OStatic

Insoshi, released yesterday as an open-source framework for creating social networks, represents another step forward not just for open source software, but also for the commoditization of what used to be difficult-to-implement, proprietary technologies.

With Insoshi (and other frameworks, such as Lovd by Less), anyone can create a social network on his or her own server.

The $100 laptop project, otherwise known as OLPC, has faced a large number of setbacks since it was initially unveiled several years ago. The most recent such problem just occurred, when Walter Bender announced his resignation.

Did he leave because the project might abandon open source software? And what does this mean?

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?

If you want to search for a piece of text on the Web, you probably turn to Google or a similar search engine. But how can you integrate search into your Web site?

Lucene is a high-quality Apache-sponsored engine for indexing and searching documents. While that would be enough for most people, a host of add-ons and complementary open source products make Lucene an even better choice when looking for a search engine.

The Apache Sofware Foundation's 2008 conference in Europe is taking place this week, with formal sessions starting today. In the coming days, I'll describe several ASF-sponsored projects that are interesting and useful, which offer useful functionality and a general promise of quality.

What does the ASF do, and what sorts of programs are discussed at the conference?

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?

Many open source projects are switching from CVS and Subversion to newer, distributed version-control systems. One of those is Git, written by none other than Linus Torvalds, originally for use on the Linux kernel. Git is becoming increasingly popular for use on other projects, as well. Why?