Overview:

There is a very wide range of software available that is free to use, modify and re-distribute. Most computer users encounter open source applications on a daily basis - often without noticing it. This session will demonstrate some of these tools, for both desktop and server. We will also look at the possible routes for deploying these sustainable solutions, covering the skill sets needed, and the support and training available.

Session Facilitator:

Richard Rothwell (M6-IT)
Matthew Edmundson (M6-IT)
Richard Smedley (M6-IT)

Biographies:

Richard Rothwell has spent two decades in IT education, building upon a lifetime of voluntary work to develop a Community Interest Company to promote the use of Free Software in the Third Sector. He has been involved in national and regional developments. He has been invited to many national events, including talking at the OSSWatch conference and at GUADEC – in international GNOME developers conference. While teaching at Handsworth Grammar School he implemented a GNU/Linux network for the pupils, which has been favourably reviewed in two BECTa reports and is a reference site to the deployment of LTSP in schools in the UK.

Matthew Edmondson (known to his friends as “Hamish”) has a long pedigree in the Circuit Rider movement and in voluntary environmental work in Scotland. More recently he rescued the NCC's efforts to deliver the ICT Hub's ChangeUp-funded, Free Software training programme across the ten regions of England. Matthew is a director of the Doon of May Land co-operative.

Richard Smedley spent part of the dot com boom programming websites, and administering web servers, before moving into IT publishing, and generating strong links with all areas of the ever-growing Free & Open Source Software community in the UK and Europe. Involvement in community projects led to full time work in the voluntary sector, ensuring the West Midlands ChangeUp spend reached beyond big charities in Birmingham, to help numerous smaller projects in small towns and rural areas.

Session Notes: