The coming together of Fedora Ambassadors
Great things are here at last!!!!!!!!
Yesterday i sent a mail out to other Fedora Ambassadors here in Nigeria and guess what? They replied!
At least 2 of them as at the time of this post. It's super, duper news. They apparently all share the same idea about a planned Fedora event but have never actually had the time to put it together.
one wrote; ....we shud try to c what we can put into action. Already we have acquired a domain name for the Fedora Nigeria project. Pls i feel we shud try to set a date and meet to c what can come up. In lieu of this, we can as well collaborate online since we are mostly online always.

and the other wrote ......Am very happy that somebody has finally kickstartd an activity in Fedora Nigeria. Considering the activities in mail list, i cant but agree that we are not doing anything. I will be very intrested in the project. Infact I even tried to start a project of my own, but i have been shufling from Lagos to Abuja, but at the beginning of the year i moved (more permenatly) to Lagos
Working as a unit am sure we can achieve this.
It appears my plans of staging a Fedora event might actually take place this year after all.
It's scheduled to be a massive event so you guys just keep watch.

The challenges of being a network administrator could be quite daunting especially if access to funds/tools is limited. To a large extent if you can afford to buy the right software, it could make your life a whole lot easier, rather than having to cut corners. One example is anti virus - An absolute must if you intend to use a computer and share files. One of the fastest ways of spreading viruses now is via thumb/flash drives. We all have and use them.
The network i manage is quite secure, i have a Linux gateway configured with clamav, spam assassin, squid, snort and iptables at the perimeter of my network, inspecting every single packet that comes in and goes out of my network. I have a symantec anti virus gateway server running on my mail server with clients running on all workstations. I have a dozen or so apple computers as well , even though viruses can't harm these machines, copying files from an infected mac to a pc will definitely infect a pc.
Laptops have also gotten so cheap now that all my users have at least one. They bring these laptops to the office, these laptops usually run virus scanners with outdated virus definitions. They copy files from their laptops to the office computers and vice versa, from the apple computers to their laptops, all with flash drives. A vicious virus cycle begins, viruses begin to pop up everywhere, the network begins to slow down, users begin to scream - the IT guy is not doing his job.
Company policy states that users can't connect their personal laptops to the company network, so you can't update their anti virus scanners.
So what is the way out, you might ask?
What if i told you, you could install an anti virus (fully updated) on your thumb/flash drive?

What if i told you that not only could you install a fully functional anti virus on your flash drive, but that you could also install a full office suite, media player, web browser, photo editor, ftp, client, apache,pdf reader, im client on the same removable storage drive and move them around with you, in your pocket.

Enter PortableApps
Now you can carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind.
PortableApps provides a truly open platform that works with any hardware you like (USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive, etc). It's open source built around an open format that any hardware vendor or software developer can use
The Portable Apps Suite™ is free. It contains no spyware. There are no advertisements. It isn't a limited or trial version. There is no additional hardware or software to buy. You don't even have to give out your email address. It's 100% free to use, free to copy and free to share.
For more information on this super cool tool please visit www.portableapps.com - it's free

Ok, so i have been gone for quite a while, but alot has happened since then. I have been setting up new linux boxes (mostly gateways and firewalls), winning a couple of awards, getting a promotion and also assisting my wife in her new business (Linux Solutions)along the way. I initially had some difficulty getting into my blog account after so long, it wasn't that i forgot my password or username but the entire blog engine on blogspot.com was apparent changed during my absence.
Well am back and all i can say (for now at least is that am back to stay).
I received a couple of comments on my previous posts and wanted to say a big thank you to you guys - Eze Uba and Victor. Your words were really encouraging. Thank you. Victor if your offer to help still stands after so long, am sure we can work together on this one.
So the planned Fedora/Linux Seminar didn't hold as intended but , am not giving up yet, nope, am starting the whole campaign all over again, i will be visiting nairaland again to post a similar article on the forum to attempt to draw out guys to work with me on this one.
Nigerians by nature love free stuff (awoof) so i don't see how this could fail, the seminar will cover other Linux distributions besides Fedora.
It will seek to enligten users on the use of linux, the various distributions out there, selecting a distribution, using your linux computer, installing and removing applications and a whole lot more.
As intended the seminar will be totally free, not a kobo to be paid in anyform whatsoever i.e no registration form fees, no manual or cdrom fees; nothing all you have to do is come in and attend the seminars.
We willbe giving out free linux cds, stickers and manuls at the seminar
I know for a fact that there are a number of Linux enthusiasts out there that would be willing to share their knowlegde with newbies, give me a call or drop me a line
Linux as an os is totally free, you download it off the internet, burn to cd, install on your machine and that's it, mostly comes complete with just about everything you need without you having to pay for a damn thing.

At the top of my post i mentioned that my wife has started her own outfit called 24cube located at www.24cube.co.uk, its an opensource company targetted at home users and SMEs rather than the big companies. The catch to the 24cube is that they use almost entirely free software, they don't charge you a dime for the application itself, they work with you to build the solution around your needs and operations. More on 24cube later, feel free to check out the company site at www.24cube.co.uk.

So Victor, let's spread the word on this project, while me attempt to make linux a whole lot more visible in Nigeria. You have officially be appointed project partner