St. Lucia, The Site and More.

I've been back almost a week, and have meant to do some writing here - but instead have been involved in email discussions and so forth. However, you can read about the formal trip to St. Lucia's Open For Business Conference. It's good stuff, and I was more than happy to be a part of it.

Email Discussions

One of the email discussions I have been having has been on the CIVIC email list. Someone within the ICT group was asking whether the FOSS community in the region (Caribbean/Latin America) would be willing to help governments. The answer, informally, would probably be yes.

But why the difference? I'm saving that fodder for the LG editorial on Monday. A lot of stuff is coming out, and it's pretty good stuff.

St. Lucia

St. Lucia is really a beautiful place, and the people are generally more friendly than they are in Trinidad and Tobago. No kidding. The island is cleaner than Trinidad and Tobago. 1.5 megabit bandwidth is available in St. Lucia, whereas in Trinidad and Tobago I'm stuck with a 128K attempt at ADSL.

The St. Lucian government is holding conferences with the private sector about Free Software and Open Source. It's hosting Internet Fiestas. The Prime Minister talks weekly on the radio based on emails he gets from citizens.

But Trinidad and Tobago claims to be leading in ICT. Umm... where the rubber meets the road, Trinidad and Tobago appears clueless. We still have a government owned monopoly (51% owned by government, 49% owned by Cable and Witless Wireless). We have no real bandwidth for commercial or residential use, and even then it's inconsistent.

Umm... here's a clue, folks. Trinidad and Tobago isn't a leader in ICT. It's what we call, in Trinidad, a pappyshow. Or, for readers outside of Trinidad & Tobago, it's a farce.

So dealing with the St. Lucian government is a pleasure. Plus, there's stuff to explore over there. I still need to get over to Fort Rodney and hang around a few days, finding things out. Wikipedia stuff while on a 'vacation' would be pretty cool. Just me, exploring, and writing stuff down. Wait. I do that already. Anyway...

A definite place to visit. Kenny Rogers was visiting as well, but he was pretty busy doing a live performance the weekend after (in Fort Rodney, no less), so he didn't stop by the conference. A pity. I was surprised that St. Lucians liked Kenny Rogers that much, but I was surprised (pleasantly) by most things in St. Lucia. Including Pork Roti.

The Site

As I write this, I am backing up the MySQL database and prepping to install the new Drupal - 4.5. Always back stuff up. Always.

LinuxGazette will be getting the same treatment, mind you. However, for LG it's a bit more involved since there is custom code in the mix.

If the site disappears for a while, don't worry. I'll be busy trying to figure out what broke. See you on the other side.