Can Google build open source communities
Image via Wikipedia
While the Googlers want to talk today about improvements to GMail for mobile, there remains a serious concern for you to discuss this weekend.
Is Google really good at being part of an open source community?
There are three types of mobile source projects:
1. One-company projects. 2. Multiple-company projects. [...]
The Making Of Open Source: Checking In On The Symbian ‘Movement’
Image via CrunchBase
Last week, I spent a lot of time with the folks from Symbian, the mobile operating system that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) paid $410 million for, only to turn around and donate the assets to an open-source foundation. What I wanted to know was how the employees—who were once programmed to make profits and [...]
The open source sea change and the Taylor graph
To the right is an interesting, if controversial, graph offered today by Charles Taylor of Sirius Corp. and ZDNet UK.
It is meant to illustrate the costs of “upgrading” from a proprietary to a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) solution in your IT shop.
The open source sea change and the Taylor graph | Open [...]
OpenMoko Ending Open Source Smartphone
Image by phauly via Flickr
OpenMoko said it will not be making successors to its open source Neo FreeRunner smartphone.
Speaking at a conference in Switzerland, OpenMoko CEO Sean Moss-Pultz said the company will discontinue development on the next iteration of its Linux-based smartphone, as the FreeRunner only sold about 10,000 units. The company will focus [...]
The true cost of migrating to open source
I was hugely entertained by the latest piece of Microsoft spin: apparently the recession is putting a dampener on migrations to open source. Of course, the suggestion is nonsense. In fact, my daily experience flatly contradicts Microsoft’s assertion, but then its marketing is not aimed at me. It is trained on those still inside the [...]
10 ways Microsoft could help Linux
I confess, I never thought I would write such a title. Microsoft helping Linux? No way. I was always of the mind that Microsoft and Linux would forever be mortal enemies and one, hopefully Linux, would rise above the other in absolute world domination.
Well, that hasn’t happened. In fact it seems as if the two [...]
The future of open source: A new age of choice–and complexity
Image via CrunchBase
rPath founder and CTO Erik Troan recently discussed the future of open source as part of a series of Ostatic contributions written by select participants in this week’s Open Source Business Conference (OSBC). In his commentary, Erik argues, convincingly, that the future of open source belongs to the developer community–but with an emphasis [...]
Forrester: Lots of room for open-source growth
Recent survey data compiled by Forrester Consulting on behalf of information systems specialist Bull suggests that we’re at the front end of a long cycle of open-source infrastructure and application adoption.
That’s right. Despite Gartner finding that 85 percent of enterprises have already adopted open source and Forrester Research’s consulting arm finding that 45 percent of [...]
Why Does Microsoft Pretend To Be Open Source-Friendly?
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We’re going old school — like, long-before-your-editor-was-born school — to set the mood for this one. Microsoft’s been talking open source again, which usually leads to anger in the open source community, double-talk from Redmond and confusion for the rest of us.
Not long ago, Microsoft dropped a white paper on how great a [...]
Microsoft’s latest open-source release catches a wrinkle
Microsoft has published its .NET architectural pattern under an OSI-approved open-source license to a mixed reception.
The company’s ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC), released at Mix 09 just last month, has been published under the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL).
Microsoft’s latest open-source release catches a wrinkle • The Register