[okfn-discuss] non google non microsoft

Fri Nov 29 23:53:17 UTC 2013

Well, I agree: listing tools is merely a first step. It will not enhance 
things as such.

What about publishing a blog serial on software replacement? It sounds 
as a good way to answer the very pragmatic needs of organisations 
(finding quickly a simple and efficient replacement to an unreliable 
tool). We could address the main issues of digital management: mail, 
mailing list, conf call, online collaborative tools, and the like...

If a proper replacement does not exist (that's most likely for Hangout), 
the serial would still serve to identify an important lack in Free 
software. Perhaps, that could work as an incentive to satisfy this 
demand. Given the current state of discredit of proprietary software, 
companies and institutions are somewhat likely to fund alternative free 
versions.

PCL

Le 29/11/13 23:30, Tim McNamara a écrit :
> Listing tools is not going to help much yet.
>
> I would like this discussion to focus on the second part of PM-R's 
> email, discussing how to spread a culture of open source within the 
> OKF. He mentioned hackathons, but there are many things we could do. 
> Let's list those.
>
> Google and others have been very successful at building ecosystems of 
> products which are highly reliable, easy to use and easy to discover. 
> We need to make sure that we have enough social infrastructure to 
> support the adoption and continued use of a useful toolset. There are 
> actually many viable alternatives to well-marketed, closed software. 
> The difficult part is building workflows and practices within our 
> distributed organisation to make use of those tools.
>
> The OKF has actively made successive decisions to use non-open tools 
> to promote openness. I don't believe there is any maliciousness about 
> this. The use of Google Docs, Skype, Meetup.com, etc has been driven 
> due (IMO) to 1) ease of use to people new to open culture and 2) 
> efficiency gains.
>
> In order for the OKF to continue to make openness accessible to people 
> outside of its community, it needs to be welcoming. How can we remain 
> welcoming to people who encounter unfamiliar systems? Getting everyone 
> to use MediaWiki has been tried wiki.okfn.org <http://wiki.okfn.org> 
> continues to languish.
>
>
>
> Tim McNamara
> @timClicks <http://twitter.com/timClicks> | timmcnamara.co.nz
> <http://timmcnamara.co.nz/>
>
>
>
> On 29 November 2013 12:21, Gene Shackman <eval_gene at yahoo.com 
> <mailto:eval_gene at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>     "(please don't answer in this thread)"
>
>     Yes, a separate discussion of non google non MS. Perhaps there can
>     be a discussion on the future of the OKF?
>     Gene
>
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     *From:* Peter Murray-Rust <pm286 at cam.ac.uk <mailto:pm286 at cam.ac.uk>>
>     *To:* Open Knowledge Foundation discussion list
>     <okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org <mailto:okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org>>
>     *Sent:* Thursday, November 28, 2013 6:07 PM
>     *Subject:* Re: [okfn-discuss] Help shape the future of the Open
>     Knowledge Foundation
>
>     This is an important issue. I use Googlemail and I don't feel
>     comfortable. I don't use FaceBook or most social sites. I do use
>     Microsoft technology and have taken their money (and have given my
>     apologia
>     http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2010/05/13/should-i-work-with-microsoft/
>     - many of you will disagree with me). I eat meet, but I would go
>     to jail rather than be conscripted into the armed forces.
>
>     We all have a spectrum of values, and everyone's is slightly
>     different.
>
>     What I would find useful is a collation of non-open infrastructure
>     and possible alternatives, with informed commentary. For example,
>     is there a viable alternative to Word , Excel, .etc. ? (please
>     don't answer in this thread). And an indication of the effort
>     involved. Could we have hackathons where we showed each other
>     better ways of doing things and had support groups?
>
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