really interesting sounding event at the BCS in London coming up for
those interested in public sector use of Free Software. Steve Lamb from
Microsoft is actually a nice chap, and there are speakers from the Free
Software Foundation, Canonical and Red Hat
On 22/03/12 10:36, Jane Morrison wrote:
Looking into the Future of HMG Desktop/Client side computing –
London 04/04/12
http://ossg.bcs.org/2012/04/04/
The BCS Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG) will be holding a detailed event
around the future of HM Government Desktop/Client side computing at the BCS
Central London Offices, First Floor, The Davidson Building, 5 Southampton
Street, London WC2E 7HA (http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/london-office-guide.pdf)
on Wednesday 4th April 2012, from 1000 to 1700 hours.
Rationale for this event
With HM Government looking with renewed vigour at its computer
systems and in particular what benefits open source may bring, this
event intends to take a detailed look at what HMG Desktop/Client side
computing may consist of in the near future. For example should it be
based primarily around web services where accessible would not be
platform dependent so that for instance Civil Servants can load whatever
operating system they like on to an HMG funded laptop. Alternatively
could the future follow more closely the success
(http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/limux-munich-linux-migration-project-
reports-success) of the City of Munich using the Limux operating system based
around Ubuntu Linux 10.10 or perhaps should some form of rigidly controlled
thin client system running off of blade servers be used.
Another possible way forward is through the use of what has been
termed the ‘Jigsaw approach’ where business applications are all fully
vendor independent of each other and can be swapped from one product to
another with relative ease. For instance one Office Suite or Browser
product might be used for say 6 months and therefore form part of the
HMG desktop for that period of time, but can easily be changed for
another product after that period of time.
This bookable event is free and open to all with buffet and refreshments. To
book a place to attend please email Mark Elkins at [email protected]
Speakers
Paul Adams, Strategy for migrating from Windows to the Free Desktop
Gerry Gavigan, Chair, Open Source Consortium (OSC),
http://www.opensourceconsortium.org
Chris Kenyon, Vice President, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Services,
Canonical http://www.canonical.com/about-canonical/overview/management-team
Steve Lamb, Open Source Strategy Lead, Microsoft UK.
Steve works with Open Source developers, communities and business
leaders to enable& encourage a growing ecosystem of Open Source
projects on Microsoft technologies including Windows Azure. Steve is a
technologist with solid business and communications experience who’s
worked at Microsoft for the last ten years with the previous ten being
specialised in UNIX. He thrives on breaking down unnecessary barriers,
working with amazing people to understand complicated problems and
helping communities be more successful. He has paid great attention to
cloud technologies (and social media) for many years. Steve has spoken
at major conferences around Europe including TechEd – he’s not “a
speaker” by trade.
Event Abstract: Hands up who’d like to use a computer that takes
forever to boot, is inflexible, obsolete and expensive? Anyone? No I
thought not! Sadly this is the reality for users of the current HMG
standard desktop. It really doesn’t have to be this way. My peers will
present a range of alternative Open Source platforms. Open Source runs
REALLY WELL on Windows Client, Server and in the (Azure) cloud. A
MODERN version of Windows can give a MUCH BETTER experience though
changing the desktop Operating System is only part of the solution.
Having a sensible configuration is critical. Keeping it up to date is
key. Keeping costs down is important. Freeing people to work HOW THEY
WORK BEST is critical.
LinuxIT http://www.linuxit.com/
Darian Lyons, Elefire, Ltd. London
Tariq Rashid, Lead Architect HOIT Technology
Solutions& Assurance, Home Office, HM Government, explaining the
“jigsaw” model and its suggested benefits.
Sam Tuke is UK Coordinator for the Free Software
Foundation Europe (FSFE). He has been using, developing, and promoting
Free Software since 2003, organised and spoken at conferences in Sweden,
Britain, and Germany, and is currently working on the Document Freedom
Day 2012 campaign for Open Standards.
Event Abstract: Public bodies in Europe and beyond are making use of
Free Software in a major way. From Munich City Council, to the schools
and universities of Brazil, to the local authorities of Belgium, Free
Software is providing new solutions in highly competitive public sector
markets. Sam will introduce the most interesting of these deployments,
and discuss why Free Software was chosen in each case and what benefits
it brought. The talk will conclude with an exploration of the advantages that
Free Software can offer to the British public sector.
Jan Wildeboer – Open Source Evangelist, Red Hat
Event Abstract: Building the New Now with Open Standards and Open
Source – After a short definition of terms we will go through the
history, present and possible future of solutions based on open
principles. We will revisit some of the early projects that have
worked and more importantly those that didn’t work to learn from
their failure.
-------------------------------------------------------
--
The Open Learning Centre is rebranding, find out about our new name and look at
http://libertus.co.uk
--
[email protected]
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
