Canadian Greens add FOSS to election platform
,----[ Quote ]
| Thanks to a founding member of Free Geek Vancouver, the Green Party of Canada
| has quietly become the first major political party in Canada to make support
| for free and open source software (FOSS) part of its election platform. Like
| officials in the Green Party of England and Wales, deputy leader Adriane Carr
| sees the move as compatible with basic Green ideas, but IT consultant Neil
| Adair also points out the move serves the practical purpose of helping the
| party match the technical resources of more established parties.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/120280
The Green Party in the UK called Microsoft's involvement in OLPC "unacceptable
bribery" (see below). After the developments in Nigeria, who was right and who
was wrong?
Related:
Green Party slams Microsoft OLPC involvement
,----[ Quote ]
| "Microsoft wants to restrict the greatest profits in the knowledge economy
| to already established software corporations like itself.
|
| "By installing its programs on these laptops Microsoft hopes to create
| market domination and vendor lock in. That is unacceptable bribery.
`----
http://www.infomaticsonline.co.uk/vnunet/news/2170267/update-green-party-labels
Tories want open source Whitehall:
,----[ Quote ]
| The government could save more than £600 million a year if
| it used more open source software, the shadow chancellor has
| estimated.
|
| George Osborne said the savings would cut 5% off Whitehall's
| annual IT bill.
|
| He called for a more "level playing field" for all software
| companies, and urged "cultural change" in government.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6430069.stm
Why pay thousands to restrictive software companies when open source programmes
are free, easy to use and green?
,----[ Quote ]
| This week, the Greens have joined together with Friends of the Earth, New
| Internationalist, People and Planet and the Free Software Foundation to call
| on other social and activist groups to reject Microsoft's Vista operating
| system and encourage the use of free software.
`----
http://www.newstatesman.com/200708280002
Social Activists and FSF Condemn Microsoft Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Peter Brown, FSF's executive director, said, "Free software is an issue of
| free speech when we depend upon our computers for social activism and
| political campaigning. Freedoms that we have been defending so vigorously for
| so long are being handed away through the adoption of software that restricts
| user freedom."
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/linux/11511/social-activists-fsf-condemn-microsoft-vista
UK Greens connect to free software
,----[ Quote ]
| Still, he concludes that "awareness within the party is definitely
| building. I've even had people email me asking how to start
| migrating to Linux."
|
| Outside the party, Chance mentions that he is "constantly
| surprised by how many people outside the IT world have heard
| of Linux, and understand that Firefox is more than
| just another browser."
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/117245
Member of Parliament Patrick Harvie Talks to KDE
,----[ Quote ]
| In answering a question about how we can use the political process more he
| describes how Microsoft had a government conference in the Scottish
| Parliament on the day of Windows Vista's launch. There Bill Gates could tell
| governments that Windows is the norm. He tried to organise a counter
| conference on the same day but there was no room. However such an event could
| be organised in parliament and he says MSPs and civil servants would turn up.
|
| Asked about use in education he said it was utterly wrong to teach children
| there is only one product in the market. However schools are very reluctant
| to even give use of a different browser. In education he thinks school
| children should have at least one experience of collaborating on free
| software.
`----
http://dot.kde.org/1184072113/
Vista gets slated - by the Greens
,----[ Quote ]
| The Green Party has slammed Microsoft and it's forthcoming operating
| system, Windows Vista, in a withering attack on the company's "monopoly".
|
| Microsoft not only takes criticism for allegedly environmentally
| unfriendly policies, but for attacking civil liberties.
|
| The party claims that "Vista gives Microsoft the ability to lock
| you out of your computer," and that "Microsoft are determined not
| to play fair" in the video content market.
`----
http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/news.php?id=107813
Report: Linux, open source greener than Windows
,----[ Quote ]
| A new report from the U.K. Office of Government Commerce about Open
| Source Software Trials in Government, has found that servers running
| Linux could combat the rising problem of e-waste because they last
| up to twice as long as machines running Windows.
`----
http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid39_gci1246762,00.html?track=sy184
http://tinyurl.com/38cge3
The [UK] politics of open source
,----[ Quote ]
| There's been a suggestion of a shift towards open source in the
| houses of government in the UK recently, with the Conservative
| Party promising to promote open source if elected and the incumbent
| Labour Party releasing the code behind its new carbon footprint
| calculator under the General Public License.
|
| [...]
|
| PlaidCymru.org
| Apache on Linux (moved from Windows today)
|
| [...]
|
| SDLP.ie
| Apache on FreeBSD (moved from Windows today)
`----
http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os/archives/2007/07/the_politics_of.html
|
|
