CianBlog.com - Lucian Savluc - Blog

April 8, 2008

Understanding Free Software and Open Source Licensing

Filed under: English, Living in Vancouver, BC, News & Bolts, eLiberatica & ROSI — Lucian Savluc @ 3:19 pm

One of the most interesting speech at eLiberatica this year is going to be the one about doing business with FLOSS and the licenses aspects.

Zak posted the abstract on his blog and he is inviting all the people interesting in it to comment, ask questions and give suggestions there.
It is a good chance to interact directly with Zak before he came at eLiberatica.
Here is the link:

Understanding Free Software and Open Source Licensing

Another thing I wish to highlight, is an event that is going to take place in Vancouver - OpenWebVancouver 2008 April 14 and 15th.

March 19, 2008

No visas to enter Canada for UE citizens

Filed under: About Life & Everything, English, Living in Vancouver, BC, News & Bolts — Lucian Savluc @ 11:17 am

There will come the time Romanians will travel without visas to Canada - the question is when?

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has been working with new EU countries in an effort to establish visa-exempt status for all EU member states. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Lithuania, are the most recent countries for which citizens traveling to Canada are no longer required to obtain Temporary Resident (Visitor) Visas.
CIC News

Read the whole article: “Visa-Free Travel to Canada for New European Union Member States

December 20, 2007

De toate adunate

Filed under: About Life & Everything, Living in Vancouver, BC, News & Bolts, Romanian — Lucian Savluc @ 5:02 pm

Se termina anul! Nu imi vine sa cred.

Pe de alta parte, cred ca am avut in plan sa scriu cel putin 5-6 articole pe blog, de la ultimul, dar uite ca nu mai apuc, asa ca, o sa le pun aici pe toate, alandala si pe scurt.

Ahh, a fost un an fain. Aglomerat dar fain si aici ma refer in special la reusita eLiberaticii si la pregatirea editiei a doua. (Nu prea scriu despre viata mea personala, dar si acolo am avut cateva evenimente deosebite, printre care, cel mai important se va intampla cu adevarat la anul, dar despre asta, doar cu prietenii ;).

Legat de eLiberatica, cam astea s-au mai intamplat in “culise”:

Am incheiat un parteneriat media cu FSF Europe si am inceput dialogul pentru a invita pe cineva din partea lor; seminarul care mi-a atras atentia se numeste “Strategic implementation of Free Software in businesses” si as vrea tare mult sa fie prezentat anul viitor la eLiberatica.

Invitatia noastra catre dl. Constantin Teodorescu (Secretar de Stat MCTI) a fost acceptata si nu va pot exprima bucuria ca in sfarsit Guvernul României va avea un reprezentant la eLiberatica. Am lansat alte invitatii imporante, dar le voi lasa sa fie o surpriza pentru luna ianurare, asa ca nu mai continui. Pentru cei interesati, ultimul buletin de stiri se poate gasi aici .

Am lansat cateva noi sectiuni, printre care cea in care prezentam locatia; chestia speciala acolo este ca, pentru a prezenta Bucurestiul am cerut voie unor membri ai comunitatii flickr sa le folosim fotografiile. Cineva mi-a scris ca nu si-a dat seama ca traieste intr-un oras asa de frumos! :)  Ce a iesit a fost super, aruncati o privire (asteptati sa se incarce totul, sunt multe poze acolo).

Ce ma mai facut eu?

Multa-multa munca la servici, dar se merita, am primit o saptamana de vacanta platita in plus de Craciun (pe langa alte cateva “chestii”). O “chestie” ar fi un iPod Touch de 16 giga, gravat cu sigla Navarik ;) care de departe este unul din cele mai formidabile bucati de tehnologie pe care am pus mana. Practic este un iPhone fara microfon, dar se poate adauga si asta si prin Skype… multe de spus. Inca nu il “jailbreak” astept sa vad ce se intampla dupa ce Apple va face public SDK-ul la anul. Oricum, este inceputul unei noi ere. Acum ceva ani, 16GB era HD-ul unui laptop. Acum are dimensiunea unui telefon si ruleaza o versiune de Unix. Si abia astept sa vad ce se va intampla cu Androidul de la Google.

Si am mai facut un curs interesant la universitatea de aici, “New Product Development“, super fain; acum stiu de ce America de Nord cam a dat tonul in multe privinte. Ni s-au prezentat cateva tehnici deosebite, as vrea sa pot veni cu un articol pe tema asta mai incolo.

Ce am mai facut? Uff, sunt multe si as avea chef sa povestesc, dar cu prietenii fata in fata, si parca sa scriu asa in neant… nu stiu, uneori mi se pare… desocializare? :)
Asa ca la eLiberatica anul viitor imi propun sa imi aloc timp pentru a sta de vorba cu prietenii pe care i-am facut anul trecut. Si cu cei vechi. Sunt atatea de spus si impartasit.

OK, cam atat pe scurt, asta e un mesaj de blog mai atipic, probabil ca simt spiritul sarbatorilor de iarna care vin, asa ca ma opresc. Mai sunt cateva ore si vom pleca sa intalnim un vechi prieten si tovaras, pe partea cealalta a continentului american, sa petrecem, sa povestim si sa ne aducem aminte de vremurile cand imparteam aceeasi banca de liceu si nici nu visam ca vietile noastre ne vor duce pe aceste drumuri, la mii de kilometri distanta de acele locuri unde ne-am petrecut adolescenta.

Un Craciun Fericit si La Multi Ani la toata lumea!

October 30, 2007

What makes a company a great place to work

Filed under: About Life & Everything, English, Living in Vancouver, BC — Lucian Savluc @ 12:46 pm

Care. That is the answer.

Care for his employees, for the community, for the environment, for all these “little” things that goes beside doing only revenue and pure profit.

A week ago, suddenly, Bill (Navarik founder) went outside his office and said he has to announce something. I was thinking perhaps about the future plans and so on. But no, he stopped and pointed to Shayna, our office manager who was coming with two big green boxes directly to the desk where Yiting and I was standing.
To make it short: each of use got a nice - Canadian branded - hoodie and a small box of (Canadian) donuts :) And the the colleagues sang us “O Canada!” the anthem.

It was unexpected, I was impressed.

Yiting and Lucian

I have more than 4 years here, and I still continue to discover this things I used to forget: not the places matter, but the people who are living there. And companies are the same.

September 18, 2007

Free Geek Vancouver - an admirable initiative

Last time I promised to come with an interesting story, here it is:

A week or two ago I went to buy lunch outside my office building and I had the curiosity to enter in a building nearby, where, on the entrance was a tag saying “Free Geek” and and sticker with Ubuntu :)

So what I found inside: a pretty big deposit full of computers, monitors and other parts surrounded by a frantic activity. I said hello to one of the persons there and we start to chat.
This is how learned about one of the most admirable initiatives I found in the last time.
My chat partner was David Repa and he explained to me on short what is all about: they are a group of Free/Open Source Software enthusiasts who volunteer to recycle old computers, everything that can be reusable, by receiving it from people who instead to throw them on the garbage, donate it to them.
Although this sounds familiar, there are a few points that impressed me: they take the old computers and rebuild reliable PC from that parts, cleaning all on the hard drives and installing only Free Software!. Anybody can come and help, and if he donates 24 hours of work he will receive a free system. Every week, they held seminars about using Free Software and people can come and ask questions and find the best practices. They also grant hardware for non-profit organizations. And finally, they are recycling the waste to the recycling centers.
So, what do you think? Sounds great, isn’t it?! And they are really doing what they mean, I saw this with my eyes.

No more words, I suggest you to check their website http://freegeekvancouver.org.

I hope this would provide inspirations for IT Romanians people and mostly for ROSI group members and other Opens Source and Free Software enthusiast although what are doing those guys here is an example for all of us about what means care about community, collaborations - a clean and open society:

“We provide a place for people to share technology, and to work together building healthier, more empowered communities. We want to see transparency, accountability, and sustainability become the norm in our industry and in our neighborhoods.”
Free Geek Vancouver

Well done friends!

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