Edit 2010-09-03: What a difference three years can make when you’re ill. The first picture of Ian is from 2007, the second from 2010.

1. I believe it’s 80% positive mental attitude and only 20% what you know that really decides and defines the person.  “Leave it with me and I’ll get it done” is what every employer wants to hear.
2. The cost of the employee is not their salary. The true cost is the “per task cost” in terms of time, teaching & learning curve, and rework.  Cheaper is not always better.  As an employee, internalize the Doctrine of Completed Staff Work. (Something I’m not very good at any longer I must admit.)
3. There are only two states to a deliverable: Done and Not Done.
4. If your task isn’t done I’m going to ask “When can I have it?”  “Percent Complete” is meaningless. “Time to complete” is not.  80% complete for four weeks means nothing to me.  Four days to complete does.
5. There is a difference between Done and Done Done. (i.e. I’ve completed this deliverable vs the deliverable is ready to ship to clients)

Have you heard of Amateur radio, often called “Ham” radio? If you don’t have a positive perception of it, chances are you have an inaccurate understanding. Two common myths:

1. “Ham radio is Ham radio operators using a Ham radio on Ham radio frequencies in order to talk to other Ham radio operators about Ham radio.”
2. “It’s too hard and expensive to get the license and equipment and once you get it you can’t do anything of value.”

The truth is:

1. Ham radio is been called the Original Open-Source Project
2. When the power goes out and communication methods fail, Ham radio is there helping others
3. There is something for everyone in Ham radio
4. If you don’t have a license, no problem! It’s easy to get one now especially since there is no Morse code requirement any longer in many countries. In fact, a 5 year old boy in Boulder, Colorado, USA was just licensed. Similar stories about “young Hams” exist around the world.
5. If you like to fiddle with hardware and software, there are plenty of ways to be MacGyver.  Speaking of which, let’s get on to the reason for this blog post…

Ubuntu Hams

Ubuntu has a Ham Radio community and we need your help!  We need help with packaging, bug triaging and fixing, software development, and kernel enablement.

Please join us:

* IRC: #ubuntu-hams on irc.freenode.com
* Launchpad team & mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-hams
* Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuHams

As an aside, J. Gale Kilgore is a long time singer and songwriter. He had his own TV show in the 1970s.  He’s best known for “I Sure Do Miss You Tonight” (video). He also maintains a low-key website with free music and demo services.

Devdutt Pattanaik: East vs. West — the myths that mystify

Edit: Fixed URL

Sung to the tune of Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again.  Feel free to make it hit at the next UDS.

To sprint again
Just can’t wait to get to a sprint again
The life I love is makin’ Ubuntu with my friends
And I can’t wait to get to a sprint again
To sprint again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again,
And I can’t wait to get to a sprint again.

To sprint again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the jetway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin’ our way
And our way
Is to sprint again
Just can’t wait to get to a sprint again
The life I love is makin’ Ubuntu with my friends
And I can’t wait to get to a sprint again

To sprint again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the jetway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin’ our way
And our way
Is to sprint again

Just can’t wait to get to a sprint again
The life I love is makin’ Ubuntu with my friends
And I can’t wait to get to a sprint again
And I can’t wait to get to a sprint again

PARIS, France — Tuesday, September 22, 2009 — In a landmark ruling that will set legal precedent, the Paris Court of Appeals decided last week that the company Edu4 violated the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) when it distributed binary copies of the remote desktop access software VNC but denied users access to its corresponding source code. The suit was filed by Association pour la formation professionnelle des adultes (AFPA), a French education organization.

“This decision should raise awareness about free software licensing for everyone involved with it,” said Olivier Hugot, attorney of Free Software Foundation France. “Companies distributing the software have been given a strong reminder that the license’s terms are enforceable under French law. And users in France can rest assured that, if need be, they can avail themselves of the legal system to see violations addressed and their rights respected.”

The events of the case go back to early 2000, when Edu4 was hired to provide new computer equipment in AFPA’s classrooms. Shortly thereafter, AFPA discovered that VNC was distributed with this equipment. Despite repeated requests, with mediation from the Free Software Foundation France, Edu4 refused to provide AFPA with the source code to this version of VNC. Furthermore, FSF France later discovered that Edu4 had removed copyright and license notices in the software. All of these activities violate the terms of the GNU GPL. AFPA filed suit in 2002 to protect its rights and obtain the source code.

“We’ve long said the GNU GPL is enforceable, and of course we’re pleased to see another court reaffirm that fact,” said Loic Dachary, president of FSF France. “But what makes this ruling unique is the fact that the suit was filed by a user of the software, instead of a copyright holder. It’s a commonly held belief that only the copyright holder of a work can enforce the license’s terms – but that’s not true in France. People who received software under the GNU GPL can also request compliance, since the license grants them rights from the authors.”

The Court’s ruling is available on the web at http://fsffrance.org/news/arret-ca-paris-16.09.2009.pdf.

Read the announcement: http://blog.launchpad.net/general/launchpad-is-now-open-source

Join the fun: #launchpad-dev on freenode