Hutori

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TerraOS Antivirus Released

Postby TheCollectivist » Tue Feb 13, 2018 9:21 pm

May 4348

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Image: The icon for the TerraOS Antivirus.

After the release of the TerraOS (TOS) nearly four years ago, the Ataraxian computer science, system software, and application software cooperatives have been hard at work on the TerraOS Antivirus (TOSA), a free open-source antivirus designed for the TOS. It released this month after spending 9 months in public beta, which saw participation from 11,520 TOS users. The number of TOS users has risen to 1.6 million since its release and is expected to rise modestly once more native software has been released for the operating system.

Cleveland Irwin, a 35-year-old computer scientist and present Organizer of the Computer Science Cooperative of the Commune of Ataraxia, led the project with assistance from Guus Sims (main system programmer behind the TerraOS), another fellow organizer from the same commune who leads the System Software Cooperative.

Cleveland Irwin wrote:Right now the TOSA is compatible only with the TerraOS, but we hope in the future that other operating systems will make compatibility layers for our operating system in order to run our native software. We've seen an explosion of users on the TerraOS, so we hope that by releasing the TOSA, more users will come to see the potential of the TerraOS to replace current mainstream proprietary operating systems. As Sims have said, quality is very important to Ataraxians. We will continuously update the TOSA to protect users against new emerging threats and to compete with the functionality of proprietary antivirus programs.


Early reviews for the TOSA has indicated that the antivirus does indeed provide the same level of protection as other antivirus competitors and is even lighter on system resources. Critics however made note that the TOSA has a tendency to declare false positives and be aggressively overprotective, forcing users to make manual exceptions. Other reviewers also stated that like the TerraOS, the Ataraxians provide little support for less technologically inclined users and focus solely on technical problems. Some had raised concerns whether or not the Ataraxians would be able to keep up with future threats specifically designed for the TerraOS. Overall however, user reviews were very positive, praising the clean interface, security, and performance of the TOSA.

Cleveland Irwin wrote:Our design philosophy was that it was better to have too many false positives than to let any threats pass through. For future updates, we will hopefully be able to cut back on the amount of false positives while still ensuring actual threats are detected. Unlike the legal system, we don't have to worry about "jailing the innocent" since it is software we are talking about here.

Since we use this software to protect ourselves as well, users can be assured that we will continue to research any emerging threats to our operating system. The best part of open-source software is that the community can also contribute to its development. As a user base grows, so will the community of volunteers. Our users are very passionate about our work and they see how valuable open-source software is to the future of computing.


According to Guus Sims, many industry professionals have praised the work and mission of the Ataraxians for TerraOS.

Guus Sims wrote:We understand the reason why software is sold, after all, programmers need to put food on the table just like anyone else. The "problem" with software or any virtual resource is that it has - forgive the pun - virtually no limits on how many users can gain access to it. We could easily give every computer user in the world TerraOS at virtually no cost to us. Unlike food or some other physical resource, software can be duplicated essentially an infinite number of times.

Unlike most societies, our society shares its resources collectively. Therefore our programmers are not dependent on an income, but rather are supported by their own society on the basis that software benefits all industries - everyone. We still have to trade, but we do mostly in physical goods, which we can't afford to give to everyone because there is an actual limit on the quantity of those resources.

This is what many industry professionals have praised us for because we can save them a lot of money. By gradually developing free software that has the same quality as for-profit software, it will significantly reduce costs for working professionals. Unlike for-profit software companies, our programmers aren't worried about whether or not their software will make a profit, they aren't bound by strict deadlines, and as a result can take the extra time they need to produce software that actually works. Imagine how much small businesses, independent contractors, and even schools could save if they didn't have to pay for software licensing fees. Or worse... the growing software-as-a-service industry that doesn't even allow consumers to own a perpetual license anymore. All of that money spent on licensing could be directed to other uses. In the case of schools, it could be spent on decreasing class sizes, allowing teachers to provide more attention for individual students etc.

Societies need to understand the important value of publicly funding research and development. Profit can come in many different forms other than money. It can come in the form of a more educated and productive workforce. The police and military for example do not typically produce a profit on their own, but they provide "profit" to society in the form of safety and protection. Sending people to space doesn't produce an income, but it does promote technological growth and a better understanding of our universe - all of which indirectly benefit the economy.

Our programmers may not directly produce money for us, but they build the very programs that machines and people rely on to function and therefore produce money. Overall the selling of software is unnecessary and puts an artificial limit to growth. Programmers, like scientists, should be supported collectively by their societies. Our scientists and programmers really see "food on the table" as just a necessity, their real drive comes from wanting to make society better. While our people live comfortably, nobody has expensive sports cars, multiple homes or other completely unnecessary goods for sufficient happiness.
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Re: The Bekenial Dispatch

Postby RileyHP » Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:37 am

KING ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

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After more than 10 years as leader of the Conservative/Progressive Conservative Party, Jack F King has announced he is stepping down and retiring from politics. King has been an MP for 25 years and served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor of the Kingdom of Hutori for 4 years from 4330 until 4334. He took over the party leadership in 4340 when Barack Olatunji announced he would be stepping down as leader to run for president. King was a popular figure in the party and will go down as one of only two people to lead the party for more than 10 years. The other was Elizabeth Jones, who lead the party from 4314 until 4324. Before getting into politics, King was a member of the Hutorian Armed Forces and served during the Hulstrian intervention. His first and foremost priority in life has been serving his country. King will go down as one of the best Chancellors Hutori never had.


JONES ELECTED NEW PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE LEADER

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26 years after his grandmother retired, Jonathan Jones has been elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Hutori. His grandmother was of course, the legendary Elizabeth Jones. She was best known for her years as Finance Minister during which she never failed to balance the budget, and for being the longest serving leader of the party, serving for more than 11 years. Johnathan, who is 34, becomes the youngest leader in the party's history and will look to use his youth to engage more young Hutorian voters. Jones' main focus seems to be on lowering taxes for the lower and middle class people of Hutori and creating jobs for young people.

"For far too long, this government has been destroying the great nation that my grandmother and many before her worked to build.
They have been busy forcing hard working Hutorians to buy a new car when they really can't afford to, or getting rid of all restrictions on what nations can establish embassies here, instead of focusing on creating jobs for our young people and lowering taxes on the hard working Hutorians who struggle to get by. As leader of this party, I will fight for the middle and lower class families who work hard to make Hutori the great nation that it is. Together,
the Progressive Conservative Party can lead Hutori forward!"


Other candidates for the leadership were longtime MP and former Finance Minister, Danielle Houston, the daughter of former Tory leader Jim Houston, as well as newcomers Aaron Scheer, Chloe Janvier and Alex Murphy. Jones won on the first round of voting, earning 57.63% of the vote.
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Ataraxians Embrace Global Environmentalism

Postby TheCollectivist » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:48 am

July 4352

The Ataraxians have recently displayed a change of policy concerning local autonomy. During debate for the Bill NNP-20: Fishing Act, which sought to centralize fishing quotas, the Ataraxians actually agreed to it. This is in contrast to the party's firm history of supporting local autonomy for virtually all categories of policy.

Lyn Kopp defended the party's position as being rational and that because the environment functions as a global interconnected ecosystem, localities need to cooperate on policy.

Kopp wrote:There has been much internal debate on this issue and we have concluded that this view is rational. We have tremendous respect for self-determination, however, permitting different localities to destroy the environment of other localities would destroy self-determination and autonomy. Unlike politics and economics, the environment cannot be looked at in a bubble, for it functions as a global interconnected system. Communities should have a right to determine their own socioeconomic and political system, but allowing them to destroy their environment would result in the destruction and therefore violation of the environment of other communities for they essentially share the same environment.


Kopp responded to an interview request and had this to say on the ramifications to their party concerning this change of policy:

Kopp wrote:This is really the only exception to self-determination and it really isn't an exception. In an ideal world, the individual policies on the environment wouldn't affect others, but we do not live in an ideal world. We live in a world that shares a global ecosystem. It is simply too fragile to give localities the freedom to do what they want with it. We can't allow others to destroy the environment that we all share. Now, this doesn't mean we start invading people because we disagree with their environmental policies, but it does mean that we should expect everyone, and yes, everyone everywhere to do their part in protecting the environment. All we are advocating here is mutual global cooperation on the environment. I think the only argument against this would either be an idealistic one or one that rejects scientific evidence. For the scientific evidence shows that one community's treatment of the environment often goes beyond their borders. Now of course to what degree are other communities willing to tolerate environmental disruption is a topic of discussion. Our own people are quite unanimous with that any disruption that affects a community's desired way of life is considered a violation of their self-determination. For this reason, we have concluded that global coordination, at the very least - national cooperation is absolutely imperative with issues on the environment.

To put it differently, this issue is more of a scientific one than a moral one. If it is agreed morally that societies deserve not to be burdened or destroyed by the pollution and overconsumption of other societies, then it is up to science to determine what course of action is appropriate. In the case of overfishing, the quotas must allow the fish population to replenish itself faster than it is consumed, otherwise there won't be a fish population anymore.


In the Ataraxian Confederation, issues regarded as scientific are not up for political debate or democracy, but rather are ruled by evidence. Since global environmentalism has been determined scientific, for an Ataraxian to argue against this policy, they must do so using evidence.

Kopp wrote:People determine what is right, science determines what is true.
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Re: The Bekenial Dispatch

Postby RileyHP » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:35 pm

Progressive Conservatives Elect New Presidential Candidate Ahead of Next Summer's Election

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The PC Party held their Presidential Candidate Selection Convention this month and for the first time since the inception of the role of President in 4335, the candidate will not be Barack Olatunji. After 30 years in politics, Olatunji announced he would be retiring and would not be contesting the nomination. The new candidate is Riley Hill Jr, son of the former PC leader, Riley Hill. Hill Jr was an underdog candidate going into the convention, but won over the majority of supporters with 2 incredible speeches outlining his platform and showing off his ability to work a crowd. He has become fairly well known in the party in the last few years, having first been elected as MP for Prosperity Hills West in 4343. After the last election, he was made the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Leader of the party. Still, he was considered an underdog as he was up against popular MPs Danielle Houston and Preston McNeil, as well as the party's Vice President Organization, John Taylor, who is also very popular within the party. In the end, his platform and charisma won over a majority of the supporters who attended the convention and he was able to win with 54.7% of the vote. We sat down with Hill Jr to learn more about his platform.

Q: As president, what is your first priority?
A:
"It has been more than a decade since a budget has been passed. My first priority is to ensure the next Minister of Finance gets to work and passes a new budget to better address the current needs of Hutorians. We need to be addressing these needs yet this President and government are ignoring them and refusing to propose a new budget."


Q: Recently, Bill NNP-22: Border Act was passed, your party abstained from voting so Hutorians don't know where you stand. Can you tell us where you and the party stand on this issue?
A:
"Our party unfortunately was forced to abstain as our MPs were unable to get to Bekenial in time for the vote. We stand adamantly against this bill as it relaxes the security on our borders making it much easier for dangerous people to enter our country. This is unacceptable and should I be elected president, I will work with the government to repeal this bill and restrengthen our border security. We cannot be allowing dangerous people to slip into our country so easily and need to be taking the proper measures to ensure those entering Hutori will not be doing harm to our people."


Q: Last question, recently the Abortion Funding Reform Act was defeated, thus keeping alive funding for all who wish to have an abortion. The bill would have made it so that only low-income earners would be able to have their abortions funded. Where do you stand on this issue?
A:
"Personally, I don't like the idea of a woman getting an abortion, however I do believe that it is a woman's choice to make for herself. As for the government funding abortions for everyone, I do not agree with it. I support the Liberal National Party's stance that they should only be funded for low-income Hutorians, and I believe most people in my party would agree. As president I would work to get this proposed again so that the government can reallocate the funds that are currently being used on abortions for those that can afford them to other healthcare initiatives."
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Re: The Bekenial Dispatch

Postby RileyHP » Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:36 pm

PCs Excited to Rejoin Cabinet After More Than a Decade in Opposition

Recently a new Cabinet was sworn in which saw, for the first time in more than a decade, Progressive Conservative MPs being included. Danielle Houston is returning to the role of Finance Minister, while the PCs have 3 new first time ministers, Josee Perin Minister of Science and Technology, Robert Cole Minister of Food and Agriculture, and Aaron Scheer Minister of Trade and Industry.

Minister Houston already has her work cut out for her, as she attempts to be the first Finance Minister to pass a new budget and tax measures in more than a decade. Houston proposed new tax measures that were opposed by government allies, the New National Progress Party when it was noticed that the new measures lowered taxes on the richest Hutorians while raising them on the poorest Hutorians. The minister responded by proposing a revised bill that changes the increase on the lowest class from 4% to 3% while changing the highest 2 classes from a 2% decrease to a 3% increase. The minister has also promised to lower the corporate tax rate which many say is too high and is hurting Hutorian businesses, although she would not say how much of a cut it would be.

Houston also proposed a new budget that took into account the new revenue stream from the first budget proposal. It included large increases to the budgets of Science, Defense and Education, while also giving modest increases to Agriculture as well as Trade and Industry. The minister says that the 15 billion Lira increase to the Science budget will go directly into the Hutorian Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA), to help fund more Hutorian space missions which she says will continue to make Hutori a Terran leader in space exploration. We heard from the Minister of Science and Technology for her thoughts on the increase to her department's budget.

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"I was very excited when minister Houston told me that she wanted to work with my department to expand SERA and continue to make Hutori a leader in space exploration. We have already launched successful missions to space and with this extra funding, our goal of being the first to reach the moon will likely happen. We intend to launch an unmanned mission in the coming months, which we hope will lead to a manned mission in the not too distant future." ~Josee Perin, Minister of Science and Technology
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Ataraxians Release Free Office Suite for TerraOS

Postby TheCollectivist » Sun Mar 04, 2018 4:31 am

July 4357

Image
Image: Desktop icon for
TerraOS Office.

A new office suite for TerraOS has been released after spending about four years in development and having a protracted public beta to fix technical problems. Like other Ataraxian software, TerraOS Office is available free to download and is open-source. The suite comes with a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software. These included programs were highly requested among the growing 4.1 million TerraOS users - a number expected to increase substantially from this particular release.

TerraOS Office's development was led by the Application Software Cooperative of the Commune of Ataraxia, which is led by 27-year-old application programmer Nico Adair.

Nico Adair, organizer wrote:TerraOS is really coming together. Now with TerraOS Office, it can really be utilized by students and working professionals alike. And the really great thing is that it is all one-hundred-percent free and open to all - no "software-as-a-service" nonsense. Why do we release software for free? Because why not? We need software just like everyone else and we have it developed in-house, we don't have to worry about buying it from other people. Sure, we could sell it, but why bother when we can share it with everyone for little to no cost? One of the benefits of living in a cooperative society is that not everything has to be a commercial enterprise.


Early reviews for TerraOS Office have been highly positive, although the software was not without criticism. Like previous Ataraxian software, dedicated support remains limited to technical issues, not user-related problems (like not knowing how to use the software). There is sizable user documentation available for the software and TerraOS has developed an extensive online community around it to cover user-related issues. Clip art remains particularly limited for TerraOS Office, although Nico Adair says they will add more over time. Reviewers praised the suite's scope, signature simple interface, and cleanliness; with many stating that the software easily matches that of commercial products, apart from a small clip art library.
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Axminster Fibre Project Underway

Postby TheCollectivist » Tue Mar 06, 2018 5:22 pm

October 4358

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The Axminster Fibre Project was approved by the Hutorian government on August 4358. The project will install a 1 Gbit/s FTTP (fibre to the premises) service in Axminster, Adelia. The installation is being funded by the Ataraxian Confederation for $3 billion HLR. In addition, eight Ataraxian communes will be connected to the Commune of Ataraxia via FTTP. The Axminster Fibre Project is expected to be completed in 4360. Ataraxians had previously funded a fibre optic cable installation in Acton back in July 4335. These projects are part of the Ataraxian Benevolence Project, which seeks to promote good relations by funding mutual projects between the Ataraxian Confederation and Hutori.

The Ataraxians also purchased 4.48 km^2 of land for the eight communes for the price of $27.6 million HLR under the Ataraxian Development Project of 4356. The following communes will receive a $4.9 billion HLR investment in upgrading their infrastructure, which will add 1,600 to resident capacity:

- Commune of Aquarius
- Commune of Elpida
- Commune of Evimeria
- Commune of Gallus
- Commune of Lactuca
- Commune of Lotus
- Commune of Mangifera
- Commune of Seira

The development project is expected to be completed in 4366.
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Re: The Bekenial Dispatch

Postby RileyHP » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:13 am

New Tory Leader Looking Toward Next Election

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The Progressive Conservative Party has elected a new leader. Danielle Houston, the outgoing Minister of Finance and daughter of former Tory leader, Jim Houston, is taking the reigns after Johnathan Jones stepped down following an election that saw the Tories lose seats. Houston has served as Finance Minister twice, both times providing budgets that boosted funding for both science and the military. When it became clear that Houston would not be offered the role again in the new cabinet, and Jones announced he would be stepping down, Houston decided to take a run for the leadership. She didn't expect to win at first, but as her campaign went on, she quickly became a front runner.

"At first I went into the race just looking to bring new ideas to the table and offer a new way forward for the party. I honestly did not expect the amount of support I got as there were some amazing candidates in the race. About a month into the campaign, I talked with my dad and he told me 'Danielle, you are going to win this'. With the amount of support that I received in just a month, I knew he was right. Like I said, we had some amazing candidates from both within, and outside of our caucus. There were so many great ideas brought forward and I look forward to working with all of the other candidates, the rest of our caucus, and the party membership, to build a strong platform that we can take into the next election. With our strong team I believe we can win and I look forward to being this party's first leader to become Chancellor of Hutori."
~Danielle Houston, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Hutori
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Axminster Fibre Launches

Postby TheCollectivist » Sun Mar 11, 2018 6:22 am

December 4360

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Axminster Fibre has officially launched as a public 1 Gbit/s FTTP (fibre to the premises) service in Axminster, Adelia. The Axminster Fibre Project was created and funded by the Ataraxian Confederation for $3 billion HLR. It represents the second FTTP project undertaken by the Ataraxians. The infrastructure by default will be under the ownership of the Axminster municipality.

According to Pete Thompsett, an Ataraxian telecoms engineer who led both the Axminster Fibre Project and the Acton Fibre Project, the Ataraxians plan on eventually upgrading the entire country to FTTP if the government continues to permit mutual development projects:

Pete Thompsett wrote:These are only pilots - precursors to a more grand plan. With the permission of the government, we will eventually fund and assist with the installment of a national FTTP network - we suspect will be the first of its kind. For future installations, we plan on using our own labour resources to reduce costs. Hopefully future Hutorian governments will continue to appreciate the immense economic and technological value of these projects. Really though, imagine a national public FTTP service, it's almost techno-utopian, but it is certainly possible and in our opinion, a necessity. Of course the government could always choose to sell off the infrastructure to private enterprise, but that would sort of defeat the purpose of the funding. By handling the capital costs ourselves, there's really no reason why FTTP would not be adopted and kept cheap as long as it is either a public service or kept under tight government regulation.

Of course we'll take this all one step at a time, but we plan on keeping our ambition bold on this. It's about time society starts adopting already existing technologies. Capital cost has usually been the biggest obstacle to adoption of FTTP, but with our funding, we can cover that completely with basically no strings attached.


The Ataraxians have their own server hosting industry, which will benefit from increased FTTP infrastructure, although outside IT industry representatives have stated that the funding is largely charitable. In most circumstances, investors typically demand a share of profits from their investment, but in the case of the Ataraxians, they believe their reward will be indirect.

Pete Thompsett wrote:Of course we hope that by improving network infrastructure, this will reflect more business to our server hosting sector, but at the end of the day, everyone benefits from a more connected and technologically advanced world.


To help aid in future FTTP projects, the Ataraxian Confederation has created the Ataraxian Information Association (AINF), which is composed of Ataraxian information syndicates. Pete Thompsett has been appointed as its coordinator (i.e. leader). In addition, Pete Thompsett has replaced accountant Terry Pressley as Councillor of the Information Syndicate of the Commune of Ataraxia.

In order to upgrade remaining Adelian households to FTTP infrastructure, it will cost an estimated $8.9 billion HLR, but the Ataraxians believe they should be able to lower the capital cost to $6.1 billion by devoting some of their labour resources to the installation, particularly 195 of their 455 active telecoms engineers.
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Re: The Bekenial Dispatch

Postby Conser » Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:49 am

Jeffrey Burgole resigns from NNPP leadership because of ''health reasons''

Yesterday, the leader of the NNPP and former President Jeffrey Burgole has announced in a press conference that he was resigning from his position of leader of the New National Progress Party after leading it for more than 29 years.

To explain his decision, the former President made a speech in which he explained in detail the reasons why he took that decision. Here's a extract of that speech:

''Recently, I have been diagnosed with a very advance cancer of which I have very little chance to survive. For now, I am still able to function normally but soon, my physical condition will deteriorate and I won't be able continue to assume my current position of leader of the NNPP. In this condition, I have no other choice but to resign from my current position. I am nothing but thankfull for the 29 years I have spent serving this nation. First as Chancellor and then as President of the Commonwealth, I have spent every single day in office working for the people of our great nation. I have done everything I could to ensure the protection of democratie and equality in Hutori and to ensure the well-being of every single hutorian. I know I have done my duty with honesty and intergrity and if it's time for my to leave, I am confident that Hutori will always stay strong as we are the greatest country in the world.''


Soon after, the New National Progress Party direction as announced that a election to determine the new leader of the party will be held inside the party.

Three candidate has officialy anounce their candidacy for the leadership election so far:

-Cristian Buccho (Former Chancellor and former minister of Justice)
-David Green (Inucmbent minister of Environment and Tourism)
-Caitlin Clarke (Former minister of Finance)
-Parti de dieu (Alduri) inactive
-National Progress Party (Hutori) active
-Græna Demókratar (Telamon) inactive
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