OStatic

Datamation's Matt Hartley revisited the timeless issue of Linux and uniformity-- the infamous question of choice. On one side of the argument, people say that the number of options available is what makes Linux great. The other side says that the array of choices holds Linux back.

Both sides have valid points. Uniformity shouldn't mean giving up options, and choices shouldn't be a scapegoat for what ought to be an expected (but not necessarily painful) learning curve.

Let's face it: developing open source software is a thankless and usually profit-free endeavor. While self-congratulatory award shows for actors and TV programs aren't that big a deal to most people, open source award programs are often all the recognition some community members get.

On the heels of the recently concluded SourceForge Community Choice Awards comes the announcement of the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards sponsored by technology book publisher Packt Publishing. Winners and runners-up from each of the five categories will win from $500 - $4,000 and take home a share of prize money totaling $24,000. Six 8 GB iPods will also be awarded at random to individuals who have visited the Packt's Web site to nominate their favorite projects.

SourceForge combed through more than 47,000 nominations to announce which of the open source projects it hosts are finalists in the Fourth Annual Community Choice Awards. Eighty-five projects in 12 categories are in the running and the winners will be announced on July 23, 2009 at OSCON.

Categories run the gamut from technical (Best Tool or Utility for SysAdmins) and entertaining (Best Project for Gamers) to life-changing (Most Likely to Change the Way You Do Everything). Nominated projects are equally wide-ranging and, while there are a number of familiar names like KeePass Password Safe and Audacity, quite a few lesser known projects are being given the opportunity to shine. Avogadro, a cross platform, 3-dimensional molecular editor, is up for Best Project for Academia and microblogging client Choqok has been nominated for Best New Project.

What do Pamela Jones, Chris Messina, Doc Searls, and Angela Byron all have in common? Aside from being very cool people, they?re also all past winners of a Google-O?Reilly Open Source Award.

The honor is bestowed on people in the FOSS community? who have ?demonstrated exceptional leadership, creativity, and collaboration in the development of open source software. The 2009 award winner will be announced at this? year?s O?Reilly Open Source Convention 2009 (OSCON) later this summer so if you know someone who you?d like to see win, there are still a few weeks left to nominate your favorite geek.

There are very few reasons I'd sign on for YACC (not that YACC -- I'm talking about Yet Another Credit Card ). The Linux Foundation is making my unwavering resolve on this front feel a little less resolute today.

The Linux Foundation is rolling out its Tux-adorned Visa Platinum Card. Through a partnership with CardPartner, Inc. and UMB Bank, the Foundation will receive $50 for each activated card and a percentage from every purchase made with the card. All of the proceeds from these cards will be used to create community technical events, as well as provide travel grants to open source innovators. Because no one wants a Tux-carrying card holder to rack up huge amounts of credit card debt in order to support these services, these proceeds will be combined with the funds raised from membership dues, Linux.com advertising, and event revenues.

There's one little domain name out there that's had a wild ride this year. In January, a rather cryptic post went up on Linux.com, a SourceForge web property, that said updates had been slowing -- and were as of that point ceasing -- because changes were in the works. Then came the silence on the wire.

In early March came the announcement that the Linux Foundation was taking the reins at Linux.com, transforming it from something rather static into something that could better capture the spirit of learning, experiencing, and giving back that is an enormous part of the operating system's allure. Input from existing Linux.com members and others interested in having a say was gathered through the IDEAFORGE submission tool, and the Foundation got to work at making these wishes a reality.

At this very moment, the little domain name is embarking on the next leg of its journey. The Linux Foundation is officially unveiling the new Linux.com, a product by the community, for the community.

At OSCON last year, Jaspersoft revealed that work was underway to re-vamp JasperForge, its developer community platform. Jaspersoft's goal was to ensure that the Forge could support its community into the future by integrating new collaboration and networking tools, while enhancing the Forge's existing features.

Today, Jaspersoft has announced that the JasperForge upgrade has moved into high gear, with all of its new features and enhancements in place and operational.