July
Sub-archives
Jul 27, 2010
Sourceforge invites corporations to the new forge
With Google and CodePlex, with the rise of corporate forges and even Github now hosting over 1 million projects, Sourceforge may never achieve the status it enjoyed a decade ago, when it was the center of open source activity. But this does not mean it’s going to slink away. Far from it. read more...
Open source is filled with freeloaders
With OSCON in the rear-view mirror the usual grievances are being aired.Open source doesn’t innovate. Some open source is vaporware. Big companies take advantage of open source but don’t comply with the license terms. read more...
Jul 26, 2010
Rackspace, Google, Facebook and Microsoft battle for spotlight at Open Source Convention
Proprietary brand names Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Rackspace battled for dominance at OSCON 2010 this week. read more...
China finally getting the open source message
Some American readers may not know this, but ZDNet is actually spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of tech.We even have an expert on open source in China. His name is Fred Muller. read more...
Jul 22, 2010
Who should pay with open core?
Terracotta CEO Amit Pandey has a simple way of defending when companies should pay for components in his open core Java-based caching software, Ehcache.Operators pay. Developers come in free. read more...
Who will trust open source security from the government
Sometimes the old joke is true. Sometimes the government is just trying to help.An open source consortium funded by military and civilian security agencies within the U.S. government has released a final version of Suricata, a new security framework. read more...
Jul 20, 2010
The FLOSS-open source argument and Europe
With Europe heading toward an endorsement of open source in the name of austerity arguments about what kind of open source take on new relevance. read more...
Can the Google index go open source without killing it?
CNET’s Tom Krazit has offered a great run-down of recent moves aimed at forcing Google to give up its search algorithm, and Google’s pushback. read more...
Jul 19, 2010
How long will OEM tails wag the Google Android dog?
Google’s Android project is unique in computing history. The idea is to run a hardware ecosystem based on the principles of the Linux software ecosystem. read more...
Jul 15, 2010
SugarCRM 6 community and commercial diverge
Long time fans (both of you) may remember our 2006 classic, Is SugarCRM open source? Back then the issue was badges, Sugar’s insistence on getting credit for every screen produced, and a non-standard license enforcing this. In time Sugar and the OSI made nice, open source legend Larry Augustin was brought in to make SugarCRM a market playa, and the bad old days were forgotten. read more...
Open source hardware defined by credit
A “gold” (Version 1.1) definition of Open Source Hardware has been released, and it’s pretty interesting. While open source software is mainly defined by usage rights, it seems, open source hardware is defined in large part by credit. read more...
Jul 08, 2010
Desktop death is somewhat exaggerated
All the computing excitement these days is on apps and the cloud. Desktops are said to be dead. (The 1993 version of Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, is greatly underestimated. From Amazon.com.) Part of this is Microsoft’s fault. read more...
Open source audits still have huge potential
A new survey from OpenLogic shows just how much potential open source auditors, like Black Duck, Palamida, and OpenLogic itself, still have in the enterprise space, despite their rising sales and profits. read more...
Jul 07, 2010
CIO German government calls for open standards
Germany's Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology, Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, wants to use open standards to ensure interoperability and independence from IT vendors, she says in an interview published by C'T magazine this week read more...
Jul 06, 2010
Open source needs to change enterprise buying patterns
Let’s start the second half of the baseball season with an important statement.For open source to push further into enterprises, enterprises need to change their procurement policies.Mulesoft CEO Paul Schott (right, from Mulesoft) chatted with me about this over the weekend, and he’s got an excellent point. read more...
How ASCAP jumped the shark
Before the Web was spun, computer marketing meant direct mail. (The phrase “jumping the shark” originated with this scene in the 1970s series Happy Days. From Wikipedia.)The idea was simple. Buy lists of magazine subscribers or interest groups consistent with your own offer. An AARP membership list for offers of Florida condos. A Rolling Stone subscriber list for fast cars. Through careful cross-referencing you could buy a list of excellent prospects for a reasonable price. read more...
Jul 02, 2010
IBM moving to Firefox
IBM’s position on patents may upset open source advocates, but let it not be said IBM doesn’t like open source.The whole company is switching to Firefox.In a blog post set for release today Bob Sutor, the company’s vice president for open source and Linux (right), said out loud what many IBM’ers have been noting for some time. read more...
Afraid of open core lock-in? The alternative could be worse
Why the threat of lock-in needs to be balanced against the danger of selecting a vendor that can't fund future product evolution. read more...
Jul 01, 2010
Cloudera to charge for watching its clouds
Cloudera has released proprietary add-ons for the version of Apache Hadoop it began offering for download in March.Cloudera Enterprise will be a subscription service consisting of management and production support tools for clouds built using the Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop (CDH). read more...
Google China fail
Google is about to be kicked out of China, unless the government accepts what one Chinese site is already calling a “fake front.”At the company’s blog, chief legal officer David Drummond writes hopefully that “many of our Chinese users…have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive. read more...
