Share what you know, Learn what you don’t. This is the evolution of one Afrikan.
Interesting news… As I’m gonna be switching to Ubuntu soon, gives another option for virtualisation on the desktop… 
_ Canonical adds
Parallels to Ubuntu partner repository - Download Squad
If you go to to the add/remove applications window in Ubuntu and click on the third party applications option, you’ll see that VMWare Player is available. And starting this week, you can also download and install Parallels Workstation for Linux.
I’m looking forward to the next release of Ubuntu, and if things go well in Technovated Towers then I’m gonna make the switch to Ubuntu for sure.
Ubuntu 7.10 Release Candidate | Ubuntu
The Ubuntu developers are hurrying to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software that the open source and free software communities have to offer. This is the Ubuntu 7.10 release candidate, which brings a host of excellent new features.We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable and suitable for testing by any user. The final stable version will be released in October 2007.
Most important for me is the visual X.org editor which should enable me to continue using two monitors… Am hoping that Compiz Fusion will come out better and more usable then the current release
This has been a long time coming, and it feels good to finally get there, albeit with a mountain still to climb!!!
Personal reflective blog post to follow soon…
A little while ago we released an Alpha to a small group of people, to gather valuable user feedback. Thanks to those great people, we’ve had our heads down improving Kindo, and as a result we’re releasing the Beta, and at the same time opening it up to a wider audience for more feedback.
We’ve made the following progress:
Our mantra has become “Speed, Simple, Pleasure“, so in a nutshell that means we’re always trying to make Kindo faster for you, simpler, more intuitive and perhaps most importantly a pleasure to use.
Our new URL is http://beta.kindo.com/.
What can we do to make Kindo better?
If you dont like it – tell us why.
If you do like it – what are you missing?
Join the conversation on our blog, we’d love to hear your opinion.
Don’t worry – the same login details apply, and your data is all still there.
Have fun!
I’m the first to admit that I’ve had my head in the sand the last few months, and have received many emails asking what’s happening with Tech for Africa... So I thought that posting something public would be the best way to communicate what’s happening for everyone to see
Must say that the last few months have been a blur…
Since January of this year, Technovated has gone from 4 people, to 10, to a venture funded project with 14 people in all, over three office moves and many many late nights and long weekends.
There’s a blog post coming up about it all soon, but the long and the short of it is as follows:
So, in truth I’m not 100% happy about it ‘cos I’ve been talking about it for a while and I’m the kind of person to do rather than talk wherever possible, but I’ve taken some good advice from people who are helping out, and the consensus is that we should be aiming for around March / April next year rather, to give us more time to get points 1 through 4 above right. I certainly don’t want to spend time, effort and potentially my goodwill only to get great speakers out to SA and the event is a dismal failure and costs me more money than I have or can afford!
Anyways, this isn’t a sob story if you were thinking you were gonna be reading one.
A lot of people have either told me to give the idea up, or told me that I’m crazy, but I believe that they’re wrong. I’m pretty sure now that the original format and idea that I had bubbling in my head is going to have to be re-thought to take into account the difference environment, the cost of long trans-Atlantic flights, and the relative expense that something like this is when compared to someones monthly salary.
That said, I think the direction to take is to adapt and give more time to finding the right dates so that the right speakers can congregate for the event. Once that is done getting sponsorship will be easier and therefore the chances of success higher.
So, bottom line is that I’m still personally 100% committed to getting this off the ground and happening in Africa, even if it has to be delayed some - I would rather delay by 6 to 8 months and make it a good one where everyone benefits, than rush to make it work in October and end up with something that is mediocre…
So, I ask you to bear with me, and to stay tuned. It will happen.
Still thinking about Ubuntu on my Thinkpad T42p… And this helps:
_ SoftwareEquivalents - Ubuntu Wiki
Current dilemma is that Freemind doesn’t really compare to Mindjet Mindmanager, and Mindjet doesn’t seem to have a Linux version on offer, or in the making… Everything else comes with Linux…
So it looks like it’s probably Linux at home, Mac at work…
Dates that are in discussion at the moment are 24th to 26th October in JHB…
Anyone got any serious problems / reservations / issues / red flags with those dates?
_ BBC NEWS | Business | Dell to use Ubuntu on Linux PCs
Good news for Ubuntu evangelists everywhere… So now we have IBM Thinkpads, and Dells running Ubuntu properly, which can only be a good thing.
Can’t wait until Ubuntu comes shipped with Beryl, and a better OpenOffice (that works with hardcore spreadsheets)…
Following on from the Windows vs Mac vs Ubuntu debate:
Hat tip: Jeff
Here’s another one after further searching on YouTube:
Dave Duarte and Mike Stopforth have put together a regular marketing podcast for South Africans, which is shaping up to be a promising part of the ecosystem.
Recently there was an attempt to get a “web 2.0 conference” done in SA in May, which didn’t happen for whatever reason. Apparently there isn’t enough interest, which I can picture, but like Mike and Dave, I have my doubts about how the market was approached… Which is a shame…. but that leads me to my next point
They contacted me earlier in the week to do a Skype podcast, which I naturally said of course to, and after having swanky dinner with Tim tonight, over Flirtnik, I’ve come home and decided to listen to the podcast while getting some work out of the way.
Anyways, it’s always weird listening to your own voice, but I think I get the message accross about what we’re trying to do with the conference, much better than if I could write it here…
So, go check out the blog post, and listen to it.
Tell your mates about the conference, sign up yourself at the conference site so we can mail you more info, and get involved!
Also - while you’re at it - sign up for the Amplitude podcast, and you should also probably keep an eye on Dave and Mike’s blogs…
Also, while I’m thinking about it, if you’re interested in what we’re up to in London, then this is also worth watching, although in the next few weeks I might have to eat my shorts… but more on that when the time is right.
After this weekends Blue Screen of Death problems (BSOD) I was totally ready to go to the Apple store in Central London and just buy a MacBook Pro. Totally. Why buy another PC machine that will run Vista when everyone knows Vista is no-where near ready for stable production use / primetime? For that matter, why buy a PC machine now with XP on it, when you can get OSX or Ubuntu on it?
I’ve been a Windows user for 12 years now so know it intimatley, and have used every flavour of Windows since ‘95, but I’m just not feeling it anymore. Granted, the BSOD problems on Sunday are hardware related, so I can’t blame the BSOD on Windows, and granted I’ve not had a BSOD since my laptop died last year, so I’m not getting them often and therefore have no reason to complain.
But that said, I am in the market for a change of scenery.
I’ve almost weaned myself from Outlook (we use Google Mail for Domains to run our business email, and all my other email is handled with Gmail and Yahoo! Mail - I still find the Gmail interface kludgy though), and most of the other apps that I use I can use on a Mac or Linux (Zend Studio, Navicat, Mindjet MindManager) and/or I can find alternatives that work just as well.
I’ve also shifted most of my stuff from desktop apps, or to local files on my local machine, to online services or files stored online (Basecamp being a good example, Newsgator another). So I’m not that reliant on Windows anymore.
So I guess I’m trying to figure out what the next step is - do I go Mac (MacBook Pro, MacBook?) possibly mitigating by selling my Thinkpad T42p, or do I just carry on using my Thinkpad PC and put Ubuntu on it?
If I was feeling flush, I could even get a Mac and then keep the Thinkpad as a spare/backup/dev machine with Ubuntu on it, and getting the best of both worlds in the process…
Demian reckons that I’ll go Mac and never go back, becoming a massive Mac evangelist in the process. Ido thinks that I should just do it - he’s gone from Windows to Mac and is loving it. Ryan swears by the Mac, and Ryan has recently moved to Mac too…
I love the ideals, progress and freeness of Ubuntu, but I also have to balance that with work, software and project needs (not just development/coding needs), so I would like to ideally just go Ubuntu… But then I also see firsthand the joy that OSX brings and see every day what you get with it, and how tight it all is…
So, I’m curious as to your thoughts? What would you do?
Would you go Mac, Ubuntu, or stay with Windows? If you went Mac, would you go Macbook Pro, or would you just go Macbook?
It’s been about a week now since the the good weather has hit London, so I think it’s time to start thinking about the next Web 2.0 / Geek BBQ. This year has seen an explosion of the innovator community in London, or at least, folks are starting to come out of the woodwork, so it would be really cool to meet some new people, while enjoying the sunshine at the same time.
To get you into the mood, here’s a little gem from Tim (if you’re a girl, please take this as humour, from whence it comes
Right, so if you’re keen for some sunshine, stimulating conversations, and of course good meat, then please leave a comment here to show interest, and send this link to the people you think may be interested… (my mailing list has become to big to wield effectively in Outlook, so I don’t want to miss people out)
In the meantime I’ll start looking at dates and locations.
I thought it’d be a good time to send an update on developments regards the conference so here goes:
Firstly, we’ve passed the “is there enough interest test?“. We’ve received more than 150 initial signups since posting the questionnaire and are still getting signups every day. Our goal now is to start fleshing out the details of the conference so that we can start increasing the numbers and creating more buzz.
Secondly, we’ve got some great speakers already committed to what we’re trying to do, and they are in no particular order:
Andy Budd (http://andybudd.com/), Andy Clarke (http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/), Demian Turner (http://seagull.phpkitchen.com/), Malcolm Hall (http://www.openboxsoftware.com/), Ryan Shelton (http://www.mutado.com).
All of the above profiles save Ryan’s are listed already, so here it is:
~~~
Originally from Zimbabwe, Ryan Shelton moved to London in the late 1990’s to pursue his passion for design. Having worked within the design industry for over a decade, he has ridden the waves of the .com era and seen it morph into the more grown up industry that it is today. During the .com crash Ryan co-founded BD4D, a design collective that sought to encourage and unite the global design community at a time when most of the world had lost faith in the internet. BD4D holds live events around the world where designers and techies, primarily in the interactive and online media fields, get together to share ideas and to push the boundaries of the medium.
Ryan is a partner at Mutado, a design studio based in London and Milan, where he gets to work with some of the most talented people he knows.
~~~
We’ve already had some great suggestions for speakers, so if you have suggestions too, then please feel free to send them on.
Thirdly, we’re about to start confirming dates with keynote speakers, so should have some more information for you as soon as possible.
Additionally, we’re working on expanding the website further so that we take it beyond the initial questionnaire - more on that soon too. In the meantime, you can check out some of the feedback trends from the questionnairre at: http://technologyforafrica.org//feedback.php
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Our only request of you is that you help us to spread the word as much as possible in the coming weeks and months, so that we really can make this a reality. Please tell as many people as you can, blog it, add the site to http://del.icio.us, http://digg.com (and others like Reddit and Newsvine), and tag it for http://technorati.com/. We’ll also be sending news of buttons and such that you can put on your site shortly.
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Stay tuned, we’re looking forward to seeing you later in 2007!
The last week or so has seen us sit with bated breath, waiting to see the reaction to the web and emerging technology conference we’re going to put together for Africans (with an African context of course). Well, we’re happy to say that the credit card test has passed, and the response has been really positive - At the moment we’re getting a sign up rate of 25% of visitors that view the site, which is not too bad I think. You can view what people are asking for at the conference, at our feedback results page.
So, that’s great but who are the speakers?
In alphabetical order, here you go for now (more on the way):
Andy Budd is an internationally renowned user experience designer and web standards expert. Andy is a regular speaker at major design conferences and recently spoke at @media 2006 in London, and Webmaster Jam in Dallas, Texas. Andy is also the driving force behind our annual d.Construct web development conference.
Andy wrote the best selling book, CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions. In this book, Andy shares his years of experience in creating attractive, standards compliant websites.
Andy’s design experience and knowledge has been called upon many times as a judge in web design awards, most notably the Bubu Awards, the ReUSEIT Contest and the Web Standards Awards, which he founded in 2004. Andy currently sits on the advisory board for .Net magazine, the UK’s leading web development periodical.
A more personal side of Andy can be found at Blogography, a popular weblog where he writes about web design and web standards issues, as well as his passions for travel, photography and diving.
Andy is the creative director at Clearleft and runs their web standards training program.
Andy Clarke has been working on the web for almost ten years. He is a visual web designer based in the UK and started his design consultancy Stuff and Nonsense in 1998. As lead designer and creative director, his clients include local and national businesses, charities and government bodies and he has designed for The British Heart Foundation, Disney Store UK, Save The Children and WWF UK.
Andy is a member of the Web
Standards Project where he redesigned the organization’s web site in 2006. He is also an Invited Expert to the W3C’s CSS Working Group. Andy regularly speaks at workshops and conference events worldwide and is the author of Transcending CSS.
Demian Turner has been involved in web development for the past 9 years. His primary focus is on developing multi-tier web applications. He also has experience building standards compliant XHTML GUIs, acting in a customer-facing role and managing projects.
Demian specialises in PHP/MySQL/Apache development on Linux and also has experience in system administration, requirements gathering, UML and Object Oriented Analysis and Design. He is the maintainer for the Seagull framework project, and contributes to SimpleTest, Max Media Manager and the PEAR open source projects.
President and CEO of Open Box Software, a 50+ team of .Net developers out of Cape Town.
Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Malcolm was a founder member of a successful start-up (The World On Line) focused on Microsoft Great Plains—a mid-market ERP package—in the 1990’s.
Upon moving to the UK in 1998, Malcolm has, as a member of the Deloitte & Touché (UK) and then e2i (UK) management teams, managed consultancy teams in the London, Central and Northern regions of the United Kingdom. Malcolm has extensive hands-on technical experience and has also programme managed IT projects across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands and the US.
Since founding Open Box, Malcolm has divided his time between US, UK and South Africa overseeing operations and project delivery. He is also responsible for developing further relationships with prospective and current clients, as well as partners and suppliers.
We’ll be announcing more speakers as we confirm, and if you’re interested you can view what people are asking for at the conference, at our feedback results page.
We’re in the process of sharpening up our infrastructure so that we can be more efficient, and at the moment it seems that having a local Linux box is actually going to be a good thing as opposed to always working off a dev server somewhere on the internet. When things are fluid and dynamic, it’s always good to have something you can tinker with locally, rather than always having to login to control panel, ssh in, ftp in, or whatever…
So, we’re looking at the different linux distros, and being African and fanatical about Ubuntu (we wish all our clients knew what Ubuntu was however) we’re obviously keen to use it as the local linux box.
That said, we’ve got a Mediatemple Dedicated Virtual server which is our live environment, so it makes sense to use a local linux flavour which will in as much as possible look and behave the same was as the (mt) box will.
Now, we know that (mt) runs Red Hat Enterprise with the following stack (last I checked):
* Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 3 (Taroon Update 1)
* PSA (Plesk) - v7.1.5
* Apache - v2.0.46
* PHP - v4.3.2
* GD - 2.0.12
* MySQL - v3.23.58
* Perl - v5.8.0
* Python - v2.2.3
* Spam Assassin - v2.63
* Horde - v2.2.5
* Bind - v9.2.2
* Qmail - v1.03
On top of that, we use a combination of linux, mac and windows machines here, so being able to work directly with files through a SMB share on the local linux box is an absolute must (which is where we get our productivity and efficiency gains) - easiness to do this would probably be a factor then I guess.
So I guess the question is whether Ubuntu is the best choice, the right choice, an OK choice, or just plain wrong; and not being the *nix guru I would like to be, I’m not sure of the answers… Hence the blog post
Can anyone offer any comments / help / experience / suggestions at all?
Welcome to the personal blog of Gareth Knight. On web 2.0, technology, living in London, business, software, the web, Africa and sustainability. This is the evolution of one Afrikan.
