Ubuntu/NGO/mail/1

From Bjoern Hassler

Hi all,

first post to the list. The Ubuntu NGO effort sounds great, very worthwhile.

I wanted to suggest a few more applications that would be interesting to include, so here's my list. (Hope this isn't off-topic.)

• GPRS modem drivers. During a recent trip in Zambia, we had a local GPRS dongle (which was a re-branded Huawei E220), and it wouldn't work on Ubuntu. Of course, if it was easy to support all possible hardware, then we'd already be doing this. But perhaps there's a selection that one could make. For instance, in Zambia, there's only a few telco's, and so there's probably only a few official dongles you can buy. So one could work out what's available locally, and support those.

• Skype. We've used skype quite effectively for communicating North<->South, so ideally one would bundle skype (which I guess isn't possible legally), but at least one can add the repositories, and tell users how then can download the package prior to installation (i.e. part of the "How-to make Add-on CD for Ubuntu"). Of course there are other messenger applications, and they should be included also. But skype I think is quite important, because many co-workers may already have skype, and may find it difficult to get other apps on non-linux boxes.

• Opera 10 has got 'Opera Turbo', where traffic is routed via an Opera server, and optimised. (Similar idea to Opera Mini.) I've used this quite successfully over GPRS, and it does make a real difference. Again, it probably can't be bundled, but the repositories should be set up, and again there should be instructions how to download the package with view to install lateron.

• Frontlinesms: http://www.frontlinesms.com/ (which is open source)

• There should be some multimedia applications (at least for photos), which is important for communication.

I should add that I'm a great fan of open source and creative commons. However, ultimately one needs to see what works best for the end user (from all angles), and this can also mean including commercial apps (for instance Skype and Opera).

Finally, a note on documentation. This is also mentioned on the wiki ("Documentation of best practises"), and I do think it's extremely important: both documenting practices (that help to inform this effort) as well as providing good off-line documentation. Perhaps we can make a list of good existing documentation (for using ubuntu and key applications, like Open Office), and work out how they can be bundled for off-line use.

Related to this is off-line content, and 'Open Educational Resources' one might want to include (such as wikipedia, which is also mentioned on the wiki), which is also an area that I would be very happy to talk about further.

Bjoern