About HOSEF

Who?

We are a collection of volunteer citizens, students, professionals, retirees, and other members of the general public. While we are located in Hawaii, anyone is welcome to contribute any way that they can. There is no criteria or qualification other than that you want to learn or do more.

What?

What we do is promote and sustain the use of Free and Open Source Software. This is software with source code owned by the general public rather than a specific individual or company. Protection of your Intellectual Property is still achievable with GNU's General Public License, GPL, as well as a number of other licenses which grant this security.

We sustain its use by collecting, refurbishing, and donating hardware running open source software like the k12ltsp to schools and other non-profit organizations. With the donation of hardware, we provide the installation, training and support to make it useful. We promote its use by sponsoring classes, seminars, meetings, and conferences.

Applications like open office, the gimp, evolution, and mozilla provide the majority of functionality most schools and offices need to interact in this wired world. Distributions of open sourced software arranged around the linux or bsd kernel are available from debian, red hat, mandrake, knoppix, *bsd, and many, many others. Because these are all open source products, there is no cost for their installation.

In addition to donating hardware, we focus on education. Throughout the year we have classes demonstrating specific strengths of open source software. Our partnership with The McKinley Community School for Adults enables us to offer free classes on a weekly basis. We are happy to come to your office, school, or place of business to demonstrate the capabilities of open source software. Join our LUAU and follow the ongoing open source related discussions.

Where?

As a publicly supported charitable non-profit we do not have resources invested in any particular location. We partner with The McKinley Community School for Adults to provide classes and workshops. The James Campbell High School and Honolulu Community College assist in our storage for our computers, though additional space is always needed. We refurbish the computers at workshops held at McKinley and the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii in Ewa Beach.

Part of our mission is outreach and education. We will arrange to come to you if we can help educate you about the pros and cons of Open Source Software. Be it your office, your church, your school, or just online, we will do what we can for you. We want you to understand the economic revolution that is unleashed by free and open source software.

We are the local linux users group and we encourage you to join the continuous discussions at our LUAU or our other mailing lists. If you never have the time to make it to any other event, you can get a healthy dosage of open source software right there. If you watch our calendar, you will see that we offer an array of classes and workshops throughout the year. If you have a community center or school in need of a computer lab or workshops, we will work with you. Managerial discussion and announcements can be tracked via our mailing lists.

When?

We have a number of ongoing projects. Please check the Calendar for details.

Once a week we meet at The McKinley Community School for Adults. We hold Saturday classes intended to educate users and administrators about Linux Thin-Client labs. They are free and open to the public. We have two workshops at the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii during the weekdays. We use these workshops to teach the children how to build a computer, install software, troubleshoot, and maintain software.

Once a month on the Second Saturday we have a HOSEF organizational meeting.

Why?

Like many states, Hawaii needs to save money. We are dependent on software and information technologies that are developed on the mainland at great cost to our taxpayers and at diminished profit to our entrepreneurs. This is a cost that some eventually may not be able to afford. The per seat software licensing fee for many schools, businesses, and government agencies comes at the expense of needed public services. We can change this.

By using openly sourced software, our local graduates and professionals control the code. It enables local businesses and individuals to provide the support and training our schools, charities, and government need and often pay outrageous rates for. By keeping the software cycle of development, testing, and deployment local, our economy grows stronger. The money not spent with proprietary software vendors stays here.

Schools are starved for resources. They can ill afford software licensing fees when teachers are underpaid, books are outdated, and facilities are decaying. Open Source Software benefits them two-fold: by eliminating certain and costly licensing fees and, more importantly, by exposing interested students to the source code that makes programs work.

Governments need openness. Our war on terrorism can easily be compromised by one proprietary software vendor who fails to maintain the security of their code. Because it is proprietary, no one but the vendor is aware of the integrity of their product. The use of Open Source Software insures that the greed of a few does not compromise the well-being of the citizenry. We are all alarmed at the ease with which Microsoft software is allows intruders and thieves to disrupt our security.

With nations like China, Vietnam, South Korea, and Thailand developing software industries with Open Source Software, Hawaii is poised the lead the nation in strategic partnerships and job creation. Every dollar that these nations spend on proprietary solutions can be easily be captured by OSS alternatives. Keeping dollars in our local economy generates the incentive for the brightest minds to stay home and develop our industry.

How?

By installing and supporting Open Source Computer labs, HOSEF is building the technology work force that can support and sustain businesses operating OSS. By hosting workshops, classes, conferences, and seminars, we are educating our Business, Education, Legal, and Government communities about the ramifications of choosing or not choosing OSS solutions. By contributing to HOSEF, you can help us to fulfill our vision.

HOSEF is a Federal tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.