[Fwd: LibreOffice Draw Workshop]

[shu...@gmail.com]

Hi All

Find below an email from NCIT requesting formal LibreOffice Training.

Since the training is planned to be conducted on 12th April, I am forwarding this email for your comments, suggestions and commitment.

Salam

Yusuf Abdulla Shunan

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Projects <proj...@ncit.gov.mv>
To: 'Yusuf Shunan' <shu...@maldicore.com>
Subject: LibreOffice Draw Workshop
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2011 13:33:56 +0500

Dear Shunan,

We would like to thank you and your team for conduction Open Office workshop for the ICT Consolidation Technical Team members last week. The feedback received from the members was very positive and we plan to conduct more workshop targeting the general users  in the government offices to identify the main challenges in Using Libre office in Government and evaluate the appropriateness of the LibreOffice as an alternative for the proprietary office productivity software.

With the success of the first workshop we would like you to design a 2 day LibreOffice Draw training workshop targeting the graphics designers working across the government and conduct the program on 12th April.

Please let us know if this is convenient for you.

Thank you for your continuous support.

Best regards

Nazima

[Inash Zubair]

Just to be on the clear side, Draw is not for graphics designing, it
is for creating flowcharts and diagrams. Cheers.

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--
Inash Zubair

[shu...@gmail.com]

Hi

I think Draw is an alternative to MSDraw! If they are targeting Graphic Designers, I think InkScape & Scribus should be included!

Salam

Yusuf Abdulla Shunan

[Ibrahim Awwam]

Ya inash is right.
Sunan tell NCIT Draw is not for Graphics designing.
If they are focusing the training for graphics designers, it will be
useless to conduct a training for Draw.

Suggest them alternatives

--
Sent from my mobile device

Regards
Awwam

Tel#+9609738824

[Naail Abdul Rahman]

In my opinion there really isn't THAT much in Draw to train a person on
who has already been trained to used other Libre/OpenOffice tools. That
said, if they are indeed looking for graphics design then I too
recommend doing scribus, ink-scape and also GIMP or Krita or both (this
being a lower priority I suppose, since bitmap graphics editing is
hardly up the average office jocks alley)

[Ahmed Sujau]

well they can ask for free classes than why not even if the thing is meant to do graphics or flow charts. And setting up dates on their convenience? . i thought we were working for the benefit and it has to be us giving our free time to them?
anyways shunan i think u should "alert" them its used for visual presentation not graphic design.
regards
jaau

[Ahmed Ibrahim]

Hi Sunan,

I think this is a great opportunity that has been presented to MOSS, if we know where it's heading.

Using Draw? That sounds more like they are trying to optimize the use of LO and its features rather than looking for a graphics app. And I don't think there are a lot of graphics designers working across the gov. I've used Corel Draw and Adobe Photoshop from time to time to design some greeting cards :) but I'm not a graphics designer, but if there are, I think they would be very particular about the tools they use. It's like asking a VB developer to use Java because its free.

I've got a few questions for you, would appreciate if you clarify them...
1. What's NCIT's plan in all this. Are they planning to switch the whole government to LO, or is this just an ad-hoc experiment?

2. And what is the role of MOSS in all this? Are they going to be "THE" OSS authority for the gov migration, or they are just using MOSS because they get your time and expertise for free?

3. While you are dedicating your free time to all this right now, I think somewhere down the road you should think of a professional/consultation fee that could be charged to raise funds for MOSS. What are your views on this?

As always its very pleasing to see the dedication and enthusiasm in promoting OSS

regards

Ahmed

[Mohamed Shaafiee]

Ahmed,

Your points 2 and 3 remind me of a certain debate I had in this very
group (http://groups.google.com/group/mlugmv/browse_thread/thread/ecb189613c2bfa4a?hl=en)
a very long time ago. This may come as a shocker, but MOSS has already
created the image of a grant-funded organization capable of providing
free consultancy to NCIT. MOSS has made its bed, now it has to sleep
in it.

There is an alternative though. That is to listen to people like Ahmed
Ibrahim and start demanding for remuneration. Call it a grant towards
the project that MOSS was founded for: mainly to familiarize children
with open-source software in order to imbue freer (not just
monetarily) philosophies in future generations. Make it a
well-documented (and prettily designed) proposition. If NCIT cannot
provide you with what you need, don't fulfill their's.

[shu...@gmail.com]

Hi all,

I will raise/forward these with the NCIT and share their answers with you.

Thanks for the feedback.

Salam

Yusuf Abdulla Shunan

[V Shah]

They are  looking for a Corel-Draw replacement.SO as others have said lets propose the alternatives to NCIT team.

Regards,

Vishah

[V Shah]

We will have to be careful in not letting demand for grants lead to a flop in projects.Yes we don't have any funds except what is given to MOSS projects by individual members and we need funds badly.But even if they are not willing to give funds, we should go ahead with this if members are willing to give time.

Regards,

Vishah 

[Ahmed Sujau]

if they are willing to work with our schedules i think
regards
jaau

[V Shah]

@Mohamed Shaafiee

My Understanding of registering MOSS as an NGO, separate from MLUG, was to drive Linux adoption in the government and enterprise level. Awareness of Free software in wider community comes under MLUG, and that's where familiarizing children with open-source software comes in.

If we can get Opensource software into government and enterprises, homes will automatically follow. 

Regards,

Vishah

[Mohamed Shaafiee]

Shah,

The current resistance to change is attributed to all kinds of fears
of a solution that people have not experienced, as opposed to one (the
Microsoft one) that has mollycoddled them their entire lives (from
those QB programs they developed in O'Level computing all the way to
the Office-Exchange-SQL-AD quadruple-threat). That's why I think the
generations that will flood the public sector job market should be
targeted first. If they are on board, by the time they start calling
the shots, they will be much more amenable.

Please understand that I too am doing as much as I can to help bring
in open-source solutions into the public sector (including coaxing
NCIT into taking a better look at LibreOffice). It is beneficial to
the government not just in monetary terms (we're looking at savings of
more than USD 5 million every 5-10 years), but also because of the
security, openness of standards (particularly in having data stored in
non-proprietary formats) and technological currentness that it will
bring. However, there is a shortage of professionals capable of
maintaining these solutions, and even I am having trouble justifying
that this will not be an issue.

This is why I ask you to seek a grant for open-source education. If
NCIT waylays your request, then bring the proposal to me, and I will
do my best to table it at the National Planning Council.

[shu...@gmail.com]

Hi Shaafiee,

We have officially requested for a written feedback from NCIT on this and will inform once they respond...

As far as my understand goes (based on conversations) they are looking at open source as a viable option for gov and are in need of a partner who can provide consultancy/training and other similar support. They are also willing to enter into a MOU with MOSS on advocating, promoting and propagation of FLOSS into gov.

As for the financial part, it seems there is no budget, nil, nothing... Even 50 buks per session raises eye brows. If you can help just let us know.

Salam

Yusuf Abdulla Shunan

[Mohamed Shaafiee]

Shunan,

My reply to their response would have been, 'are YOU getting paid?' :)

But jokes aside, NCIT will have the budget to remunerate you (just
think of all the so-called professional expats coming in for the
numerous consultancies). The reason why they don't is because you give
in when they refuse. How can you tell if they will have the money? The
decision-makers in the government will pay whatever is needed to
fulfill all legal demands and they are prepared to pay for products
that they know how to use. Hence, since NCIT has only just started
taking open-source solutions seriously (ask yourself if this was on
their own accord), then their attempts to streamline expenditure
should be coupled with a mandatory training component. If they
streamline the costs, they are making savings on an already budgeted
expenditure that they would have spent otherwise. I'm sure your
training costs would be a lot smaller than the savings made through
their streamlining.

If NCIT refuses to pay, then get me a proposal to develop a FLOSS
education system, where MOSS will partner with various institutions to
help build the needed quota of professionals. By the end of this year
(and these are figures I'm stating off the top of my head) the
government would look at having at least 50 certified systems
administrators (eg. RHCSA), 30 engineers (eg. RHCE) and 10 systems
architects (eg. RHCA). By the end of next year I would assume the
numbers would be close to 100 (given the councils), 50, 20,
respectively).

In this proposal, work out a partnership plan where MOSS will become
the government's preferred FLOSS partner. This will allow MOSS to
monetize the venture by charging all FLOSS trainers to become partners
in its government-approved training programs. Further monetizing
options will include advertising (both for and through other entities)
and various other fundraising schemes.

Such a proposal would be viewed favorably by NPC. You can sweeten the
deal by consenting to oversight by the government (as they will want
to keep the FLOSS market competitive if they are adopting its
solutions).

Also, when dealing with such matters, always ask for a formal binding
contract rather than an MOU (it's not that we don't already
understand).

[V Shah]

Agreed on all points.Let's discuss this on the next meeting and come up with a road-map.

[Ahmed Ibrahim]

so when and where is the next meeting

[shu...@gmail.com]

Hi all,

MOSS meeting tomorrow night (every Friday night) at 22:00 - 00:00 at IRC, freenode channel #moss.

http://webchat.freenode.net/

Agenda: 

01. NCIT Training Program

02. Website Blog/Newsletter/Article Section

Salam

Yusuf Abdulla Shunan

[Naail Abdul Rahman]

@shunan:
Please update meetings on MOSS calendar. Request everybody to check on calendar for meeting schedules.

[Ahmed Ibrahim]

Dear shunan

Will you be there in the meeting?

[V Shah]

Shunan will be there.

[shu...@gmail.com]

Looking forward to it.

See you all..

Salam
Yusuf A. Shunan