OStatic

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when Twitter-based reminder service I Want Sandy went offline earlier this month. While many people search for a replacement service, some users have stepped up to the plate and are working on putting an open source version together.

Penguins are everywhere in the open source community. Linux users display them as avatars, software vendors incorporate them into logos, and live ones even turn up at industry events. Open source collaboration software vendor MindTouch has come up with a way to recognize people's love for the adorable feathered fowl and do something to help protect its population along the way.

Every MindTouch Deki Open Source user that upgrades to either Commercial version (Standard or Enterprise) will have a donation made on their behalf to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to save an endangered emperor penguin.

Developers of Trillr, a microblogging project similar to Twitter, announced this week that its source code is now available to anyone who wants it. The idea for Trillr was conceived in 2007 as a peer group experiment among team members who wanted to learn more about Python and Django, and was created as an enterprise tool with enhanced features like group discussion and a user directory.

Trillr project member Stefan Aust admits the code base is kind of crappy as it stands now, but that's to be expected since it was part of a learning process. He says that, looking back, he would have done some things differently but notes, perfect source code does not create communities. Our source code can.

Novell's Senior Vice President and Chief Market Officer, John Dragoon announced today that it has cancelled its annual conference, BrainShare, after more than 20 years. In an open email to Novell's customers and partners, Dragoon says the move is in response to industry-wide budget tightening and a generally sluggish economy.

According to a poll conducted by software security company Palamida, most businesses expect their IT budget to drop in the coming months but less than half plan to use open source software to fill in the gaps. At first glance, that seems like some pretty lousy news and also appears to fly in the face of what we've heard before. Before we panic, let's take a closer look at what these survey results mean.

Proving the old adage if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, Microsoft has hired another open source expert whose primary responsibility will be to work on consumer, enterprise and government identity problems. Dick Hardt, founder and CEO of Sxipper, Inc., will stay on as Chair of the identity management company, and take on the title of Partner Architect at Microsoft.

Talk about a company making lemonade out of the economy's lemons. There's a lot of talk about how the sluggish economy is a boon to the adoption of open source in enterprise, but enthusiastic IT managers are often met with resistance from business owners who don't understand what open source technology is all about, or how to use it.

OpenLogic has put together a series of training services that will help companies learn the ins and outs of using open source software. There are 4 different training options to choose from, ranging from days-long workshops to shorter sessions that last only a few hours. OpenLogic even offers a mentoring program for companies that need specific types of knowledge transfer. Training is typically done on-site, however some programs can be conducted as online tutorials.

If you're involved in healthcare IT and also have a fondness for open source, there's a newly formed group at LinkedIn that you may want to know about. The OpenVista Health Information Technology (HIT) group is looking for healthcare professionals who use the popular electronic medical record system and want to swap implementation and deployment ideas.

Stories of a struggling U.S. economy are on everyone's lips these days but some open source companies are doing what they can to help combat the pain. One vendor has decided to forgo a lavish holiday party this year and donate money to a local charity instead, while another is collecting canned food for the needy.

Ubuntu has once again opened up a call for submissions to anyone interested in being a part of the Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase. If you're a musician, artist, photographer, or all-around creative genius and would like to enter your work in the current competition, you've got until February 9, 2009 to submit something to the judges.