OStatic

Red Hat, a titan among Linux software companies, is out with strong quarterly numbers along with some commentary from new chief executive Jim Whitehurst. The New York Times referred to the positive financial performance as a welcome present for Whitehurst, but I really see it as proof of the efficacy of Red Hat's open source business model: Deliver strong products and get revenues from support.

Red Hat's quarterly sales rose 27 percent and earnings were above analysts' conencus estimates. The company is forecasting growth of 30 percent for the fiscal year that it just begun. How is the company putting all this together, and can it stay independent?

Are negative U.S. socioeconomic factors working in favor of open source? Red Hat president/CEO Jim Whitehurst said at the Open Source Business Conference that overseas disdain for the U.S. is helping.....Likewise, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth said on a panel this week that the weakening U.S. economy is benefitting open source.....CNet has an interesting report on how CBS Interactive is aggressively adopting open source.....A survey from OpenLogic says open source developers are motivated by both money and altruism.....

Red Hat has made its security certificate system, originally obtained from AOL, open source.....

Bruce Perens, who is credited by many as coining the term open source, now wants to get onto the board of the body he founded, the Open Source Initiative.....

Joomla, an open source content management system, is starting to get more notice.....

Red Hat acquired Amentra last week. What does this say about open-source software, and the business models of the companies that are trying to capitalize on it?

One of the biggest questions that people often have about open-source software is, If I don't pay for this, then how do the developers make money? The standard answer to this question is that the developers can make money from consulting services. That is, the author of an open-source package can release the program for free, and then charge people to maintain and extend it.

Looking to start a wiki? Socialized Software has an interesting discussion of Deki Wiki, reported to be ultra-simple to use.....Attorneys at the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) have published an analysis of Microsoft's Open Specification Promise (see our story below), cautioning that it offers FOSS developers no real protection. See The Inquirer's take on it.....Web Worker Daily has a look at mind-mapping, brainstorming software, including good input from readers, and a look at the open source application FreeMind.