"If you're in San Diego, California, we heard about a really interesting event you'll want to attend. Two topics that are always of interest to robot builders are the Singularity and Free Software. The Free Software Foundation is holding a pizza party and Vernor Vinge, the originator of the modern version of the Technological Singularity idea, will be there..."

I'm totally tortured with agonizing over Microsoft's Singularity. See, I have a standing moral obligation with myself as follows: If Microsoft ever released a purely Open-Source or Free Software system - as defined by the Free Software Foundation, the Open Source Initiative, or common conventional wisdom - I have said (and will repeat here) that I would download it, try it out, review it, and possibly adopt it, to be treated no different from software from, for example, Red Hat Inc. or BSD.

"Science fiction writer Vernor Vinge is best-known for novels like A Fire Upon the Deep and Rainbows End, as well as the concept of The Singularity -- the idea that, in the next couple of decades, humans will become or create a super-human intelligence. What is less well-known is that Vinge has been a free software supporter since the earliest days of the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

Futurists talk about the “Singularity”, the time when computational capacity will surpass the capacity of human intelligence. Ray Kurzweil predicts it will happen in 2045.

"I am a supporter and user of free software (though I admit I have not migrated entirely). I research and write about the social movement aspect of free software, and its potential as a model for alternative social organization beyond the realm of software development. I am inspired by the future envisioned by free software and take heart from its existence here and now.

Presenting the free software model as a way to provide viable and sustainable access to new information technologies while encouraging the economic and social development of a region is part of the goals of III ENSL, the Northeast Free Software Meeting and the Fourth Bahia Free Software Festival, happening on May 29-30 at the campus of Bahia State University (UNEB) in Salvador, Bahia’s capital.

The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) recently elected a new executive which will sit for two years until the Idlelo 5 conference in 2012. Tectonic spoke to the newly elected officials about the successes of the past, new challenges and hopes for the future.

Last week, I wrote about the somewhat-vague definition of the open core business model, and how it compared to the dual-license business model. Open core, like dual licenses, are all part of the whole "ways-to-make-money-faster-with-open-source-software" genre of business, but they are not the same thing.

"Next spring, the fifth Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM) will take place in Brussels, Belgium. In May 2010, users and developers of free software graphics gather in the European capital for the collective sharing of creativity, innovation and ideas..."