Open-source system helps victims cope with disasters
,----[ Quote ]
| The Sahana Free and Open Source project was built over three
| weeks to help coordinate tsunami relief efforts in Sri Lanka by
| a group of volunteers from the Sri Lankan IT industry, in
| collaboration with IBM.
`----
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=42480
Get a load of this:
Working Linux Emergency Response System Undermined at Homeland Security by
Microsoft Lobbying
,----[ Overview ]
| LAMP is at the heart of Emergency Response Network Systems and is
| saving lives. But recently, Microsoft maneuvered into taking the system
| away from a Free Software vendor.
`----
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/57181/
Related:
Third World Software Could Have Role in Disaster Relief
,----[ Quote ]
| Version 2, released as free open source software for dealing with
| future disasters, allows the system to run on tablet computers, PDAs,
| mobile telephones and other low bandwidth small screen devices.
| Worthington says the developers are extending the system to help
| developing nations deal with a bird flu outbreak.
|
| [...]
|
| Worthington says the biggest barrier to Sahana's adoption is likely to
| be cultural, with western governments still grappling with the concepto
| f adopting open source software, and reticent to adopt software out of
| the third world. But he says a global pandemic would stretch the
| resources of all nations, creating a need for rapid dissemination
| of information and provision of temporary medical facilities -
| conditions similar to those prevailing during a natural disaster.
`----
http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;464014852
Meanwhile, the Gates Foundation is set to 'help' poor nations.
Gates Foundation's 'dirty secret'
,----[ Quote ]
| Mr Gates personal ideological view is that knowledge should be treated
| as property, and that the owners should always seek monopoly-rents
| (royalties) and he's said to direct the Gates foundation to mirror
| this ideology, harming the very people he is trying to help.
|
| [...]
|
| In my ideal world, we could turn Gates ideology into honest
| philanthropy, but I'm skeptical that a man who became the richest
| man on the planet via societal misinformation around the nature of
| knowledge is going to turn around any time soon.
`----
http://p2pnet.net/story/10944
,----[ Quote ]
| My background is finance and accounting....
|
| However, the Gates Buffet foundation grant is nothing more than a shell
| game in which control of assets for both Gates and Buffet remain the same.
|
| THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH BY THESE TWO WILL BE
| MUCH MORE MASSIVE BECAUSE THEY WILL NO LONGER HAVE TO PAY ANY TAXES.
`----
http://www.mail-archive.com/futurew...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/msg03323.html
Gates sold 100,000 Univision shares-SEC filing
,----[ Quote ]
| The foundation said it sold its remaining stake in Univision,
| which is in the process of being acquired by private investors,
| for an average of $35.34 per share in open market transactions.
`----
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsmlreuters.com:20070105:MTFH49951_2007-01-05_22-11-13_N05298823&type=comktNews&rpc=44
http://tinyurl.com/yll88p
Bill Gates lends cash to buy newspapers
$350 million to MediaNews
,----[ Quote ]
| Gates involvement has been very behind the scenes. In fact many of
| those involved in the deal didn'teven know he was one of the investors.
| It was carried out through the Gates Foundation, the world's largest
| philanthropy outfit.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33849
|
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