OStatic

Even though the economy is rough all over, this really is one of the best times to be working in an open source company. There are advantages for those running the business, and for those using its services. Perhaps the only better arrangement would be along the lines of what Likewise Software has put together -- an open source company developing and offering support services for software that integrates and secures mixed network environments.

There are a lot of mixed networks out in the wild, of course. This is why Likewise has successfully secured a $10 million Series C round of funding, which the company plans to use to pursue growth in new markets and fund the development of its product line.

It's been a busy couple of months for open source network and systems management software vendor GroundWork. A couple of weeks ago, the company rolled out a whole slew of updates in GroundWork Monitor 5.3, and today its announcing new company officers at the helm and a fresh round of funding from investors.

Ars Technica brings the good news that the AbiWord project has received funding from the NLnet Foundation to further a number of the project's efforts on the OpenDocument front.

One of the areas receiving special support is the newly formed AbiSource Corporation, which cites improving AbiWord's collaborative tools as one of its driving forces. NLnet will also work with the AbiWord team to improve the application's support for the OpenDocument standard in other areas, including its import/export filters.

The Mozilla Foundation's Mitchell Baker reported yesterday that Mozilla's revenues were up approximately 12% in 2007 over 2006. She also mentions a few matters that are worrisome. Though eWeek's Joe Wilcox's predictions of Firefox's demise are premature and without a doubt require a sizeable grain of salt, he makes a good point concerning revenues coming from Google versus Google's commitment to the Chrome browser.

With the economy as volatile as it has been, there has been a good deal of speculation (both positive and downright pessimistic) about how open source companies will negotiate the ups and downs to come.

Today, Open-Xchange must be feeling quite optimistic, as it announced it's just closed a round of venture funding totaling $9 million and has four times the number of paid mailboxes now than it did last year. The company is focusing on a decidedly rosy looking future.

The 451 Group is out with a new report on venture capital funding for open source, and the news is rosy. The first quarter of this year brought more venture capital funding for open source than ever before, totaling $203.75 million, up from $100.4 million in the same quarter for 2007. The beneficiaries included well-known players such as Automattic and SugarCRM. There was more than a double for year-over-year fudning growth, although the news immediately follows a plunge in VC funding for open source that arrived in the fourth quarter of last year. The report also includes some good analysis of how VC funds are flowing to the open source community.