Black Duck Software Chooses Top 10 Open Source Rookies of 2010
Black Duck Software, a Boston-based company which services managed and secure implementations of open source software, announced its top picks for Open Source Rookies of 2010. There were, of course, loads of projects to choose from that got their start during the last calendar year, so final choices were culled from Black Duck's Knowledge Base and it's directory of FOSS projects, Ohloh, according to specific metrics that measured project popularity based on things like number of developers involved, commit activity, and more.
Some of the up-and-coming projects are names that many will find familiar. The open source social networking platform Diaspora, and NASA-backed cloud computing platform OpenStack, for instance. The remaining projects, while maybe not as well known, are still definitely worth checking out.
RapidFTR - We've covered this wonderful humanitarian project in the past. RapidFTR helps emergency workers collect essential on-scene information about missing or found children such as age, family contact information, health status, and even a photograph. The data is automatically saved and added to a central database accessible by other crisis team workers to help reunite parents and children after large-scale disasters.
VoltDB - If you're looking for a fast and scalable alternative to NoSQL, here's a project you'll want to check out. The relational database supports SQL, and the ACID-compliant OLTP database has been benchmarked at over 3.4 million TPS, so it's clearly quite speedy. VoltDB also includes a number of features you'd expect in a project of its kind, like network fault protection, database snapshots for data recovery, and client connectors for Java, Python, PHP and other popular languages.
SparkleShare - Similar to Dropbox, this app allows users to easily share files, collaborate on documents, and sync to the Git repositories you use. As we mentioned in our coverage of this project, we particularly like SparkleShare's scalability. Since users host the app on their own servers, the number of files you manage or collaborators you assign to projects are limited only by the size of your disk drive.
ownCloud - Developed as part of KDE, ownCloud is a cross-platform open personal cloud you run on your own server. Access your cloud from all your devices, share data with others, and sync online or offline. ownCloud integrates with your desktop and even syncs your KDE desktop applications. Plugins for MediaPlayer, PhotoGallery, RSS Catcher and more extend ownCloud's functionality even more.
Many of the top projects Black Duck recognized last year focused on social networking and the Android mobile operating system. This year, however, 30% of the top 10 projects are related to the cloud or Service-as-a-Software. Check out the full list of top 10 projects on Black Duck's website to find out what other apps and services are worth keeping an eye on.
Image: Sam Churchill