Let me preface this blog post by telling you straight up.....I am not a developer! However I am the bridge between a development team and organizations who chosen to use open source software.

I find myself in a difficult position. My friends & family definitely see me as a geek, often commenting that it seems as if my Twitter & Facebook are in some other language. But among the open source or Linux crowd, there is a caste system in place which can make one feel like an 'untouchable' if you are not a hacker, or a developer.

Mark and I talked about the Humble Indie Bundle in our latest podcast and Mark had posted about his recent download of the bundle.

Hard to believe that 25% of the downloads from the site are actually pirated, because people don't want to pay the 1 cent to obtain the key code, but instead are posting it on sites such as forums, 4chan, etc

This past October, I blogged about sexism in Open Source and there was mixed reactions to the post.  It was triggered by comments from some influential members of the community.  

One of the journalists which I referenced in my post, Bruce Byfield, was a presenter on the topic recently at Cossfest 2010 here in Calgary.  I approached him regarding an interview for the podcast and he welcomed the opportunity to share his perspective.

Interesting to hear the direction that Ubuntu is heading with 10.10 Maverick.  The focus seems to be on the notebook uptake, with a proposed dual boot option for OEM's using a stripped down version, Ubuntu Light.

Introduces Unity which is built to optimize desktop real estate on netbooks

End users can choose the Ubuntu option when they want fast access to the net for example.  

Mark gives a good overview of the changes to expect ahead.  If you work with Ubuntu, you may want to take some time and watch this

 I was trying to make my Ubuntu desktop a bit more sexy, and I needed to test 3D functionality for the Linux based software that I work with.  I came across install instructions for Cario-Dock which use openGL.  I know that CompWiz also adds 3D effects to the desktop, but I thought this added just enough fun to the desktop, so it would appeal to some of the older school kids that we are deploying Ubuntu to.

Here are the install instructions from the Ubuntu Community page

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CairoDock

Given that Earth Day came and went on April 22nd without hardly any notice in my office (I had suggested that perhaps we could all turn off our PC"s at the end of the day) it was indicative of the lack of  appreciation for the impact that North American habits have on our environment.

 I have been looking for easy to use remote access tools for Linux, that are independent of a server, and allows for desktop control.  

Keep in mind that given the variety of troubleshooting or training scenarios I find myself in, that there are so many factors beyond my control, such as firewalls, ISP's, routers, locked down environments etc, I desperately needed some tools, as verbally reading out commands or typing them into Skype (error prone) was time consuming.

 Last week I shared what i thought were 5 barriers to the adoption of Open Source, which then led to a discussion of how do people really use it.

I welcome feedback from our readers regarding what part Open Source plays in your daily work or personal life.  I wanted to take the discussion outside the box or out of the server room per se.

 I am recommitting to small but plenty blog posts.  Over the past weeks, I have had several presentations where i spoke about the barriers to Open Source Adoption (both perceived & real).  Some of my favorite blogs that I read also have touched on this topic recently.

So here is my take on 5 barriers to main stream adoption of Open Source.

 It's always amazing how fast the weeks fly by, and here it is almost 5 weeks without a blog post.  Been in the midst of things and it is always exciting.  

Received notice that some of my acquaintances moving to new adventures in their careers, I will miss working with them to increase awareness of open source alternatives.  Renata & Marc, you have both been great!