Free Open Source Software
Hello, I have just received this link,"Government "committed" to using more open source" http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/public-sector/3239664/government-committed-to-using-more-open-source/?olo=email&no1x1 Many years ago the government asked the BBC to produce a series of programmes to provide some basic education about computers and computing. The BBC designed a small computer that could be programmed using either BASIC or machine code and use a variety of different functions and hardware connection ports. These computers were popular in schools, and many people who started with the BBC computers went on to become top programmers. The advent of school parent-governors brought criticisms that students knew about computers but needed further instruction in the use of business computers, so schools abandoned teaching about computers and substituted teaching the use of specific Microsoft packages. Microsoft was delighted to provide free copies to schools and their staff, and create lock-in. In the last few years there have been increasing numbers of complaints about this lock-in, and the government funded BECTA organization ceased to specify Microsoft packages, suggesting instead that schools should use computers. I recently heard that BECTA has been terminated. I attended two large seminars organised by Tony Blair under Chatham House rules at which representatives of many well known organizations, companies, universities, broadcasters, and other interested persons discussed how Britain should be introduced to the huge range of facilities available, but Tony Blair relied on the advice, etc, freely given by his friend Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft, so there were few changes. I believe that the UK education system has almost totally failed to teach the full use of computing power, substituting instead superficial use of a poor quality restrictive and expensive commercial system. Free top quality Unix compatible operating systems and associated software have been available for many years. Unix compatible systems present few problems for average users, but they are designed to be maintained by an administrator with some knowledge of the system. There are plenty of University level courses available, but very little practical help for new users, who are expected to dive in using just the documentation available. I have spent a long time trying to persuade Ealing council to provide facilities, but the "Adult Learning" department have indicated that they do not have a clue about the subject. Previous attempts to contact the Ealing general education department resulted in a similar response. I have been told that Ealing Technical Services do use Unix compatible systems, including BSD, Sun Solaris, and Linux. I met Margaret Mills who runs the Hanwell Community Centre and she was absolutely delighted at the prospect of a community based facility, but the centre was about to be closed for building maintenance. Ealing Council then decided to convert several of the biggest and best rooms to a computer learning suite, to be used by the council during the working day but it was to be specifically Microsoft Only. There are probably insufficient qualified tutors in the UK, but I believe that community based schemes providing shared facilities can help to provide new user assistance for all ages, advanced collaborative development, and a pool of expertise for commercial projects. I have received hardware for a community project from various donors including the Physics department at Imperial College, but have met apathy and ignorance elsewhere. The majority of large organizations use secure Unix compatible systems, and they are very well known throughout the rest of the world, but Britain has fallen well behind. I have heard about some community organizations around Birmingham, Bristol, and Sheffield that have permanent facilities and are doing well, and there are organized groups in London which can occasionally use facilities provided by universities, but there is a need for facilities that can be left partially configured at the end of the day, ready for further work later. I have given away hundreds of CD and DVD demonstration discs, and met many IT professionals running shops and businesses who have expressed an interest in learning about Unix compatible systems, but I am not able to give one to one instruction for all individuals on demand. I met a librarian working in Acton library who went to India for three weeks just to attend a Linux course because he could not attend one in England. A friend who visited China on business told me that the only computers he found that were running Microsoft were the airport flight information computers, and they had all crashed to blue screens. All other computers were running Linux. The Chinese are only interested in quality and reliability, not the cost (they do not pay anyway). I recently attended a joint GLLUG/UKUUG talk at UCL by Dr. Eng Lim Goh of SGI on the use of the SGI UltraViolet series of computers. There were several extremely high quality examples shown of computer simulations including high speed global weather changes, advance predictions of tornado locations, the effects of a tsunami hitting Tokyo, the electrical activity around a human heart, and the effects of a bird strike on a Rolls Royce engine, all using a single multi-core computer running a single copy of the standard Linux kernel. There is no other easily available system that could run these computers at any price. www.gllug.org.uk Three of the top twenty data centre providers in the world run on Microsoft, eleven on Linux, and the rest either BSD or unspecified. Linux runs over 80% of the top 500 supercomputer systems in the world, many standard computer, networking, and telephony products. It is generally secure and efficient, but because it is free there is no PR budget, little advertising, and no unofficial inducement to journalists or suppliers. The UK is generally ignorant of what is available, and is fed a superficial lightweight trivia diet rather than useful information. I am sure that the general public would be interested to see more about what is available to them as Free Open Source Software. I have a large wheeled rack that would accommodate the stack of IBM servers previously used as part of a large number cruncher in the Physics department of Imperial College, a Cisco router, and some other equipment previously used in education and business. The hardware from Imperial College was replaced by a larger and more powerful Linux cluster ready for work on the data arriving from CERN, but this country also pays to dispose of huge amounts of perfectly adequate computer hardware, often just because the installed operating system has become outdated and replaced by the equally restrictive latest version. I would be delighted to help set up a local community facility so that a self help group could learn more, but there has been little response other than apprehension, apathy, and ignorance. I have however been asked to help set up a facility in North Harrow. It will be further for me to travel, and little advantage to my near neighbours. My father was born in East Acton, and I have lived all my life in North Acton, my sister lives in East Acton.
Chris Bell ● 5846d0 Comments ● 5846d