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Canadian tech companies are calling on the new premier of Alberta to intervene after a regulatory group tooklegal action over job titles such as software engineer.

More than 30 signatories of a letter sent to Danielle Smith on Friday say the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) has taken the aggressive position that software engineers must be regulated, and subject to onerous, restrictive, and unnecessary certification requirements.

The signatories, which include executives from Helcim, Aimso and Neo Financial, see software engineer as a standard job title for anyone building technical programs and argue APEGA shouldnt be treating it as a role in need of certification and regulation like professional engineers.

APEGA is actively targeting companies in Alberta with legal action to restrict us from using globally competitive job titles and descriptions, reads the letter orchestrated by the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI), a national tech advocacy organization.

The signatories cite APEGA lawsuits against tech companies that use variations on the engineer title. Theywant Smith to act and remove the regulatory red tape they say hampers their ability to compete for global tech talent, which has long been lured to the U.S. instead with promises of big job titles and even bigger salaries.

Some companies have considered relocating because they find this red tape extremely challenging to deal with and will need to hire more engineers, says CCI President Benjamin Bergen.

Youll see companies open offices in other jurisdictions where they actually use the correct terminology.

He argues this is a case of a regulator which has overstepped on an issue that hasnt seen this level of action anywhere else in the world.

The premiers office referred a request for comment to the minister of labour and immigrations press secretary, Roy Dallmann.

Dallmann said his office encourages CCI and APEGA to find a mutually agreeable solution and promised to work with both groups to resolve the issue because it is concerned by any regulations that impede our competitiveness.

APEGA said in a release that the term engineer comes with a licensed and ethical set of responsibilities and accountabilities. It said this is the same for other regulated professions, such as the health and legal professions.

You would not want someone to operate on you in the province if they are not licensed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, said Jay Nagendran, APEGA registrar and chief executive officer.

By that same token, you do not want someone designing your pacemaker or self-driving car if they are not a licensed engineer. That puts peoples lives at risk something APEGA takes very seriously.

Nagendran also noted that software engineering is a nationally and internationally recognized discipline of engineering.

APEGAs website says it has the legal right and requirement to restrict the practice and use of titles linked to engineering and geoscience to licensed individuals and companies.

On top of traditional titles like professional engineer, professional geologist and professional geophysicist, it says those who are unlicensed cannot use the word engineer combined with any name, title, description, letter, symbol or abbreviation that implies they are licensed with APEGA in job titles, on resumes or on social media.

APEGA maintains this is because the public may believe that you have the right to practice engineering or geoscience and this can endanger public safety.

An open letter signed by the leaders of each provincial and territorial engineering regulator in Canada in July said use of software engineer, computer engineer and other information technology titles with the engineer suffix is prohibited everywhere in Canada unless the person using it is licensed by one of their regulatory groups.

Engineers Canada, the national body for the provincial and territorial associations, also points out on its website that there is legal precedent on the matter. An Alberta judge ordered an injunction against someone not registered with APEGA who was using software engineer online in 2019.

The licensing of workers is common in many professions, including the legal and medical fields, because its seen as crucial to keeping workers ethical and competent when public safety is at risk. However, it is seldom, if ever, used to regulate those in the tech sector, including workers who build apps and other software and hardware.

Talent is absolutely the most important input to our future success and our ability to attract and retain talent is critical so if were going to have regulators creating a hostile environment for companies we cant be competitive, says Sam Pillar, chief executive of Jobber.

When his Edmonton-based home services platform first heard from APEGA about its use of engineering titles, he says it put disclaimers on its website to differentiate its workers from the positions APEGA regulates. Later, Jobber was sued by APEGA in December 2021.

The matter is still winding through court, Pillar said, adding that its time for the government to step in because its dragging on and affecting companies as big as Google and Apple along with small firms in greater need of talent.

A 2019 report from the Information and Communications Technology Council, a not-for-profit organization offering labour policy advice, predicted demand for digitally-skilled talent in Canada would reach 193,000 by 2022 and more than 305,000 by 2023.

A 2020 addendum accounting for COVID-19 forecast that demand would be reduced by nearly 24 per cent and said under new baseline scenarios, the digital economy is expected to experience demand for 147,000 workers by 2022, with total employment reaching nearly two million.

The 2019 government-funded report listed software developers, data scientists and analysts, cybersecurity workers and information technology support specialists among the most in-demand positions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2022.

Read more from the original source:
Tech companies want Alta. premier to wade into battle over 'software engineer' title - Winnipeg Free Press

Mumbai: The deadly double accident that occurred earlier this month on the Bandra Worli Sea Link has prompted authorities to adapt additional safety measures to ensure fatalities are reduced on the iconic bridge.

New incident management system, a software, will be put into place that will send outalertsto multiple agencies as well as to the vehicular traffic driving on the sea link within half a minute of any incident occurring.

This system will alert the toll operators, quick response team, put up messages on visual digital signposts, traffic authorities, etc. said an official who was part of the meeting on Tuesday to enhance safety on the sea link.

Additional set of Standard Operating Procedures will also be introduced in ensuring better response measures.

Currently there are sixspeedcamerasinstalled on the bridge connecting Bandra and Worli.Moresuchcameraswill be installed. There is a possibility that the location of thesecameraswill be regularly changed to record the traffic rule violators.

Enforcement of traffic rules and bringing traffic violators to book also needs to be increased. Drunken driving tests will be carried out randomly on the sea link to disallow them from putting lives at risk, shared a source.

Moreover, a new Quick Response Team vehicle that is equipped with metal cutters will be brought in in a few days. A crash barrier vehicle will also be kept at the accident spot in case there is a breakdown of any vehicle.

Among other things, safety messages will be screened on the public visual system and some glow signs will also be installed.

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Mumbai: Security and surveillance to be tightened on Bandra Worli Sea Link - Free Press Journal

LONDON, Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- idexo is pleased to announce the launch of free Soulbound Token, NFT and Royalty NFT creation software, enabling anyone to draft and deploy an unlimited number of smart contracts and mint an unlimited number of NFTs using a simple no code SaaS tool.

How the system works:

"We're very pleased to be able offer these free tools to help users and companies unlock their NFT and SBT innovations," says Greg Marlin, CEO/CTO, "We can confidently say that there is no easier or quicker way to get up and running building key SBT and NFT use cases. Especially for traditional companies, not having to procure and manage blockchain gas tokens to get started means much less friction in a corporate environment and over the long haul, having something that feels familiar like email credits you get from an email provider breeds comfort and predictability."

The types of smart contracts a user can launch with this tool are capped and uncapped Soulbound Tokens, NFTs and Royalty NFTs. Soulbound Tokens are NFTs that are non-transferable and unlock key use cases such as A, B and C. Royalty NFTs have a set and updateable commission rate that is paid to a specified wallet address whenever a secondary sale transaction is made. This is particularly appealing to artists and event holders, among others.

ABOUT IDEXO

idexo envisions a world where decentralized applications pervade every industry in the $88Trillion/year world economy the way the Internet does.

idexo's mission is to empower innovators to create these industry-disrupting applications.

MEDIA CONTACTCompany: idexoName: Greg MarlinEmail: 345886@email4pr.comCity: LondonCountry: United KingdomWebsite: https://idexo.comPhone: +44 20 8089 1372

SOURCE idexo

Link:
Idexo Launches Free Soulbound Tokens and NFT Creation Software With Unlimited Smart Contracts and NFT Min - Benzinga

Having made various aborted attempts to launch a free version of Pro Tools - the most recent being the now-discontinued Pro Tools | First - Avid is now having another crack at it with the release of Pro Tools Intro.

Available for download now, this has the advantage of being built on the same code base as the new Pro Tools 2022.9, meaning that it should be easier for the developers to keep it up to date.

When Pro Tools | First was discontinued late in 2021, Avid said that the product had become unviable, but with Pro Tools Intro more closely tied to its big brother, were hoping that this new free offering will be here to stay.

In terms of specs, Pro Tools Intro gives you eight audio tracks, eight instrument tracks and eight MIDI tracks. Unlike in Pro Tools | First, theres AAX support - so you can run compatible third-party plugins - and Pro Tools Intro uses the standard .ptx session format.

Pro Tools Intro ships with 35 Avid plugins, including a channel strip, compressor, EQ, filters, reverb and delay. You also get the AIR Xpand!2 virtual instrument, which includes more than 2.500 presets.

Other specs include four Aux tracks, one master track, four simultaneous inputs and outputs, up to 192kHz sample rate recording and playback and support for any Core Audio, ASIO or WASAPI-compatible interface.

As well as being offered as a standalone download, Pro Tools Intro also comes baked-in to all Pro Tools 2022.9 installations, meaning that, if your paid subscription or trial version of that software expires, youll still have a DAW that offers basic functionality. We should also mention that Pro Tools Intro can be installed and used without the need for a physical iLok (though you'll still need an iLok account for software authorisation).

Moving on to the new features in Pro Tools 2022.9, theres now direct integration with Celemonys Melodyone thanks to the support for the ARA 2 protocol. This means that the Melodyne interface is now docked within Pro Tools, speeding up your workflow.

ARA 2 support applies to all versions of Pro Tools, including Intro, with the Artist, Studio and Flex editions all shipping with Melodyne 5 essential, a feature-limited version of the pitch and time manipulation software. If you have a higher-level version of Melodyne already installed, this will automatically show up within Pro Tools.

The other big addition in 2022.9 is Aux I/O, a macOS-exclusive feature that enables flexible routing of audio to and from Pro Tools to other software and hardware. You can easily stream your Pro Tools audio directly to Zoom, for example - great when someone needs to review a mix in realtime, remotely - or record audio in from or to another music production application. This could make Aux I/O a great addition for the increasing numbers of people who like to work across multiple DAWs.

Discussing the Pro Tools 2022.9 update, Francois Quereuil, Vice President, Product Management for Audio and Music Solutions, Avid, said: Music creators of every skill level will heighten their artistic potential and accelerate their productivity thanks to the innovation now available inside our newest Pro Tools update.

Were working hard to delight the entire creative community, and this is one of our most exciting recent releases for them, with users now taking command of amazing new capabilities right inside their Pro Tools experience to push the boundaries of their music production workflows further than ever before.

You can compare all the versions of Pro Tools now on the Avid (opens in new tab) website. The price of a subscription plan starts at $10 a month for Pro Tools Artist.

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Pro Tools Intro: new free DAW opens up the industry-standard music production software to everyone - MusicRadar

Software development is a game of creativity and intellectual property in which developers use their knowledge of coding, logic, algorithms and systems to solve complex problems.

This sometimes results in proprietary, or closed source, tools. Other software is open source: released openly to the global developer community, which can change, refine, build upon and reuse its code in other projects.

For decades, these two models have been the main approaches to software availability and licensing. But today, the open core software model -- which shares attributes with both open and closed source -- is also gaining ground. In this article, we explore the use cases, benefits and limitations of open source vs. open core software for developers and business leaders.

Open source is a general distribution and licensing model that makes code freely available for use, modification and redistribution within the terms of the open source license.

The Open Source Initiative uses 10 criteria to define open source software:

Under the open source model, individual developers and organizations can create software and release it into the open source domain, where it can then be used, modified and combined with other software. Any resulting work can itself be redistributed as open source software.

The following are examples of open source software:

Anyone can create open source software, from enthusiastic individuals hoping to contribute to the development community to large enterprises that decide to release a tool or platform as open source code.

While open source software can be distributed and used without direct costs or specific agreements with the creator, its code is governed by formal licenses that define it as open source and outline the specific terms for its use and redistribution. There are numerous open source software license models, including the following:

Open source code is pervasive across the software development industry -- it's increasingly difficult to find an application or platform that does not include at least some open source components. The following are some of the many use cases for open source software, with examples in each category:

Before adopting open source code or platforms, organizations should carefully consider the pros and cons of the open source model.

The central advantage of open source is savings. Software is built from modules and algorithms, and finding existing code that fills specific needs can accelerate a project and free developers to focus their efforts on other areas. Similarly, using an open source platform can reduce the costs associated with acquiring and licensing a software platform.

However, the downsides of open source software can be significant. First, freely distributed open source software has no official support beyond documentation and community response. Although paid support options are often available, open source tools generally don't have dedicated technical support. This can make adopting open source code and platforms difficult and time consuming, and organizations need experienced IT staff to integrate and maintain open source code.

Open source software can also present compliance problems for developers and businesses. Open source code might contain vulnerabilities that are only caught at the review and static testing stages or might fail to meet the organization's coding standards. Similarly, open source platforms can contain exploitable flaws that are challenging to fix, and patches or updates might be too infrequent to meet the organization's code quality needs.

Finally, open source licensing typically demands continued open source treatment of the original code as well as any code derived from open source components. Consequently, a business developing proprietary or tool-specific software might not be able to meet the obligations imposed by open source licenses.

In such a scenario, using open source software is impossible or would put the business at risk of violating open source licensing terms. Thus, adopting open source elements must be consistent with the terms and conditions of the components used.

Open core is a hybrid software distribution and licensing model that combines the characteristics of the open source and closed source approaches.

Open core software typically follows the guidelines of the open source model for the core features and functionality of a component or platform, while making other advanced features and functionality proprietary and limiting access using a fee-based structure, such as a paywall. This is also called the freemium model, common in many subscription services and applications.

There are three main differences between the open source and open core models:

Alternatively, open core tools and platforms might not develop or deploy proprietary modules at all, instead providing the code necessary to combine two or more open source projects into a cohesive package -- an approach dubbed glue code. Glue code offers a proprietary way to process data or facilitate interactions among several open source modules.

Open core software companies include Docker, Elastic, GitLab, MongoDB and Redis. Examples of this monetization style include Kubernetes or a Linux kernel modified to serve cloud providers, who then charge users a fee to use that uniquely modified codebase within their cloud services.

Because the open core model is relatively new in software development, its benefits and disadvantages are still emerging.

In general, open core software has the advantage of clear differentiation between free and paid features and functionalities. This helps users make informed choices about corresponding costs and capabilities. With the revenue generated by paid features and functions, developers can provide technical support and reinvest revenue back into the project for more frequent updates and fixes.

However, rules and limitations around open core projects can become murky, especially if multiple licenses are involved. Adopters must consider how to access the open source part of the code, if desired. Paid or proprietary licensed code must be clearly delineated, as any uncertainty can make open core software challenging to adopt in traditionally open source environments.

The open core approach can also limit the size of the software's developer and user community. Open core adopters are more dependent on the original developers, as they must defer to the developers for consultation and support. This, in turn, can translate into higher risk and make adopters less likely to modify and redistribute the core software.

It's handy to compare open source and open core against two other standard software distribution models: closed source and source available.

Closed source refers to commercial or proprietary software that businesses build and license for development. Closed source software is fundamentally a black box: Users rarely have insight into the code, and many closed source licenses deliberately prohibit decompiling or reverse-engineering the code. The software is treated as complete, with ongoing updates and support for installation and troubleshooting.

A source available software approach is a slight modification of the closed source model in which commercial software is developed and licensed for a fee. Source available tools offer a higher level of transparency by making source code available for review and analysis. This benefits software customers that are concerned with security and code quality issues, such as government entities.

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Open core vs. open source: What's the difference? - TechTarget