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The term open source was supposed to remove confusion, and was deliberately chosen to emphasize what the software is, rather than what it isn't. The good news is that when the term open source was coined, just 10 years ago, the world was ready to listen, and incorporated this term into its vocabulary. The bad news is that the open source world is now so diverse, with so many licenses and commercial interests involved, that it is often hard to know whether a program is truly available on an open source basis without reading the fine print.
The situation at One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), the organization behind the $100 laptop, looks like it's going from bad to worse. As we've reported before, key personnel have recently walked out on the project.
At the center of the conflict appears to be the issue of how deep the laptop's open source roots should be.
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.
InfoWorld's survey of IT professionals indicates that open-source usage will continue to grow in the coming years. Why, and what does this mean for open-source developers?
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.
