Veni | Вени

As portal.bg reports, Microsoft Bulgaria is advertising the release of www.teacher.bg – web portal for the Bulgarian teachers.

The only problem is that the advertised as “the educational portal of Bulgaria” is… not working. As you can see on the screen below, the portal is not configured properly

Portal.bg quotes different articles from the last five years, which show the connections between Microsoft and the Bulgarian government, which have led to spending more than $ 44 Million for rental of 48,000 copies of WindowsXP/OfficeXP, which makes the price of this software more than twice higher than the price at CompUSA.

MS Office upgrade 2007 is $ 279, Windows XP pro, upgrade is $ 199, or total of $ 479 per computer, which is about 50 % of the price the Bulgarian government has paid Microsoft ($ 916 per computer) for renting the same software.

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update from May 21st: The portal was working, and you could see pictures with English texts (obviously not from Bulgarian class rooms). Check the article at portal.bg for more.

update from May 30th: A journalist informed me that the portal is not working again. And it was true – connection timeout. However, I will not do more updates here, because that means to keep the topic always on the top, as the portal will keep on not working often.

I met with Michael Dell for lunch on May 25. We were at his office in Austin, Texas.
Michael Dell is quiet a character. He’s very well informed not only about the IT business, but about the global development, trends, opportunities and possibilities – not only in the IT-world. Talking with him in front of the map of the world in his conference room was one of the ways to see how small the world is. At some point, after 30 years, I may be tempted to write down what we talked, but today I can only say, I am very optimistic – not only about Dell, the computer company, but also about the way they’ve shaken the world, and the endless ways for development of skills, engineers, and ideas all over the world. What Dell is doing today, will form the future in a way no other company has done it.

Before and after the lunch I had meetings with other people at Dell:
Bob Pearson – VP Corporate Group Communications; Lionel Menchaca – Digital Media Manager; Dale Kaisner – Sr. Engineering Manager – Linux Engineering; Matt Domsch – Linux Software Architect; John Hull – manager of Linux OS technologies, and Caroline Dietz – public affairs.
We talked about their new Linux program – Dell offers today 3 consumer systems with Ubuntu 7.04. Further, Dell has devoted man and skills for the Dell Idea Storm – a unique place to be. I highly recommend it for people who have ideas, and want to see them implemented in the next computer they buy.
Check these lines from Lionel:
“Dell is doing this because of your clear feedback in IdeaStorm. User dhart submitted this idea on February 16—the first day we launched IdeaStorm and it quickly became the #1 idea. Since then, about 30,000 community members weighed in to support it, and over 100,000 of you completed the Linux survey to tell us more.”
When people speak, facts stay silent, if I may reverse the popular saying.
What Dell has started as a small step for the company, is a giant leap for the world-wide computer industry. Today, with Dell offering desktops and notebooks with pre-installed Linux, governments and big businesses worldwide will have no excuse during the public bids they organize but make sure they give opportunity to the national, local industries, by asking a different specifications. Until today, when there was a public bid, the request usually will be “computers with MS Windows OS”, and/or “MS Office”. From today on, the request should be something like that (and please, correct it to sound proper) “computers with operating system, with graphic interface, capable of tcp/ip, with software applications allowing reading/saving of files in the following formats: .rtf, .pdf, MS Word doc, MS Excell, presentations like MS Powerpoint”, etc.
This opens the doors for local businesses, who now instead of selling their computer systems with pre-installed MS Windows, will have the option of getting lower price, Linux-based computers.
Plus, when people use OpenOffice, Firefox and other non-Microsoft based software, they will actually cause less problems for the IT-managers in the companies, organizations or ministries where they work.
Some time ago, when we were running the first phase of the FOSS project, one of the IT-managers at a Bulgarian municipality said that he does not provide support to administration clerks who use MS Internet Explorer and/or MS Office. His argument was that since these products by default cause problems, it’s not his responsibility to waste his time to fix them.

With Dell’s new offer, this all may change. I urge people worldwide to start looking not only into the 3 systems, offered by Dell, but to other systems, and participate at Dell’s blog, and see that they can actually make a difference in the way people approach the computers.

Dell’s engineers, who I met, are really good. No, they are not good – they are exceptionally good and devoted people. They deserve a big round of applauses from all of us – the users. I was also quite impressed with Lionel, and the questions he asked me during an interview I gave for the Dell blog.

Today Dell gives all the users the right to choose – something which many of the advanced users have already chosen, but with Dell making such a move, it’s only a matter of time before the other companies join. Because they are already losing customers.

The free and open source community, bloggers from all over the world – I hope you all will spread the word about the new Ubuntu offer from Dell… No, not about the offer itself – spread the word that there’s a new company that provides computers which will work better, cost less, and give the users the opportunity to learn, not just to repeat.

The revolution has started. Lead it.

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See the picture I took of Michael Dell, and the lunch table.
Just 10 days ago Dell announced their first representative office in Bulgaria. It’s headed by Alexander Alexandrov.

The New York Times published an op-ed yesterday. You can read it here.

And below is my response to this op-ed.

Dear NYT,
I read the op-ed “A Great Idea Lives Forever. Shouldn’t Its Copyright?” by Mark Helprin, published May 20th.
The author makes a statement, and asks a question, at the end of his piece: “Would it not be just and fair for those who try to extract a living from the uncertain arts of writing and composing to be freed from a form of confiscation not visited upon anyone else? The answer is obvious, and transcends even justice.”
However, the answer, is actually quite a stupid one. It’s a stupid, because the question is stupid.
I am the son of a well-published writer, and a grandson of a well-published poet (while they both wrote mainly in Macedonian and Bulgarian, they also have books published in Russia, Germany, and the USA). Last year, I have decided voluntarily, 30 years after the death of my Father, and 19 after the death of my Grandfather to give up “my” copyright. I am now publishing their works under Creative Commons – attribution non-commercial).

I did that for several reasons:
a) I want as many people as possible to read their books, for free
b) They made their money because of skills they have, I want to make my money with the skills I have.
c) Ideas are not like real estates. Unlike land, which can never become more than it is currently on our planet, ideas can multiply, and increase, and become the foundation of new ideas. If I am to limit the access to my father and grandfather’s books, that means I limit the possibility of people to read more than a hundred sonnet crowns, thousands of poems, tens of children stories, history books, memoirs, etc. which probably would never or hardly ever will be published again (my Grandfather’s book, Goli otok – the island of death, published by the Columbia University Press in New York was last sold for $ 350 on Amazon), or even if published, how many people could afford it?
d) I want people not only to read them, but also – if they want – to translate them in other languages.

I don’t know if their ideas and books are great ones, but if I decide to not publish them under Creative Commons, that for sure will be an idea. The same idea would be if I had hundreds of years of copyright, and I keep the books and ideas for me and my family – just like land, as Mr. Helprin suggests. That will not be just an idea. That would be an extremely stupid idea.

Best regards,
etc.

You, my readers, can contribute at prof. Lessig’s wiki.

ISOC – Bulgaria has responded to the ITU questionnaire.

Question 1:
What specific activities should be undertaken for ITU “to continue to take a significant role in international discussions and initiatives on the management of Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU, taking into account future developments of the Internet, the purposes of the Union and the interests of its membership as expressed in its instruments, resolutions and decisions?”
comment1 : ITU should initiate into effective dialog with the existing structures dealing with management of domain names and addresses – mainly ICANN, IANA, IETF, ISOC, RIR, and others. ITU should encourage its members to engage with local ISOC chapters to work on those issues on a national level.

Question 2:
What specific activities should be undertaken “to take the necessary steps for ITU to continue to play a facilitating role in the coordination of international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet, as expressed in § 35 d) of the Tunis Agenda, interacting as necessary with other intergovernmental organizations in these domains”?
comment2: The ITU could play such a role in areas where such a public policy exists – e.g. in the field of cybercrime. ITU also could serve as a focal point for anti-spam efforts.

Question 3:
What specific activities should be undertaken “in line with § 78a) of the Tunis Agenda, to continue to contribute as appropriate to the work of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)”?
comment3: The ITU should allocate funds (be that its own, or driven from different sources) for covering expenses of participants to the IGF from developing countries.

Question 4:
What specific activities should be undertaken “to take the necessary steps for ITU to play an active and constructive role in the process towards enhanced cooperation as expressed in § 71 of the Tunis Agenda”?
comment4: Since the process of enhanced cooperation has not started yet, it is very unlikely that the ITU could influence this process, regardless of what steps it takes. If the UN Secretary-General starts this process, then the ITU could plan on taking such steps.

Question 5:
What specific activities should be undertaken “to take the necessary steps in ITU’s own internal process towards enhanced cooperation on international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet as expressed in § 71 of the Tunis Agenda, involving all stakeholders, in their respective roles and responsibilities”?
comment5: ITU should not take steps before the UN Secretary-General has decided how to initiate the process; doing this at the current time is spending resources with no good reason. ITU should continue building good relations with all international organizations, in order to be ready when the process starts.

Question 6:
What specific activities should be undertaken by ITU-T “to ensure that the ITU-T performs its role in technical issues .. related to the management of Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU, such as IP version 6 (IPv6), ENUM and IDNs, as well as any other related technological developments and issues; and continues to play a facilitating role in coordination and assistance in the development of public policy issues pertaining to Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU and their possible evolution; and works … on issues concerning Member States’ ccTLDs and related experiences”?
comment6: As it is said in the relevant part of the Tunis declaration, ITU-T should continue to contribute with experts and liaise and cooperate with the appropriate entities.

Question 7:
What specific activities should be undertaken by ITU-D “to organize international and regional forums and carry out necessary activities … to discuss policy, operational and technical issues on the Internet in general, and on the management of Internet domain names and addresses and other Internet resources within the mandate of ITU in particular, including with regard to multilingualism; to promote through ITU-D the exchange of information, fostering debate and the development of best practices on Internet issues, and to continue to play a key role in outreach by contributing to capacity building, providing technical assistance and encouraging the involvement of developing countries, LDCs and SIDS in international Internet forums and issues”?
comment7 : This question should be responded by the developing countries.

There was no comment on question 8.

The elections are over.
The results will be discussed from now on for many days.
[update] The Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedom (known as DPS, or the party of the Bulgarian Turkish population), and the newly established party of the Sofia mayor Boyko Borissov have each gained approx. 21 % of the votes. Fourth is the nationalistic party “Ataka“, with about 14 %, and about 6 % go to the party NDSV of the ex-prime minister, and ex-king of Bulgaria Simeon Saxe Koburg Gotha. All other right, centrist and left parties couldn’t make it to the required minimum to send even one MEP.

International Herald Tribune published a large article about the elections (but not quite precise one!) . New York Times also reported on the elections.
Borrisov seems the biggest loser of the elecitons, as he was expecting to get more votes, but aparantly the relations between him and the local Bulgarian mafia, described in the Congressional Quarterly Reveiw earlier this year have been noticed by the voters. The article, “Bush’s Bulgarian Partner in the Terror War Has Mob History, Investigators Say” was published in March 2007. The reaction to it is described at the bottom of this page.

I think the result of the elections shows that the 3-party coaltion (BSP, NDSV, DPS) is very stable, and will continue to keep the parliamentary majority (which is big enough for constitutional changes). As the leader of the DPS, Ahmed Dogan said, they are not going to ask for a change in the 3-party coalition agreement, and will continue to work in the formula, created in 2005, that is 3-5-8 (3 cabinet seats for DPS, 5 for NDSV, 8 for BSP). Hopefully, they will also spend some time in thinking what to make better, in order to improve the results from the last 2 years. Currently Bulgaria has lowest unemployment ever – about 8 %, 2006 was the year with highest foreign investments – about $ 5 billion. Corporate tax in 2007 is already at EU lowest level of 10 %.

Did you know that 1 in 150 kids in the USA has autism? Did you know that in 1980 it was 1 in 10,000 kids? I didn’t know if until last night.

I’ve watched last night “Autism: The Musical” (the web site is not very good – please, don’t judge the movie from the site!).
Created by my friend Tricia Regan, it is part of the official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival.
It’s another sad, and touching movie. It talks about Autism with kids, and the impact it has on their parents, and the society.
It made me cry with every new character (the cast, as they were named), with the stories, being told by the parents. It’s a movie that shows not only the tragedy, but actually the heroism of the parents, having to deal with their autistic kids.
Some scenes, which I find quite amazing:
- adopted from Russia Neal learnt to talk to his parents with a talking machine (he types the letters, the machine announces what’s written), and one of the first things he told his Mom was that she needs to listen to him.
- a scene between Adam’s Mother and Elaine, the organizer of the Miracle Project
But to count only two out of the tens of scenes from the movie that made me think what I am doing to help autistic kids, is not fair. You should definitely go and watch it, or ask for a DVD at the nearest store.

You can watch it still on May 3, 5, and 6. See the official TFF site for more information.

I’ve checked what’s the situation in Bulgaria (linked article is in Bulgarian) – today 3 out of 1000 kids have autism. In 1980s it was only one. If you have information about other countries, please, share it here.

Check this site, mentioned in the night of the movie: Autism Speaks, and Cure Autism Now.

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Updated.
Some media reporting:

May 17: Beautiful article in Reuters India. A must read!
May 8: The New York Sun notes the movie.
May 6: New York 1 made a good coverage of the movie. Read it here. See it here (low bandwidth / high bandwidth, both require real player).

May 1: Variety.com gives a good review.
May 1: Cinema Blend gives a good review, too. (beware of pop-up window on that site!)

April 29: New York Times mentioned the movie last Sunday. But to call this movie “unsentimental” means only the author Caryn James probably has not seen it.

Steven Snyder of the TFF says on the official Tribeca Film Festival site, “(quote cut becaus TFF copyright policy is extremly restrictive)”, so go to the movie page, click on the headline, find Program Notes, and click on “Show All” to read what he says. I am sorry, but TFF is strict in their copyright policy.

Or check with Google – they know how to find the news about the movie.

Good news! Dell opens an office in Bulgaria.

The representive is Alexander Alexandrov.

This is a good news, and shows that Bulgaria has started to show slowly on the Dell’s map. With new line of production, and computers with Linux, they may have found a good niche in the country.

Congratulations and good luck!

A nice piece in the New Yorker magazine.

Worth reading. It talks about why the US insists on other countries changing their policies towards Intellectual property (IP), and patents.

See just one paragraph from the article:

Why does the U.S. insist on these rules? Quite simply, American drug, software, and media companies are furious about the pirating of their products, and are eager to extend the monopolies that their patents and copyrights confer. These companies are the main advocates for such rules, and the big winners. The losers are often the citizens in developing countries, who find themselves subject to a Draconian I.P. regime that reduces access to new technologies.

and visit the New Yorker web site to read all of it.

In an article for the Fortune magazine, Microsoft says that free and open source software violates more than 200 of Microsoft’s patents.
Microsoft’s chief counsel and VP Brad Smith is quoted as saying that the Linux kernel – the deepest layer of the free operating system, which interacts most directly with the computer hardware – violates 42 Microsoft patents. The Linux graphical user interfaces – essentially, the way design elements like menus and toolbars are set up – run afoul of another 65. The Open Office suite of programs, which is analogous to Microsoft Office, infringes 45 more. E-mail programs infringe 15, while other assorted FOSS programs allegedly transgress 68.

The US Supreme Court made it easier to invalidate patents that are ‘obvious’ combinations of earlier inventions.

Read the whole story at CNN.

The Internet Society (ISOC) seeks nominations of highly qualified individuals to serve on the Board of Directors of the Public Interest
Registry (PIR) for the period 2008-2010. PIR was created by the Internet Society to manage the .ORG domain. The Internet Society
seeks to fill three open seats on the PIR board. The Board meets in person 3-4 times per year. The time commitment is approximately 14-18 full days per year plus additional phone calls and e-mail.

Skills

The priority skills are as follows:

* General business acumen with either significant entrepreneurial, non-profit and/or marketing (not sales) skills
* Known as a contributor in ICANN – Understanding and engagement in the retail domain name space (e.g. a Pindar equivalent)

Additional useful skills are:

* Long term strategic thinker
* Financial acumen; PIR is a $40M/yr. enterprise
* Familiarity with the non-commercial enterprise world
* Geographical diversity

Please also note that without current exposure/involvement with the highly volatile name space business arena, it will take board member 6-12 months to get up-to-speed. With two new members next year, it will be crucial to make sure at least one new member is actively engaged in the name space arena.

Read the full text of this news at the ISOC’s web site.