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.
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.
We are pleased to announce the latest release of the award winning OpenEducationDisc. This software builds on the
OpenDisc and is aimed directly at schools and students aged 10-21+ giving the necessary tools to help them complete homework/coursework assignments. The software has been specially selected by school teachers to provide for the everyday software needs of students around the world. It helps students succeed in school and at university without the need for expensive software licenses, or having to resort to piracy. Plus the latest versions of all your favourite applications, the new disc offers a host of new programs and changes including:
Please help out by giving to friends, family, enemies and school teachers. Feedback and help greatly appreciated. Help make education accessible for all.
After several month of hectic development we are pleased to announce the Beta release of the 08.05 OpenEducationDisc. Plus the latest versions of all your favourite applications, the new disc offers a host of new programs and changes.
There is also a comprehensive guide on how to distribute your own versions of the OpenEducationDisc in schools, universities, libraries; and amongst friends and family. This disc should be fully working, but we would appreciate any feedback and suggestions so we can make the 08.05 release the best one yet. Beta is closed, download the latest version here.
We’ve almost finished the transition from the old customised K-Meleon back-end of the disc, to a nice simple Kiwix interface.
Before we roll it out we’d like people to test it on their machines, so if you have the time to give it a spin, download the .iso file (we’ve pared it down to around 20MB) and give it a whirl. Once you’ve done that, visit the OpenDisc Kiwix Test Release forum topic and let us know how it performed. Any suggestions are also welcomed, either here or on the forums.
While we were originally planning on a 08.02 (February) release, we’d like to have Open Disc running the new backend flawlessly (Kiwix, the same software powering the offline Wikipedia DVD), than release 08.02 in the interim with limited functionality. With all things going well the next version will be 08.03.
The rescheduling also allows us to expand the selection of programs on Open Disc, primarily from user suggestions on the forums – thanks due to everybody who has taken the time to submit and discuss new programs. A full list will be published closer to the time of release.
Throughout late 2007 contributors were taking updated screenshots which will appear on the next version, and as always the dedicated people providing translations have been collaborating to bring together what will soon be a multi-lingual Open Disc. This was originally slated for the next version, though the implementation of Kiwix has pushed that date into the very near future.
Some of the ideas suggested on the forums were to open the Open Disc wiki (currently for our translation project) for all purposes, and we’re pleased to announce that the new wiki will soon go live, with more information available for those interested.
As always, the best way to find out about new versions of Open Disc is to sign up for our no-fuss notification email, or by subscribing to our rss feed.
