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Category Archives: Open Source
IBM to donate Symphony code to Apache for consideration
Six weeks ago I noted here that Oracle had to decided to offer the codebase for OpenOffice.org, the open source word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet software suite to the Apache Software Foundation. Two weeks after that, Apache voted to accept … Continue reading
ApacheCon North America 2011 theme announced
I just received this news from the folks at the Apache Software Foundation: The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of nearly 170 Open Source projects and initiatives, today announced “Open Source Enterprise Solutions, Cloud Computing, … Continue reading
New GNOME Executive Director
The Gnome Foundation announced a new Executive Director today: The GNOME Foundation today announced that it has appointed Karen Sandler as Executive Director. Sandler’s dedication to software freedom, her non-profits experience and her involvement in a wide range of free … Continue reading
Some remarks on OpenOffice going to Apache
Earlier today, Oracle announced that they would be donating source code for OpenOffice to the Apache Software Foundation to start a new incubator project. It’s been an interesting road to get to this point over the decades, with well and … Continue reading
Video of my POSSCON keynote is now available
The organizers of the Palmetto Open Source Conference (POSSCON) that as held this year in Columbia, SC, in March, have posted videos of my keynote on YouTube. The talk was called “Landmines for Open Source in the Mobile Space”: Part … Continue reading
My NASA presentation: “Open Source Governance for your Organization”
Today I’m giving a presentation at the NASA Open Source Summit at the NASA Ames Conference Center in Mountain View, CA. The talk is called “Open Source Governance for your Organization” and is based on my experience within IBM in … Continue reading
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Open source communities: trust vs. control
It can’t be overstated just how important the notion of “community” is to the entire open source process. If I’m an individual and I want to open source some code and start a project, I suppose I could always do … Continue reading
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POSSCON: My talk has a name and is scheduled
As I previously announced, I’ll be speaking at POSSCON 2011 in Columbia, South Carolina on March 23. I’ll be on the panel “The Future of Open Source” from 10 to 10:45 am and then I’ll be giving the talk “Landmines … Continue reading
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POSSCON 2011 – I’m speaking
I’m slated to speak this year at POSSCON 2011, the Palmetto Open Source Software Conference in Columbia, South Carolina, from March 23 to March 25. From the conference website: The Palmetto Open Source Software Conference brings a world-class lineup of … Continue reading
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GNOME Foundation is searching for a new Executive Director
I’m on the search committee for the next Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation, and this is a reminder that applications are still being accepted. The announcement details what the Foundation is looking for: The Gnome Foundation is currently recruiting … Continue reading
Read this: ‘Open Source community building: a guide to getting it right’
Normally I just post links to interesting news or articles on the web, but this piece deserves special attention. Dave Neary has written an article called ‘Open Source community building: a guide to getting it right’ that talks about open … Continue reading
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Mostly obvious predictions for open source in 2011, or are they?
I’ve been reading many of the lists of predictions for free and open source software in 2011. Most of them are pretty obvious: many of the things that were significant in 2010 will continue to be so in 2011. The … Continue reading
Open innovation: some initial thoughts
The software industry is a great place to look for models of open innovation, but be warned that the basic definition of ‘open’ can vary, and you need to give so you can get. Every once in a while I … Continue reading
Open source news slowing down?
I just did a tweet saying that I thought the number of news stories about open source seems to have slowed down quite a bit in the last month or so, outside of the major projects and companies. Indeed, the … Continue reading
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Being more explicit about “open cloud computing”
I just had a chance to read David Linthicum’s article in InfoWorld called “What does ‘open’ really mean in cloud computing?”. In the piece, David argues that open needs to be more than a marketing term. I agree. See for … Continue reading
ApacheCon keynote preview
I don’t give my ApacheCon keynote for 24 hours, but here are a few bullets I’ll address in my presentation: For any programming language I mention that does something, there will be 10 that do something similar that I won’t … Continue reading
Updated open source presentation
Last spring I gave a talk at OSBC called “Asking the Hard Questions About Open Source Software.” Since that time I’ve given the talk several times to customers and partners, have added some more material about IBM’s use of open … Continue reading
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IBM joins the OpenJDK community, will help unify open source Java efforts
When people talk about open source, the notion of “forking” often comes up. The idea is that some folks are not happy with the direction in which a project is going, so they take a copy of the source code, … Continue reading
Keynote at ApacheCon 2010
The Apache Software Foundation has announced the keynote lineup for their ApacheCon 2010 conference: ApacheCon, the official conference, trainings, expo, hackathon, barcamp and meetups of The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), today announced the keynote presenters and sponsors for ApacheCon North … Continue reading
ApacheCon North America 2010
Registration is now open for ApacheCon North America 2010, the annual conference of the Apache Software Foundation. The conference will be held from November 1 to 5 at the Westin Peachtree in Atlanta, Georgia. This and other conferences are listed … Continue reading
OSI Days 2010, Open Source India
Title: OSI Days 2010, Open Source IndiaLocation: Chennai Trade Center, Chennai, IndiaLink out: Click hereStart Date: 2010-09-19End Date: 2010-09-21
10 things traditional software customers want to know about open source
What questions come up most frequently when I engage with customers about open source? The answers should be important to you whether you produce or use traditional or open source software. I talk to many customers who have installed what … Continue reading
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Installing (and reinstalling) Linux on your desktop
Yesterday I set up a laptop with a Linux distribution, including everything I needed for work. Today, I’m doing it again. My reason for repeating the process had nothing to do with Linux. I decided to do something to the … Continue reading
10 ideas about integrating open source into your IT infrastructure
At the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) this year I did a presentation called “Asking the hard questions about open source software.” I’ve been expanding on some of the areas I mentioned and have previously posted the blog entries “10 … Continue reading
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10 considerations for maintaining open source in your organization
At the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) this year I did a presentation called “Asking the hard questions about open source software.” Last week I expanded on one of the areas and discussed it in the blog entry “10 elements … Continue reading
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10 elements of open source governance in your organization
At the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) this year I did a presentation called “Asking the hard questions about open source software.” One of the areas I touched upon was open source governance: Do you have proper legal controls and … Continue reading
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Life with Linux: Notes on installing Ubuntu 10.4 LTS
Last night and this morning I installed the latest Ubuntu Linux desktop, version 10.4 LTS Lucid Lynx. LTS stands for “long term support,” though I usually update to new versions when they come out every six months. This was on … Continue reading
Appliances and Linux
A couple of days ago I posted a link to a video I made with Novell‘s Tom Crabb about appliances and the role of Linux in them. Here are a few additional comments. In your kitchen you have special appliances … Continue reading
My latest video: Novell, appliances, SUSE, microwaves, Linux
While I was at Novell‘s BrainShare conference last month in Salt Lake City, I sat down with Tom Crabb, Novell’s Enablement Manager and recorded a video. The topic was IT appliances, specifically virtual software appliances. You can see it here … Continue reading
Interview with IBM’s head Linux honcho Dan Frye at Linux.com
Ahead of the Linux Foundation’s Collaboration Summit, Linux.com’s Jennifer Cloer has posted an interview with Dan Frye, IBM’s vice president of Open Systems Development. Here’s a snapshot: You will be talking about 10+ years of Linux at IBM. What has … Continue reading
On highly customizing that open source code
Several weeks ago at OSBC I posed a serious of “hard questions” about open source software. They weren’t meant to demean it, of course, but were really to say that software for the enterprise needs to be held to very … Continue reading
What’s a geeko? Build your own
Ok, this one is just for fun. I was looking for a green Novell gecko earlier today and came across their “Geeko Builder” website. Here’s what I came up with in about two minutes:
“Linux as a Catalyst for a Smarter Planet” at Novell BrainShare
On Tuesday morning, March 23, at 10:30 in Salt Lake City, Jean Staten Healy and I will be presenting a talk called “Linux as a Catalyst for a Smarter Planet” at Novell’s BrainShare conference. The talk is coded as SPR201 … Continue reading
Hard questions about open source software
Several days ago I posted the slides I used at the Open Source Business Conference in PDF form and also provided the SlideShare version. For those who want to see the contents of the slides directly, I’ve included most of … Continue reading
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My OSBC 2010 keynote, with slides
This morning I gave a keynote called “Asking the Hard Questions about Open Source Software” at the OSBC 2010 conference in San Francisco. Here’s the abstract: Businesses have had decades of experience in acquiring software directly, on hardware, in services … Continue reading
Thinking about “Asking the Hard Questions about Open Source Software”
I’m sitting in the airport waiting for the first of two flights that will take me out to OSBC, the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco. It will be a very quick trip and I’ll only be at the … Continue reading
Webcast: “Cloud Computing Made Easy with IBM and Linux”
Judith Hurwitz, Adam Jollans, and I are hosting a webcast on Wednesday, March 17, at 12 noon ET called “Cloud Computing Made Easy with IBM and Linux.” From the description: If you are implementing cloud computing, or considering clouds but … Continue reading
The 6th International Conference on Open Source Systems, May 30 to June 2
OSS 2010, the 6th International Conference on Open Source Systems, will take place on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, USA, from May 30 to June 2. From the conference website: Over the past decade, … Continue reading
Thinking about open source: There are three types of software …
Most of these kinds of discussions that say that there are two kinds of people or ten best ways of doing something are extremely subjective and involve gross simplifications. I plead guilty here but want to make a few points about … Continue reading
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“The Future of FOSS: A Report from a Strategic Planning Session”
This just popped up and since it is tomorrow and will happen before my Daily Links are published, I though I would note it now. It’s for a webinar on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, at 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM … Continue reading
GoOpen conference – Oslo, April 19 and 20
The GoOpen conference will take place in Oslo, Norway, on April 19 and 20 this year. From the website: GoOpen is a two-day event located in Oslo, organized by the Norwegian Open Source Competence Center, founded by the government. We … Continue reading
Virtual Life with Linux: Free textures
As a complement to my Life with Linux blog series, I’m introducing another series which explores what I can do in virtual worlds and immersive Internet environments on Linux. In the previous installment in this series, I discussed setting up … Continue reading
Virtual Life with Linux: Standalone OpenSim on Ubuntu 9.10
As a complement to my Life with Linux blog series, I’m introducing another series which explores what I can do in virtual worlds and immersive Internet environments on Linux. Last night I decided to play with OpenSim, aka OpenSimulator, which … Continue reading
Life with Linux: Adding a Mac-like dock
One of the nice things about using a Mac is the dock, the area on the bottom of the screen that contains the Finder (file and directory lister) and other applications you use. It’s very customizable and you can add … Continue reading
Linux Foundation Announces 2010 “We’re Linux” Video Contest
After the great success of last year’s video contest, the Linux Foundation has announced this year’s competition: SAN FRANCISCO, February 5, 2010 – The Linux Foundation (LF), the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced the … Continue reading
FutureWeb 2010 conference, April 28-30, 2010
This year’s FutureWeb conference will take place in Raleigh, NC, from April 28 to 30. I’m scheduled to be on a panel called “The Future of Open Source and the Web” organized by Tom Rabon and Michael Tiemann of Red … Continue reading
My OSBC 2010 keynote
I’ll be giving a keynote in March at the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC). The conference is on March 17 and 18 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Here’s the title and abstract for my talk: Title: Asking the … Continue reading
Life with Linux: Connecting two machines with a USB KVM switch
This weekend I put together a new machine for my home office to complement the iMac on my desktop. Since I didn’t want to fill up the desk with another mouse and keyboard, I decided to get a USB KVM … Continue reading
Open source game engines for Linux
My recent post about Linux and video games has gotten quite a few hits, so while I was on a three hour flight today I thought it would useful to later put together a list of free and open source … Continue reading
Will video games make desktop Linux into a killer consumer platform?
I had an interesting email exchange over the weekend with a reader of this blog who was wondering if video game producers targeted desktop Linux as platform then would this significantly increase adoption of Linux over Windows? Alternatively, those same … Continue reading
2010 Community Leadership Summit
Via Jono Bacon, I just learned about the 2010 Community Leadership Summit on July 18 and 19 in Portland, OR: The event provides the first opportunity of its kind to bring together the leading minds in the field with new … Continue reading
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Press Release: “Canonical Offers Dedicated Support Program for Lotus Symphony …”
Canonical announced the following today via a press release: Canonical Offers Dedicated Support Program for Lotus Symphony, the Core Component of IBM Client for Smart Work on Ubuntu Canonical today announced a dedicated support program for Lotus Symphony, the no-charge … Continue reading
Questions to ask about open source projects
So you’ve heard about this great piece of open source software and you are considering either contributing to it or using it a very serious way, maybe even a business critical way. What are some of the questions you should … Continue reading
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Life with Linux: Another week of work
I use my Lenovo T400 Thinkpad as a work laptop but also as an experimental machine on which I put and delete various Linux distributions and software. At various times I’ve had Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE on the computer, though … Continue reading
