May 2003 - openSUSE Edu - openSUSE Mailing Lists

RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Software Patents
by Grainge, Derek 02 May '03

02 May '03

From: MJ Ray [mailto:markj@cloaked.freeserve.co.uk] > Are supporters of GNU and Linux use in education against the > introduction of software patents? They could be used to restrict use > of otherwise-available software. I thought that GNU differentiates between ownership and accessibility. How does Linus exert ownership over the kernel? All software is copyright the owner and that ownership needs to be asserted. The GNU licence allows others to make use of the product, hopefully in an attributable way. But GNU specifically covers passing off work as if it's your own. AFAIK software is rarely patented per se. You can patent new ideas but they tend to have physical representations before the patent office get interested. But things like the GIF format have escaped to the public domain despite private ownership - and that ownership has been reasserted; thus the development of png. In any case a patent would be overturned if someone could prove that ownership lay elsewhere. -- ******************************************************************************** All mail sent and received may be examined to prevent transmission of unacceptable material. Wellington College does not accept responsibility for email contents. Problems to postmaster(a)wellington-college.berks.sch.uk. Website: http://www.wellington-college.berks.sch.uk ********************************************************************************

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RE: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Free school administration software - project has started
by Chris Puttick 02 May '03

02 May '03

I would second Chris's suggestion and would go further, recommending (at least) those with a development background read the archives to date (there's only 25 messages!) to get the technical flavour of the project. For those who are aware of Hobarte, I'm hoping/intending that some of the existing Hobarte solution can be migrated to this (despite language and architecture differences). Regardless, my spare energies will be directed into SchoolTool rather than Hobarte. This project has enormous potential and already has a very solid direction - more people will move it towards a useable solution that much faster. Cheers Chris -----Original Message----- From: Chris Duncan To: suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com Sent: 5/1/03 11:37 PM Subject: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Free school administration software - project has started Hi all, I have read messages on this list with interest over the last few months. A topic, which is of interest to me, has been raised on several occasions, namely, the question of a free school administration software package. A project has now been started to produce such a package. It is at the planning stage and has need of volunteers to help define the requirements of the system and assist with the construction of it. I am posting to this list because I am convinced that the most effective way to produce a free software application of this nature is to engage the education community in it's development from the outset. If you would like to become involved please visit this site: http://schooltool.sourceforge.net and subscribe to the mailing list. Regards -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-unsubscribe(a)suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-linux-uk-schools-help(a)suse.com

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Which e-mail list? - questionnaire results
by John Ingleby 01 May '03

01 May '03

I posted a questionnaire on the os.education Smartgroup, to further explore the question of a schoolforge.org.uk e-mail list. Many thanks to those who who responded! Basically, they support the view that this SuSe list suits most purposes. A new list might serve an administrative function for Schoolforge UK, but 50% would rather not subscribe to another mailing list. Someone suggested we should get in touch with SuSe - I'll do that. Regards, John Ingleby ************ -----Forwarded Message----- From: John Ingleby <john(a)coronet.co.uk> To: suse-linux-uk-schools(a)suse.com Subject: Which e-mail list? Date: 17 Apr 2003 11:00:09 +0100 I posted a vote on the matter of "Which e-mail list?" on the Smartgroup site created by Larry Walker, and you can see the results over at http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/os.education Basically, out of 11 voters: 3 want to use this SuSe list as the list for Schoolforge UK. 3 would like a new list @schoolforge.uk.org. 3 feel we should do both, with distinct purposes for each, 1 suggested we alias a new @schoolforge.org.uk list to this one, in effect merging the two. 1 suggested we continue with this list for now, while keeping the option open for a new list when we can see it's needed. The majority of voters are in favour of keeping this SuSe list as the vehicle for Schoolforge UK, at least for now. To get some ideas about the purposes for a new list, I've added an open-ended questionnaire. Please do take a look at the Smartgroup site, and add your feedback to the questionnaire. I'll try to summarise the results after April 30. With best regards, John Ingleby ************

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