Students 'should use Wikipedia'

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said teachers who refuse students access to the site are "bad educators".

Speaking at the Online Information conference at London's Olympia, he dismissed the long-running controversy over the site's authority.

He said he now thinks that students should be able to cite the online encyclopaedia in their work.

Previously, Mr Wales believed that the website, which is edited by users, lacked the authority for academic work.

As long as an article included accurate citations, he said he had "no problem" with it being used as a reference for students, although academics would "probably be better off doing their own research".

"You can ban kids from listening to rock 'n' roll music, but they're going to anyway," he added. "It's the same with information, and it's a bad educator that bans their students from reading Wikipedia."

In 2005, at the height of the controversy over the site's accuracy, Mr Wales told the BBC that students who copied information from Wikipedia "deserved to get an F grade", and that the site should really be used as a "stepping stone" to more authoritative information.

New editing and checking procedures have made Wikipedia more trustworthy, said the Wikipedia founder.

Changing procedures

Since the controversy, in which it emerged that the "free editing" policy had allowed articles containing inaccuracies and bias to appear, the site has introduced a system of real-time peer review, in which volunteers check new and updated articles for accuracy and impartiality.

Volunteers check Wikipedia entries for inaccuracies, bias

Despite advances in technology, there are no plans to automate this process. "There is no substitute for peer critique," Mr Wales told delegates.

It is this perceived lack of authority that has drawn criticism from other information sources. Ian Allgar of Encyclopaedia Britannica maintains that, with 239 years of history and rigorous fact-checking procedures, Britannica should remain a leader in authoritative, politically-neutral information.

Mr Allgar pointed out the trustworthy nature of paid-for, thoroughly-reviewed content, and noted that Wikipedia is still prone to vandalism.

But Britannica and Wikipedia should not be seen as direct competitors. Wikipedia, he said, had made the use of encyclopaedias "trendy and popular" with young people, which could only benefit Britannica's subscription-led service.

Content licensing

Jimmy Wales also announced that the site would be rolling out a new version of its free documentation licence.

We are the Red Cross for information. We won't sell out to Google Jimmy Wales

Although Wikipedia allows users to copy, modify and redistribute information, commercially or non-commercially, the new licensing regime, based on the existing Creative Commons scheme, would "bring Wikipedia into line with the rest of the free content culture".

Mr Wales reiterated his commitment to keeping the Wikimedia Foundation free of corporate sponsorship, and of major donors who might want control of online information.

"We are the Red Cross for information. We won't sell out to Google," he said.

The foundation is, however, expanding into the search function, with July's announcement of the Wikia search facility which combines open-source searching and social networking.

"This is a political statement against proprietary-driven software tools," Mr Wales said. "Wiki wants to give people the maximum freedom to do good."

MyGOSSCON 2007

MyGOSSCON 2007
Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference
6 - 7 December 2007
Putrajaya International Convention Centre

The Open Source Competency Centre (OSCC) has successfully completed Phase I of the Malaysian Public Sector OSS Master Plan Programme, which focussed on Laying the Foundation and Early Adoption stages. The programme is currently in Phase II - Accelerated Adoption stage, which targets to further accelerate OSS adoption in Public Sector.

The Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference (MyGOSSCON) is an event held to support the Phase II - Accelerated Adoption. In line with the Phase II targets, the theme for this year is Accelerate OSS Adoption through Strategic Alliance.

Details here.

The economics of Open Source software

The Conservative Party – Britain’s largest opposition party – recently mooted the idea that embracing Open Source software in all government information technology (IT) projects could save taxpayers £600 million (RM4.07 billion) a year. Shadow chancellor Gorge Osborne reckoned that opening up the software market would enable the Government to slash 5% off Whitehall’s annual IT bill as open software allows users to read, change and improve its code, in contrast to proprietary software where a company controls the source code.

In Japan, the government’s edict that it wants to make Linux and Open Source a priority for all IT procurements starting this month. This has prompted the formation of a consortium by 10 global IT equipment and software vendors to develop and sell Linux-based servers and computer for the Japanese market. Tokyo reckons it would spend around 1.25 trillion yen (RM34.56 billion) on IT over the next year.

That open source software promotes cost savings is not hard to envision, according to Ditesh Kumar, user, developer and evangelist of Malaysia’s free and Open Source software (FOSS) movement.

‘A small company with limited funds may decide whether it wants to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007 or move to FOSS. Currently, the best alternative to Microsoft Office is OpenOffice.org (OOo) v2.1. The list price for Microsoft Office 2007 is RM1,365 for the “Standard” entry level version or RM1,711 for the “Professional” version. The price for OOo v2.1 is zero,’ he says.

Ditesh adds that it is hard to compare against something that cost nothing. ‘Sure, there is installation and training costs but since Microsoft Office 2007 is radically different to Microsoft Office 2003, the training costs will be the same if not more costly when adopting Microsoft Office 2007,’ says Ditesh.

If these costs were to be eliminated and channeled towards human resource development, companies can expect substantial cost savings, he adds. ‘Just in one area – the office productivity suite – Malaysian companies can save up to 30% - 60% per terminal. In terms of server level software, there is more available savings, for example on costs which are restricted on with per client access licenses or per CPU (central unit processing).

In real practice, Royal Selangor International already has half of its server running on Linux. ‘This proves substantial saving over other operating systems which require licensing costs on a per client basis. So on average we save RM20,000 to RM30,000 per server,’ says the company’s group IT Manager Yong Yoon Kit.

In the case of desktop applications, Royal Selangor deploys OOo. The preference for OOo lies in its ease of usage, which is as good or even better than Microsoft Office 97 or 2000, according to Yong.

‘Considering that commercial productivity apps nowadays cost in the region of RM1,000 to RM2,000 per seat, we would rather spend this money on more hardware or training and use OOo, than to use software features which we hardly use,’ he tells Malaysian Business.

Currently, FOSS adoption rate in Malaysia is slow but steadily growing within both the government and private sectors. In Asia OSS 2006, the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) noted that significant savings were achieved via the reduced usage of proprietary software. Among others, licensing cost was trimmed by 88%, development and consultancy cost by 58% and software support services cost b 7%.

At the private sector end, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has initiated a small Special Interest Group on Free and Open Source Software of which Yong is a member of, to educate its 2,000 members on how to make more efficient use of their IT funds by leveraging on FOSS. This group aspires to assist members who require specific IT products from FOSS list of ready solutions.

Dwelling on software acquisition cost, Yong notes the pricing of software can be exorbitant for countries like Malaysia primarily because software prices are almost equal around the world. In other words, if the license cost in US$100 in the United States, it would cost RM370 or so locally.

‘Most of the time, it is more expensive here as the software distributor marks up the price for shipping and additional support. The “Big Mac” index is hardly used in software transactions – the price never reflects the buying power of regional customers,’ explains Yong.

However, such cost is nominal as support comes at local price. Additionally, because the system is open to all to lend support, users can easily interchange support vendors if they are comfortable with their existing vendors. Therefore, FOSS prevents vendor “lock-in” as encountered by specific vendor products in market.

Touching the issue of technical support, Yong agress that such fear has been a common excuse for not adopting FOSS. For in-house IT departments, finding a competent IT staff is no child's play, but faced with a candidate who has prior experience with FOSS almost guarantees several qualities, he says.

'The qualities include the candidate being passionate about IT, able to work out technical problems independently and almost certainly, will try to work out the most efficient use of IT budgets by evaluating FOSS first,' say Yong.

On a similar note, Yong says local support even for proprietary software is often hard to come by. 'Often, we resort to solving the problems ourselves by “Googling” for the answers. In fact, a FOSS-trained personel would be far more resourceful and have a better understanding than a curriculum-trained staff,' he adds.

Russia Unveils New Passenger Jet

Russian aviation company Sukhoi has produced its first passenger jet since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The plane was developed in cooperation with former Cold War rival Boeing.

Until recently, Sukhoi, a venerated Russian aerospace firm with a long history based in the Siberian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, produced only warplanes. But that's about to change: The company proudly presented its new passenger plane, the Superjet 100, in the country's far east on Wednesday. Sukhoi unveiled the new plane, the first of this type since the demise of the Soviet Union, before a crowd of about 1,000 invitation-only Russian guests and foreign investors.

The Superjet provides room for between 78 and 98 passengers and is being built by the Russian company in cooperation with former Cold War enemies like America's Boeing. The company developed the Superjet 100 to compete with companies that already control major shares of the market for regional jets, including Canada's Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer.

Following a test phase in 2008, Sukhoi plans to produce up to 30 planes in 2009. Seventy-one Superjets 100 have already been ordered -- most of them by Russia's Aeroflot airline, but 10 have also been ordered by Italian airline Itali. The goal is to sell 1,000 planes during the next 15 to 20 years. Seventy percent of the aircraft are expected to be sold outside of Russia, the company announced. The maiden flight is expected to take place this year, and the company is expected to apply for an air worthiness certificate for the Superjet 100 from European and US authorities next year.

"A Child of the New Era"

Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogossian welcomed the "birth of a child of the new era, a modern and integrated industry." Clearly, Russia wants to use the passenger plane to revive its past successes in aviation. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, passenger plane construction suffered a dramatic crisis. Business contracts from the communist former Soviet satellite states were lost, and Russia itself came close to bankruptcy. During their best days, the Soviets built more than 100 passenger planes a year, but during the 1990s, production almost ground to a halt. Last year, a mere eight airplanes were delivered in the entire country -- as many as Europe's Airbus delivers in a single week.

President Putin has long been pushing to turn the country into an aviation superpower again. The man widely seen as his most likely successor -- Vice Premier Sergei Ivanov, who is currently responsible for military and industrial policy -- wants Russia to control between 10 and 12 percent of the global passenger plane market by 2024. At present, the Russian share of that market is less than 1 percent.

Ultimately, Putin wants to prove that the Russian aviation industry will soon be capable of doing more than merely supply Western aviation giants Airbus and Boeings with parts. And he wants to restore the injured pride of a nation once famous for its aviation achievements. Even Brazil has overtaken Russia with its Embraer planes -- a country that, at best is associated in Moscow with the export of coffee and soccer players.

Putin wants to prove his new Russia is capable of more than providing oil and natural gas. The giant empire wants to demonstrate that its rediscovered role as a superpower is not based simply on its nuclear arsenal and natural resources, but also on its imminent economic might.

Undangan Majlis Perkahwinan

assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Saya mewakili pihak pengantin perempuan menjemput ke majlis pernikahan

Nurul Wahidah bte Arshad @ Azit
dan
Wan Muhamad Azmi bin Wan Mamat

pada 2 September 2007 bersamaan 20 Syaaban 1428H


Dan saya mewakili pihak pengantin lelaki menjemput ke majlis menyambut menantu

Wan Muhamad Azmi bin Wan Mamat
dan
Nurul Wahidah bte Arshad @ Azit

pada 8 September 2007 bersamaan 26 Syaaban 2007

Nissan studies drink-proof cars

Japanese carmaker Nissan has unveiled new technology designed to detect whether a driver has been drinking.

It includes odour sensors that monitor breath, detectors which analyse perspiration of the palms, and a camera than checks alertness by eye scan.

If the system thinks a driver has drunk too much, the car will not start.

Nissan, Japan's third-largest carmaker, says the technology is still being developed, but it will eventually be introduced to reduce road deaths.

The firm says it has no specific timetable, but it aims to cut the number of fatalities involving its vehicles to half the 1995 levels by 2015.

Nissan general manager Kazuhiro Doi said the sensitivity of the technology still needed to be worked out.

"If you drink one beer, it's going to register, so we need to study what's the appropriate level for the system to activate," he told Reuters news agency.

Panggilan percuma menerusi Wi-Fi di telefon bimbit

SETIAP hari ada saja kemudahan baru yang diwujudkan bagi memanfaatkan teknologi sedia ada. Kemudahan baru akan lahir apabila ia menepati tiga perkara iaitu prasarana, peralatan dan perisian.

Banyak model telefon bimbit yang dilengkapi kemudahan Wi-Fi atau capaian Internet tanpa wayar. Jika pejabat anda mempunyai kemudahan Wi-Fi, pengguna boleh melayari laman web dengan mudah dengan hanya menggunakan telefon bimbit.

Dengan adanya telefon bimbit berupaya Wi-Fi, di pejabat pula ada kemudahan perkhidmatan Wi-Fi, setakat ini kita masih tidak membuat panggilan menggunakan telefon bimbit menerusi kemudahan Wi-Fi kerana sebelum ini tidak terdapat perisian yang membolehkan kita berbuat demikian.

Penantian kita sudah berakhir apabila perisian yang membolehkan kita membuat panggilan telefon menerusi kemudahan Wi-Fi menggunakan telefon bimbit sudah wujud. Kemudahan itu dinamakan Wi-Fi Mobile dan boleh diperoleh di www.wifimobile.com

Dengan kemudahan ini, prasarana Wi-Fi sedia ada boleh digunakan untuk membuat panggilan telefon.

Oleh kerana nombor telefon didaftarkan ketika proses memindah turun perisian, maka nombor itu juga boleh digunakan untuk membuat panggilan dari telefon ke telefon yang lain.

Ikutilah langkah berikut untuk memindah turun perisian seterusnya menggunakan kemudahan Wi-Fi untuk membuat panggilan telefon secara percuma.

1. Lawati laman web www.wifimobile.com

2. Pilih, pilihan untuk kegunaan persendirian (Consumer Service). Pindah turun perisian untuk telefon bimbit. Terlebih dulu hendaklah dipastikan model telefon bimbit anda terdapat di dalam senarainya. Masukkan negara, alamat e-mel dan nombor telefon.

3. Isikan huruf sekuriti yang dipaparkan

4. Satu capaian untuk anda memindah turun perisian Wi-Fi Mobile akan dihantar ke telefon bimbit melalui khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS).

5. Apabila anda mengklik di atas capaian, perisian OneFone akan dipasang di dalam telefon bimbit anda.

6. Pilih sambungan Internet yang diinginkan dengan menekan menu > IAP, anda boleh memilih untuk menggunakan sambungan Wi-Fi atau sambungan 3G.

5. Selepas memilih sambungan, masukkan nombor telefon yang hendak dihubungi seperti biasa. Pastikan Ikon telefon berwarna hijau sebelum membuat panggilan. Apabila panggilan dijawab, bercakaplah seperti biasa. Kualiti suara bergantung kepada kualiti sambungan Internet yang digunakan. Jika anda melanggan perkhidmatan 3G Data tanpa had, perisian ini juga boleh membuat panggilan melalui sambungan Internet 3G itu.

6. Telefon rakan anda yang sudah dipasang dengan perisian OneFone ini akan berdering seperti biasa dan perbualan boleh dilakukan seperti biasa tanpa dikenakan sebarang caj tambahan.

7. Selepas membuat panggilan tekan Options dan pilih Hang Up untuk menghentikan panggilan.

Oleh kerana teknik panggilan ini menggunakan kemudahan Internet, anda boleh berbual di mana saja asalkan ada kemudahan Wi-Fi tanpa dikenakan bayaran panggilan telefon seperti yang biasa.

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