Thursday 20 November 2014

Request NSW Gov stop discriminating against Open Source

To the NSW Procurement Team,

During a recent NSW tendering process, we discovered the NSW Government purchasing guidelines actively discourage use of Open Source Software. These guidelines about Open Source Software are dated and need to be changed.

The guidelines:
  • Inaccurately imply Proprietary Software is less risky than Open Source [1],
  • Unfairly discriminate against Open Source Software solutions and Australian Open Source businesses [1],
  • Conflict with Australian government policy which directly mandate that Open Source and Proprietary Software should be considered equally. [2]
  • Increases the cost and reduce the value of NSW Government IT purchases by actively discouraging use of Open Source.
Could the NSW Procurement Team please review the current Open Source statement, assess the appropriateness of updating to Australian Government Policy statements related to Open Source, and reply describing how you plan to address this issue.

Reference 1:

The NSW IT procurement framework (version 3.1) specifically discourses use of Open Source software with Major Project System Integration Services.
23 Open Source Software
23.1 The Contractor must ensure that:
(a) none of the Deliverables comprise Open Source Software; and
(b) it does not insert any Open Source Software into the Customer Environment, except to the extent otherwise approved by the Customer in writing.
23.2 Where the Customer gives its approval in relation to the use of any Open Source Software
under clause 23.1:
(a) the Contractor must ensure that the use of that Open Source Software will not result in an obligation to disclose, license or otherwise make available any part of the Customer Environment or any of the Customer’sConfidential Information to any third party; and
(b) the use of that Open Source Software will not in any way diminish the Contractor’s obligations under the Contract, including without limitation in relation to any warranties, indemnities or any provisions dealing with the licensing or assignment of Intellectual Property.
https://www.procurepoint.nsw.gov.au/before-you-supply/standard-procurement-contract-templates/procure-it-framework-version-31
See: Module 13A Major project systems integration services

Reference 2:
Australian Government Policy on Open Source Software:
Principle 1: Australian Government ICT procurement processes must actively and fairly consider all types of available software.
Australian Government agencies must actively and fairly consider all types of available software (including but not limited to open source software and proprietary software) through their ICT procurement processes. It is recognised there may be areas where open source software is not yet available for consideration. Procurement decisions must be made based on value for money. Procurement decisions should take into account
whole-of-life costs, capability, security, scalability, transferability, support and manageability requirements.
For a covered procurement (over $80K), agencies are required to include in their procurement plan that open source software will be considered equally alongside proprietary software. Agencies will be required to insert a statement into any Request for Tender that they will consider open source software equally alongside proprietary software. Tender responses will be evaluated under the normal requirements of the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines. For a non-covered procurement (below $80K), agencies are required to document all key decisions, as required by the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines. This includes how they considered open source software suppliers when selecting suppliers to respond to the Select Tender or Request for Quotation.
Australian Government Policy on Open Source Software, http://www.finance.gov.au/policy-guides-procurement/open-source-software/

Sunday 9 November 2014

Starting build cycle for OSGeo-Live 8.5

We are starting the build cycle for version 8.5 of the OSGeo-Live DVD/USB/VM which will be released in March 2013, ready for several special events, including FOSS4G-NA, FOSSGIS Germany, among others.
We would like to hear from anyone wishing to add new projects to OSGeo-Live, anyone wishing to extend or add translations, or anyone who has ideas on how we should shape the upcoming release.
Key Milestones:
  • 1 Dec 2014 All new applications installed, most old applications updated
  • 23 Dec 2014 Feature Freeze (all apps updated)26 Jan 2015 User Acceptance Test (all apps installed and working)
  • 15 Feb 2015 Final ISO sent to printers
  • ... full schedule
About OSGeo-Live
OSGeo-live is a Lubuntu based distribution of Geospatial Open Source Software, available via a Live DVD, Virtual Machine and USB. You can use OSGeo-Live to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything.

Saturday 30 August 2014

OSGeo-Live 8.0 Released

Version 8.0 of the OSGeo-Live GIS software collection has been released, featuring over 50 open source, standards compliant geospatial applications.

Release Highlights

Lubuntu 14.04.1 LTS
We have moved from Xubuntu to the lighter Lubuntu base operating system, which starts up faster, requires less RAM, and uses less disk space, making it a better choice for running in a Virtual Machine or from a LiveDVD.
We have upgraded to the latest 14.04.1 stable Long Term Support (LTS) release. LTS releases are put out every 2 years by Ubuntu.
Debian packaging
We have steadily been moving more of our projects to .deb packaging, which makes it easier to install programs on debian based systems such as OSGeo-Live, and allows application of post-release fixes if required.
Applications
34 geospatial programs have been updated to newer versions.

About OSGeo-Live

OSGeo-Live is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB flash drive and Virtual Machine, pre-installed with robust open source geospatial software, which can be trialled without installing anything. It includes:
  • Over 50 quality geospatial Open Source applications installed and pre-configured
  • Free world maps and sample datasets
  • Project Overview and step-by-step Quickstart for each application
  • Lightning presentation of all applications, along with speaker's script
  • Overviews of key OGC standards
  • Translations to multiple languages
Homepage: http://live.osgeo.org
Download details: http://live.osgeo.org/en/download.html
Post release glitches collected here: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc/Errata/8.0

Credits

Over 180 people have directly helped with OSGeo-Live packaging, documenting and translating, and thousands have been involved in building the packaged software.
Developers, packagers, documenters and translators include:
Activity Workshop, Agustin Di­ez, Aikaterini Kapsampeli, Alan Beccati, Alan Boudreault, Alessandro Furieri, Alexander Bruy, Alexander Kleshnin, Alexander Muriy, Alexandre Dube, Alexey Ardyakov, Alex Mandel, Amy Gao, Andrea Antonello, Andrea Yanza, Andrey Syrokomskiy, Andry Rustanto, Angelos Tzotsos, Anna Munoz, Antonio Falciano, Anton Novichikhin, Anton Patrushev, Argyros Argyridis, Ariel Nunez, Assumpcio Termens, Astrid Emde, Barry Rowlingson, Benjamin Pross, Brian Hamlin, Bruno Binet, Bu Kun, Cameron Shorter, Christophe Tufféry, Christos Iossifidis, Cristhian Pin, Damian Wojslaw, Dane Springmeyer, Daniel Kastl, Danilo Bretschneider, Daria Svidzinska, David Mateos, Denis Rykov, Diego Gonzalez, Diego Migliavacca, Dimitar Misev, Dmitry Baryshnikov, Dominik Helle, Edgar Soldin, Eike Hinderk Jürrens, Elena Mezzini, Eric Lemoine, Erika Pillu, Estela Llorente, Etienne Delay, Etienne Dube, Evgeny Nikulin, Fran Boon, Francois Prunayre, Frank Gasdorf, Frank Warmerdam, Friedjoff Trautwein, Gavin Treadgold, Giuseppe Calamita, Grald Fenoy, Grigory Rozhentsov, Guy Griffiths, Hamish Bowman, Haruyuki Seki, Henry Addo, Hernan Olivera, Hirofumi Hayashi, Howard Butler, Hyeyeong Choe, Ian Edwards, Ian Turton, Ilya Filippov, Jackie Ng, Jan Drewnak, Jane Lewis, Javier Rodrigo, Javier Sanchez, Jesus Gomez, Jim Klassen, Jing Wang, Jinsongdi Yu, Jody Garnett, Johan Van de Wauw, John Bryant, Jorge Arevalo, Jorge Sanz, Jose Antonio Canalejo, Jose Vicente Higon, Judit Mays, Klokan Petr Pridal, Ko Nagase, Kristof Lange, kuzkok, Lance McKee, Lars Lingner, Luca Delucchi, Lucia Sanjaime, Mage Whopper, Manuel Grizonnet, Marc-Andre Barbeau, Marco Curreli, Marco Puppin, Marc Torres, Margherita Di Leo, Maria Vakalopoulou, Mario Andino, Mark Leslie, Massimo Di Stefano, Matthias Streulens, Mauricio Miranda, Mauricio Pazos, Maxim Dubinin, Michael Michaud, Michael Owonibi, Micha Silver, Mike Adair, Milena Nowotarska, M Iqnaul Haq Siregar, Nacho Varela, Nadiia Gorash, Nathaniel V. Kelso, Ned Horning, Nobusuke Iwasaki, Oliver Tonnhofer, Oscar Fonts, Otto Dassau, Pasquale Di Donato, Patric Hafner, Paul Meems, Pavel, Pedro-Juan Ferrer, Pirmin Kalberer, Raf Roset, Regina Obe, Ricardo Pinho, Roald de Wit, Roberta Fagandini, Roberto Antolin, Roger Veciana, Ruth Schoenbuchner, Samuel Mesa, Scott Penrose, Sergey Grachev, Sergio Banos, Simon Cropper, Simon Pigot, Stefan A. Tzeggai, Stefan Hansen, Stefan Steiniger, Stephan Meissl, Steve Lime, Takayuki Nuimura, Thierry Badard, Thomas Baschetti, Thomas Gratier, Tom Kralidis, Toshikazu Seto, Trevor Wekel, Valenty Gonzalez, Vera, Xianfeng Song, Yoichi Kayama, Zhengfan Lin

Sponsoring organisations

Monday 28 July 2014

OSGeo-Live UAT in one week: Testing and doc updates required

In this OSGeo-Live 8.0 development cycle we have seen major upgrades: moving to the light weight Lubuntu distribution, moving to a new Long Time Support release (LTS), and moving even more applications to make use of Debian packaging. It should be our best distribution yet. But this has impacted our schedule, as the Ubuntu LTS has only become stable within the last week (14.04.1 release), and we need help in order to deliver OSGeo-Live to FOSS4G-PDX with our usual high level of quality and reliability. In particular, we need help:
  1. Testing to verify everything works in this new system and fixing bugs. Download alpha1 here [0].
  2. Updating version number in your Project Overview (if changed), and possibly mention a new feature or two. Doc howtos [4].
  3. Re-running the Quickstart and ensure each step is still valid, and screenshots match the implementation.
  4. Updating status of the Project Overview and Quickstart to "8.0draft" in our status sheet. [1]
Due to our tight timelines, we might need to hide applications which we can't get stablised, tested, or docs updated in time. Please check our current list of open issues [2][3] to verify that your project is working as expected.

Schedule

  • 27 July 2014 Alpha4 released [3]. Please verify all applications work and fix bugs.
  • 03 August 2014 Beta1 release - start taking screen shots with new background.
  • 07 August 2014 Community Testing Sprint (UAT).
  • 07 August 2014 English docs complete.
  • 14 August 2014 Translations complete.
  • 17 August 2014 OSGeo-Live 8.0 sent to the printers.
[0] http://osprey.ucdavis.edu/downloads/osgeo/gisvm/gisvm/8.0alpha4/osgeo-live-mini-8.0alpha4-i386.iso
[1] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdGIzd0VLLTBpQVJuNVlHMlBWSDhKLXc#gid=13
[2] http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/report/10
[3] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/live-demo/2014-July/009274.html
[4] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc#Documentation

Thursday 24 July 2014

Inclusive OSGeo Charter membership - invite your team

In response to community suggestions in previous years, the OSGeo board has updated the voting process for OSGeo Charter Membership to be more inclusive. In particular, there is now no upper cap on the number of new Charter Members who can be voted in. This will avoid the disappointing situation where we our process denied respected community members from charter membership because we didn't have enough slots.  Now, new charter members need only demonstrate positive OSGeo attributes as confirmed by existing Charter Members.
The official responsibilities of Charter Members is very light, consisting of voting in the OSGeo Board and other OSGeo Charter members. However, it is also a way we officially acknowledge the number of volunteers who help out in many ways with OSGeo activities.
So now the process is updated, I encourage existing Charter Members and community leaders to be proactive about nominating people from their community.
Here is an email I sent to people within the OSGeo-Live community:
OSGeo-Live contributors,
As you have probably seen, the voting process for new OSGeo charter members has changed in order to ensure OSGeo charter membership is more inclusive and representative of the greater OSGeo membership.In line with this new direction, I'd like to nominate all active OSGeo-Live contributors for OSGeo Charter membership.I believe all active contributors that I've worked with meet the recommended membership selection criteria [1] which includes:
  • Previous participation in or support of OSGeo activities (you have contributed to OSGeo-Live) 
  • The person should already have made a contribution to free and open source geospatial software, education or open data. (you have contributed to OSGeo-Live)
  • The person should be willing to put in time and effort on the Foundation, perhaps joining committee(s), or volunteering in some other way that gets the Foundation going. (Do you wish to continue contributing?) 
  • Members should believe in the general goals of the Foundation. To support and promote the use of free and open source geospatial software, education and data in a collaborative manner. (I expect this is the case, as you have committed to OSGeo-Live license requirements) 
  • Members selected should provide a diversity of geographic regions, diversity of projects, diversity of programming languages and diversity of interests e.g., corporate, hobbyist, educational, scientific. (Lots of project, language and geographic diversity in OSGeo-Live)
  • Members should be prepared to work constructively and positively towards the goals of the Foundation. Good teamwork skills are an asset. (All OSGeo-Live contributors I've worked with fit this criteria)
If you are ok being nominated, then please email me to let me know. Ideally, can you please also point at your OSGeo Advocate profile which I can reference when nominating you. (You might need to create your profile first).
[1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process#Positive_Attributes
[2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Advocate#Process_for_becoming_an_OSGeo_Advocate

Monday 5 May 2014

Starting build cycle for OSGeo-Live 8.0

We are starting the build cycle for OSGeo-Live 8.0 which will be released in September 2014, ready for the global FOSS4G conference in Portland. We would like to hear from anyone wishing to add new projects, anyone wishing to extend or add extra translations, or anyone who wants to contribute in code, testing or ideas on how we should shape the upcoming release.
Also, could all projects please reply to us with which stable version of their software should be included in this release. Ideally, projects should provide debian packages for this release.

Key Milestones

08 Jun 2014 All new applications installed, most old applications updated
07 Jul 2014 Feature Freeze (all apps updated)
27 Jul 2014 User Acceptance Test (all apps installed and working)
17 Aug 2014 Final ISO sent to printers
... full schedule

Moving to Lubuntu 14.04 LTS

OSGeo-Live 8.0 will be built upon the recently released Lubuntu 14.04 Long Term Support release (it was previously based upon Xubuntu 12.04 LTS).
  1. Lubuntu, which is a LXDE based Ubuntu linux distribution, is light weight. This means it runs faster, with less memory and disk requirements which will improve the OSGeo-Live user experiences and allow us to fit a little more onto a DVD.
  2. Moving to the 14.04 LTS release will help bring all applications up to the latest software, but will likely result in a number of applications needing to apply updates to address new dependency issues.

About OSGeo-Live

OSGeo-Live is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB thumb drive or Virtual Machine based on Lubuntu, that allows you to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything.

Friday 14 March 2014

OSGeo-Live 7.9 Released

OSGeo today announced that the OSGeo-Live GIS software collection version 7.9 has been released, featuring more than fifty open source, standards compliant geospatial desktop applications, web applications and frameworks.

Release Highlights

This release is a modernization update to last year's 7.0 release including new versions of the software but preserving much of the core build and operating system. In addition we've added a number of small fixes and updated document translations.
OSGeo-Live Lightning Presentation
The OSGeo-Live Lightning Presentation which explains the breadth of OSGeo software is now bundled with OSGeo-Live. It is often presented by conference organisors, or keynote speakers. The presentation may be given as is, or modified to align with time constraints, presenter's interest, or conference focus. http://live.osgeo.org/livedvd/docs/en/presentation/

Applications
Twenty two geospatial programs have been updated to newer versions. The core geospatial stack has also been upgraded from UbuntuGIS, and the base operating system has been updated to Xubuntu 12.04.4 LTS, including all the latest security and bug fixes, and web browser updates.

About OSGeo-Live

OSGeo-Live is a self-contained bootable DVD, USB flash drive and Virtual Machine based upon Ubuntu Linux. OSGeo-Live is pre-configured with a wide variety of robust open source geospatial software. All applications can be trialled without installing anything on your computer, simply by booting the computer from a DVD or USB drive, or running in a Virtual Machine environment. Each featured package is accompanied by both a publication quality one page descriptive summary and a short tutorial on how to get started using it. http://live.osgeo.org OSGeo-Live includes:
  • Over sixty quality geospatial Open Source applications installed and pre-configured
  • Free world maps and geodata
  • One page overview and quick start guide for every application
  • Overviews of key OGC standards
  • Translations to multiple languages

Credits

Over 180 people have directly helped with OSGeo-Live packaging, documenting and translating, and thousands have been involved in building the packaged software. Developers, packagers, documenters and translators include:
Activity Workshop, Agustín Dí­ez, Aikaterini Kapsampeli, Alan Beccati, Alan Boudreault, Alessandro Furieri, Alexander Bruy, Alexander Kleshnin, Alexander Muriy, Alexandre Dube, Alexey Ardyakov, Alex Mandel, Amy Gao, Andrea Antonello, Andrea Yanza, Andrey Syrokomskiy, Andry Rustanto, Angelos Tzotsos, Anna Muñoz, Antonio Falciano, Anton Novichikhin, Anton Patrushev, Argyros Argyridis, Ariel Núñez, Assumpció Termens, Astrid Emde, Barry Rowlingson, Benjamin Pross, Brian Hamlin, Bruno Binet, Bu Kun, Cameron Shorter, Christophe Tufféry, Christos Iossifidis, Cristhian Pin, Damian Wojsław, Dane Springmeyer, Daniel Kastl, Daria Svidzinska, David Mateos, Denis Rykov, Diego González, Diego Migliavacca, Dimitar Misev, Dmitry Baryshnikov, Dominik Helle, Edgar Soldin, Eike Hinderk Jürrens, Elena Mezzini, Eric Lemoine, Erika Pillu, Estela Llorente, Etienne Delay, Etienne Dube, Evgeny Nikulin, Fran Boon, François Prunayre, Frank Gasdorf, Frank Warmerdam, Friedjoff Trautwein, Gavin Treadgold, Giuseppe Calamita, Grald Fenoy, Grigory Rozhentsov, Guy Griffiths, Hamish Bowman, Haruyuki Seki, Henry Addo, Hernan Olivera, Howard Butler, Hyeyeong Choe, Ian Edwards, Ian Turton, Ilya Filippov, Jackie Ng, Jan Drewnak, Jane Lewis, Javier Rodrigo, Javier Sánchez, Jesús Gómez, Jim Klassen, Jing Wang, Jinsongdi Yu, Jody Garnett, Johan Van de Wauw, John Bryant, Jorge Arévalo, Jorge Sanz, José Antonio Canalejo, José Vicente Higón, Judit Mays, Klokan Petr Pridal, Kristof Lange, kuzkok, Lance McKee, Lars Lingner, Luca Delucchi, Lucía Sanjaime, Mage Whopper, Manuel Grizonnet, Marc-André Barbeau, Marco Curreli, Marco Puppin, Marc Torres, Margherita Di Leo, Maria Vakalopoulou, Mario Andino, Mark Leslie, Massimo Di Stefano, Matthias Streulens, Mauricio Miranda, Mauricio Pazos, Maxim Dubinin, Michaël Michaud, Michael Owonibi, Micha Silver, Mike Adair, Milena Nowotarska, M Iqnaul Haq Siregar, Nacho Varela, Nadiia Gorash, Nathaniel V. Kelso, Ned Horning, Nobusuke Iwasaki, Oliver Tonnhofer, Òscar Fonts, Otto Dassau, Pasquale Di Donato, Patric Hafner, Paul Meems, Pavel, Pedro-Juan Ferrer, Pirmin Kalberer, Raf Roset, Regina Obe, Ricardo Pinho, Roald de Wit, Roberta Fagandini, Roberto Antolin, Roberto Antolí­n, Roger Veciana, Ruth Schoenbuchner, Samuel Mesa, Scott Penrose, Sergey Grachev, Sergio Baños, Simon Cropper, Simon Pigot, Stefan A. Tzeggai, Stefan Hansen, Stefan Steiniger, Stephan Meissl, Steve Lime, Takayuki Nuimura, Thierry Badard, Thomas Baschetti, Thomas Gratier, Tom Kralidis, Toshikazu Seto, Trevor Wekel, Valenty González, Vera, Xianfeng Song, Yoichi Kayama, Zhengfan Lin

Sponsoring organisations

  • The Open Source Geospatial Foundation OSGeo provides the primary development and hosting infrastructure and personnel for the OSGeo-Live project, and infrastructure for many of the software projects themselves. http://osgeo.org
  • LISAsoft provides sustaining resources and staff toward the management and packaging of software onto the Live DVD. http://www.lisasoft.com
  • Information Center for the Environment (ICE) at the University of California, Davis provides hardware resources and development support to the OSGeo Live project. http://ice.ucdavis.edu
  • Remote Sensing Laboratory at the National Technical University of Athens, provides hardware resources and development support to the OSGeo-Live project. http://www.ntua.gr
  • The DebianGIS and UbuntuGIS teams provide and quality-assure many of the core packages. http://wiki.debian.org/DebianGis and https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGIS

Friday 24 January 2014

Update OSGeo-Live 7.9 Project Overviews and Quickstarts

Now that we have a feature freeze for OSGeo-Live 7.9, could all OSGeo-Live projects please ensure their Project Overviews and Quickstarts [0] are up to date. This should be quite painless for most.

  1. Update the version number in your Project Overview (if changed).
  2. Possibly mention a new feature or two.
  3. Re-run the Quickstart and ensure each step is still valid, and screenshots match the implementation.
  4. Update status of the Project Overview and Quickstart to "7.9draft" in our status sheet. [1]

Schedule:

14 February 2014 English docs complete
28 February 2014 Translations complete
7 March 2014 OSGeo-Live sent to the printers

[0] https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd/gisvm/trunk/doc/
[1] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdGIzd0VLLTBpQVJuNVlHMlBWSDhKLXc#gid=13