Bravo Stephen! <br><br>As I am at pains to point out to my colleagues here, the cost of buying a commercial office and word processing package is equal to the annual salary of a teacher at our sister school in Cambodia. It is empowering to see the work by the KhmerOS team that has helped bridge a digital divide by drawing upon the talents freely offered by expatriate and local members to make versions of OpenOffice and other packages in their own language. I am working with another computer manager on a pacific island who is testing an Ubuntu distribution for their old computers.
<br><br>They don't need a charitable hand-out, just an opportunity to take dignified step forward with some free technical support, understanding and information that runs free!<br><br>Regards Roland<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">
On 30/03/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Stephen Digby</b> <<a href="mailto:digby.stephen.p@edumail.vic.gov.au">digby.stephen.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Suitably deep thoughts for the end of term
! </font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times</a></font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Can't see the link from Google to worry about helping the
poor. Google's platform seems to have already achieved and have enormous
potential to provide more free access to the world. Free is pretty good
support for the "poor, needy and hungry" !</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">The next wonderful Google push which is causing competitors
to go the same way is to offer full text searchable digitisation online of ALL
published text content in the world so that the poor and needy can search and at
least read part of any published doc...</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">The best thing that we could do to improve the conditions
of the poor, needy and hungry in the world would be to continue the undermining
of international copyright and patent law which have grown over a few centuries
in the modern equivalent of the "fencing the commons" and in the process have
"virtually" destroyed the belief in and practice of freedom of information or
technological progress for the "common good".</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2">Holidays near !!!</font></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span>
<p><font size="2">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<span class="q"><br>Stephen
Digby, Learning Technology Manager<br><a href="mailto:admin@cheltsec.vic.edu.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">mailto:admin@cheltsec.vic.edu.au</a> <br>Cheltenham
Secondary College <a href="http://www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au</a> Ph: 613 955 55 955 Fx: 9555
8617<br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br> </span></font>
</p></span></div><br>
<div dir="ltr" align="left" lang="en-us">
<hr>
<font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b> <a href="mailto:offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Roland
Gesthuizen<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, 29 March 2007 8:54 PM</font><div><span class="e" id="q_1119fe8fee972d48_3"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><br><b>To:</b>
Information Technology Teachers' Offtopic Mailing List<br><b>Subject:</b> Re:
[Offtopic] Yahoo's unlimited email<br></font></span></div><br></div><div><span class="e" id="q_1119fe8fee972d48_5">
<div></div>I guess that there is no right answer or correct method of working ..
but one thing is for certain, the rules and usage practices are changing.
We live in interesting times. Many things about how I work have changed, many
things have not. I dont think the number of e-mails that I send out has
really increased over the past 15 years, my work productivity will probably only
improve incrementally with more technology. Some things are cute such as the
move by Google to grab the middle ground, more RAM, more storage space and more
bandwidth. <br><br>I hope that we can stop occasionally to take a breath and
think, what are we 'really' doing to make the world a better place to life in?
Not just one that caters for my needs but the poor, needy and hungry. I guess
that is why I am fascinated by open source and the OLPC projects. If I can
inspire just that much in my students, it has all been worth while.
<br><br>Regards Roland<br><br>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 29/03/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Stephen
Digby</b> <<a href="mailto:digby.stephen.p@edumail.vic.gov.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">digby.stephen.p@edumail.vic.gov.au</a>> wrote: </span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Email
storage makes it hard to share.<br>Google docs show the way - shared space
where you can exchange docs AND versions of docs with tracking !<br>One way
alternative to make docs available to target audience without collaboration
would be a version of a <br>"picasa" type interface where you could have
folders selectively published to the world or to "invitees".<br><br>Google
docs for collaboration, picasa docs for
dissemination.<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager<br>mailto:<a href="mailto:admin@cheltsec.vic.edu.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">admin@cheltsec.vic.edu.au</a><br>Cheltenham Secondary College
<a href="http://www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au
</a>Ph: 613 955 55 955 Fx: 9555
8617<br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br><br>-----Original
Message-----<br>From: <a href="mailto:offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au </a>[mailto:<a href="mailto:offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
offtopic-bounces@edulists.com.au</a>] On Behalf Of victor
rajewski<br>Sent: Wednesday, 28 March 2007 9:57 PM <br>To: Information
Technology Teachers' Offtopic Mailing List <br>Subject: Re: [Offtopic] Yahoo's
unlimited email<br><br>On 3/28/07, Cameron Bell <<a href="mailto:bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">bell.cameron.p@edumail.vic.gov.au </a>> wrote:
<br>> Yahoo
are now offering unlimited email storage. <br>> They say it is in response
to a growing number of people that use<br>> their email as cheap online
storage.<br>> Does anyone have a unit along the lines of "organising your
life and<br>> work flow through email"? <br>> Are we still teaching File
organisation with folders and mapped drives<br>> and e-lockers when we
should maybe be looking at "managing your files<br>> with email"?<br>>
Where it was once "File- Save As" its now "Righto class email your <br>>
work to yourselves...."<br><br>Surely this is purely because no-one (well,
apart from apple, but no-one uses them anyway) has created an easy<br>to use,
workable online storage system? That said, I have a label (labels are a
godsend compared to folders) <br>in my gmail account called 'files' which gets
automatically assigned to any messages I send to myself. Maybe<br>instead of
encouraging this ugly usage of the email system, we could just wait another
year or two until the <br>desktop and the internets converge?<br>It'll happen
real soon now, I
promise.<br><br>vik<br>_______________________________________________<br>offtopic
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<br>_______________________________________________<br>offtopic mailing
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</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT
Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is
the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead <p></p><p><b>Important - </b>This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education.
</p></span></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead