Software Freedom Day Saturday 16 September 2006 http://www.sfd06.org/melb Software Freedom Day is a global, grassroots effort to tell people about the virtues and availability of Free and Open Source Software. Three teams in Melbourne are organising activities for Saturday 16 September. In Melbourne on September 16, three teams will come together to celebrate digital freedom on Software Freedom Day along with 150 other teams from around the world. Free and Open Source software is becoming increasingly popular in schools, businesses and the home as people become aware of the benefits it offers. Software has traditionally been the domain of geeks, but Software Freedom Day is an opportunity for everyone to join in to celebrate technology and how it helps them get things done. Now into it's third year, this annual event aims to promote the benefits and philosophies that are the foundation of the Free and Open Source Software movement. "We're very excited to be hosting an event at Melbourne's Town Hall" said Kylie Davies, President of Computerbank Victoria. Computerbank recycles computers using open source software such as Linux, Open Office and Firefox. The computers are distributed to disadvantaged individuals and community groups, free training is also provided. Hardware that is too old and can't be reused is disposed of in a responsible manner. "If it weren't for Software Freedom, we would not be able to do the work we do." http://vic.computerbank.org.au/ Event: Software Freedom Day Bazaar Where: Melbourne Town Hall, Swanston Street Melbourne. When: 11am - 5pm, Saturday 16 September Cost: Free! For the past two years Linux Users of Victoria have taken Software Freedom to the streets. Handing out a thousand CDs in 35 minutes surprised LUV President, Andrew Chalmers who said "In 2004 they flew out of our hands. We went looking for discarded CDs once we'd run out, and found none." This year LUV is hosting an installfest. For those people who have done their homework and decided they want to give Linux a try, an installfest is the perfect opportunity to have an expert set it up on their computer. Linux Users of Victoria holds a monthly meeting where invited guests speak about linux and other open source related Linux technologies. http://www.luv.asn.au/ Event: Linux Installfest and BBQ Where: Unitarian church, Grey Street, East Melbourne. When: 1pm - 5pm, Saturday 16 September Cost: Free! The Dutch class at the Victorian School of Languages will also be celebrating Software Freedom Day whilst the VCE students prepare for their Final exams. Free software such as Audacity has revolutionised language teaching and learning. With Audacity, students are able to edit spoken language, like they can edit written language with a word processor. Word processing in languages other than English is easy with OpenOffice.org which is freely available in over 60 different languages. Best of all is students can have a copy on their home computers too. http://www.dutchclass.net/ Other schools taking part this year include St Michael's Grammar School, and Westall Secondary College. School based events are not accessible to the general public. For more information on Software Freedom Day see the website: http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/ All the details on the Melbourne events will be posted to http://www.sfd06.org/melb Press enquiries: Donna Benjamin - Open Source Victoria donna@cc.com.au 0418 310 414 Kylie Davies - Computerbank Victoria mailkylie@optushome.com.au 0412 099 304 Andrew Chalmers - Linux Users of Victoria president@luv.asn.au
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