such as Oracle changing the landscape by launching its Android suit against Google, putting a price tag on Open Office (Star Office relabelled) Apple's move to deprecate Java.  I also discussed Enable Viacam. an open source program which allows disabled users to control the mouse by using head movements. Includes on screen keyboard as well.

Jobs on Java: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/22/jobs_on_java_for_mac/

Oracle Open Office Purchase: shop.oracle.com/pls/ostore/f

Mkahawa Cyber Manager: www.unwiretechnologies.net/index.php

Enable Viacam: http://eviacam.sourceforge.net/eviacam.php

iHub Nairobi: http://www.ihub.co.ke/pages/register.php

Apple's Launchpad? http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/

Download  episode 28 here

Episode 27 (02-10-2010) - Interview with Evans Ikua Linux Professional Association Kenya Chair

In this podcast Mark talks to Evans Ikua, Linux Professional Association of Kenya Chair and owner of open source business consulting firm Lanet. In this interview Evans tells us about:

  • Linux adoption in Kenya,
  • Challenges faced by open source service providers in Kenya and how the LPA helps and plans to address these,
  • How Kenya's progressive telecoms policy, together with increase international bandwidth availability has lead to an explosion in internet penetration and cell phone development innovation in Kenya.

Some of the links from the show:

 Download episode 27 here.

Episode 26 (3008-2010) - Interview with Dwayne Bailey from Translate.org.za

In this episode we talk to Dwayne Bailey from Translate.org.za about the importance of internationalisation/localisation of applications, the challenges faced by developers and translators and why open source is uniquely positioned to allow users to adapt applications to their language.

Dwayne provides us with insights into the translation process, how best to go about translating an application and generally inspires with his passion for language. 

Translate.org.za has contributed pootle, an online translation management tool, to the open source community and is currently used by the open office team amongst others to facilitate translation.

Download episode 26 here

Episode 25 (19-08-2010) - Interview with Karl Fischer, Open Source Migration Lead with South Africa's dept of Science & Technology. 

Karl shares his insights about migrating gov't departments to an Open Source platform and the importance of 'brand recognition' even within Linux distros.  

As the organizer of the Software Freedom Day in Pretoria, Karl also gave us a run down on the schedule of events for Sept 18th.

It was great to hear from someone who bridges the gap between the hard core Linux tech and needs of a business or gov't organization.

Download the podcast here

Episode 24 (02-07-2010) - Interview with John Gosier of Appfrica based in Kampala Uganda. 

Darlene chats with Jon regarding several projects he is involved in currently.  They include the development of the SwiftRiver , a crowdsourcing technology which complements apps such as Ushahadi by acting as the verifying filter for different channels.

As Appfrica matured, it led to the donation of its existing office space to help establish Hive CoLab, a tech incubator in Kampala.

Recently announced in conjunction with the US State department, Apps4Africa contest is a collective effort to support young developers as well as improve the quality of life in African countries in ways that can be accomplished by software.

We also touch on CrisisCommons and the use of crowdsourcing technology, along with highlighting some of the apps that were worked on during the Random Hacks of Kindness in Nairobi at iHUB.

Download Episode Now

Episode 23 (17-07-2010) - Interview with Ross Addiss - Gauteng Linux User Group Chairperson

In this episode Mark interviews Ross Addiss from the Gauteng Linux User Group. We get some interesting insights into the Linux skill shortage in South Africa and Impi Linux 

Download Episode Now 

 Episode 22 (17-07-2010) - Darlene and Mark Chat about Crisis Commons, the warped logic of the business world, Dell and Initiatives in Africa 

In this episode Darlene and I chat about Crisis Commons, the dangers of cloud computing and the behaviour of corporates. Interesting that we talk about Dell's quick modification of the Ubuntu page and a few days later, the news breaks that the company and its founder have been fined for accepting 'exclusivity payments' from Intel.  This might also be the case with MS vs Ubuntu.

Also check out Silicon Cape, Apps4Africa, Fixed in Uganda

Download ote-episode-22-2010-07-11.mp3

Episode 21 (20-06-2010) - Interview with ThePenguinTrail.org Organisers Veera Uusoksa and Armi Korhonen 

We chatted with the 2 ladies from Finland who are planning the Cape to Cario trip.  Veera Uusoksa and Armi Korhonen tell us what inspired them to start the Penguin Trail initiative.  Good discussion regarding the challenges of managed bandwidth and the need to download all extra software packages to work with distros etc.  They are considering a freedom toaster on the bus to help address this challenge along with encouraging people to make a copy of ISO's

Links:http://www.thepenguintrail.org/

Direct Download - OTE episode 21

 

Episode 20 (13/06/2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Interview with Alastair Otter, Editor of Tectonic.co.za


In this episode we talk to Alastair Otter, founder and editor of Tectonic, the only ZA news site dedicated to issues relating to open source in South Africa and Africa. Alastair trained as a journalist and started Tectonic 5 years ago. A year ago the site went on hiatus and now its back for which the open source community is grateful.

 In the interview we chat about the challenges facing open source in South Africa and Africa and what can be done to improve open source penetration in the continent.

 Links:

 
Direct download: ote-episode-20-2010-06-14.mp3
  

Episode 19 (31/05/2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Interview with Jhoanna Rosales of Vertmonde E-recyclers in Quito Ecuador

Darlene chats with Jhoanna Rosales about launching the first e-recycling business in Quito Ecuador.  Vertmonde plans to refurbish slightly older PC's and load Linux onto them for redistribution on public projects. Jhoanna's background as an environmental engineer gave her first hand insights on how e-waste was not being properly disposed of in Quito's landfills.  The program also contains a public education component as well.

Download episode 19 here

Episode 18 (16/05/2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Patent Absurdity, Humble Indie Bundle,Challenges in Kenya and Ubuntu hate

In this episode of OTE, Darlene and Mark discuss 

Download episode 18 here

Episode 17 (12/05/2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Interview with Bruce Byfield regarding sexism in FOSS

Accusations of sexism in the community have been around for years. Why did it suddenly become an issue in 2009? Why isn't it going away? And why should you care as a member of the community? Bruce and I chat about both sides of the debate.  Interesting to hear about the reactions both positive & negative

Bruce presented at Cossfest 2010 in Calgary - View 

He is a freelance journalist who covers free and open source software. http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield/

New York Times article "left out in the cold"

Download episode 17 here

Episode 16 (21/03/2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Novell Developments & Interview with Jacob Odame from 1VILLAGE Ltd in Ghana.

Mark & I chat about the proposed buyout of Novell and have a great interview with Jacob regarding his upcoming youth training program for ICT technicians

Information is Power and Power Corrupts - Mark's Perspective

Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA) - South Africa

Financial Intelligence Centre - SA monitoring of your bank account

 1Village Ltd

Bringing appropriate information technology solutions to rural Africa

www.1village-africa.com/about.php

Download episode 16 here

 

Episode 14 (21/02/2010) - Open Tech Exchange - Wii, Accessibility, GNome Shell and Javascript

 In this episode we chat about game consoles and which one is best for a "light" game player.

 Darlene gives us some insight into accessibility in Gnome and Mark discusses his experience with Gnome Shell and whether Javascript will be the language that allows ordinary users to develop applications. Interesting javascript links

 

Sorry for the poor audio quality - the SAT3 cable connecting South Africa to the rest of the world has had some "issues".

Download episode 14 here.

 

Episode 13 (14/02/2010): Crisis Camp Calgary, NoSQL and Windows 7 Impressions

In this episode of Open Tech Exchange, Darlene and I discuss

Download Episode 13 here.

 

Episode 12 (31/01/2010): Mdadm, Drupal and Crisis Camp Calgary

In this, somewhat rambling episode, we discuss:

  • mdadm woes with the SS4000e Nas,
  • drupal module development and "mandatory" optional modules
  • chromium - the google browser, now in Ubuntu repositories,
  • crisis commons - Crisis Commons and the  planning of Crisis Camp Calgary, and
  • apple ipad and the sun oracle deal.

Download episode 12 here

 

Episode 11 (24/01/2010): Video cards, drivers and video editing in Linux as well as Mobicents

In this episode of OTE  we chat about video cards and drivers in Linux, as well as video editing applications. We also briefly chat about the open source voip platform Mobicents.

Sites of interest for the video editing applications:

The home page for the mobicents project can be found at http://www.mobicents.org/

Download Episode 11 here

 

 Episode 10: Debian ARM on the SS4000e and Tech in Education

In this episode, the first for 2010, I chat about my experience with embedded Linux, installing on the Intel NAS server and Darlene shares her thoughts and experiences on tech in education.

Debian Installer - The debian installer home page. The image I used to install Linux on the NAS

Debian Installer Documentation - special entry on the SS4000e

Download Episode 10 here

 

 Episode 8: Capacity Building with FLOSS

 This week, our guest, Marc Lepage, who is the Country Manager in Uganda for IICD joins us for a frank discussion on the use of  appropriate technology to build capacity in country.  Having experience working on sustainable projects in the area of ICT for development. Marc shares his insights with Darlene & Mark, and discusses when FLOSS is a suitable option.  In particular, we were introduced to the open source support centres listed below

www.eacoss.org/  The East African Center for Open Source Software (EACOSS)

http://www.ma3bar.org  The Arab Support Center for Free and Open Software

www.osrc.org.pk/  Open Source Resource Center - Pakistan

 download episode 8 here

 

 Episode 7: Catching Up - Open Source stuff

After a bit of downtime, Mark and I got back together to catch up on life in the open source world.  Both of us have been immersed in some cool projects and now are finally catching our breath.

Mark has been configuring and hacking away on some IP tables and routing, all based on the flexiblity of Linux.  We talked briefly about the key points that Mark found interesting and are planning to dedicate a future podcast to the topic.

I have been away in Ecuador, working to raise the profile of open source in education.  Having mandated the use of Open Source software in education and public ministries, Ecuador is looking to take the next step forward.  It was encouraging to be able to focus on migration strategies instead of comparing merits vs proprietary solutions,

We look forward to having future interviews with various members of the open source community and sharing some technical insights as well.

Download episode 7 here

 

 Episode 6: FLOSS in Ghana. We speak with Fred Yeboah from the Kofi-Annan Center for ICT Excellence

As we speak with people around the globe who are involved in Open Source, it is incouraging to see programmes that work to enhance core capacity in the ICT sector of Ghana.  At the Kofi-Annan center, they have a project i2CAP (I too can programme) that builds programming skills among students in Senior Secondary Schools. Fred discusses this in our interview along with his experience of transitioning from proprietary software to open source solutions. 

www.aiti-kace.com.gh/ - Kofi-Annan Center Ghana

Download episode 6

 

Episode 5: Interview with Teddy Nyambe from the Open Source Zambia Initiative.

In the 5th episode of OTE Darlene and I talk to Teddy Nyambe, a open source advocate working to see FLOSS adopted in Zambia. 

http://www.opensource.org.zm - Open Source Zambia Initiative's Home Page

http://www.iicd.org/projects/zambia-oszi - International Institute for Communication and Development, sponsors of the Open Source Zambia Initiative

Download episode 5 here
 

Episode 4:  Browsers Wars and Mobile Development

In this episode we give our views on the latest happenings in the browser market and we discuss the pros and cons of mobile applicaiton development. Some links that are relevant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers - Browser market share

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10245339-37.html - Apple Iphone market share

Download episode 4 here

 

Episode 3: What's up with the take down notice & MS code contribution?

Our 3rd episode discussion points were varied indeed!  We shared our opinion on whether the take down notice that Mark recieved was indeed valid, and why was this Orwellian approach was taken, instead of going to the source of the website in Russia.

We also spent some time discussing the source code that Microsoft had recently contributed to the open source community and the implications of this.  Should the community devise a strategy for future interaction with Microsoft? As well, given that they were pursuing patent issues with Buffaloe, it seems that they give with one hand and take with the other.

We concluded with a brief discussion on CMS's such as Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress vs traditional web design tools such as Dreamweaver and other Adobe products.

Darlene also touched on a podcast she had listened to about OpenEMR, the open source medical records database program.  It was good to hear from an end user (in this case a pediatrician from New Mexico)  www.hackerpublicradio.org/eps/hpr0405.mp3

Download episode 3 here

 

Episode 2: Google's Chrome OS

In our second episode, we discuss the potential benefits and functionality of the Google's Chrome OS.  We focus on the synergies we see between FOSS and the Chrome OS, including better driver support for main stream peripherals and the increased awareness of Linux in general through market recognition of Google.

As well, cloud computing came up in the discussion and we spoke on the impact of web based applications and the changing demands of users/workers to have more mobility.

As with all concepts, there are pros and cons to having your information out on the cloud, hosted and pursued by a third party. We hope you enjoy the show, and we welcome your comments and feedback (July 2009)

Download Episode 2 Here

 

 Episode 1: Mono, Java and FOSS applications in Education.

In this, our first episode of Open Tech Exchange, we discuss Richard Stallman's post on Mono and why Java is the way to go for Linux Desktop development and great open source software to use in education.

The podcast can be found  here.

Home