[open-source] Forum Topics

In a report on enterprise open source usage released this week, Gartner research director Laurie Wurster stated in rather strong language that companies could face a big intellectual property issue because they are using the software without understanding the IP implications of the licensing language. But is she exaggerating the …

If you've been clinging to the interoffice email and calendaring capabilities of Microsoft Exchange as your company's last vestige of proprietary software, it's really time to consider giving up the ghost. Open source collaboration software vendor [URL="http://www.open-xchange.com/"]Open-Xchange, Inc.[/URL] announced recently it now offers its flagship product, Open-Xchange, as an [URL="http://www.open-xchange.com/en/products/open-xchange-appliance-edition-en"]appliance …

There's plenty of speculation that the current state of the economy will [URL="http://ostatic.com/158388-blog/recession-a-boon-for-open-sourcess"]greatly benefit open source technology[/URL], and you know an idea is taking root when mainstream IT conferences include presentations about implementing FOSS solutions in enterprise. Desmond Atkinson, with UK-based capacity planning firm [URL="http://www.metron.co.uk/"]Metron Technology Limited[/URL], plans to lead …

Microsoft announced a new program the other day called [URL="http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BIZSPARK/Pages/At_a_Glance.aspx"] Microsoft BizSpark[/URL], where they give away a boat load of software and services to young startups and presumably lock them into Microsoft long-term. For a small start-up with little capital, this has to be a very attractive offer. Microsoft not …

If the state of the economy has got you down and you're ready to stop throwing money at commercial software vendors, you might be overwhelmed at the amount of open source options that exist. Buck up, IT soldier, here are three applications that let you dip your toes in the …

With no end in sight to the economic malaise and a good chance that this could be lasting a while, it's time to find ways to cut your IT budget. Just today OpenOffice.org announced that [URL="http://www.openoffice.org/"]the Release Version of OpenOffice 3.0[/URL] is available on its web site, and it's proving …

[I]You can't go back and you can't stand still If the thunder don't get you then the lightning will ~The Grateful Dead. [/I] Gloomy economic reports continue to pervade our daily news. It has me wondering if the problems on Wall Street will eventually trickle down to the tech sector …

The November election brings with it the promise of changes, new beginnings, and hope for those who've endured the past 8 years with less than an enthusiastic attitude. The choice of President and Vice President means far less to most of us than the people they choose for Cabinet positions. …

Not only do the French have a different word for everything, they also have a strong Open Source leadership position. The French have done much to foster the growth and acceptance of Open Source software--especially Linux. The [URL="http://www.mandriva.com"]Mandriva Linux [/URL]distribution was born and raised in France (now in its 10th …

For the past couple of years I volunteered at my son's elementary school to set up blogs for his classroom, but the projects never got off the ground. Nervous school IT staff unable to find a platform that offered them the privacy and control they wanted, and knew parents would …

There's an old and tired theory that open source solutions in enterprise are risky because there's no "single throat to choke" if things go wrong. It's time to retire that worn out idea. The process goes something like this: The IT department gets into a discussion with the big bosses …

Microsoft products have always presented a paradox for organizations. On one hand they seem to be universally derided. On the other, they remain the corporate standard. Open source, SaaS/online and other alternatives have had a hard time gaining widespread traction in large organizations. That's partly because companies would likely rather …

It’s a new day for open source developers. A U.S. Federal appeals court yesterday ruled that someone releasing code under an open source license can control future use of that code using copyright law. That’s important because copyright laws carry stronger remedies—including court injunction—along with the monetary remedies available for …

According to ChannelWeb a federal judge sitting in the US Court of Appeals has ruled that open source software licenses are [URL="http://www.crn.com/software/210004167"]legal under copyright law[/URL]. This is a complete u-turn on a previous ruling which had thrown the not so small matter of open source licensing into something of a …

Community journalism encourages members of the community to participate in the news process, not just as passive readers, but as active producers of the news itself. This direct connection to the product is similar in many ways to the kind of community building that goes on in open source development. …

Hell has either frozen over or there was a very cold day in July when [URL="http://port25.technet.com/"]Microsoft[/URL] announced at OSCON that they are now giving money to The [URL="http://www.apache.org"]Apache Software Foundation [/URL](ASF). Microsoft joined rivals Yahoo and Google as Platinum Sponsors of the ASF. This money will help pay administrators and …

Alfresco released [URL="http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Alfresco_Labs_3"]Alfresco Labs (Beta) 3[/URL] today and with it announced a new capability that enables businesses to leverage Microsoft Sharepoint functionality without buying additional Sharepoint licenses. Sound too good to be true? It’s not, and what has allowed Alfresco to do this is the 2004 EU Commission order for …

Code search company [URL=http://www.krugle.com/]Krugle[/URL] on July 8 will begin shipping Krugle Enterprise 2.3, an update to its code repository appliance that it claims now allows more fine-tuned searching, increased storage and search capacity and the ability to search using custom data fields. Krugle positions its enterprise search appliance as a …

Welcome back to another Crystal Ball Sunday. Those of you who celebrate freedom on July 4 hopefully have had a safe and enjoyable holiday. Freedom comes in packages of all shapes and sizes and this week's Crystal Ball Sunday is about freedom in small packages: Embedded Devices. Embedded device refers …

Last week [URL="http://www.adobe.com"]Adobe[/URL] surprised a few people—well, at least it surprised me--with the announcement that it was including [URL="http://www.alfresco.com/"]Alfresco[/URL] content management services as part of its LiveCycle Enterprise Suite Update 1 package. The surprise was two-fold, that Adobe felt it was necessary to add content management services at all and …

Those clever boffins at the University of Bath, England have managed to develop a machine called [URL="http://dev.www.reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome"]RepRap[/URL] which can, effectively, replicate itself. The boffins themselves describe it as being a 3D printer which can print, or rather produce, real mechanical parts. Perhaps most interesting is the claim that RepRap can …

A year ago last week, Facebook released the Facebook Platform, enabling users of the social network to create their own applications. Today, 400,000 developers and 24,000 applications later, the company introduced the [URL= http://developers.facebook.com/fbopen/] Facebook Open Platform[/URL], which releases much of the Facebook Platform source code to the development community. …

Here’s a new twist on the open source craze. Fabless chip and system designer Via Technologies has released to the community OpenBook, a reference design for a low cost ultra portable laptop that runs Windows or Linux at up to 1.2 GHz and includes WiFi, BlueTooth and high-res 3D graphics …

VIA Technologies, Inc., maker of innovative and power-efficient processor platforms, announced today that they have released an open source laptop design to the public. Formally known as the VIA OpenBook Mini-Note Reference Design, VIA is responding to global demand for ultra-portable notebook computers. The VIA OpenBook is based on the …

Yet another victory in the open source vs. all takers (well, one taker for sure) battle for world dominance--London's Oyster system is now Linux-powered. Oyster is a RFID (Radio frequency identification) card recognition and payment system for London's Tube (Subway) and bus network. The old system needed a serious upgrade …

Microsoft has launched a new add-in, designed specifically to simplify the process of creating content that is accessible for visually impaired and what it refers to as 'print disabled' individuals. The new [URL="http://www.openxmlcommunity.org/daisy"]Save as DAISY XML[/URL] add-in is open source, being developed in conjunction with the [URL="http://www.daisy.org"]Digital Accessible Information System …

Sun Microsystems on Monday was giving away packaged copies of [OpenSolaris](http://opensolaris.org/index.html) in an effort to seed the development community with a Linux alternative and boost the number of available applications for the platform. The news came at [CommunityOne](http://developers.sun.com/events/communityone/), Sun’s free developer conference collocated with JavaOne this week at the Moscone …

Yesterday Sun Microsystems officially released OpenSolaris and suggested that it's going to go head-to-head with Linux as a Desktop Operating System. Solarisx86 is nothing new and has been around about as long as Linux but it is historically proprietary and closed source. It was also very hardware-finicky and performance was …

Whenever I see a press release that includes words such as monetize, world's largest and unique position I have to admit I get a sudden urge to reach for the delete key. However, on this occasion I decided to read on simple because it came from the direction of SourceForge.net …

The new version of the [URL="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html"]GNU Affero General Public License[/URL] has been published by the Free Software Foundation, based upon the existing GNU GPLv3 license but with one important difference: support for on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. By publishing this license, the FSF aims to foster user and development communities around …