Open
Source Roundup
Firefox
Browser Arrives
November 9th was Firefox launch day.
I’ve been trying out a Firefox beta browser since June;
with some success (some sites want you to use Microsoft IE).
As
you know, Microsoft started the year with 95% of the browser market.
Thanks largely to security issues, they’ve lost about 2
points of share, mainly to the Firefox beta, which had about 5
million downloads before going to prime time this week.
Open
Source aficionados are hoping for a big, splashy debut. They won’t make a big dent in Microsoft’s giant market
share (they’re hoping for 10 million users soon) but they could
get Microsoft to pay more attention to updating its browser.
There
are lots of articles out about the features, robustness, and
reliability of the new kid on the block.
There is also lots of information on all the extensions that
are already available, how to pick them, and which ones you’ll
want.
In
typical Open Source fashion, the new browser was greeted by hundreds
of do-it-yourself launch parties all over the globe, hosted by local
enthusiasts.
As
you know, you may use Mozilla Firefox with Windows, Mac OSX or
GNU/Linux machines. This
means you have a choice. It’s
a bit more work to download a separate browser and to pick and load
extensions separately. In return, you get an environment which many think is more
secure. You get to
choose.
You
can download Firefox here: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
Windows Versus Linux:
The Battle Continues
Recently,
Steve Ballmer sent out a letter to customers about Linux versus
Windows. It included
references to several analyst studies and the usual arguments about
TCO, Security, Indemnification, the relatively high cost of Linux
resources (skilled staff), and so forth.
I got
one. I’d say it was
very polite and contained some interesting information.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, Novell (who was, in part, the
target of this missive) decided to respond with a detailed, point by
point, reply. In doing
so they uncovered a common PR notion:
quoting something from an analyst report that makes a point
while not quoting anything that contradicts it.
Novell simply looked for all the “buts” and “ifs” and
“on the other hands.”
If
you would like the details of this debate, you can find Mr.
Ballmer’s letter at http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/
Novell’s
response is at http://www.novell.com/linux/truth/response.html?sourceidint=homepage_announcement2
I
think we’d say you should read them for yourself if this is a
subject of interest to you or your organization.
The web, especially the Open Source sites, is full of
comments, should you need some.
UK Government Likes Open Source – Or Does
It?
The
battle for hearts and minds is clearly in full force in the UK
between Microsoft and Linux. We
get nearly daily reports from the field of battles won, lost, or in
progress.
For
example, the UK’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has declared
Open Source Software ready for prime time, after a series of trials
with Sun and IBM. That
doesn’t mean that anyone’s bought software – it does mean that
government buyers in the UK will have the OGC behind them if they
want to make an open source decision.
The report (you can find it at http://www.ogc.gov.uk/embedded_object.asp?docid=1002367)
did not recommend Open Source versus proprietary systems, but simply
suggested that it could be cost effective and appropriate. It speaks of both infrastructure (servers) and desktops as
appropriate possibilities.
This
isn’t UK government strategy, which will fall to the e-Government
Unit, who is expected to publish a report on Open Source Software
soon.
The
report lists a number of successful users who were in the pilots.
Of
course, on the other hand, shortly after the OGC report was
published, Microsoft was pleased to report that it had successfully
landed the giant (500 Million pounds) NHS contract.
You can read about the details of this contract, in which the
NHS contracted for software for 900,000 computers over nine years
and saved 330 million pounds at http://www.contractoruk.com/news/001794.html
The
only thing that’s clear so far is that Linux is a great
negotiating tool.
Open
Source Reviews
Have
you found LinuxQuestions.org? If
not, you might like to check it out as a good source for interesting
discussions and a resource for Open Source answers.
A good place to start is http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/24230/index.html,
which describes a lot of what goes on at the site.
Understanding Open Source & Free
Software Licensing
My
new favorite O’Reilly book is Andrew M. St. Laurent’s
“Understanding Open Source & Free Software Licensing.”
This box explains in great detail the differences between the
many types of Open Source licenses and then provides annotated
copies of the most important ones, including MIT, BSD, Apache, the
GLP and Lesser GPL (LGLP), Creative Commons, and the Sun Community
Source License.
Whether
you’re a developer deciding which license will serve your IP
rights best, an attorney struggling to understand a confusing new
field, a corporate buyer negotiating in the Open Source market, or a
journalist who needs to accurately write about it, this book is
invaluable.
Since
I’m really tired of talking to people who rant and rave and then
turn out to be working from incorrect information about licensing
issues, I’m hoping this book can save frustration and improve the
level of civil discourse. Not
bad for a 193-page book.
“Understanding
Open Source & Free Software Licensing”
Andrew
M. St. Laurent
ISBM 0-596-00581-4, 193 pages,
$24.95
http://www.oreilly.com
Exploring The JDS Linux Desktop
If
you’re thinking about Sun’s JDS (or about buying a Linux
desktop) you might like to read "Exploring the JDS Linux
Desktop," a new O’Reilly book by Tom Adelstein and Sam Hiser
which is intended to help ordinary users become highly productive on
the JDS platform.
Adelstein
and Hiser want you to like Linux and they think JDS is a good way to
help you do that, offering a friendly, Windows-like interface, a
robust Linux environment, and a well-polished application.
"You
will like JDS," authors Adelstein and Hiser promise their
readers.
The
best part of the book is that readers needn't take their word for
it. With the CD that accompanies this book, readers can take the JDS
Linux desktop for a test drive without having to install software or
overwrite anything on their current computer system, experimenting
with JDS at their own pace and returning to their regular operating
system whenever they like. Of course, Adelstein and Hiser think you’ll want to stay
with JDS.
They
deliver a step-by-step tour of JDS and countless timesaving tips,
tricks, and shortcuts including such housekeeping chores as setting
up networking, updates, and backups as well as email, web browsing,
instant messaging, word processing, spreadsheets, and slide
presentations.
Exploring
the JDS Linux Desktop
Tom
Adelstein and Sam Hiser
ISBN
0-596-00752-3, 390 pages, $34.95
http://www.oreilly.com
SpikeSource
Kim
Polese, founder and CEO of Marimba (and a former Sun Java product
manager) and Ray Lane, former Oracle COO and president, will launch
SpikeSource, an Open Source Services company, next month.
SpikeSource
plans to provide validated and certified open source stacks, pure
and commercial hybrids. This
will permit customers to be able to confidently and quickly
implement solutions based on these stacks.
The
first stack will be an integrated version of the popular LAMP stack
(Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP, and Java).
SpikeSource
will support and certify their stacks on all of the leading
distributions, including Novell SuSE and Red Hat.
This
is not an empty space – Red Hat is already offering an application
stack for its Enterprise Edition and others are sure to enter this
attractive market, but we suspect that there should be lots of room.
Customers are eager to buy Open Source solutions without the
need to become their own integrators and firms like SpikeSource
could make this much easier.
Black Duck Software Offers Attorneys New Tool
Black
Duck Software has added a legal module to its protexIP solution
suit. Its protexIPTM/license
management allows corporate legal teams to check for open source and
third party components during the development process, to be certain
that the company is in full compliance with its legal obligations.
The new legal module is used in conjunction with Black
Duck’s developer software to check that any software is in
compliance before it’s released for use.
This
lets attorneys interact during the development process, rather than
having them exclude and delay software at the end of its development
schedule.
Attorneys interact with protexIP/license management using
a specially designed Web console to translate their company's
software licenses into a set of license attributes for the protexIP
solution suite. Attorneys and developers can be informed of issues
relating to license compliance.
The Black Duck KnowledgeBase of more than 200 existing
open-source licenses lets attorneys create a customized license
template that can be used to identify conflicts between the
company's business goals and the obligations applicable to licensed
components in their software.
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