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Microsoft tries pay-as-you-go approach for Windows PCs
by Dorcas Muthoni 24 May '06

24 May '06

'While Microsoft's Windows operating system and software is popular worldwide, its relatively high price puts it out of the financial reach of many in the developing world. As a result, pirated copies of Windows and Office are endemic in some parts of the world, with the percentage of PCs running pirated software approaching 90 percent in some countries. Microsoft is trying a novel approach to deal with the problem of affordability: a pay-as-you-go model. Dubbed FlexGo, the plan operates much like a prepaid cellular phone. Consumers buy a FlexGo computer running Windows XP Home at a reduced price from a retailer, along with some prepaid access cards. Under the FlexGo model, usage is timed. As PC usage reaches a predefined limit, the computer goes into a limited-access state until more time is added. Users can add more time by purchasing scratch-off prepaid cards and entering the numeric code contained on the card onto the PC. The process repeats until the PC's owner has purchased a predefined amount of time on the PC. Once that occurs, all usage restrictions are lifted as the user now owns the PC outright. Microsoft has conducted a trial of the model in Brazil over the past year. FlexGo PCs were sold through the popular Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza; all users needed to get one was a small down payment. The program proved to be very popular with Brazilian consumers, and Magazine Luiza reported that sales more than doubled. Of those who bought PCs using Microsoft's pay-as-you-go model, 31 percent said that they would not have purchased them had the FlexGo option not been possible. Because of the initiative's success in Brazil, FlexGo will be rolled out in Mexico, India, China, and Russia in upcoming months.' http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060522-6881.html 'Technically, FlexGo requires a PC that can measure its operating hours and contains mechanisms to block further operation after the time paid for has been used up. In this blocked operating mode, customers will only be able to purchase additional time from the provider. Microsoft is also providing software tools to measure and manage the operating hours.' http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/73411

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Apologies for Spam!
by alice＠apc.org 23 May '06

23 May '06

Dear List members, We would like to apologise for the recent barrage of Spam on this mailing list. The problem has not been fixed. Apologies for any inconveniences caused. best regards alice

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Re: Apologies for Spam!
by alice＠apc.org 23 May '06

23 May '06

Dear all Please forgive the typo....The problem has been fixed and apologies once more for inconveniences caused. alice ----- Original Message ----- From: <alice(a)apc.org> To: "Kenya ICT Policy - kictanet" <kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 9:29 PM Subject: Apologies for Spam! > Dear List members, > > We would like to apologise for the recent barrage of Spam on this mailing > list. > The problem has not been fixed. > Apologies for any inconveniences caused. > best regards > alice >

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Call for Applications - Community of Trainers event: ICT4D Materials Development
by Dorcas Muthoni 23 May '06

23 May '06

FYI ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Saskia Harmsen* <sharmsen(a)iicd.org <mailto:sharmsen@iicd.org>> Date: 18-May-2006 12:46 Subject: [iicdtrainers] Call for Applications - Community of Trainers event: ICT4D Materials Development To: IICD Train-the-Trainer Online Forum <iicdtrainers(a)dgroups.org <mailto:iicdtrainers@dgroups.org>> Dear training partners and colleagues, Please find attached the invitation for the first ITO Community of Trainers workshop, looking to bring together (Anglophone Africa) ICT4D and communication trainers with valuable experience in adapting and localising training materials. IICD's intention is to build on your collective experience with implementing and training ICT4D over the past years, to extract and harvest this unique expertise and to build it into itrainonline/MMTK Train-the-Trainer modules and other knowledge products. *Please do complete this Call for Applications if you would like to contribute to this effort, and/or forward the Call for Applications to other trainers that you think would be interested. * *The deadline for application is June 1^st . * The workshop will take place in Lusaka, Zambia from July 18-21, 2006 (Tuesday – Friday). On the Saturday, we will additionally organise a networking event around ICT4D training and capacity building with a larger group of Zambian stakeholders and institutions to 'launch' the itrainonline.org <http://itrainonline.org> Community of Trainers. Should you have any further queries or suggestions, please do let me know! With best wishes, On behalf of IICD and the itrainonline.org <http://itrainonline.org> partnership, Saskia Harmsen _______________________________________________ Africasource2-l mailing list Africasource2-l(a)lists.tacticaltech.org http://lists.tacticaltech.org/mailman/listinfo/africasource2-l

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notoriously peacefully
by Jessie Burns 23 May '06

23 May '06

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Media and Communications officer vacancy at IISD
by alice＠apc.org 22 May '06

22 May '06

Hallo all > > An opening at one of APC's partner organisations. International > Institute for Sustainable Development, IISD - in Winnipeg, Canada. > > Anriette > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> We have an opening for a Media and Communications Officer at IISD. >> Attached please find the advertisement for the position -- details >> are posted on our website at >> http://www.iisd.org/about/employment.asp. >> >> Media and Communications Officer. Full time position at the >> International Institute for Sustainable Development >> >> Responsible for the coordination of the Institute's Influencing >> Strategies, media relations, writing articles and promotional >> materials and development of new communications products as needed. >> >> Qualifications: Three to five years' experience with media relations >> and communications strategies, plain language writing skills, a >> substantive knowledge of sustainable development issues, and a >> university degree are required. Fluency in French, workshop >> facilitation skills and international work experience in the fields >> of environment or international development would be considered >> assets. >> >> Candidates must have appropriate employment authorization to work in >> Canada. Although we appreciate receiving all applications, only >> those candidates we wish to interview will be contacted. >> >> Closing date is June 2 2006. >> >> Thanks >> Heather >> >> Heather Creech >> Director, Knowledge Communications >> International Institute for Sustainable Development >> Winnipeg, Canada >> 1-204-958-7735 >> http://www.iisd.org >> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------ > Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director > Association for Progressive Communications > anriette(a)apc.org > http://www.apc.org > PO Box 29755, Melville, South Africa. 2109 > Tel. 27 11 726 1692 > Fax 27 11 726 1692 > > > ======================================= > APC Forum is a meeting place for the APC community - people and > institutions who are or have been involved in collaboration with > APC, and share the APC vision - a world in which all people have easy, > equal and affordable access to the creative potential of information and > communication technologies (ICTs) to improve their lives and create more > democratic and egalitarian societies. > > _______________________________________________ > apc.forum mailing list > apc.forum(a)lists.apc.org > http://lists.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/apc.forum

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breakup nineteen
by Guy Gagnon 21 May '06

21 May '06

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ICANN Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco: Important Information
by alice＠apc.org 19 May '06

19 May '06

(Apologies for cross posting) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ICANN Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco 24 - 30 June 2006 IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The next ICANN meeting will be held June 24 - 30 in Marrakech, Morocco. The meetings are free to attend, and open to any interested person. ICANN encourages broad participation in its bottom-up consensus-development process. You can take part in these meetings by attending in person, by taking part in the webcast and remote participation opportunities, and/or by joining one of the various ICANN-related mailing lists. The local host's website contains more information about the venue, transportation and hotels. a.. Travel Visa Information b.. Schedule and Agenda c.. Pre-Registration d.. Registration e.. Internet Access f.. Webcast & Remote Participation g.. Press & Media h.. Sponsorship Opportunities TRAVEL AND VISA INFORMATION Information relating to Visa's can be obtained from the local host's website . If you require a letter of invitation to obtain a visa, please write to meeting(a)icann.org . SCHEDULE AND AGENDA - Preliminary Friday, 23 June 2006 Registration Saturday, 24 June 2006 Registration a.. Government Advisory Committee Working Groups (closed) (Time TBD)(Salle Royale) b.. Regional TLD (TBD) Sunday, 25 June 2006 a.. Government Advisory Committee Working Groups (closed) (Time TBD) (Salle Royale) b.. Public Roundtable - Welcome to ICANN, Here's What it Means to You (TBD) (TBD) a.. Open to all ICANN meeting participants, especially those attending their first ICANN meeting; roundtable discussion of what ICANN does, why ICANN is important to various stakeholder communities, and what the ICANN community will be doing in Marrakech c.. Workshop on IDN Monday, 26 June 2006 a.. Welcome Ceremony * (Time TBD) (Salle des Ministres) b.. ccNSO Members Meeting * (TBD) c.. Government Advisory Committee Plenary (closed) (Time TBD) (Salle Royale) d.. GNSO Constituency Day a.. Cross Constituency Meeting - Commercial and Business Users, ISP, IP Interests (TBD) b.. gTLD Registries Constituency Meeting (TBD) (For more information on the Constituency, visit http://gtldregistries.org/) c.. Registrars Constituency (TBD) d.. Commercial and Business Users Constituency Meeting (TBD) e.. Intellectual Property Interests Constituency Meeting (TBD) f.. Internet Service Providers and Connectivity Providers Constituency Meeting (TBD) g.. Noncommercial Users Constituency Meeting (TBD) Tuesday, 27 June 2006 a.. ccNSO Members Meeting * (TBD) b.. Government Advisory Committee Plenary (Time TBD) (closed) (Salle des Ministres) c.. Workshops: (Salle des Ministres) a.. DNSSEC b.. Workshop on Internet Governance d.. GNSO Public Forum * (Time TBD) (Salle des Ministres) e.. ccNSO Council Meeting * (TBD) Wednesday, 28 June 2006 a.. Public Meeting of the Security & Stability Advisory Committee * b.. GNSO Council Meeting * (Time TBD) (Salle des Ministres) c.. Public Forum, Part I * (Time TBD) (Salle des Ministres) Thursday, 29 June 2006 a.. Public Forum, Part II * (Time TBD) (Salle des Ministres) Friday, 30 June 2006 a.. Board Meeting * (Time TBD) (Salle de Ministres) The items with "*" are being webcast. Please see "WEBCAST AND REMOTE PARTICIPATION INFORMATION" below for links. PRE-REGISTRATION Pre-registration for this meeting is now open. Click here to pre-register. Pre-registration is not required to attend the meeting. REGISTRATION Upon arrival, participants should pick up their badges and meeting materials at the registration desk. SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES More information about sponsorship opportunities can be found on the local host's website . ICANN appreciates the support of the community in providing financial sponsorship for ICANN meetings. This sponsorship is a vital part of enabling ICANN to provide quality programs for meeting attendees. In particular, such generous sponsorship allows ICANN to hold its meetings in geographically diverse locations that allows broader participation across the world's Internet community. Details will be posted as they become available. ICANN reserves the right not to accept sponsorships from organizations whose missions and activities conflict with ICANN policies. WEBCAST AND REMOTE PARTICIPATION INFORMATION PLEASE NOTE: Webcasts will begin approxmitely 15 minutes before the scheduled event. Please refer to the above schedule for event time. INTERNET ACCESS There will be an Internet Lounge. Wireless Internet connectivity (802.11b) will also be available in the main meeting and public areas. PRESS AND MEDIA INFORMATION Members of the press should contact press(a)icann.org.

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SECRETARY-GENERAL ESTABLISHES INTERNET GOVERNANCE ADVISORY GROUP TO ASSIST HIM
by alice＠apc.org 18 May '06

18 May '06

Congratulations Michael Katundu -------------------------------------------------------------------- Secretary-General SG/A/1006 PI/1717 Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York SECRETARY-GENERAL ESTABLISHES ADVISORY GROUP TO ASSIST HIM IN CONVENING INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today established an Advisory Group to assist him in convening the Internet Governance Forum, a new forum for a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Internet governance. The Group includes 46 members from Government, the private sector and civil society, including the academic and technical communities, who represent all regions of the world (see list below). It is chaired by Nitin Desai, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), who may also select special advisers to assist him. The Advisory Group will meet on 22 and 23 May in Geneva, following an open consultation on 19 May, also in Geneva. Its main task is to prepare the substantive agenda and programme for the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, which is to be held in Athens from 30 October to 2 November. Decisions on how to prepare subsequent meetings and on any future structure and working methods of the Forum will be taken in light of the experiences gained during the preparatory process for the Athens meeting. The Internet Governance Forum is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the WSIS, which took place in November 2005. In the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, Governments asked the Secretary-General to convene the Forum, giving it the mandate to discuss the main public policy issues related to Internet governance, in order to foster the Internet’s sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development. Governments called for the Forum to be convened in an “open and inclusive process”. Accordingly, the Advisory Group will carry out its work in an open, inclusive and transparent manner, and will seek to make the best possible use of electronic working methods, including online consultations. List of members Chairman Desai, Nitin Delhi/Mumbai - Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Members Agrawala, Pankaj Delhi - Joint Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Akinsanmi, Titilayo Johannesburg - Programme Manager, SchoolNet Africa; Global Facilitator of the WSIS Youth Caucus Akplogan, Adiel Port Louis - Chief Executive Officer, Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Africa - AfriNIC Al-Shatti, Qusai Kuwait City - Deputy Chairman of Kuwait Information Technology Society (KITS) Bayramov, Ayaz Baku - Head of Department for International Relations and Cooperation with NGOs, Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies Bicalho, José Brasilia - Member of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee; Advisor to the Board of Directors of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) Clarke, Trevor Geneva - Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations Office at Geneva Daftardar, Abdullah M. Riyadh - Senior Executive, Communications and Information Technology Commission Dardailler, Daniel Nice - Associate Chair for Europe, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); Member, Board of Directors, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) D’Costa, Valerie Singapore - International Director, Info-Communication Development Authority, Singapore Diop Diagne, Ndeye Maimouna Dakar - Directrice des NTIC, Ministère des Postes, Télécommunications et Nouvelles Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (NTIC) Disspain, Chris Carlton - Victoria, Chair, Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Council; Chief Executive Officer, .au Registry Echeberría, Raúl Montevideo - Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, Latin America and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) El-Nawawy, Mohamed Cairo - Chairman and Managing Director, TE Data Fältström, Patrik Stockholm - Consulting Engineer, Cisco Systems; Member, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF); Member, Swedish Government Information Technology Policy and Strategy Group Gallagher, Michael D. Washington D.C. - Chairman of the Communications Group, Perkins Coie LLC Graham, Bill Ottawa - Director, International Telecommunication Policy and Coordination, Industry Canada Gross, Robin D. San Francisco, California - Executive Director, IP Justice Hassan, Ayesha Paris - Senior Policy Manager, e-Business, Information Technology, and Telecoms, Executive in charge of Information and Communication Technology Policy, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Hellmonds, Peter Munich - Vice President, Public and International Affairs, Siemens AG Hofmann, Jeanette Berlin - Researcher, Social Science Research Center Iriarte, Erick Lima - Executive Director, Alfa-Redi Kafi, Abdullah Dacca - Managing Director, J A N Associates Limited; former President, Bangladesh Computer Society Karklinš, Janis Geneva - Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations Office at Geneva Katoh, Masanobu Tokyo - Corporate Vice President; President, Law and Intellectual Property Unit and Security Export Control Headquarters, Fujitsu Limited Katundu, Michael Nairobi - Principal Officer, Information Technology Communications Commission Khan, Masood Geneva - Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva Kovács, Kálmán Budapest - Minister of Informatics and Communications Lohento, Gemma Brice (Ken) Dakar - Panos Institute West Africa, Coordinator, Center for International information and communication technology Policies for Central and West Africa (CIPACO) Markovski, Veni Sofia - Chair of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee; Member, Board of Directors, ICANN Oliver, Colin Canberra - General Manager, International Communications, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Papadatos, George Athens – Minister Plenipotentiary, Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Peake, Adam Tokyo - Executive Research Fellow/Associate Professor, Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM), International University of Japan Pisanty, Alejandro Mexico City - Director of Computing Academic Services, Universidad Autónoma de México; Director ISOC Mexico; Vice Chair, Board of Directors, ICANN Quaynor, Nii Accra - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Network Computer Systems; President, Internet Society of Ghana Sha'ban, Charles Amman - Executive Director, Regional Office, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) Shears, Matthew Copenhagen - Director of Public Policy, Internet Society (ISOC) Sierra, Colombo Buenos Aires - Chief of Cabinet, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singer, Christian Vienna - Head of Division, Federal Ministry of Transportation Slizen, Vitaliy Moscow - Head of Department, Information and Communication Ministry Swinehart, Theresa Marina del Rey, California - Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships, ICANN Taylor, Emily Oxford - Nominet (.uk), Director of Legal and Policy Wessberg, Arne Helsinki - President, European Broadcasting Union (EBU); President, International Institute of Communication Xiaokun, Yang Geneva - First Secretary, Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva Zangl, Peter Brussels - Deputy Director-General, Directorate General for Information Society and Media, European Commission For further information, please visit www.intgovforum.org or contact Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator, Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum, tel.: +41 0 22 917 54 88, e-mail: mkummer(a)unog.ch.

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Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration
by alice＠apc.org 18 May '06

18 May '06

(Apologies for cross posting) Call for Nominations by Keith Kiser — last modified 2006-05-17 10:32 2006 MELLON AWARDS FOR TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATION The Program in Research in Information Technology of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation invites nominations for the 2006 Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration (MATC). In support of the Program’s mission to encourage collaborative, open source software development within traditional Mellon constituencies, these awards—to be given for the first time in 2006—will recognize not-for-profit organizations that are making substantial contributions of their own resources toward the development of open source software and the fostering of collaborative communities to sustain open source development. Full details at http://rit.mellon.org/awards a.t. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ann Tothill Strategic Use and Capacity Building Programme Manager APC - The Association for Progressive Communications La Asociación para el Progreso de las Comunicaciones AATothill(a)apc.org http://www.apc.org/ Tel. +61 2 8920 0274 ----------------------------------------------------------------- ItrainOnline: Sharing Internet Knowledge http://www.itrainonline.org/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- ============= APC Forum is a meeting place for the APC community - people and institutions who are or have been involved in collaboration with APC, and share the APC vision - a world in which all people have easy, equal and affordable access to the creative potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve their lives and create more democratic and egalitarian societies. _______________________________________________ apc.forum mailing list apc.forum(a)lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/apc.forum

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