The first OpenDisc of 2010 is available for download, with major updates to Firefox, Thunderbird and Stellarium. The eighteen updated programs are:

Avidemux 2.5.2, Dia 0.97.1, FileZilla 3.3.1, Firefox 3.6, Freeciv 2.1.11, FreeCol 0.9.0, TheGIMP 2.6.8, Guido Van Robot 4.3, HTTrack 3.43-9, Maxima 5.20.1, Miro 2.5.4, Pidgin 2.6.5, RSSOwl 2.0.3, SeaMonkey 2.0.2, Sokoban YASC 1.525, Songbird 1.4.3-1438, Stellarium 0.10.3, Thunderbird 3.0.1.

As for the rest of the site, we’re moving servers some time in the next fortnight and hope to be back to normal shortly afterwards.

OpenEducationDisc 10.01 has also been released (with a new backend powered by Kiwix), so the user experience between the two discs will be closer from now on.

After an unfortunate server crash, along with our hosting company only providing a 2008 backup, we’re almost completely back to normal. As you can see the new site design has to be redone, and we’re yet to tackle the forums and wiki.

Downloads of the latest version as always are available on the right-hand pane, as direct downloads and torrents.

Thanks to everybody who supported OpenDisc and volunteered their time this year, and wish you all the best for 2010!

Easily our biggest release of the year, 09.12 includes seventeen new programs in the lineup! They are:

Alliance 1.0.6, Avidemux 2.5.1, CaRMetal 3.1.1, DjVuLibre 3.5.22+4.5, FreeMind 0.8.1, FreeCol 0.8.4, Freeciv 2.1.10, GanttProject 2.0.10, Guido van Robot 4.1, InfraRecorder 0.50, Maxima 5.19.2, Miro 2.5.3, PokerTH 0.7.1, Songbird 1.2.0-1146, TuxGuitar 1.2, TuxMath 1.7.2, TuxType 1.8.0. All of these were nominated by users like you, so if you like a program visit our forums and let us know all about it!

Also, programs enjoying new versions are; ClamWin 0.95.3, FileZilla 3.3.0.1, Firefox 3.5.5, Inkscape 0.47, Pidgin 2.6.4, RSSOwl 2.0.1, Scribus 1.3.5.1, SeaMonkey 2.0, Sokoban YASC 1.518, SumatraPDF 1.0.1, TrueCrypt 6.3a, VLC 1.0.3.

As always, downloads are available on the right-hand pane of the website. Be sure to blog, tweet and share copies of OpenDisc 09.12 this festive season.

More information as usual can be found on the development blog.

We’re happy to announce twenty updated programs for version 09.10 of OpenDisc. Direct download links are available on the right hand pane, as is a torrent file. The updated programs are:

Blender 2.49b, Celestia 1.60, ClamWin 0.95.2, Dia 0.97, FileZilla 3.2.7.1, Firefox 3.5.3, The GIMP 2.6.7, HTTrack 3.43-7, Neverball 1.5.4, OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, Pidgin 2.6.2, Seamonkey 1.1.18, Sokoban YASC 1.499, Sumatra PDF 0.9.4, Thunderbird 2.0.0.23, Truecrypt 6.2a, Tuxpaint 0.9.21, Tuxpaint Stamps 2009.06.28, VLC 1.0.2, Battle for Wesnoth 1.6.5.

If you missed out the first time, you can follow further updates via our Twitter page.

It’s that time of year again, when OSS enthusiasts spread the word (and copies of Linux and OpenDisc) on the 19th September at their local SFD events. If you’re thinking of attending  or would like to find out more, visit the website at http://softwarefreedomday.org/ Thanks to everybody organising the events this year!

The 08.10 milestone marks our first simultaneous release, with new versions of both OpenDisc and OpenEducationDisc available for download. As always, the latest versions can be found to the right of this page.

This release is notably the first OpenDisc released on DVD; regular users will remember our extended poll asking opinions of CD and DVD sized images, and with the overwhelming majority in support (and space becoming more of a premium) we decided to make the leap to DVD now, rather than remove software.¹

As the download size creeps forward, downloading such a large file becomes a concern for more people. We’ve looked at partnerships with different companies to provide physical media to people unable or unwilling to download OpenDisc, but in the end we’ve found that offering OpenDisc ourselves allows us to manage quality control and keep costs down.  Instead of just selling copies of OpenDisc, we’re trying something altogether different.

To reward donators (who make it possible to maintain this entirely volunteer project) each and every donation of or above $15 USD will receive two copies of OpenDisc, airmailed anywhere in the world for free. Why two copies? The packaging we’ve sourced cuts down on costs, and incidentally allows us to send two discs at no extra cost. Keep one yourself, and give the other to a friend!

More information can be found on the development blog.

Update: 08.10a is now available, which includes the milestone release of OpenOffice 3.0.0, and fixes a mastering bug that affected auto-run.

1. Disc authoring software shouldn’t let allow burning the image as a CD, but be careful to use blank DVD media when making copies of OpenDisc from now on. [↩]

Today marks SFD 08, and over 600 teams will be spreading the open-source message (along with copies of OpenDisc and OpenEducationDisc) all over the world. They’ve set up a special website for the event to track the teams and blogs related to this years event – planet.softwarefreedomday.org, which includes a neat map of where the events are happening.

Good luck to all the teams and we hope this year’s events are the largest and most successful yet.

Due to the varied availability of our website of late we’ve switched hosting companies. We’re almost completely migrated over as you can see – the only remaining sections to migrate are the forums, mailing list and wiki, which will appear soon.

As always, the latest version can be downloaded using the Download pane to the right of this post.

Thanks for bearing with us during the move!

We’re pleased to release 08.07, the latest version of OpenDisc, with no less than twenty five updates, including Firefox 3 and the latest milestone versions of OpenOffice.org, FileZilla, Seamonkey and many more.

We’d hoped that the next version of OpenDisc would have been running Kiwix but we’ve had teething problems, so 08.07 is still running the customised K-Meleon back-end. We’ll be posting the Kiwix version on our Subversion server soon for volunteers to help get it into shape, so if you’re interested keep an eye out for news and progress of that in the coming weeks.

Once we get the Kiwix powered OpenDisc up and running we can expand the software selection dramatically, and more importantly add more languages from the translation project, making OpenDisc truly multi-lingual.

In the mean time, be sure to share the latest version with your friends, family and workmates. The latest version can be found in the right panel beside this post, and more information can be found on the development blog.

Edit: Firefox 3 is out! If you want to upgrade before the new version of OpenDisc is released, jump over to GetFirefox.com to nab the latest version.

Original post:

If you haven’t already checked it out, SpreadFirefox are holding a Firefox 3 release Download Day and everybody is invited to pledge now to download upon release day. It’s all in the hopes of breaking a Guinness World Record, and you’ll get a handy reminder email so you don’t forget.

We’re holding off releasing OpenDisc 08.07 for another week so we can include it, so if you’d like Firefox 3 on launch day (or would like to help the record attempt) just follow the link below.