Look to the Source

Advocating open source management can be a disaster

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, National Public Radio ran a piece on the challenges of risk management. Government officials, right up to the President, took heat for over blowing the potential danger, whereas surely they'd have been...

So much open source, so little time…

The Free Software Foundation recently updated its license recommendations guide. While there are a lot of developers looking to license their creations under open source licenses-with new projects popping up at a rate of hundreds per...

Give developers what they want; they’ll get it anyway

Developers think of a forge as a place to get, develop and share code. Turns out that data on their use of forges is very useful for analyzing development trends and the implications for IT professionals managing development. A study...

Great news...now you can download your very own E. coli bacterium

The same concepts that have lead to open source rockin' the software world have spawned the beginning of a revolution in biotech. An organization called Biofab, funded by the NSF and run through teams at Stanford and Berkeley, is...

New open source license is for the birds

OK, I'm slow on the draw, but it's still April Fools Day, so I'm in the office a little late to get this off my chest. The story is factual, though the subject is somewhat of a tongue in cheek: Last week, one Andrew "Tuna" Harris...

Android is a cool example of benefits and challenges of developing with open source

As discussed in my last posting, Android is a particularly visible and broadly used project, and for that reason is drawing a fair amount of legal attention. There are aspects of the project that demonstrate the two-edged sword...

Android is hot…and getting hotter.

Yes, Android is smokin'! It's clearly been hot in the sense of a big success, extremely popular and market buzzword. And, more recently, there seems to be some heat-generating intellectual property friction around the platform. So,...

Dev and ops, a marriage made in heaven?

It may not have been love at first sight, but now IT development and operations teams are going beyond just cozying up and are, in fact, marrying their efforts . Open source has played a key role, and has been conspiring with the...

New cloud applications drive popularity of the AGPL license

Diaspora, the hottest new open source project, is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License or AGPL. So are two other new, popular cloud applications, RapidFTR and ownCloud. Add to that popular forges Launchpad and...

Here come the open source rookies!

In the rapidly changing world of open source, it's interesting to look at popular new projects on the leading edge. Black Duck (my company) just announced its list of open source "Rookies of the Year" for the third year running. ...

Big news about the big duck in the open source pond

Today Black Duck announced the acquisition of Ohloh.net from Geeknet. Here's some of the inside scoop about our impressions of Ohloh and why this is all a good thing for the community and Black Duck.If you are not familiar with...

Recent court ruling makes it more important than ever to understand the GPL

When Alan Shimel reported on the recent court decision against Westinghouse Digital in the BusyBox suit, he talked of the GPL having teeth. Think about the teeth of a saw. Very useful, but requiring understanding and care. It's...

Today Linux Foundation steps up to enable industry open source adoption

Today the Linux Foundation launched its Open Compliance Program. This bold new initiative promises to increase adoption of open source and help companies comply with open source licenses. It combines some efforts already in place...

Surprise! SAP is now big into open source

The announcement of SAP as a Black Duck customer and (omagosh!) a user of open source brought some surprised reactions from the press, including my dear editor Julie Bort. In her article Even SAP is using more open source, Julie...

Open source has created software overload

Last week, Stephen O'Grady from RedMonk came all the way down to Waltham from Portland, ME (or I guess that must be up, if Maine is "Down East") to speak with us at Black Duck. He was happy to report that open source is alive and...

Open source helps those who…get a little help from their friends

Whereas most developers have familiarity with open source, fewer of their managers and even fewer senior execs have much experience with it, especially when it comes to corporate policy or governance. Thus, it's good news that there...

Following the invisible thread of software into the future

IBM Rational GM, Danny Sabbah's keynote at the recent Innovate conference painted an inspiring future picture for anyone involved with software. He described the pivotal role of software-powered Smarter Products in IBM's vision of a...

“Not All Open Source is Created Equal” Redux

I enjoyed Eric Gries' recent piece Not All Open Source is Created Equal about the different philosophical perspectives on open source development. One of the people who commented had been hoping for a discussion of difference in...

No more waiting for the bus; open software can keep you warm and dry

In my younger years, I had a system whereby if I dashed out the door as soon as the Green Line train appeared in my kitchen window, I could just beat it to the Northeastern T-stop. Now my old kitchen window is being obsoleted by an...

Free Beer!

I heard a rumor about an open source beer and it's true! The idea is to use an open development methodology, like the approach for open source software, to create and propagate a better beer. A handful of examples have bubbled...