Donnerstag März 13, 2008

More Open Source at the European Commission
I was just made aware of the article "EU plans more use of open source". Here is a short quote:
"The commission will soon release a "strategy paper" on using more open-source software, says Valerie Rampi, spokeswoman for Siim Kallas, the European commissioner responsible for administrative affairs. The paper will say open-source software should be pursued, provided it does not cost more and is in the best interests of European citizens, she says."
Very cool!
( Mrz 13 2008, 12:19:11 PM CET ) Permalink

Mittwoch Januar 30, 2008

Market Share of Firefox Growing
Pretty cool to see that Firefox is continuing to gain market share! Check out this report!
( Jan 30 2008, 02:54:06 PM CET ) Permalink

Freitag Januar 25, 2008

"Open source software has the ability to change the face of the Education Industry"
"A number of education institutions around the globe are looking towards open source software (OSS) as a means to gain more control over their solutions. From this a new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor predicts that spend on OSS (including maintenance and services) by the Education sector globally will reach $489.9 million by 2012, compared to $286.2 million today, providing sizeable opportunities for technology vendors."
Found here.
( Jan 25 2008, 02:49:01 PM CET ) Permalink

Advice for the Dutch public sector on Open Source
I just became aware of the following very interesting service which I guess other countries could copy:

"The programme OSOSS informs and advises the Dutch public sector about the possibilities of open source software and stimulates the use of open source software in their information systems. The acronym OSOSS stands for “Open Source as an Option in your Software Strategy”.

The OSOSS programme offers concrete support by providing information, knowledge and instruments that governmental bodies can use to start using open source software. The programme is run by the foundation for e-government, ICTU, on request by the Ministries of the Interior and of Economic Affairs."

More details can be found on their homepage. This German article made me aware of OSOSS.
( Jan 25 2008, 02:46:30 PM CET ) Permalink

Montag November 19, 2007

More money for the government employees due to open source
According to this German article, the labor union of the police in Berlin is unhappy with Windows and thus considers a switch to Linux. It's not 100% clear to me if the issues are on the desktop side or the server side, but apparently the labor union members are experiencing stability problems. From my point of view the most interesting part of the news is that the switch to open source is also considered to be a chance to pay the government employees a Christmas bonus again based on open source related savings.
( Nov 19 2007, 09:33:35 AM CET ) Permalink

Dienstag August 07, 2007

Green and open source hardware
It's fun to work for a company that is a leader in both, eco-computing and open source. Check out Sun's latest announcement:

"This next generation of the UltraSPARC family of processors also extends its lead in eco performance, bringing Sun's revolutionary CoolThreads(TM) chip multithreading (CMT) technology to the UltraSPARC T2 processor, powered by fewer than two watts per thread. At one-tenth to one-thirtieth the power consumption of competitive offerings, the UltraSPARC T2 processor sets the gold standard for green computing and efficiency, combining the industry's lowest power consumption with double the cores, 16 times the threads, 4 times the throughput, with on-chip network and security functionality. Bottom line: The UltraSPARC T2 processor has the potential to save systems builders and their end users millions of dollars on skyrocketing power, cooling and space expense.
...
Having surpassed 5,500 downloads of the OpenSPARC(TM) T1 source code, Sun is working to release source code for the UltraSPARC T2 processor to the OpenSPARC community at www.opensparc.net."

The full annoucement can be found here.
( Aug 07 2007, 05:21:36 PM CEST ) Permalink

Freitag August 03, 2007

Sun's new radio star: Barton George
Sun has a new radio star: Barton George! Check out his cool interviews from Ubuntu Live! Day 1 is covered here, and the Day 2 interviews can be found here.
( Aug 03 2007, 10:18:38 AM CEST ) Permalink

Montag Juni 04, 2007

For the open source hackers
Open source hackers might want to check out the new Sun Studio 12 compiler tools. It's a free download! Linux tools are included.
( Jun 04 2007, 11:02:14 AM CEST ) Permalink

Freitag Juni 01, 2007

Good news for Sun
I just read "Worldwide Revenue from Standalone Open Source Software Will Grow 26% to Reach $5.8 Billion by 2011, IDC Research Indicates". This is good news for Sun considering Sun's strong commitment to open source.
( Jun 01 2007, 03:20:12 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Dienstag Mai 29, 2007

"Microsoft may cease to distribute SUSE Linux coupons"
Interesting news regarding the Novell/Microsoft relationship:
The SUSE Linux distributor said that an unfavorable final GPLv3 could mean "Microsoft may cease to distribute SUSE Linux coupons in order to avoid the extension of its patent covenants to a broader range of GPLv3 software recipients". Advertisement
The company also "may need to modify our relationship with Microsoft under less advantageous terms than our current agreement, or we may be restricted in our ability to include GPLv3 code in our products, any of which could adversely affect our business and our operating results."
Found here.
( Mai 29 2007, 12:31:10 PM CEST ) Permalink

Donnerstag Mai 24, 2007

Simon Phipps about software patents
In this article my boss answers questions regarding software patents:
"Well, Sun is supportive of the Patent Reform Act of 2007, which Mike discusses in some detail in his blog. But I personally also believe we need to address some other issues too. If I were king (or at least an autocratic president), I'd do some or all of these:
...
If we have to have software patents, their term and applicability needs control:
* Make them last no more than five years, renewable once.
* Make them unenforceable against ISO [International Standards Organization] standards (and possibly other bodies).
* Give immunity to implementations created in clean-room conditions for interoperability."
( Mai 24 2007, 10:10:05 AM CEST ) Permalink

Dienstag Mai 15, 2007

Jonathan about the power of open source
"In essence, we decided to innovate, not litigate.

Net result? Our contributions, from Java to OpenOffice to Gnome and Mozilla, now account for in excess of 25% of all lines of code within your average Linux distribution (yup, read that sentence again - or see the report, here, page 51).
...
All of which is to say - no amount of fear can stop the rise of free media, or free software (they are the same, after all). The community is vastly more innovative and powerful than a single company.
...
That's not a genie any litigator I know can put back in a bottle."

Jonathan's full blog entry can be found here.
( Mai 15 2007, 09:50:37 AM CEST ) Permalink

Montag Mai 14, 2007

Greg Papadopoulos blogs about software patents
In the context of today's news, you might find this blog entry by Greg Papadopoulos interesting.
( Mai 14 2007, 09:18:28 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Mittwoch April 25, 2007

Gartner gives Sun "positive" rating
Gartner just gave Sun a positive rating. Here is their one-line summary:
"Sun Microsystems' improved revenue, substantial progress toward sustainable profitability and return to Unix server market leadership warrant an increased vendor rating of "positive.""
Sun's open source strategy definitely strongly influenced this positive rating.
( Apr 25 2007, 09:23:52 AM CEST ) Permalink

Donnerstag April 19, 2007

Ubuntu bundling Sun Java Software Stack
Check out this! Ubuntu is bundling the Sun Java software stack. This should make Ubuntu even cooler and increase the distribution and market share of Sun's tools significantly!
( Apr 19 2007, 06:38:51 PM CEST ) Permalink