OStatic

Many of the responses to my previous blog post Open Core or Open Snore? were in agreement, and some were not. As is often the case, the more interesting ones expressed disagreement. Some took issue with my post by pointing out open core companies that might be termed success stories: SugarCRM, Alfresco, Mindtouch. But then, I never wrote that open core cannot be successful, but rather that any success will be limited by nature of the model. Open core effectively places a cap on community development turning open source efforts into a viral marketing play, when it can be so much more.

One critique that did resonate was how much open source dev models actually impacted the bottom line. A company's success is impacted by a myriad of factors, including open source strategy and tactics.Seeing as how some companies will succeed with practically no open source development at all, it's only natural to concede that an open core approach will succed in some markets. However, if I were creating an open source community strategy in a crowded, competitive market, I sure wouldn't want to place an artificial handicap on my community development practices. I'll use 2 case studies to illustrate my point: Red Hat / Fedora and CollabNet / Subversion

Why aren't schools adopting open source? Outside the U.S. schools are doing so, but not inside.

Top 25 OpenOffice extensions. Here are many good ways to get more out of the open source app suite.

Eyeing Google, Splashtop partners with Yahoo for instant-on web search. It's a pre-emptive strike against Chrome OS.

Open source advocates still called zealots. That's the moniker that a New York Times blog post chooses.

Installing VirtualBox 3.0 on a Fedora 11 desktop. Here's a tutorial that will allow you to run multiple operating systems concurrently.

There is an old joke, popular among venture capitalists, that goes like this: Two guys are walking in the wilderness, when they spot a huge bear speeding toward them, gnashing its teeth. One of the guys pulls a pair of running shoes out of his backpack and starts putting them on.

? What are you doing? You can't outrun a bear, says the other guy.

I don't need to outrun the bear, comes the answer. I just need to outrun you.

That joke is about knowing precisely who the competition is. That's why I thought of it when I read Matt Asay's post about Mark Shuttleworth identifying the Mac OS, and not Windows, as the desktop operating system to beat. Shuttleworth made comments to that effect in this Datamation interview, and I agree with him.

There is an old joke, popular among venture capitalists, that goes like this: Two guys are walking in the wilderness, when they spot a huge bear speeding toward them, gnashing its teeth. One of the guys pulls a pair of running shoes out of his backpack and starts putting them on.

? What are you doing? You can't outrun a bear, says the other guy.

I don't need to outrun the bear, comes the answer. I just need to outrun you.

That joke is about knowing precisely who the competition is. That's why I thought of it when I read Matt Asay's post from last year about Mark Shuttleworth identifying the Mac OS, and not Windows, as the desktop operating system to beat. Shuttleworth made comments to that effect in this Datamation interview, and I agree with him. It's right now, though, that we are really seeing the Linux desktop realize its potential, with the Mac OS still setting a good pace in the race.

It seems like just yesterday Fedora 11's development team codenamed it's bouncing bundle of joy Leonidas (after the Spartan King, of course). Contributing members of the Fedora community are putting their heads together again to come up with a codename for Fedora 12, and if you've got a good suggestion you've only got until May 23rd to shout it out.

Microsoft search to be powered by open source. The company's new Kumo search technology is filled with open source.

What you should expect from Fedora 11. Here's a screenshot-driven tour of it, scheduled for release on May 26th.

Beyond Firefox: 10 other great Linux browsers. Have you tried Midori, Seamonkey, and Arora?

Novell throws support behind Moblin Linux for Intel Atom netbooks, devices. Eschewing its own SUSE Linux, Novell will back Intel's Moblin Linux for netbooks and smartphones.?

In my travels, I discovered David Zeuthen's informative peek at DeviceKit (and its use with and in lieu of HAL) in the upcoming release of Fedora 11.

Zeuthen says that while the new storage device handling stack is implemented in Fedora's GNOME 2.26 desktop configuration, it should be appearing in its entirety in the upstream GNOME 2.28 release. The DeviceKit daemon modernizes and adds to many of the features and functions of the tried and true HAL daemon.

I've noticed, as I get older, time seems to go exponentially faster. Unfortunately, this meant high school lasted an eternity, and I'm burning through my thirties at warp speed. Some events make me more aware of this than others -- it seems like it was only last week that Fedora 10 made its first mark upon the world.

But no, another release cycle has nearly come full circle, and today the Fedora Project announced the Preview Release of Fedora 11 (codenamed Leonidas). This preview will be followed by a release candidate (scheduled for a May 12 appearance), with the final version hitting the streets on May 26.

So what new features can we expect to see in Fedora 11?