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Displaying posts with tag: South Africa (reset)
Picasa Web: Sharing pictures, in particular for blogs

Yesterday, I started my sporadic series of blog posts where I share my experiences improving my online manners through social networking websites, many of which are powered by MySQL. My first target was the traveller site Dopplr, and this time, it’s Google’s picture sharing site Picasa Web.

My starting point is the same: “Everyone else” among colleagues and friends was there long before me, and I feel like a latecomer. I want to go in, do what seems to be the right thing, and share the observations I had. And everything within the time constraint of not being able to do a full evaluation, as I obviously have other things to do as well.

Unlike Dopplr, starting with Picasa Web never required invitations. My first exposure to Picasa was through …

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Aslam Raffee, Innovator in Open Source Public Policy

One of the most interesting people I met during my trip to South Africa earlier this week was Aslam Raffee. He keynoted the Sun event, sharing his view of the South African government’s stance on Open Source.

Aslam has two roles: He is the Chief Information Officer at the South African Department of Science and Technology. He is also the chairperson of the OSS Workgroup in the South African Government IT Officers Council.

From Aslam’s presentation, it is clear that South Africa is ahead of the game when it comes to finding out ways to mandate the use of Open Source in Government. I had the privilege to talk to Aslam over lunch, and he described the …

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South Africa, a country on track for both growth and happiness

Not everything is going the wrong way on our planet. There are things that are changing for the better! And one of them is South Africa. Just back from a three-day MySQL related trip to Johannesburg and Pretoria, I saw a lot of well-founded hope around me. The hope is related to less crime, less racial tension, and more economic growth. I share the positive vibes and think they’re founded in reality.

I was in South Africa for the yearly Sun partner event in “Sub-Saharan Africa” or SSA for short. SSA is one of the fastest-growing regions within what is known as “Emerging Markets”, which in itself grows faster than Europe, North America or Asia Pacific. And partners are extremely important, as Sun uses solely indirect sales in the region.

I was so impressed by what I saw that I wrote nine blog …

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David in Japan, Kaj in South Africa

I was booked for keynoting the second MySQL Users Conference in Japan on 30-31 October 2008. Going to Japan is always something I’m looking forward to.

However, I won’t have that pleasure this time. I got requested to keynote a Sun partner event instead, on Tue 28.10.2008 at Kievits Kroon, just outside Pretoria in South Africa.

For Japan, I will be replaced by nobody other than David Axmark. I’m happy he gets the opportunity to do this keynote, transitioning from his current role to a consultant next month. I hope this also gives the press an opportunity to understand David’s motivations a bit better!

Showing entries 1 to 4