sds-i are supporting the GratiFeria project in Marbella, Spain,  by provding hosting and the Wordpress blog to promote the event - www.gratiferiamarbella.org.

The concept spread from South America and is an very encouraging movement to spread new views on how the world could be and should be.

Have a look and read the following translation of the original text explaining the concept of GratiFeria ....

Good Question!

I guess so many Linux related websites start with assumption that if you are there you want to use Linux. So, the explanation why to use Linux is given like manuals are written - from the point of experience of someone fully familiar with the system in question.

Reason to use Linux could range from

• distrust of big, commercial business to
• altruistic motives of wanting to support Open Source and the generosity of people involved in developing it.
• It could range from saving money on software to
• plainly being legal in all the packages you are using on your computer.

There are some more reasons like

• easy maintenance,
• easy updating and upgrading (most of the time)
• easy access to software packages
• and so on .... (just browse around for more good reasons - and have a look here) ....

For us using Linux was partially driven by the need to develop websites and the need to have a development environment on our network - a "localhost". Under Windows this is possible, but slow and tiresome.

Dual boot - why not?

Because Linux can mess up your Windows configuration big time.

Most Linux distros install very easily now and allow you a neat option to keep your Windows system running as a dual boot.
This looks great and is a great step forward in bringing Linux to a computer near you.

However, there is a problem when something goes wrong with your Linux distribution. For example you might experiment with Ubuntu by adding the more "Windows-like" KDE layer. You might have found one of the many tutorials on Youtube or elsewhere and have a go. Ubuntu is nice, but lacks the old feel of Windows - so the idea of going to something like KDE (Kubuntu, etc.) or Linux Mint is understandable.

Okay, you did it and suddenly something messed up your Linux part on your computer. Uninstalling Linux or repairing a messed up system is not (yet) that easy on a dual boot system. You might wish you never followed any of those tutorials.

So, what are the alternatives if any:

Windows

- a generic term for something we take for granted when looking out of our office, school or home. We look right through it and might not even notice the dust.

... and the operating system (OS) the vast majority of computer users need to get a view into the box (PC) and out to our new world (the internet).

A term that cannot be trademarked, but that swept the world to become one of the best known and potentially most used products.

I rest my case: Windows is one product and "everyone" knows what it is - and operating system.

Answer: To save money!

Well, that would only be part of the answer.

Freedom, sharing, a "better world", more education, more opportunities, .... all come to mind.

We should stress, that we have used the term "Open source" here without diving into the detailed analysis related or competing terms such as "free software" and the many licences discussions in the background. We want to focus on the changes and the benefits coming form the very wide range of freely and openly distributed software.

We are still in the early days of the internet and we are too far away from understanding the impact. Telephones and fax machines had been around for much longer before they really changed the (business) world. Telephone banking started some 80 years after the telephone entered our houses. Online banking followed within "months" - so to speak for comparison.

Most business can now cut their software (licence) cost to almost 0.

How? Go OpenSpource!

We, at sds-i, have been using various open source packages for years now from Linux to Drupal and lots more. And a lot of your business use will be driven by open source without you knowing it - some 80-90% of all webservers are running Linux.

Recently we reconfigured all our computers. Some are now running just Linux - the Ubuntu 11.x distribution and some are set-up to dual booting with a choice of Windows and Linux.

Unless you have some very specific need for programmes that only run under Windows we are sure Linux can do the job for you - better, quicker, cheaper and with more satisfaction.

Basically Linux will offer you all you need from Office packages to Web browsing. The software installs easily, quicker and without problems you will encounter in Windows, when you loose the disks, some drivers or get a corrupted disk, a virus or did something silly by accident.

Why is Linux not yet more popular on people's desktops?

Well, when you buy a new computer you will get a Windows installation for free and even some other software often including some Office solution. At that stage there is no cost advantage.

sds-i offers all clients an intranet solution for all project related communication during all development stages.

The on-line system allows all memebrs of the project team to exchange, review, comment and retrieve all relevant project information in one place any time from any location aroud the world.

This system of Project Team Organisation - PTO reduces the need of sending and receiving multiple emails on the same topic ending up in intrays.

For more information conact us at office@sds-i.com.

We have recently completed 2 projects for different clients in need of a Virtual Office.

Virtual Offices allow companies to connect people in remote locations, from home and on the road to a secure intranet to share infomation and to assemble projects, presentations, software and more.

But Virtual Offices allow us to do more and thus we will all see them coming to the desk in front of you. Because this methode of co-operative work increases efficiency, flattens hirachies and creates corporate memeories, searchable and accessable from any terminal anywhere.

So, even if you work in the same building, the same florr or next to each other a Virtual Offices will allow you to find solutions and decisions faster.

sds-i.net just completed a new website for Exact Group.

Exact Group is a hi-tech, innovative company specialising in providing LIDAR solutions to a wide range of industry from Oil exploration to speeding up environmental surveys to improving safety on the roads.

LIDAR stands for Light Detection And Ranging - Exact Groups technology and patents allow to find oil more effectively off-shore. The airborne search can easily include environmental mapping helping governments and exploration companies to be highly responsible, protective and efficient.

Exact Group also developed systems improving the safety of helicopters specificaly and other system for aviation in general.