OStatic

Matt Asay at CNET directs readers to Glyn Moody's take on the Gartner Group's findings that 85% of enterprises are using open source software.

The Gartner numbers seem positive, and encouraging -- especially in light of the acknowledgement that the remaining 15% are planning to move toward more open source software in the near future. Then Gartner drops the bad news -- cases that Moody says don't end badly (they are usually remedied with a polite phone call) or even happen terribly frequently (12 or so cases a year) -- that 69% of companies have no formal method of evaluating and cataloging their open source applications, leaving them at risk of intellectual property liabilities.

The season is nigh where many cultures across the globe observe some type of holiday that aims, in part, to reunite friends and family. If someone in the family is interested in genealogy, these gatherings are usually a prime opportunity to pull out any research, and coax some almost forgotten stories out of relatives.

Genealogists are always researching. Having had a tour of duty as a local history librarian, I've seen my share of dedicated, well-organized researchers. Most file away their information in spreadsheets or lightweight database programs. A few used programs specific to genealogical work, but I found they were few and far between, thanks to the high cost of applications that didn't necessarily offer more than a well organized spreadsheet.

I often wish I'd had the opportunity to show them GRAMPS, the open, cross platform, genealogical research software.

Last month, the open source community was buzzing over a report released by the Linux Foundation that placed the value of the Linux ecosystem at around $25 billion. Now that the dust has settled somewhat, we caught up with Amanda McPherson, the foundation's VP of marketing & developer programs, to get her thoughts on the study, what the results mean for the community, and what the take-away message ought to be.