We start this week with a couple of books for your holiday pleasure. First up, virtualization. If you've been exploring virtualization or making your way down the path to bringing virtualization into your organization and are looking at the open source Xen virtualization system, I have a book you should read: "The Book of Xen" (pub. No Starch) by Chris Takemura and Luke Crawford.
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open source
Open Source Friday Focus: Paint.Net - FAIL!
Paint.net is a great free tool that charades as open source on some lists, but in my book no source code, no open source!
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Fri, 02/05/10 - 6:36am.
I was all set to give you all a great Friday Focus today on Paint.net. Paint.net is a great Windows based graphics program that gives you 80% or more of Photoshop for free. I have the screen shots already to go and was doing some research on the license. That is when I ran into a road block that prevents me from giving Paint.net my wholehearted endorsement. Read more
UC and Open Source: Finding the Magic LAMP
What is the LAMP stack of UC?
Submitted by Robin Gareiss on Thu, 02/04/10 - 12:20pm.
What is the LAMP stack of UC? The coalescence of LAMP—Linux, Apache, MySql, and PHP—revolutionized the use of open source for enterprise Web servers and applications. Combining these 4 separate open source projects into a rock-solid foundation for web application deployment paved the way to open source becoming a staple of the infrastructure of Internet services. Read more
Symbian Completes The Largest Move To Open Source In History
The once and still dominant mobile OS moves to open source to better compete with Adroid, iPhone and others. What do they really have to do to win?
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Thu, 02/04/10 - 3:57am.
In the largest migration from a proprietary to an open source model ever, the most popular OS for mobile phones (over 330 million phones) in the world is now open source. The Symbian mobile OS which powers most Nokia, as well as other phones is now open source. That means it is free for anyone to use, edit, change or just view. The migration was actually finished ahead of schedule by a few months. Read more
Open Source Friday Focus: Audacity
This indispensable sound editing tool probably has more punch then most of us even need. But if you work with any type of audio files or need to convert formats, Audacity is the bomb!
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Sat, 01/30/10 - 3:36am.
Audacity is a key part in just about every podcaster’s toolbox. Audacity allows you to graphically “see” an audio file. You can splice parts in and out, you can merge in multiple tracks and you can perform an amazing array of effects to your audio files. On top of this you can convert one format of audio file to another really easily. You can change your sound file from stereo to mono, change its bit rate and just about any other attribute of your sound file. Audacity does it all! Read more
Are Quotas Good For Open Source?
Quotas are almost always a controversial solution. Do Government mandated quotas for open source software help open source adoption? The answer is not as simple as you may think.
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Thu, 01/28/10 - 9:58pm.
Behind all of the recent news around governments adopting open source use policies, the questions of whether or not open source will actually be used and at what levels remain unanswered. At the end of the day, policy makers can say that open source solutions should be considered, but where are the teeth to put some bite into these preferences? Beyond expressing a preference, does anything else need to be done to make sure open source gets its fair share? Read more
Now It Is Open Source Solving Global Warming, Enough Already!
Open source hardware, open source DNA, open source cars and now open source as the fix for global warming? How much can open source really do? Are we confusing open standards with open source?
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Wed, 01/27/10 - 9:29pm.
In the last week or two I have read and blogged on some novel new uses for open source in some very non-traditional areas. Open source hardware, open source automobiles, even open source DNA fragments.( Reflecting on it, open source DNA seems closer to traditional open source code than some of the others.) Now topping them all is a call for open source to combat climate change! Read more
Open Source Round-Up Rodeo
Should "Axis of Evil" nations be banned from using open source, How one NZ HS is making open source work, open source in bio-tech and the Red Hat State-of-the-Union
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Tue, 01/26/10 - 2:00pm.
Sometimes there is just so much going on in the open source world that I can't pick just one thing to write about. I have this problem on my own personal blog from time to time as well. When that happens I like to do a roundup of the all the things interesting me today. I may not go into as deep a dive on any one of them, but will give my own 2 cents on each. So, here is today's Open Source Round-Up Rodeo. Read more
Open Source Zealots: Don’t Be a Hater
Open source evangelists should not forget that users pick solutions based upon what works for them, not politics.
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Mon, 01/25/10 - 3:02am.
Reading the recent comments of several prominent open source evangelists I felt like I was attending a Tea Party rally. Whether they are talking about Microsoft being the evil empire or the “anti-features” that proprietary software companies are wasting money and time on, the vitriol that they spew turns me off quicker than a negative political ad.
They would do well to remember why many of us use open source software. For most of us, we use open source software because it is a solution to a problem we are trying to solve in the most efficient matter possible. Read more
Breaking News: San Francisco Goes Open Source
Mayor Newsome posts the city’s new open source policy in guest blog post
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Fri, 01/22/10 - 5:55pm.
In an unprecedented move the twice elected mayor of the city, Gavin Newsome put up a guest post on Mashable.com today announcing San Francisco now has the nation’s first open source software policy for city government. Newsome’s support for open source was unequivocal. He stated, “Open source software is created by the people for the people and as such is ideal for government.” Read more
Even Mickey Mouse is a Big Supporter of Open Source
Disney is not just a consumer of open source, but a contributor as well. I say good for them!
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Thu, 01/21/10 - 8:59am.
If I told you that Disney was a big supporter of open source I doubt you would argue. I am sure they use a ton of Linux and LAMP stack components over there. I am sure there are lots of other open source tools in use over at “the House of Mouse” too. But Disney’s support of open source goes beyond being an open source consumer. They are contributing code and projects to the open source community. To give this some perspective, it is estimated that something like 93% of open source users never look at the source code of an open source application. Read more
Are You Ready For An Open Source Car?
Software isn't the only thing open; open source could change the auto game
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Wed, 01/20/10 - 7:34pm.
Admit it, when many of you think of open source you assume software. But new concepts of open source in hardware and design promise to transform many industries. Read more
Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Top 10 Rookies of the Year in Open Source
BlackDuck Software has named its list, but I have a few opinions of my own.
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Tue, 01/19/10 - 9:21pm.
Despite everything, 2009 was a bumper crop for new open source projects. It is estimated that developers created 52 new open source projects a day on average. So who was the best of the best in new open source for 2009? Read more
Are open source business models successful?
While the bloom may be off the rose of open source models, there is money to be made
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Tue, 01/19/10 - 8:46pm.
It has become quite fashionable lately to disparage open source business models as a failure. No less an authority than the NY Times came out late last year with a piece lamenting the elusive nature of successful open source business models. Frankly they are not entirely wrong. The gold rush of money pouring into open source startups dried up along with most of the other VC funds when the economy went south. Read more
Nothing in life is free (so why do governments love open source?)
Open Source is becoming the Lingua Franca of the government sector.
Submitted by Alan Shimel on Tue, 01/19/10 - 4:05pm.
It seems everywhere you look open source is being adopted, pushed and feted by the governments of the world. Read more
Open source tool, algorithm aim to slash software errors
Open source project backed by Air Force, NSF
Submitted by Layer 8 on Wed, 01/13/10 - 12:50pm.
Can open source software and an algorithm really detect general software error 300 times faster than current methods? Read more
Microsoft legally promises not to sue open source developers
Microsoft' Patent Pledge for Open Source Developers says it won't sue if they don't sell.
Submitted by Microsoft Subnet on Wed, 12/16/09 - 1:03pm.
As part of the agreement Microsoft has struck with the European Commission to offer a ballet screen for browsers, Microsoft has issued what it calls the "Patent Pledge for Open Source Developers." The pledge tells open source developers that Microsoft won't sue them for developing open source software for its flagship products as long as they are not selling their software. Read more
Mark's rating: 
A couple of books and a lot of time
By Mark Gibbs on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 12:00am.
Tags:
- Data Center
- accelerometers
- Addison Wesley
- book review
- Crawford
- data center
- development system
- eZ430-Chronos Wireless Watch
- Flash
- Flex
- Flex Framework 3.0
- McIntosh
- No Stach
- open source
- pressure
- RIA
- Sanchez
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- Takemura
- temperature
- texas instruments
- TI
- time
- UI
- user experience
- user interface
- UX
- virtualization
- Xen
- Hardware
- Texas Instruments
Grab the Tiger by the Tail
Android Bug Fixing for Fun and Profit
Submitted by Mark Murphy on Wed, 12/02/09 - 1:30am.
One challenge with open source projects is finding people to fix the bugs. After all, bug-fixing is supposed to be an easy way to get developers started contributing to a project. But people sometimes forget that bug fixing, like anything in open source, inevitably involves “scratching your own itch”, in one form or fashion. Read more
Tracking the world's great unsolved math mysteries
Open source-based site collecs of unsolved math problems
Submitted by Layer 8 on Tue, 11/17/09 - 4:08pm.
Some math problems are as old as the wind, experts say and many remain truly unsolved. But a new open source-based site from the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) looks to help track work done and solve long-standing and difficult math problems. Read more
SpringSource updates Hyperic HQ Open Source IT monitoring application
Open source IT monitoring and management application update available for free download now.
Submitted by Denise Dubie on Wed, 11/11/09 - 3:44pm.
Open source IT management applications became readily available in the past decade, not only via communities touting free software but also by way of commercial vendors such as GroundWork Open Source, Hyperic Read more
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