Fortunately, I did a backup on 22 Oct 2009. All in between that date and 02 November 2009 get lost, sorry for that. There were some comments, especially one about BLUG*OS*CON – announcing that the organizers changed the copy of the event website – which now looks professionally. Thank you.

Back to technical side, I would like to share some findings; perhaps some of you would need in the future if you use WordPress.

The older WP version used latin1 encoding. The new versions (after 2.2) is using utf-8. This is why when I restored the db, somehow the encoding matched wrong and I had many weird characters in the copy. I tried first this plug-in – UTF-8 Database Converter but didn’t work well. Finally, this one did the work well: UTF-8 DB Converter.

I started this blog almost 4 years ago (I cannot believe it how time passed…) when I started eLiberatica and ROSI. After that, I didn’t touch it much, just publishing some time. I think is time for an improvement, so in the next period I plan to do an update, a modern looking one, like the one I developed for my actual company.

More announcements about eLiberatica will come in December.

M-am bucurat cand am inteles ca cineva incearca sa organizeze un nou eveniment FLOSS in Romania.

Din pacate organizatorilor le-a scapat un lucru: ca toti suntem de aceeasi parte a baricadei.

Citez de pe situl de prezentare al evenimentului: “De ce încă o conferinţă pe teme open-source? eLiberatica nu îndeplineşte deja rolul ăsta? BLUG*OS*CON îşi propune să fie o conferinţă cu adevărat a Linuxiştilor, o conferinţă “just for fun”, eliberată de orice influenţă din industria IT, fără sigle zgârietoare pe retină, şi cu intrare liberă, un fel de Do-It-Yourself open source conference în stilul FOSDEM. ”

Ma vad nevoit sa dau un raspuns aici: marea calitate a eLiberaticii (printre altele cateva ) a fost faptul ca a reusit sa aduca personalitati din lumea FLOSS pe care nimeni nu a visat sa le intalneasca in Romania.

Evident ca nu a fost destinata “cu adevarat” Linuxistilor.

A fost destinata tuturor, si in special non-Linuxistilor – pentru ca acestia din urma trebuiau cumva facuti sa afle si despre Linux, FLOSS, si asa mai departe.

Inteleg ca eLiberatica nu a putut si nici nu poate satisface pe toata lumea; ma dezamageste oarecum insa modul (mai degraba ieftin) de promovare a unui eveniment ca BLUG*OS*CON (ce se presupune a veni din partea “pura” a miscarii FLOSS din Ro).

Va sustin din inima si sunt alaturi de voi, dar, va trebui sa va schimbati un pic atitudinea daca doriti sa construiti cu adevarat o miscare unitara FLOSS in tara. Parerea mea .

PS – Dati o bere pentru reclama facuta

PSS  – Siti voi cine se bucura cel mai tare cand noi ne luam la hartza? Aia cu “sigle zgârietoare“.

Check his speech for Gov 2.0

And the entire intro here:

The Yellow Smiley Face – in Romanian with English subtitles. Looks familiar? Am incercat sa adaug o nota personala pentru a va prezenta acest emotionant film, dar nu pot.

Fata Galbena – in romaneste, subtitrat in engleza.

Winner Best short film at Belgrade Film Festival 2009.

2nd Audience Award at Trieste Film Festival 2009.

Recipient of the best short film script at the HBO TIFF script contest 2007.

I have a passion for photography but not much time to follow it. Usually I do instant shots, and I’m not spending much time experimenting different camera settings.
Anyway, it seems that others liked some of my pictures and this encourage me to pursue my hobby – btw, I need some USM lenses!!
I was just announced that one of my shots was picked up to appear in Schmap maps.

Btw, Schmap.com is a great online tool for the travelers, deserves to be checked out (I really mean it, great application, beautifully integrated with Google maps).

And this is the picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/luciansavluc/3129581352/

More about the speakers we hosted this year here: http://www.eliberatica.ro/2009/conference/speakers .

In addition, you can find all the presentation here http://www.slideshare.net/eLiberatica .

And many images on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/luciansavluc/sets/72157618477761099/ (still have to put comments there).

A week ago, I had an interview with an online media publication – DailyBusiness.ro; the interview is in Romanian and is debating the Open Source and Free Software alternative for use in government compared with proprietary software. Unfortunately, my answers were only partiality published. I’ll prepare a full translation of the original interview and I’ll publish here in the future weeks.

This is the link to the article: http://www.dailybusiness.ro/stiri-it-c/specialist-roman-in-open-source-renuntarea-la-programele-microsoft-le-ar-economisi-ministerelor-zeci-de-milioane-de-euro-27791

Traducere in romana – Am avut un interviu cu DailyBusiness.ro pe tema folosirii programelor Open Source si Free Software in guvernamant si institutii publice. Din pacate nu toate raspunsurile mele au fost citate. Voi publica intregul interviu aici in urmatoarele saptamani. Linkul este mai sus pentru a citi articolul din DailyBusiness.ro.

Here is a report about Spain – "Open Source Software for the Development of the Spanish Public Administration. An Overview. 2008".

Btw, I just received a link from a blogger – you will find there a humble opinion about Romanian media and Open Sources & Free Software subjects. (Sorry, the video is in Romanian)

I was totally exhilarating when I saw it taking shape. I think a unique momentum was created and Romanians should not waste this chance. I assured them all my support, but I would prefer not to be involved much at this stage. I consider people living in that country should drive this project. I would prefer to be more an observer and a liaison in between them and the outside world. There I can help for sure.

This being said, I updated the information at rosi.ro website and I presented my intention to donate the domain that I own (rosi.ro); if of course, the people there will ask for it. I also recommended to Romi (Agora our eLiberatica pertners enrolled ROSI like a brand) to donate the ROSI ( Romanian Open Source and Free Software Initiative) brand in case this initiative will follow the ideals that ROSI tried to promote when was started. On the other hand, I reserved my right to withdraw my support if I’ll see the initiative failing to attract honest and vertical members that would coordinate the group.

I wish them good luck and determination. Is a unique moment, is a dream – to see the emerging of a real Romanian FLOSS organization that would drive things in the right direction in that part of the world.

There are many capable and honest people in the IT community there, the single condition would be for them to get involved and do the right thing. If not, opportunists, false good willing people, closed source lobbyist and so on, will fail the beautiful thing that started. So be aware. Keep an eye on this initiative, help it if you can.

The most of discussions are taking place on tic-lobby (one of the most respected Romanian IT communities) and rosi-talk, the new launched discussion list. (Please note, Doru Ilasi (one of the initial ROSI group members) is the one who took the initiative to coordinate this project, he is administering the discussions there. Good job Doru!)

Anul acesta am simtit din nou acel entuziasm tineresc al primei editii iar dupa terminarea conferintei, reactia pe net a fost peste asteptari; au inceput comentarii pe diferite liste de discutii privind necesitatea de a infiinta o organizatie NGO care sa sustina si sa promoveze tehnologiile deschise si libere, precum si discutii intense relativ la contractul de sute de milioane pe care Statul Roman doreste sa il acorde Microsoft.

Per total, cred ca eLiberatica a ajuns la o masa critica si incepe sa fie notata de catre autoritatile locale si as scoate in evidenta aici participarea d-lui Adrian Curaj (Consiliul National al Cercetarii Stiintifice din Invatamantul Superior). Este adevarat, prezenta reprezentantilor din guvern este inca foarte slaba, totusi se vad unele semne bune. Dl Constantin Teodorescu, probabil singurul politician roman care are viziune asupra IT-ului si intelege cu adevarat ce beneficii poate aduce Open Soruce si Free Software Romaniei a fost prezent pentru a doua oara la eLiberatica.

Prezente notabile: Monty si David, cei care au adus o afacere bazata pe Open Source – ma refer la MySQL, la valoarea de vanzare de un miliard de dolari. Danese Cooper – asa numita open source diva, probabil una din cele mai influente prezente feminine din Open Source si IT in general – nu atat de cunoscuta la noi pana acum; Danese a avut probabil cel mai mare impact asupra publicului in editia de anul acesta. Alaturi de ei, au fost multi altii, pentru mai multe detalii recomand situl eLiberatica.

“Bottom line”: personal nu m-am asteptat ca editia de anul acesta sa aibe impactul pe care la avut, avand in vedere timpurile vitrege prin care economia mondiala si nationala trece. Cu atat mai mult, succesul de acest an imi intareste convingerea ca ne aflam pe drumul cel bun si ca in final Romania se va alinia trendului mondial care este clar deschis spre Open Source si Free Software.