Benjamin Kerensa

The Ramblings of a Beautiful Mind

Oregon

Sponsor Debconf14

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debianorigDebconf14 is just around the corner and although we are making progress on securing sponsorships there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made in order to reach our goal. I’m writing this blog post to drum up some more sponsors. So if you are reading this and are a decision maker at your company or know a decision maker and are interested in supporting Debconf14, then please check out the Debconf14 Sponsor Brochure and if still interested then reach out to us at sponsors@debconf.org. I think it goes without saying that we would love to fill some of the top sponsorship tiers.

I hope to see you in August in Portland, OR for Debconf14!

 

About Debconf

DebConf is the annual Debian developers meeting. An event filled with discussions, workshops and coding parties – all of them highly technical in nature. DebConf14, the 15th Debian Conference, will be held Portland, Oregon, USA, from August 23rd to 31st, 2014 at Portland State University. For more detailed logistical information about attending, including what to bring, and directions, please visit the DebConf14 wiki.
This year’s schedule of events will be exciting, productive and fun. As in previous years (final report 2013 [PDF]), DebConf14 features speakers from around the world. Past Debian Conferences have been extremely beneficial for developing key components of the Debian system, infrastructure and community. Next year will surely continue that tradition.

Sprint LTE now live in parts of Portland Metro Area

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Sprint LTE in Portland, Oregon Metro Area
Sprint LTE in Portland, Oregon Metro Area

It looks like Sprint is up to something good even though they have not announced it yet (surprisingly) I found that there is quite a bit of LTE service rolling out in Washington County (Clackamas, Oregon) just on the border of Portland, Oregon.

This is really good news for Sprint customers in Oregon because it means LTE is coming even though Sprint has not officially listed any place in Oregon as on their roadmap for LTE.

Since I know I get a lot of readers to my blog from Oregon I’m wondering if any other Sprint customers in Oregon have noticed any unannounced rollouts of LTE?

Free Open Source Software in Oregon Government

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In Oregon we are by no means strangers to Technology in fact many Tech companies called Oregon home to their Data Centers and offices where developers are creating the next innovative product. Despite our state being welcoming to tech companies our local and state government is really not doing a good job at adopting Free Open Source Software which powers so many of the successful tech companies in our state.

Considering the Economic woes our state and country faces you would think that now would be the best time for local government at the city, county and state level to start reducing their proprietary software licensing and support costs by implementing Open Source alternatives such as Ubuntu for the desktop and server, Thunderbird for e-mail, Firefox for Web Browsing and WordPress and Drupal for government websites.

There is no doubt that Oregon could save millions and its towns and cities could save millions which could then be pumped back into Education and other crucial Social programs.

But instead of adopting Open Source governments in Oregon continue to mostly shun it or use it as little as possible. A good example is non-profit FreeGeek has a contract with the City of Portland in which they get used City computers and hardware and refurbish them and install Ubuntu but must distribute those refurbished machines to local schools however the Portland Public School system has not yet requested any of these computers for their classrooms and students.

How can local schools do teacher layoffs and cut programs yet turn down free computers and technology that would save the millions from their budget over time. Since this is clearly not a new problem its important for the potentially millions of Oregonian’s who use Open Source everyday to encourage their local government to start adopting Open Source and save money and get amazing results much like the City of Skalica in Slovakia that cut 70% of their IT costs by switching to Ubuntu the Free Open Source alternative to proprietary Operating Systems like Windows and MacOSX.

Should your government try to create savings by adopting cost saving open source software?

Oregon Gives Union Pacific Millions Despite Their Billions in Profits

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Union Pacific: Gravy TrainToday I learned through Willamette Week that the State of Oregon has been giving Union Pacific millions of dollars for years now despite the fact Union Pacific is not only a private business but also a very profitable business with profits in the billions.

Now think about this for a second… Oregon which is strapped for cash and cutting programs for low-income families, disabled and people who cannot afford health care is giving out millions to subsidize an already profitable company.

Ladies and Gentlemen we call this Pork and in all honesty its a shame that Union Pacific acknowledges they request the money every year and are asking for over $8 million this year alone. What we need is for the Oregon Legislature to put a stop to this wasteful subsidy immediately and further some sort of commission should exist to find programs like this that give millions away to profitable private companies.

Union Pacific should just do the right thing and cancel their request for money this year and also write a check to the state but we know that won’t happen!

TILLAMOOK Y U DO LAYOFFS & OUTSOURCE?

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Tillamook Cheese Layoffs

I was a little disappointed when I stumbled upon an article that talked about Tillamook Cheese’s decision to layoff 50 employees at one of its coast factories that produces cheese that many Oregonian’s purchase every single day. What shocked me the most was that employees learned about the layoffs via television and newspaper and didn’t even get a heads up for their employer.

Apparently this is not the first time Tillamook has caused outrage and right now locals in the community are saying that the picture is looking pretty bleak for these workers due to a poor economy and limited job options in their community.

“A lot of them are going to have to look at moving someplace else. But they won’t be able to afford to. They won’t be able to sell their homes. They are going to be stuck here with no jobs.”  said Tim Josi

Notably, we are not hearing that the decision to do layoffs was due to financial woes and we know that Tillamook Cheese is not a budget cheese by any means so this leaves me thinking Tillamook is simply trying to increase their profitability on the backs of people who worked hard to produce a quality local product.

I suggest people Boycott Tillamook until they reconsider their decision.

 

 

Ubuntu Oregon Chrome Theme Now Available

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I was recently reading the Planet when I stumbled upon a blog post by Sergio Meneses describing how Jhosman had created a Chrome Theme for Ubuntu Colombia LoCo and at that point I got in touch with Jhosman and asked if the theme was under Creative Commons and in fact it was so within a few minutes of getting the source files I produced a theme for Ubuntu Oregon which can now be installed from the Chrome Webstore and you can checkout below.

Ubuntu Oregon Chrome Theme