TobySmithe

Revision 4 as of 2006-12-17 14:38:37

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Launchpad ID:

[https://launchpad.net/people/tsmithe tsmithe]

IRC:

tsmithe on irc.freenode.net

Email:

MailTo(toby.smithe AT gmail DOT com)

About me

I am a pupil at the Judd School in Tonbridge, and very supportive of the free software movement; as many of my friends and teachers will tell. My website is [http://tibsplace.co.uk], where I post my [http://tibsplace.co.uk/blog/index.php/politics political writings] and any progress on my way to getting to Venezuela with the World Challenge, which, if you have not heard of, you should have done.

About my involvement with Ubuntu

I have been an Ubuntu user since October 2005, first using Kubuntu Breezy, then (as I saw the subtleties of GNOME) moving to Ubuntu for the Dapper development cycle. I have followed the development for every release since, filing and helping with bugs along the way and helping out with specs and translations for the en_GB language (which is the true English!). The main spec I have been actively been participating in is ForumAmbassadors, which I feel will go a long way to bridge the (rather large) rift between regular, casual users and developers. I am also learning the ropes as a MOTU, having written, packed and uploaded to REVU my [http://revu.tauware.de/details.py?upid=3725 first ever program]; which, being of use to me, I hope will be of use to others. I have also packed and updated on REVU [http://revu.tauware.de/details.py?upid=3793 sonata], which is a GTK+ front end to mpd.

Although I am not very active as a developer myself, I do like to criticise and voice my opinion on topics that interest and excite me, and I am not only active in Ubuntu, but also upstream at GNOME. A quick [http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Toby+Smithe Google search on my name] will show a variety of mailing list posts I have written, but above and beyond that (and not quite so visible) is my participation in IRC (where I help users out and pester for donations to my [http://tibsplace.co.uk/venezuela Venezuela fund]), and also my Launchpad team participation, where I am active in teams that I enjoy participating in. I am also [http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=60364 pretty active on the Ubuntu Forums], where I try and do my best to help out; frequently checking out new support posts and trying to answer them. Not only does this help the community, but if there's something I don't understand, I can learn too!

Furthermore, I am a strong Ubuntu advocate, within my local community and soon overseas (going on a German exchange). I am pushing for my school to embrace free software, and wrote to my MP, Greg Clark to sign EDM 179 "Software In Schools". Unfortunately he could not do this, as it is not "party policy". I fail to see have free software could ever not be party policy, but it seems to be in the Tories' view.