[Opensource] Re: [Offtopic] Yahoo's unlimited email

Sat Mar 31 13:37:00 EST 2007

Bravo Stephen!

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.

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!

Regards Roland

On 30/03/07, Stephen Digby <digby.stephen.p at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:
>
>  Suitably deep thoughts for the end of term !
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_you_live_in_interesting_times
>
> 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" !
>
> 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...
>
> 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".
>
> Holidays near !!!
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager
> mailto:admin at cheltsec.vic.edu.au <admin at cheltsec.vic.edu.au>
> Cheltenham Secondary College www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au Ph: 613 955 55 955
> Fx: 9555 8617
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:
> offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au] *On Behalf Of *Roland Gesthuizen
> *Sent:* Thursday, 29 March 2007 8:54 PM
> *To:* Information Technology Teachers' Offtopic Mailing List
> *Subject:* Re: [Offtopic] Yahoo's unlimited email
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> Regards Roland
>
> On 29/03/07, Stephen Digby <digby.stephen.p at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:
> >
> > Email storage makes it hard to share.
> > Google docs show the way - shared space where you can exchange docs AND
> > versions of docs with tracking !
> > One way alternative to make docs available to target audience without
> > collaboration would be a version of a
> > "picasa" type interface where you could have folders selectively
> > published to the world or to "invitees".
> >
> > Google docs for collaboration, picasa docs for dissemination.
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager
> > mailto:admin at cheltsec.vic.edu.au
> > Cheltenham Secondary College www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au Ph: 613 955 55
> > 955  Fx: 9555 8617
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:
> > offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of victor rajewski
> > Sent: Wednesday, 28 March 2007 9:57 PM
> > To: Information Technology Teachers' Offtopic Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [Offtopic] Yahoo's unlimited email
> >
> > On 3/28/07, Cameron Bell <bell.cameron.p at edumail.vic.gov.au > wrote:
> > > Yahoo are now offering unlimited email storage.
> > > They say it is in response to a growing number of people that use
> > > their email as cheap online storage.
> > > Does anyone have a unit along the lines of "organising your life and
> > > work flow through email"?
> > > Are we still teaching File organisation with folders and mapped drives
> > > and e-lockers when we should maybe be looking at "managing your files
> > > with email"?
> > > Where it was once "File- Save As" its now "Righto class email your
> > > work to yourselves...."
> >
> > Surely this is purely because no-one (well, apart from apple, but no-one
> > uses them anyway) has created an easy
> > to use, workable online storage system? That said, I have a label
> > (labels are a godsend compared to folders)
> > in my gmail account called 'files' which gets automatically assigned to
> > any messages I send to myself. Maybe
> > instead of encouraging this ugly usage of the email system, we could
> > just wait another year or two until the
> > desktop and the internets converge?
> > It'll happen real soon now, I promise.
> >
> > vik
> > _______________________________________________
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>
> --
> Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
> http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au
>
> "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
>
> *Important - *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
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> 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.
>

-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"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
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