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Staying connected a mile high

A few weeks ago the thought of being as connected in the air as you are on the ground using onboard broadband and mobile phones looked like a definite no-no.

The alleged bomb plot in Britain prompted heightened security and temporary bans on the use of electronic devices on some flights. It also made airlines and technology providers reassess their plans to turn the aeroplane cabin into a mobile office.

But experts say connectivity - already a reality for passengers on Scandinavian, Singapore and other airlines with broadband - will continue to be important to travellers and to carriers as a point of difference in their fight for market share.

Now Qantas (http://www.qantas.com.au) has announced it will trial mobile telephony on one of its Boeing 767 aircraft on domestic routes next year.

Qantas group general manager, customer product and service, Lesley Grant, says business travellers are demanding connectivity, especially email access, so they can use their travelling time more effectively.

Email will be available on GPRS-enabled handheld devices such as the BlackBerry and smart phones as well as laptops with a network card at dial-up speed. Calls and text messaging will be possible on GSM phones with global roaming accounts during flights.

Calls will be billed by each passenger's own telco in line with international roaming rates, according to Qantas. CDMA and 3G phones will not work during the trial.

Mobile phones will connect to a mini-base station on board the aircraft known as a picocell. This will pass calls through a satellite connection to ground-based mobile networks via a gateway in Norway. The picocell controls the power output of the mobile phones and throws a low radio frequency blanket over the cabin to prevent handhelds from interfering with the plane's navigation instruments as they try to connect to base stations on the ground.

The three-month trial will be conducted with Telstra and avionics companies to ensure the technology fulfils regulatory and customer expectations.

In 2007, Qantas will receive the first of its Airbus 380 fleet. According to OnAir, a joint-venture between Airbus and transport communications company SITA, the fleet will be equipped ex-factory with the picocell and a high-speed wireless network to provide full broadband internet access to Wi-Fi enabled laptops, PDAs and mobile phones. OnAir will retrofit the system to older aircraft next year.

Full story at SMH

Linux wins over new fans

While it is hard to estimate how many everyday users have defected from Windows or Apple software to join the open-source movement, Ubuntu (pronounced oo-boon-too) has emerged as one of the Linux desktop packages of choice for those looking for a basic desktop alternative.

Open-source software generally refers to programs such as Linux and Firefox where the source code can be modified upon the request of users or other developers.

Researcher IDC recently surveyed more than 5000 developers from 116 countries, and found the use of open-source software to be "pervasive, used by almost three-quarters of organisations and spanning hundreds of thousands of projects".

Government IT departments looking to cut costs associated with proprietary packages software are also being encouraged to embrace open-source software and, last week, India's communist-run Kerala state announced plans to reduce Microsoft's dominance in schools by promoting the use of Linux.

Popular flavours of Linux include Red Hat and SUSE and, while these are gaining traction at the enterprise level, a strong belief persists that the operating system is not ready for ordinary desktop users.

To set itself apart, Ubuntu markets itself as "Linux for human beings" and, while those who have joined the movement praise its easy installation and the range of pre-packaged software, James Dumay, a member of Sydney Linux User Group, said it hadn't always been the case.

"Until recently Linux desktop applications were not ready for consumption by the general public because a lot of people were writing a lot applications to do various tasks and these didn't conform to any one standard. This caused problems with usability and inconsistency across applications," he said.

However projects such as GNOME have introduced new guidelines to ensure consistency across common desktop operations, he said.

Ubuntu can be downloaded or shipped in disk format free to users. Also bundled with the OS is the OpenOffice software suite (which includes word processor, presentation and spreadsheet applications), the Firefox browser, email and instant messaging tools, media player software and support for a wide range of peripherals such as webcams and printers.

However not all popular applications are available out of the box, especially when it comes to graphics and gaming. Although users can choose from an enormous range of applications for the OS, such as image-editing program The GIMP, or Cedega for running PC games on top of Linux, these must be sourced and downloaded individually.

Full story at SMH

Vic govt ZAPPs largest open source project

The Zope Amendment Production Platform, or ZAPP, is a repository for every planning scheme in the state, according to the project's manager Sharon Tyrer. ZAPP houses all documents relating to town planning schemes, and the legislative process that amendments, such as district re-zoning, go through.

"We didn't have any systems for ZAPP [but] literally a manual system where we updated Word documents and burnt them to CD," Tyrer said.

Presently, Lotus Notes is the DSE's preferred program for smaller applications and the management tracking system.

"We did have Quickplace-based system called EDe but it didn't store planning schemes and had limitations on number of users so the system fell down. People stopped using it and went back to sending files through the post."

As its name indicates, ZAPP is built on the Zope open source application server, which is developed with the Python programming language.

Although at the forefront of open source software adoption by encouraging government-funded organizations like Multimedia Victoria and Open Source Victoria, the state's DSE has quietly been working on ZAPP for the past two years.

"The first business case was done in November 2000 which identified the need to develop a system to look after document flow," Tyrer said. "In 2001 we decided to go with Zope and it was a bit of a fight to get that through because we didn't use much open source technology at the time."

The DSE had contracted Zope Corporation to do the custom development but after performing an initial scope, the company pulled out of the local market in 2002. After going to tender, the DSE chose Melbourne-based open source service provider Obsidian Consulting as its development partner for ZAPP.

"ZAPP takes everything through and stores it at each different legislative process and date-stamps everything at each point, taking snapshots of every planning scheme so people can look at how it has changed," Tyrer said.

The project, going since 2003 with Obsidian, will officially finish development this week.

The actual go-live date is set for February 2006 when over 800 planners and administrative staff across the state will access a repository of 82 300MB planning schemes and an amendment rate of 500 per year.

"We literally went from nothing two years ago to quite a lot of open source technology here," Tyrer said.

"The main programmers are using python, we also use a few other programs, like Kupu, for editing documents and a combination of three open source programs for generating PDFs."

Overall, ZAPP comprises seven major open source applications and is hosted on Linux. Two new dual-core AMD Opteron systems will be purchased to increase the hosting from two boxes to four when ZAPP goes live.

"Notes is the preferred content management system in DSE, but there was no way Notes could do it," Tyrer said. "Notes couldn't handle the workflow because the process is too complex. It also couldn't handle the production of legislative documents [or] generate [those] documents accurately for us." In the absence of an off-the-shelf product for DSE's requirements, Tyrer said ZAPP had to be a custom solution.

"Zope has no licence fees, is all Web based, and has so many benefits across the board," she said. "The licensing problem could have been a big one for councils, but with ZAPP we have removed that obstacle; $1.2 million is quite cheap for what we have got."

Despite initial concerns from the IT department about using an unknown program, Tyrer said both the previous and current CIOs have been "fantastically supportive" of the ZAPP project, which she hopes will be a beachhead for further deployments.

"Open source is not as well received as I had hoped but it's building momentum," she said. "We're looking at extending open source usage [but] still have to convince people that think if you don't have to pay for [something] it's no good."

Tyrer said Zapp has "opened doors" as to what the DSE can do with software and is now getting the strategists together to develop a "cohesive IT plan".

"It's a snowball effect and will replace the amendment tracking system [now] in Notes and hopefully take over online publishing of planning schemes," she said, adding the business cases for those projects are being developed.

With funding approval, the DSE will develop a more advanced planning schemes online system for public access and integrate the Web site - which still requires manual updating - with Zapp in 2006.

In keeping with the free software ethos, the DSE will also release ZAPP as an open source project "within reason" in August next year, making it available for download under the Obsidian licence.

"ZAPP could be used for anything - anywhere there is content - as it publishes really well," Tyrer said. Tyrer praised Obsidian's work on ZAPP, describing it as "absolutely brilliant".

"We are employing a small, growing company and sending money back into the state," she said. "It's a win-win situation and I don't think we could get it done any cheaper."

So far Tyrer hasn't had any interest in ZAPP from the other states but said that should change once it is better understood.

The Zope Amendment Production Platform (ZAPP) at a glance

- Australia's largest open source business/government project

- Two years of development by Melbourne-based Obsidian

- Cost $1.2 million

- Made up of python, Zope, Kupu, rsync, and other open source software

- Over 24GB of initial data and 500 amendments per year

- Thousands of pages of content

- Used by over 800 planners and administrators across Victoria

- Hosted on Linux and AMD Opteron systems

- Will be released as an open source project

Source: Lunixworld

NZ Government adopts Plone OSS content management system

State Services Commission Deputy Director for ICT Laurence Millar said today that the SSC was releasing to other government agencies the open source code for a government web guidelines compliant content management system (CMS) based on Plone.

He said the CMS had been used for the recent redevelopment of www.e.govt.nz, as well as the newly launched website for the Ministry of Women's Affairs.

The system is available to both central and local government bodies, he said.

"Plone is a particularly powerful tool for managing websites. Modifying it to make it Web Guidelines compliant means that other government agencies can use this code to build and manage their websites knowing that they are using best practice accessibility standards.

"The growth of content on New Zealand government websites, and the policies around the maintenance of this content, means that content management is an increasingly important issue for government agencies.

"The availability and accessibility of government information and services over the internet is integral to the achievement of the e-government strategy goal of transforming government by June 2010.

"Content Management Systems have an important role to play in making this happen," Mr Millar said.

Plone was developed in 1999 and has since expanded to include 90 developers working on the core software and some 250 various add-on Plone products, he said.

"We were looking for an open source solution that had the requisite functionality, an established track record and a 'critical mass' of developer support.

"Plone met all those criteria.

"Other government agencies can now build on our experience and resources, to ensure they get a content management system that meets their business requirements, is Web Guidelines compliant and is a very cost effective solution," Mr Millar said.

Plone was developed as an intranet and extranet server, a document publishing system, a portal server and as a groupware tool for collaboration between separately located entities, according to the developer website..

The tool is 'technology neutral' and runs on Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris and BSD, among others, developers say.

Free and capable of being installed in minutes using click-wizards, Plone is built using Zope, an object oriented application server. The language that drives Zope and Plone is Python.

Plone is licensed under the GNU General Public License, the same license Linux uses.

The deal is the second important open source software announcement Mr Millar has made in the last two months.

In October, Mr Millar announced the availability of a government-wide license agreement between the Department of Inland Revenue and Novell, saying "this agreement marks increased opportunities for government agencies, giving them greater flexibility and freedom in their choice of software."

Novell manages the Suse implementation of Linux.

"Open source is a viable alternative or, in some cases, a complementary option to proprietary solutions. This deal provides a framework for other government agencies to introduce or augment their use of open source solutions.

"Robust competition in the government software market is good for New Zealand and has the added advantage of ensuring the government avoids dependence on a limited range of software products and services," Mr Millar said in October.

Source: National Business Review (NZ)

Google throws bodies at OpenOffice

OpenOffice has its roots in Sun Microsystems' StarOffice suite of programs. Five years ago, Sun turned its proprietary software into an open-source project. Only recently, however, has the competitor to Microsoft's Office attracted serious attention.

Now Google believes it can help OpenOffice--perhaps working to pare down the software's memory requirements or its mammoth 80MB download size, said Chris DiBona, manager for open-source programs at the search company.

"We want to hire a couple of folks to help make OpenOffice better," DiBona said.

Google has shown an affinity for open-source software, which are programs developed in the open and available for free. Many of the company's programmers came of age in the open-source era, so advancing the open-source agenda comes naturally, DiBona said. But the company also has business reasons to justify its open-source embrace.

"We use a fair amount of open-source software at Google. We want to make sure that's a healthy community. And we want to make sure open source preserves competitiveness within the industry," he said.

Earlier in October, Google and Sun announced a partnership to boost several software projects, but released few details. Asked about OpenOffice collaboration, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said at the time only that the search engine power would "work to make the distribution of (OpenOffice) more broad." But OpenOffice, like the other software projects the partners intend to work on, competes directly with Microsoft software--a point that has not gone unnoticed.

Full story: ZDNet.com

Australians vie for best blog title

The SmartyBlog awards, established by Melbourne web hosting company SmartyHost, were announced two weeks ago and will close tonight at midnight.

Blogging or "web logging" is a growing phenomenon worldwide, as Australians increasingly embrace it as a means of communicating ideas and opinions. A blog takes the form of an online diary or newsletter and can span any topic from politics to sport.

SmartyHost said the competition was accepting entries from any Australian regardless of the where their blog was hosted, and out of 25,000 visitors to the entry page, 500 had so far put their blog forward for the top prize.

Anoosh Manzoori, managing director, said this was the first time a competition of this size had set its sights on blogging.

"The judging will assess the actual content of the blog and how frequently they update their content," he said.

The judging panel will comprise a number of journalists, academics and executives from outside the company, who will jointly decide on the winning blog.

The winner of the grand $10,000 prize will be announced on December 5 along with ten runners up who will each receive a $150 package of internet services from SmartyHost.

source: SMH

Web moving profits online

Changing consumer behaviour may make a business website a portal for online purchasing but is much more likely to make the website a place to research the business' products and services.

A surge in usage of the internet by consumers is reflecting the changes in the way consumers seek out information.

We now have more than 10 million Australians online. Purchasing decisions are more and more likely to be based on information gathered on the internet.

For many, online research is replacing the store as the way they gather information on products and pricing before purchasing at the store level.

Sensis figures show that there were 1.9 million unique visitors in May to the Yellow Pages website, a sharp rise on the year previous.

Two compelling factors are contributing to this: the first is the massive increase in the numbers of new customers signing up to high-speed internet broadband services.

Large telecommunications carriers such as Telstra and Optus are reporting continuing high rates of new subscriptions.

The second factor is the acceleration of domain name registrations reported by several operators in this field.

Melbourne IT, for example, is registering 50,000 new names monthly.

These trends, in particular Broadband, are dramatically influencing consumer patterns towards an 'always on' mode.

That is, rather than going to their computers, dialing up and searching, consumers are now always online. It's therefore cheaper, quicker, and more comprehensive for them to seek out information from websites and search engines.

Typically, people will compare prices and features online and then book their service provider by phone. Some buy online.

A Sensis executive, Mirella Prince, group manager of Interactive Consumer Experiences, says technology has raised consumer expectations.

"You've seen this already in the banking and travel industries. People now have an expectation of finding what they want, quickly, easily."

The growth in the population that is using always-on, broadband internet connections is prompting a growing number of small-to-medium sized businesses to view websites as serving a similar function to that of Yellow Pages advertising. Hence the boost in domain registrations.

In effect, a website is rapidly becoming the easiest and most affordable way to communicate information.

Paul Jameson, managing director of website developer Ozetrades, says it is a misconception that web sites are expensive or complex.

"Is a listing in the Yellow Pages complex?"

He says that the days of expensive web designers and web developers charging thousands of dollars for a web presence are numbered.

"Building web sites is moving from the designers to the packaged product.

"Every industry – mobile phones, banking, you name it – goes through this evolutionary stage."

A website is now becoming a money-saving investment rather than a hope-driven, expensive marketing strategy.

In the case of professionals or tradespeople limited by geographical reach, the business case is nevertheless compelling.

Having a brochure-style web presence reduces time in handling suspect phone calls, marketing expenses, postage, faxes, phone bills and office supplies.

Getting a website is not without some risks. Computers and websites break down and it often happens at the most inopportune times.

Care should be taken when putting information about your business and products on the internet as you might be giving away your competitive advantage or crucial parts of your intellectual property.

The early businesses that established websites were likely to be computer-literate and tech-savvy.

They also were likely to be very interested in selling on the Net, and they often included an e-commerce capability when they initially set up their sites.

Today, in contrast, the SMEs that are fueling the new wave of websites and domain registrations are much more likely to be focused on establishing an online presence that can deliver 'brochure ware' whose mission is to provide information.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

Japan to boost Linux use

Japan is drawing up guidelines for its ministries recommending open source software such as Linux as an "important option" in government procurement, an official at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said

"This is not intended to exclude a particular software nor to recommend a particular one but it reflects the recent development of open source software as reliable systems," the official said.

"Currently our procurement of software is dominated by commercial software," the majority of which is Windows, the official added.

Linux was created by Linus Torvalds who made the software freely available to the public and later gained the support of major companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

Although Windows is used on about 90 per cent of the world's personal computers, some governments as well as large organisations have switched to Linux or have threatened to do so to get discounts from Microsoft.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily reported that Japan saw the use of Linux as a way of lowering procurement costs and bolstering its defences against cyber-attacks.

Separately, Japan, China and South Korea agreed earlier this year to jointly develop a new computer operating system based on Linux as an alternative to the dominant Windows, the official said.

"Apart from the procurement issue, this project is intended to develop an operating system that supports languages that have Chinese characters," the official said.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Peru's green light to open-source software

But a leading freeware advocate said Tuesday it remains to be seen whether President Alejandro Toledo will sign the bill into law.

"There are many associations on a national level that do not agree with this because they believe it will affect their interests," Jose Cairo Gallardo, president of the Peruvian Free Software Association, said.

In a move that went largely unnoticed, Congress voted 61-0 last Thursday to approve the legislation, which would mandate "neutrality" to guarantee public institutions a choice between proprietary software, like Microsoft's, and open-source software, which some users consider more stable, adaptable, cheaper, and less susceptible to viruses and hacker attacks.

The new law would also prohibit any public institution from purchasing computer hardware that utilizes only one software platform or "in any manner limits information autonomy."

There is no prohibition on public institutions regarding the use of open-source software, but open-source software developers are still at a great disadvantage to large companies, like Microsoft, said Cairo Gallardo.

"This would level the playing field," he said. "It would not only be about the sale of software licenses. The one that offers better service obviously would have the better expectation of winning" a public bid, he said. "This would break the monopoly."

The legislation would mandate government institutions evaluating bids from software vendors to compare the use of proprietary software - in which the source code is mostly secret and licensing fees are charged for upgrades - to open-source software, in which the underlying code is available to anyone wanting to study, change and improve its design and then make those suggestions available on the Internet.

Toledo has 25 working days to sign the new bill into law or send it back to Congress with "observations" to modify it, which would set back its passage and possibly kill the initiative.

A call to the government palace seeking the president's position on the issue went unanswered. Microsoft did not immediately comment.

The bill's sponsor, Peruvian Congressman Edgar Villanueva, had pushed three years ago for a law to oblige all public institutions to convert exclusively to open-source software.

Microsoft and several Peruvian software companies lobbied hard against the measure, which garnered little support from lawmakers.

In July 2002, Toledo clearly sided with the software companies, appearing with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to announce the donation of $550,000 (euro458,142) in funds, software and consulting services to the Peruvian government for educational and "e-government" initiatives.

Several countries, including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea have been actively moving toward open-source alternatives, like the Linux operating system.

Turnbull @ cutting edge for national email

His idea would allow the government, banks, superannuation funds and long lost friends is to be able to keep in contact with Australians no matter where they lived, what internet provider they used or where they worked.

Mr Turnbull used adjournment debate in the House of Representatives to unveil his plan.

"Every year the Australian government spends hundreds of millions of dollars sending paper communications to Australians," he said.

"Many of them are lost, many of them are mislaid, many of them, perhaps most of them, are never read.

"The government no doubt finds it frustrating that it cannot more effectively use emails to effectively communicate with Australians.

"Australians change their email address even more frequently then they change their physical street address."

Mr Turnbull said given the ever decreasing cost of broadband internet services, it would make sense for the government to use the internet to keep in contact with Australians.

"For a relatively modest cost and over time, starting with the young and e-savvy, the Australian government could offer to provide every Australian with an electric mail box or pigeon hole," he said.

"This would be similar to an email account but it would be unique and it would be permanent."

Mr Turnbull said the email address might be firstname.surname.dateofbirth@australia.org.au.

"No matter where you moved or how often you changed your regular email address, that pigeon hole would always be yours," he said.

"Because it is a virtual pigeon hole, it would be accessible from anywhere there is access to the internet, which now days is almost any place on earth.

"The government would send its correspondence to you at that address and, if you agreed, not send it to you by snail mail at all.

"You could nominate it as an electronic address to banks, super funds and employers.

"Over time it could become as common as a tax file number and a lot more useful."

Mr Turnbull said his plan was an innovative use of the internet to bridge the gulf between the government and the people it serves.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Massachusetts Plans to Dump Office

Massachusetts government officials on Thursday unveiled plans to phase out Microsoft Office in favor of office productivity suites that support an open-document format from the OASIS standards body, according to a statement from the commonwealth.

Massachusetts will support the newly ratified Open Document Format for Office Applications, or OpenDocument, as the standard for its office documents, according to the statement posted on the governmental Web site by Peter Quinn, chief information officer for Massachusetts. Developed within Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), OpenDocument is an XML (Extensible Markup Language)-based file format that covers the features required by text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical documents.

Full Story at www.pcworld.com

iiNet launches VoIP service

The product is only available to those who have a fixed-line service which is bundled with iiNet's broadband internet plans, the company's chief technical officer Greg Bader said.

A subscriber who has a DSL connection with iiNet would first have to take a fixed-line service from the provider in order to get the VoIP service.

Malone said iiNetphone would have no monthly rental fee and low call rates, with 10 cents being charged for both local untimed calls and calls to capital cities countrywide.

National calls outside capital cities would cost five cents per minute over fixed lines.

Bader said users would be provided a free second phone line and number using VoIP technology.

While the VoIP product is available from today, hardware sourced from Belkin, which is ADSL2-compatible, would be available only from mid-September, Bader said.

VoIP-enabled modems and routers and analog telephone adaptors will be supplied to help customers set up their VoIP service.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/iinet-launches-voip-service/2005/08/29/1125167595971.html

Linux moves on Australian market

A study by IDC Australia software and services research director Tim Sheedy suggests increased applications for Linux and lower total cost for businesses are driving the adoption.

Other factors driving take-up were the security of the platform and the availability of applications used for management.

The study covered 307 companies and was conducted in the last quarter of 2004. It included data from 147 small companies (less than 100 employees), 117 medium-sized companies (between 100 and 499 employees) and 43 large companies (more than 500 employees).

The Linux business usage study is skewed towards Linux users and, despite weighting, is not completely representative of the Australian business market. It aims to provide a snapshot of Linux usage in Australian business in 2004.
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He said IDC research found the amounts that could be saved by deploying a major application on Linux were large. "With more and more IT staff acquiring Linux knowledge, there are fewer roadblocks to such a deployment," he said.

The popular belief that the low or "zero" cost of Linux was not a factor in take-up appeared to be erroneous, Mr Sheedy said.

"The fact that many organisations would slow their Linux deployments if Windows were available with a more attractive licensing arrangement or at a better price is a telling factor," he said.

Landmark case says Perth man sent 56 million emails

The Australian Communications Authority launched proceedings yesterday in the Federal Court in Perth against Wayne Mansfield and his company Clarity1, which also uses the name Business Seminars.

The authority alleges Mansfield is a global spammer and because of the scale of his operation, is seeking an interim injunction against the company.

Complaints had been received from as far afield as Britain, said Bob Horton, the communications authority's acting chairman.

Mansfield and Business Seminars Australia were listed by the international anti-spam watchdog, Spamhaus, as allegedly being among the world's top 200 spammers, he said. The top 200 spammers produce 80 per cent of the world's spam.

Full Story - Sydney Morning Herald

Nokia develops a new browser for Series 60 by using open source software

Nokia has announced they have developed a new web browser for their series 60 phones based on the recently opened sourced WebCore from Apple.

read the full release here