Solomon, Author at Geezam.com

10Sep

By SolomonNo Comments

Tech News, Opinion

Microsoft (Loves|Likes) Open Source

Microsoft over the years have been using Open Source tools and technology in driving their business and for that, I wish to highlight the shift in their business model and how they are adopting as a company - primarily due to the disruption of Open Source software. As the popular saying goes: if you can't beat them; join them. Dominant players in the IT space are experiencing major disruption to their business model. Microsoft is no exception, as they have seen their customers gravitates to more reliable, portable and efficient open source alternative. Before we highlight their pivotal moments, let me say that I was right. I hereby claim victory over those never-ending college debates we often had at UTECH SCIT gazebo. A group of us were engaged in a multi-year debate on which pl...

Open Sourcing the Caribbean – St. Lucia Open Data Portal

10Jul

By SolomonNo Comments

Tech News, Caribbean Tech, Featured

Open Sourcing the Caribbean – St. Lucia Open Data Portal

Open Source and Open Data initiatives taking the Caribbean by storm! Good news, St. Lucia's Government started their Open Data policy which has been in the making for the past four years. This is part of the Government of St. Lucia in partnership with World Bank Open Data policy, Code for Africa and the SlashRoots Foundation. On Friday, June 8, the island well known for its French culture, pulled back the curtains and officially rolled out the red carpet on their open data portal (data.govt.lc). Benefits In the words of Sheila Hyacinthe-Imbert - Department of Public in St. Lucia "This is our hope for Saint Lucia. Open data is part of that overall data revolution. It’s a stepping stone to some of the data-driven technologies that are over the horizon." The op...

System76 Lemur: My Purebred Linux Laptop

31Mar

By SolomonNo Comments

Gadgets, Tech News, Internet, Tech Reviews

System76 Lemur: My Purebred Linux Laptop

As an advocate for Open Source Technology, I've put my money where my mouth is and purchased a purebred-Linux based laptop, the System76 Lemur. I'm pleased with this purchase and I'll be sharing a few bells and whistle along with the deltas that I've noticed over the past seven months. , you may not have heard of this company before but they are a US based computer reseller store with their primary focus on preinstalled-Linux notebooks, desktops and servers. They partner with the electronics manufacturer, Chicony, in packaging some beautiful hardware products for their customers. Why I purchased it? First I'm not a fanboy for System76. But I do put my money where my mouth is and being a supporter of Open Source, it is incumbent upon me to support an organisa...

Breaking News: “Government of Jamaica to Actively Pursue Greater Use of Open Source Software”

14Feb

By SolomonNo Comments

Tech News

Breaking News: “Government of Jamaica to Actively Pursue Greater Use of Open Source Software”

Let us declare February as the month of liberation. In this month, we celebrate Black History, Reggae Music, Bob Marley, Clarendon College founder's day, Open Source (Happy Birthday!) and this liberating announcement about Jamaican Government looking to use more Open Source. In this press release, Hon. Andrew Wheatley (Minister of Science and Technology) highlights the need for the Jamaican Government to use more Open Source software. He emphasized the importance of Open Source in driving innovation while cutting the cost of proprietary software. He also made reference to the Open Source Policy Framework report done in 2016, which reaffirm the importance of Open Source software in driving growth in Jamaica and other developing countries. Things are already in motion as va...

Geezam! Barcelona Declaring Independence from Proprietary software

22Jan

By SolomonNo Comments

Tech News, Caribbean Tech, Editorial

Geezam! Barcelona Declaring Independence from Proprietary software

Just when I thought that the Catalonia referendum would have been the only surprise happening in Spain, the city of Barcelona is on a path to full technological independence. The mission has been dubbed the "full technological sovereignty" of Barcelona. According to Zdnet.com, they will be performing a full migration from proprietary to open source software by spring 2019. What this migration entails? Their first step will be to target key application such as Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server. Those will be replaced with Open-Xchange servers. Microsoft Office suite maybe replaced with the more powerful tool, LibreOffice and Internet Explorer will be kicked to the curve by Firefox. Operating system level migration will be done at a later date and Ubuntu is said to be th...

Tertiary Institutions in Jamaica should use more Open Source

15Apr

By Solomon1 Comment

Tech News, Tech Tips, Caribbean Tech, Editorial

Tertiary Institutions in Jamaica should use more Open Source

Hi, welcome to another post in the series where I'm preaching the gospel of Open Source Software (OSS) to my fellow Jamaicans and today the focus is on Tertiary education. Tertiary institutions across the globe have been utilising Open Source to drive research and innovation. I believe that our local tertiary institutions should follow suit and become even more involved in this global shift in education, research and development. In this post, we will be talking about the ways in which local universities may use OSS to operate more efficiently. Open Source has as unique advantage in offering benefits to not only the institution but also to the students and other relevant stakeholders. From my perspective these benefits based on three important pillars of open source: cost ...

17Mar

By SolomonNo Comments

Tech News, Tech Tips, Caribbean Tech

SMBE – Running on Open Source Software

Welcome to another post in the series, where I'll be expressing my views on open source technology and the benefits to Jamaica. This is the second write-up and I'll be showing how open source software benefits the business sector. If you missed the first post please feel free to catch up. The economics and social benefits derived from the application of open source technology in the Small and Medium Business Enterprise (SMBE) has been tremendous. The sector has seen an upward trend in the rate of adoption for open source technology and it is expected to continue growing in the coming years. This sharp upswing is not a result of open source offering a more cost-effective option but also stability, security and agility to the industry. Yes, open source has been a force for change on a...

Linux and Other Open Source Technologies: The Benefits for Jamaica

28Feb

By SolomonNo Comments

Tech News, Tech Tips, Caribbean Tech

Linux and Other Open Source Technologies: The Benefits for Jamaica

This is my first blog post on this platform and without further ado, I wish to say many thanks to the Geezam blog community for having me on their platform. The work that you guys are doing is amazing! My Theme Hi! Have you ever thought about the technologies used by some of the most successful companies around the world - take for example Facebook, Google, Airbnb & Twitter? Have you thought about the tools that were used during their initial stages of development? News flash, they all started out using Linux or other forms of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Now, they are "all grown up" and FOSS still forms part of their critical infrastructure. With that chain of thought, have you ever thought about why some of our main institutions (governmental and non-govern...