OStatic

There are a number of full featured open source content management systems out there. Content management systems (CMS) are used increasingly in lieu of more traditionally managed web pages, on various sites with diverse audiences and very different goals. They can be updated quickly, easily, and require very little (if any) knowledge of how the inner plumbing works.

There are, of course, proprietary CMS platforms. Many -- from individuals to businesses -- opt for open source alternatives. Cost is naturally a factor, but having used both closed and open CMS platforms, it's been my experience that the open alternatives offer better features, an increased ability to modify and customize easily, and behave with more consistency in different browsers than most of their closed counterparts.

Finding the right open CMS for your needs is the hardest part. But there are a few considerations and rules of thumb that can make this decision a little easier.

Alan Cox, long-time kernel developer at Red Hat, announced last week that he would be leaving Red Hat in January for Intel, where he can concentrate more on areas of low-level development.

As you'd imagine from such a statement, this doesn't end Cox's involvement with the Linux kernel or open source development.

If you were unable to attend (or follow along with) the events at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, the highlights and more controversial proposals are now being discussed in the wider community.

One proposal for Ubuntu's Jaunty release was to unify notification display and interaction between GNOME and KDE. It's an idea that's been met with nearly every reaction imaginable, but Mark Shuttleworth has a very reassuring post on his blog that explains some of the reasoning behind this proposal.

Stefano Maffulli, the community manager at Funambol's repository/forge portal recently announced the latest Code Sniper challenge.

The Code Sniper Program offers bounties (yes, real bounties, in the form of cash awards) for client and connector code submitted by community members. The chosen application and code is opened and given back to the community. There are a number of projects on the hit list, and the latest target was named yesterday.

Yesterday the GNOME Foundation announced that Sugar Labs is coming onboard as part of GNOME's Advisory Board. Sugar Labs will be represented on the board by executive director Walter Bender.

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?

A few corporations have ventured into the uncharted territory of user submitted ads and promotions -- GM gave it a try a few years back, and Microsoft recently encouraged users to submit videos based on its I'm a PC campaign. There is an inherent danger to this advertising approach, of course, but the Linux Foundation is confident that its I'm Linux contest promotion has a major advantage due to the operating system's focus on community and collaboration.

On Thursday, the Linux Foundation announced it had appointed Ted Ts'o as Chief Technology Officer. In this position, Ts'o will lead all of the Foundation's technical initiatives, and be the technical point of contact for Linux Foundation members and its Technical Advisory Board.

What is it about the holiday season? It throws a spotlight on the best -- and worst -- aspects of human nature. It holds true in the open source world. NextStep, a hardware recycling and refurbishing organization in Eugene, Oregon, was burglarized earlier this week. Hardest hit was the organization's Ubuntu Laptop Program. NextStep provides computers, technology and job skills training to Lane County Oregon's under-served residents, and its Ubuntu Laptop Program is a major source of funding for these endeavors.

That's the bad news. The good news is that helping NextStep might be as easy as looking through that box of hardware you've got in your office.

In early October, Lisa wrote about open source mobile push and sync provider Funambol, and its decision to try supporting its services with ad revenue. Lisa felt (and OStatic commenters seemed to agree) that as long as the service was good, and the ads weren't intrusive, it wasn't a bad trade.

Today, Funambol released the results of its user survey regarding its ad funded mobile email service. The survey results echo some of the comments here -- ads that are non-intrusive, relevant, and respect user privacy are acceptable when subsidizing the cost of useful, free applications. It seems targeted ads, paired with the right services, could prove to be a solid market model.