OStatic

In June, Cisco announced the ten finalists in its Think Inside the Box developer competition. The global contest centered on the network as a platform philosophy, and asked applicants to develop applications using Cisco's Linux-based AXP (Application Extension Platform), a module on its ISR (Integrated Services Routers).

The contest drew nearly 900 hopeful development teams from 75 countries. After many long hours of deliberation, the 110 qualifying teams were whittled down to 10 finalists.

OStatic has been fortunate enough to talk to a few of these finalist teams -- including Toshiyuki Sakata, from Team CampUser. CampUser, based in Brazil, developed its Locker for IP Telephony application to help network administrators maximize their organization's operational efficiency and billing policy administration through call authorization profiles and call management processing.

Last week, we covered the news of a new $6 million round of venture capital funding for Boxee which is behind the very popular Boxee open source media center application. Open source applications for managing videos, music, television content, movies and the like have been maturing, and the VC community is definitely waking up to Boxee's potential. The company's latest round of funding was led by Boston-based General Catalyst with participation by prior investors Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. Now VideoNuze has a very interesting interview with Boxee investors Bijan Sabet and Neil Sequeira.?

I've discovered that open source software is bursting at the seams with dedicated and innovative people. On the one hand, it's wonderful to be working with so many who fit this description -- on the other hand, it's sometimes hard to follow and zero in on open source endeavors that deserve a shout out, simply because so many do.

This is why I was thrilled when I heard about The Linux Box. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, The Linux Box offers a variety of open source software services. But there are a few things that set The Linux Box apart -- and are decidedly positive signs for open source software's future.

The Linux Box, established ten years ago, has seen its staff grow 12% over the past year, and, given the current demand, believes it could increase to 25% in the coming year. There's also a unique approach to giving back at The Linux Box. Not only are staff developers given time to contribute to open source projects, customers requesting customized code are encouraged to give these modifications back to the projects. It's no wonder I jumped at the chance to talk to Elizabeth Ziph, CEO and co-founder of The Linux Box.

As news and analysis about the future of MySQL under Oracle made the rounds this week, the annual MySQL Conference and Expo also took place in Silicon Valley. New versions of MySQL arrived and were announced, and we asked Karen Tegan Padir, Sun's VP of MySQL and Software Infrastructure, several questions about where MySQL and open source are headed. While Oracle's plans may be different from Sun's, and the acquisition wasn't up for discussion, Karen shed some light on what's important in the new versions, and how Sun wants to keep MySQL's direction simple.

Launched in 2005, Alfresco Software provides a leading open source enterprise content management (ECM) system, known for its modularity and scalability. The company was founded by John Newton, co-founder of document management company Documentum, and John Powell, who was the former COO of Business Objects. Alfresco has achieved remarkable growth as a commercial open source firm, has many partners, employs roughly 110 people, and is a member of the Open Source Channel Alliance. John Newton, CTO, Chairman and Co-Founder of Alfresco, was kind enough to take some questions from us on Alfresco's software, its strategy? as a commercial open source company, and the state and future of open source. Here are his thoughts, below the fold.

This week I had a unique opportunity to talk with Ubuntu's community manager, Jono Bacon. As community manager, Bacon is the Ubuntu community's connection to Canonical, responsible for encouraging and supporting growth and harmony in the community.

This is no small feat, considering the recent rapid growth and adoption rates of Linux in general -- and Ubuntu in particular. Bacon shares a bit about the subtle (and not-so-subtle) nuances of managing and maintaining a healthy community -- from planning and assessing its growth, to encouraging (and appreciating) members who participate to the best of their abilities.

Everyone here at OStatic is very honored to be recognized by PC Magazine (now exclusively on the web as PCMag.com) as one of its editors' choices of Top 100 Blogs in its annual roundup. Our sister blogs WebWorkerDaily and NewTeeVee were also named, and congratulations to their excellent editorial teams. Blogs depend more heavily on participation from the reader community than many other kinds of publishing entities, and we want to extend our most sincere thanks to the readers of OStatic for reading, participating, and even correcting us when needed. OStatic will deliver several new and exciting kinds of editorial content in 2009. Please stay tuned! PC Magazine's writeup follows, below the fold.

The end of the year is a self-indulgent time, when those who write about technology stop making lists of the best, worst, and most mind-numbingly mediocre applications they find and pause to make lists about tech trends in the upcoming year.

Assessing the past is easy: it has been an interesting year for open source software. Predictions that come to pass, unless suitably vague, just fall into the lucky guess category. The one prediction I am sure of for 2009: Open source software will hold its own when it comes to growth and adoption.

My other predictions? What do you think?

Hello, and welcome to OStatic, where we are ecstatic about open source! I'm Sam Dean, and I'm the editor of the OStatic blog. We are very glad you're here.

OStatic's mission is to be the most comprehensive web destination for information and insight on open source software and services. This blog features a team of writers who have been using and writing about open source tools for years. You'll find them to be especially good at guiding you to the very best applications.