1. Internet Collaboration with
SLX Debian Labs
A SIGOSSEE Seminar in Stockholm 15ht of Sept 2005
project manager Knut Yrvin Sept 13th Foils only for free distribution

2. Skolelinux-project as an example
A complete ICT-solution for the schools
network architecture out of the box
operational concept
digital user profile
OpenOffice and 75 user programs
Made on our mother tongue with the schools curriculum in mind
Made for the school budget 2

3. > 200 Skolelinux-schools
Hardware vendors: its many more 3

4. The basic idea
Pupils interested in technical, under-the-hood things – could learn by example – from source code written by expert programmers
Using our own mother thong when travelling on the information highway
Get more ICT-equipment and programs, and less time with maintenance. More for less 4

5. Start
25 people said they would participate, 13 meet on the first meeting
After a couple of moths we grew to 40
s is efficient, but could turn into flame- wars when people don't know each other
Precise goals

6. Collaboration Had to apply for founding to make developer gatherings
The ings got to hot
29400 Euro for HW and the first 8 gatherings
Had to make an infrastructure for developers and manuals for contributors
Had to do a lot of motivating effort

7. Have to obey
All code, translations and documentation has to be committed to the Concurrent Versions System on Internet
Bugs has to be committed to the bug-tracking system
Commit everything upstream. That means release often running code
Follow the licence-terms
Help people to help them selves
The person who does something decides
Do-ocracy 7

8. Some characteristics Started as an voluntary effort 2. July 2001
Contribution is over man-hours from ~ 200 developers, translators, and testers
More than 22 developer gatherings with 20 until 190 participants
16 in Norway with local Skolelinux-development
6 Internationally in Norway, Germany and Brazil
The version system “is our project” 8

9. Who is Skolelinux today (aka Debian-edu)
SLX Debian Labs (a foundation)
A part of the Debian project
3-4 man years
A member organisation
It's own border
130 active developers
30 over active developers
> 20 translators
Developers and users 9

10. Some successes We are a Debian project
Debian edu, Custom Debian Distribution for schools – turn key solution
New Debian installer, half thick clients
A lot of attention and installations
Use in many countries
Awards (e.g. New Media Award 2004)
Have kick-started others
etch w/security, Edubuntu many languages

11. Challenges Paying people doing software development
Maintenance when some people get interested doing other things
Founding the gatherings
Making a sustainable commercial entity selling maintenance services and up-keep
To founding development etc.
Lack of open standards even if the policies are right (things takes time)

12. Q & A 12

13. Real F/OSS effort is about
Using the F/OSS development methods and tools
It costed us dearly when the County Councils did not release the OpenOffice-translations
Using Purchasing Requirements that don't discriminate: Universal Design Requirements
You can't just say: We want open source, and then buy it as you did from your proprietary vendor
Using Reference Implementations with running and maintained code (FEIDE is on sourceforge)
Please don't reinvent Open Source development methods. You are not that good ... 13

14. What's wrong with just using shrink wrap products methods?
Users identified
Developers identified
COMPETITIVELY BID
CONTRACT DEVELOPMENT
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
IN-HOUSE AND
CUSTOM DEVELOPMENT
Time
Project Start
System Delivered
excluding the true power of F/OSS development ...
Jonathan Grudin: The development of interactive systems 14

15. Service financing Further development introduction courses Translation
Common-
expenses
with the software
Our contribution > h
Further development
Translation
Architecture
Teaching aids
Handbooks
Sharing of best practices
introduction
courses
maintaining
day-to-day operation
updates
expert help 15

16. Faster, Better, and Cheaper
Free/Open Source Software Development (F/OSSD) often entails shorter development times that can produce higher quality systems, and incur lower costs than may be realized through developing systems according Software Engineering (SE) techniques. [...]
Internet time and F/OSSD projects also tend to produce incremental software releases at a much faster rate, even to the point of releasing unstable but operational daily system builds. This denotes not only a reduction in product release cycle times compared to SE practice, but also a significantly restructured life cycle process and process cycle time reduction.
Walt Scacchi from Institute for Software Research University of California, Irvine 16

17. ICT at school is really about:
Using the system to send drawings to school classes in other countries. Learning to express, sharing and learn.
The system is used to make music, to read, gather information or decode words (in lower grades).
It's not about office-administration with office-products! 17