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Upgrades in the world of commercial software are typically forced upon users, and often contain unpleasant surprises. Users of open-source languages, databases, operating systems, and applications can't be forced to upgrade, and there is no financial incentive for the developers to get everyone to use the same version.
We look at several popular open-source languages and tools, to understand just how upgrades and compatibility are ensured in a world of open options.
For many years, MySQL has been the best-known open-source relational database. Sun bought it and the company earlier this year, leading many to wonder what the business strategy would be. This week, the CEO of MySQL revealed part of that strategy -- the introduction of proprietary add-ons that will only be distributed to commercial customers.
Reaction in the open-source world has been quite negative. What does this shift mean for MySQL?
On Tuesday Microsoft released over 14,000 pages of documentation concerning Sharepoint Server 2007, Exchange 2007, and MS Outlook 2007 as well as the communications protocols used these products. The documentation was released on the company?s MSDN site as part of the openness pledge it made following the recent EU court judgment against the company.
The good news is that open source developers can use the published protocol information to develop clients that interact with Microsoft servers using the same feature sets available to Microsoft software clients. We may finally see open source email and calendaring applications that can natively integrate with corporate MS Exchange servers. Outlook?s stranglehold on the enterprise IT email client market may soon come to an end.
The leader of Britain's Conservative party gave a speech earlier today, in which he advocated the use of open source software in government programs -- to increase compeittion, lower costs, and adopt a modern, decentralized mindset. Is this the beginning of a trend in wealthy countries?
This year, April 1st was supposed to mark another serious day at Google, namely the deadline for student applications to the Summer of Code. But this turned out to be another joke of sorts; Google has extended the deadline to April 7th, giving students several more days to apply.
