updated Abiword, GanttProject, WinMerge, Wikidpad, Tuxpaint, Portable Puzzle Collection, Sokoban Yasc, Freeciv, Paint.NET, Dia, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Filezilla, Miranda IM, XAMPP Lite, VirtualDub, VideoLAN, TrueCrypt, Launchy
For more details about the TTCS OSSWIN CD, including links to other download mirrors (including BitTorrent) can be found at https://www.ttcs.tt/osswin-cd/
Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2008 will be on September 20th, 2008 and the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS ; http://ttcsweb.org/ ) needs your help.
What is Software Freedom Day?
Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a global, grassroots effort to educate the public about the availability and benefits of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Local teams around the world organise and have events
on the third Saturday in September.
Software Freedom Day is on September 20th, 2008. We need to plan now and
decide what to do
locate a suitable venue
promote the meeting once the venue and format of SFD 2008 is confirmed
Local Linux users, Windows users, Mac users, fans of open source software, everyone is welcome to assist with this project.
If you :
can help us with these tasks
have ideas and suggestions
would like to volunteer to help with planning SFD 2008 in Trinidad
would like to volunteer to help on the actual day(s)
please go to the planning page for further information and/or to add your contribution : the TTCS SFD 2008 wiki page at https://files.ttcs.tt/ttcs-wiki-sfd2008-planning.pdf and email admin at ttcsweb.org. Notes of meetings will be posted to the planning page with the first virtual one scheduled for July 27, 2008.
Further details will be posted to the SFD2008-planning page as well as via email to those persons interested in helping with SFD2008.
Version 3 of the multi-platform web browser Mozilla Firefox will be released on Tuesday 17th June 2008. The non-profit Mozilla Foundation is attempting to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours on Tuesday 17th June 2008.
(Update : June 17th – after some initial hiccups, you can download Mozilla Firefox 3 . For live interviews with the Mozilla team, updates on the download count so far (and earlier, the problems with website updates), visit http://air.mozilla.com/ )
Firefox v3 has several improvements, not just in features but in the speed of loading webpages. Check out this screencast of some of the features in Firefox 3. There is also a Field Guide to Firefox 3 with many screenshots. To help with the record, visit http://www.spreadfirefox.com/worldrecord and click on the red “Pledge Now” button. You will be asked to select what country you are from (and yes, Trinidad and Tobago is listed as one of the countries) and optionally your email address (for the Mozilla Foundation to keep you informed on Tuesday) and click the Pledge Now button. By doing so, you are pledging to download Firefox 3 on Tuesday.
The http://www.spreadfirefox.com/worldrecord page has an interactive map where you can see the number of pledged downloads. As of 2:00am Monday 16th June 2008, the number of pledged downloads from Trinidad and Tobago is 573. So head over to the http://www.spreadfirefox.com/worldrecord page if you haven’t pledged to download Firefox 3 (and of course do so on Tuesday!)
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) is looking at what to do for a TTCS OSSWIN CD 2.0 release.
Does anything need to change?
One of the big problems encountered with the TTCS OSSWIN CD is the space for programs. Updated versions of programs unfortunately are larger in filesize than their predecessors. Recently, more and more programs had to be removed (see the TTCS OSSWIN CD changelog). So, YES, something needs to change.
Here are several options the TTCS has considered. Ideally, it will be good to have a version 2.0 of the TTCS OSSWIN CD done in time for Software Freedom Day 2008.
Develop a DVD version of the TTCS OSSWIN CD.
A DVD would solve (for now at least) the file size problem and allows for many more programs to be put on a DVD and more material about each program (such as larger screenshots, or short videos, even. There are several concerns, however :
whether to maintain the TTCS OSSWIN CD concurrently with a DVD version. This relates to the difficulty of maintaining two software collections – it could be done separately but then this introduces more maintainence headaches and I’ve learned that the more hassle something is, the less likely it will be done (data backups anyone?). So IMO, a system has be developed/designed to allow for updates to the CD and DVD versions to be done in one location (ie : updates to the information text and the program is done at one location).
the interface for a DVD version : the current interface for the CD will probably not work well with more software items in its menu. Already the Utilities section scrolls off the page on lower resolution displays (see screenshot below – there are three more items below Drempels yet on a 1280×1024 display, they are not seen). So a new webpage design needs to be also designed to cater for the many programs on such a DVD.
Drop the games from TTCS OSSWIN CD
With regards to the CD version, a possible option being explored is to drop the games section from the TTCS OSSWIN CD. This will allow space for more programs in the other categories in the short term. Also the easiest option to implement.
It has been suggested by some that the presence of the games might be turning off persons such as business users who may not take the OSS seriously for use in businesses, so the removal may make the CD more “friendly” to its use in businesses.
The downside of this option : no games! Life is no fun without games :-). A TTCS OSSWIN CD Games edition could be done…which leads to the third option :
Develop multiple editions of TTCS OSSWIN CD
It has been suggested that specific editions of OSSWIN CD be done to target different persons. Two examples : a TTCS OSSWIN CD (Business Edition) which takes out the games and a TTCS OSSWIN CD (Education Edition) which takes out games and adds a programming software category.
The idea would be that the targeting of different editions of the CD to the different users would result in increased usage among such targeted users. Similar to the ideas expressed in this TED Talk : “What we can learn from spaghetti sauce”.
Downsides?
The difficulty of maintaining multiple editions as mentioned earlier.
Microsoft Vista has multiple editions. Does that make it easier for users to decide which one is right for them?
However, it is possible that a single DVD version could do this type of end user targeting by having different menus for different users. So on startup (say), the screen could have menu options or ask the question :
Are you a Business User?
Are you a home user?
Are you a Teacher?
then a different software selection on the DVD would be given.
So, those are some of the considerations. Your thoughts about the current version of TTCS OSSWIN CD?
With the increased file size of Inkscape, Scorched3D will be removed from the next version of TTCS OSSWIN CD which will likely be released online towards the end of April 2008.
