Deconstructing Code

Tensions When Firms use Open-source

CNET has a nice article on the inherent tensions when firms work with an existing open source project, Open-source divorce for Apple's Safari? CNET News.com:
According to KHTML developers, Apple engineers took a less "pure" approach to fixing bugs, applying patches that KHTML developers were loath to reincorporate back into their code base.

"In open source, everything's supposed to be done the right way, but sometimes the less correct way is faster," Rusin said. "In fixing one problem, they were breaking a whole bunch of other things. Apple developers were focused on fixing bugs in such a way that we could not merge them back into KHTML. Those fixes were never an option for us."

In contrast to the transparency and immediacy with which open-source developers are accustomed to working, KDE volunteers said they suddenly found themselves dealing with bug reports Apple deemed too sensitive to share, new requirements for auditing code before releasing it, and demands that developers sign nondisclosure agreements before looking at some Apple code.

Posted by rshah on May 12, 2005| Comments (0)

Why Gates Opened Windows in China

Why Gates Opened Windows in China
Bill Gates was in Beijing last week, meeting with President Jiang Zemin and other government officials and promising to give the Chinese access to one of most zealously guarded industrial secrets in Corporate America: the Windows source code. That's a big step for Microsoft in any country. In China, where piracy is rampant, it's a huge leap (see BW Online, 2/10/03, "China Learns to Say 'Stop Thief'").

Posted by rshah on March 21, 2003| Comments (0)

State to save billions on software

State to save billions on software
The Business Day reports that the South African government has decided to adopt open source software and develop support programs with local research institutes and universities. The CIO of the State IT Agency says: 'The logic for open-source is so compelling that after a year of debates we decided to stop talking and declare government an open-source zone.'"

Posted by rshah on January 20, 2003| Comments (0)

Apple snub stings Mozilla

Apple snub stings Mozilla
AOL Time Warner's Mozilla project is facing new questions about quality after Apple Computer's release of a browser based on rival open-source code.

Posted by rshah on January 14, 2003| Comments (0)

AbiWord up

AbiWord up
Booms come and busts go, but open-source developers keep improving the alternatives to Microsoft's "standards."

Posted by rshah on November 16, 2002| Comments (0)

An Alternative to Microsoft Gains Support in High Places

An Alternative to Microsoft Gains Support in High Places
Governments around the world, afraid that Microsoft has become too powerful in critical software markets, have begun working to ensure an alternative.

Posted by rshah on September 12, 2002| Comments (0)

Study: Governments need open source

Study: Governments need open source
A new study has recommended that governments require the use of open-source software, fanning the flames of the increasingly heated debate over the place of open-source in public policy. The Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) study, from the University of Maastricht's International Institute of Infonomics, argues that open-source software can bring substantial benefits to governments.

Posted by rshah on September 11, 2002| Comments (0)

Group campaigns against open source

Group campaigns against open source
Microsoft and other software companies are ramping up a lobbying effort that aims to convince governments to think again about adopting open-source software.

Posted by rshah on August 14, 2002| Comments (0)

Peruvian lawmaker's effort could ban Microsoft on government computers

Peruvian lawmaker's effort could ban Microsoft on government computers
If Congressman Edgar Villanueva gets his way, Crespo might have some more maneuvering room. Swimming against the Microsoft tide, Villanueva is pushing legislation to obligate all public institutions to convert exclusively to open-source software.

Posted by rshah on June 29, 2002| Comments (0)

Open-Source Fight Flares At Pentagon

Open-Source Fight Flares At Pentagon
In what one military source called a "barrage" of contacts with officials at the Defense Information Systems Agency and the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld over the past few months, the company said "open source" software threatens security and its intellectual property.

Posted by rshah on May 23, 2002| Comments (0)

Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!

Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!
This paper provides quantitative data that, in many cases, using open source software / free software is a reasonable or even superior approach to using their proprietary competition according to various measures. This paper examines market share, reliability, performance, scaleability, security, and total cost of ownership. It also has sections on non-quantitative issues, unnecessary fears, and other sites providing related information, and ends with some conclusions.

Posted by rshah on April 25, 2002| Comments (0)

Microsoft makes a college try

Microsoft makes a college try
Spooked by the growing popularity of Linux and Java software, Microsoft is opening up its source code to up-and-coming programmers on college campuses.

Posted by rshah on March 27, 2002| Comments (0)

Mozilla's revenge

Mozilla's revenge
As the much-touted, long-delayed open-source browser nears the version 1.0 finish line, it may give AOL a new weapon against Microsoft.

Posted by rshah on March 12, 2002| Comments (0)

Does Publicly Funded Research Have to Result in Open Source Code?

Does Publicly Funded Research Have to Result in Open Source Code?
A debate is heating up in the academic community over whether software that is generated by publicly funded research must be released with an open source license. The Internet is one example of how releasing research code benefited the public, but the trend seems to be changing now, and universities are more likely to consider the profit opportunity. The Bayh-Dole Act paved the way for the privatization of publicly funded resources, but not everyone is happy with the results.

Posted by rshah on January 16, 2002| Comments (0)

why university research code should be open source

why university research code should be open source
The drive to license academic research for profit is stifling the spread of software that could be of universal benefit.

Posted by rshah on January 06, 2002| Comments (0)

Open-source approach fades in tough times

Open-source approach fades in tough times
The ideological purity of the open-source software movement is being diluted by a new era of pragmatism as start-ups adjust to the economic slump.

Posted by rshah on November 20, 2001| Comments (0)

Linux losing desktop battle

Linux losing desktop battle
It started as a crusade for free source code. Linux zealots turned it into a full-frontal assault on Microsoft. Now the battle for the desktop could snatch defeat from the jaws of moral victory.

Posted by rshah on November 08, 2001| Comments (0)

Some I.B.M. Software Tools to Be Put in Public Domain

Some I.B.M. Software Tools to Be Put in Public Domain
I.B.M. plans to announce today that it is placing $40 million of its software tools in the public domain as the first step toward founding an open-source organization for developers. The new open-source organization, called Eclipse, will focus on the programming tools used to build applications and other software.

Posted by rshah on November 05, 2001| Comments (0)

NASA Releases Classic Software To Public Domain

NASA Releases Classic Software To Public Domain
NASA turned 43 this month and marked the occasion by releasing more than 200 of its scientific and engineering applications for public use. The modular Fortran programs can be modified, compiled and run on most Linux platforms.

Posted by rshah on October 26, 2001| Comments (0)

Governments push open-source software

Governments push open-source software
A recent global wave of legislation is compelling government agencies, and in some cases government-owned companies, to use open-source or free software unless proprietary software is the only feasible option.

Posted by rshah on August 29, 2001| Comments (0)

How Big Blue fell for Linux

How Big Blue fell for Linux
When open-source developers and IBM took gambles on each other, free software showed it can flourish in the heartland of corporate computing.

Posted by rshah on August 07, 2001| Comments (0)

Open Source Bibliography

Posted by rshah on July 09, 2001| Comments (0)

Rebel Code

Rebel Code
Slashdot book review of Rebel Code by Glyn Moody

Posted by rshah on July 09, 2001| Comments (0)

Free for All

Free for All
Book by Peter Wayner, about how a loose-knit group of programmers, dreamers and revolutionaries discovered that they could write better software in their spare time if they just shared with each other.

Posted by rshah on July 09, 2001| Comments (0)

Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution

Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution
online book by O'Reilly

Posted by rshah on July 09, 2001| Comments (0)

Microsoft to loosen reins on .Net code, snubs Linux

Microsoft to loosen reins on .Net code, snubs Linux
With its promise to selectively release source code to key pieces of its .Net software, Microsoft is seeding the academic market with its technology and thumbing its nose at Linux and Java, observers say.

Posted by rshah on July 04, 2001| Comments (0)

Microsoft Says It Will Share Code with Academics

Microsoft Says It Will Share Code with Academics
n its latest move in the hotly debated arena of open-source software, Microsoft said that it will make available the source code of its newest development tools for academic and other non-commercial uses. Microsoft said it will work with Corel to build a free "shared-source" version of Microsoft's C# (pronounced C sharp) programming language and of its common language infrastructure (CLI) development tools.

Posted by rshah on June 28, 2001| Comments (0)

An Open-Source Rival for MP3

An Open-Source Rival for MP3
Ogg Vorbis, which promises MP3-like quality, readies for public download this weekend.

Posted by rshah on June 20, 2001| Comments (0)

Microsoft Using Some Open-Source Software

Microsoft Using Some Open-Source Software
Microsoft , even while mounting a new campaign against open-source software, has quietly been using such free computer code in several major products, as well as on key portions of a popular Web site -- despite denying last week that it did so. Software connected with the FreeBSD open-source operating system is used in several places deep inside several versions of Microsoft's Windows software, such as in the "TCP/IP" section that arranges all connections to the Internet.

Posted by rshah on June 18, 2001| Comments (0)

Ballmer Calls Linux

Ballmer Calls Linux
Government funding should be for work that is available to everybody. Open source is not available to commercial companies. The way the license is written, if you use any open-source software, you have to make the rest of your software open source. Linux is not in the public domain. Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches, see also Slashdot

Posted by rshah on June 01, 2001| Comments (0)

Microsoft Is Set to Be Top Foe of Free Code

Microsoft Is Set to Be Top Foe of Free Code
Craig Mundie of Microsoft speech attacking open-source software -- specifically, attacking the GNU General Public License. This speech is probably intended to define Microsoft's party line on open source, and to shift the terms of the debate over it to one that Microsoft thinks it can win, see also Slashdot

Posted by rshah on May 03, 2001| Comments (0)

Open Source Tax Credit?

Open Source Tax Credit?
While looking for a few loop holes in the tax code, I ran across this interesting IRS Regulation. I was wondering, if using this if Open Source programming is tax deductible?

Posted by rshah on April 16, 2001| Comments (0)

NSA funds work to thicken Linux armor

NSA funds work to thicken Linux armor
The National Security Agency, the electronic snooping arm of the U.S. government, has enlisted computer security company Network Associates to help create a version of Linux that's less vulnerable to attack.

Posted by rshah on April 10, 2001| Comments (0)

Big Blue Wages Open Warfare

Big Blue Wages Open Warfare
International Business Machines, the $88 Billion behemoth, is committing itself to one of the most radical shifts in its corporate history: a move away from proprietary systems and toward and open computing environment. Don't expect peace, love, and flowers, however. The future of IBM is at stake. And, perhaps, the future of the entire computer industry.

Posted by rshah on April 10, 2001| Comments (0)

Open-source development drives innovation

Open-source development drives innovation
What implications does the open-source movement have for the global software industry? Wharton's Bruce Kogut and Anca Metiu explore that question in a paper titled "Distributed Knowledge and the Global Organization of Software Development."

Posted by rshah on April 10, 2001| Comments (0)

Patents are your friends

Patents are your friends
Can open-source programmers use intellectual property laws to protect themselves from corporate software snatchers?

Posted by rshah on March 21, 2001| Comments (0)

Story Behind Tux the Penguin

Story Behind Tux the Penguin
One of the first questions asked by mainstream technology companies beginning to offer Linux products or services is, "Who owns the penguin?" The answer is no one. The Linux logo, a plump penguin known as Tux, is an open-source image. Anyone can employ Tux to promote a Linux-related product, and there are no licensing fees or any need to get official approval from someone to use the penguin.

Posted by rshah on March 13, 2001| Comments (0)

Sourceforge

Sourceforge
At VA Linux's SourceForge, thousands of programmers are collaborating for both love and money.

Posted by rshah on March 06, 2001| Comments (0)

Life, liberty and the pursuit of free software

Life, liberty and the pursuit of free software
Microsoft says open-source software is un-American. Has the company completely lost its mind?

Posted by rshah on February 16, 2001| Comments (0)

History of the Open Source Initiative

Posted by rshah on January 24, 2001| Comments (0)

Next Leader for Linux?

Next Leader for Linux?
No, Alan Cox is a top candidate to replace clean-cut Linus Torvalds, should the Linux leader leave his job.

Posted by rshah on November 21, 2000| Comments (0)

Government & Open Source

Government & Open Source
President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) issued its "Recommendations of the Panel on Open Source Software For High End Computing," see also, Slashdot and Linux Today

Posted by rshah on September 19, 2000| Comments (0)