Opensource
IBM Readies Free Symphony Suite for the Mac: Its Open Source Legacy
IBM announced today that its free office productivity software suite Lotus Symphony will be finalized in a version for the Macintosh later this month. The move will bring more competition for Microsoft Office on the Mac, and it will also represent strong competition for OpenOffice 3.0, which, as we covered here, was a big boost for Mac users of OpenOffice because version 3.0 is a true Aqua application. In addition to being optimized for Aqua in its Mac version, Symphony shares code and history with OpenOffice. Here are the details.
Lotus Symphony is actually very old, first released in 1984 as an integrated software suite for DOS back when Lotus was a powerhouse software company. It was among the first office productivity suites, and ultimately became a free offering known for its strong SHEET spreadsheet (rooted in Lotus' 1-2-3 past), and open standards. It supports Open Document Format (ODF), both OpenOffice and Microsoft Office file formats, and already runs on Linux and Windows. The beta of the Mac version is available now, and you can take online tours of Symphony's individual applications here.
But what few people realize is that Symphony's code has a long open source history. It is based on Eclipse Rich Client Platform, OpenOffice 1.1.4 and OpenOffice 2.0. One major difference between Symphony and pure open source office producivity suites is that IBM offers very low-cost support for its suite, as well as free wiki-based help and support from partners. As we discussed here, Microsoft has a long history of making a major issue out of the fact that freeware and open source productivity suites don't typically offer support while there is support for the Microsoft Office suite.
Mac-based businesses that require extensive support may want to look into Symphony as a cheaper alternative to Microsoft Office. (NeoOffice, a Mac-based, open source fork of OpenOffice is worth a look too, offering free forum-based support.) And, if you're disappointed with the Calc spreadsheet in OpenOffice, or other free alternatives such as Google's, the spreadsheet in Symphony is known to be very strong. There are also many extensions available for Symphony's individual applications, and some of them are already arriving for the Mac versions.
IBM has exerted its own influence over Symphony, and gone with its own licensing options, so even though the suite is free, it's not open source. It does have strong open source roots, though, and strong commonality with major parts of OpenOffice, making it a competitive suite to watch as it is finalized and offered for free for the Mac.
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Zim: A Wiki For Your Desktop
If you're looking for a way to take and organize notes, hardcore Linux users will tell you that Vim or Emacs is the only way to go. While they're both excellent solutions, neither are for the faint of heart. There are plenty of note management options out there -- Tomboy and BasKet, for instance -- but why not ratchet things up a notch and create a digital journal instead.
Zim is a really WYSIWYG text editor that's more than just a note-taker. In fact, it bills itself as a wiki for your desktop. "A "desktop wiki" means that we try to capture the idea of a wiki, not as a webpage but as a collection of files on your local file system that can be edited with a GUI application. The main focus is a kind of personal wiki that serves for all kind of notes: todo-lists, addresses, brainstorm ideas etc. "
Written in Gtk2-Perl, Zim works on both Linux and Windows. It saves data "transparently" as plain text files so they can be opened with any file manager or editor. You can even put your content in a revision control system, compile it into a Web page using a Makefile, or export notes to HTML.
There are a handful of plugins available that extend Zim's funtionality even further. A spell checker, equation editor, and a todo list dialog and among the options available now, and future plans include things like tags, albums, and a mindmap widget.
A good information management apps is crucial to avoiding information overload. Plain text editors get the job done, but when you need something more robust, Zim is definitely worth a look.
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As the UIQ Platform Opens, UIQ Closes
Things looked admittedly bleak for UIQ in June, when the mobile software company's code was slated to be integrated into the Symbian Foundation's open source platform. Yesterday it was announced that Motorola and Sony Ericsson, joint owners of UIQ, declared the company insolvent. On December 30th, UIQ filed for bankruptcy (as is required of insolvent companies under Swedish law).
UIQ's chief executive, Johan Sandberg, said that UIQ was surviving on the royalty fees from its intellectual property, and Sony Ericsson and Motorola's decision to work with the Symbian Foundation was the real end for the firm. Motorola discontinued work with UIQ in November, but both it and Sony Ericsson avoided cutting the company loose, in order to allow UIQ and its employees extra time to look for new opportunities.
It's interesting to look at this story from both sides of the intellectual property argument. It illustrates clearly why companies go to great lengths (and expense) to hold on to and protect intellectual property -- it is a matter of life and death in some instances. Could an open license, implemented from the beginning, save a company from this end, if only because it forces the business to approach the market in a very different manner?
It's difficult to say, even in hindsight. It would seem that choosing the best licensing for your product is as important as -- and integral to -- adapting to change and competition.
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Debian Lenny Edges Closer to the Goal
Every software project, especially one with a history as long and colorful as Debian's, is bound to occasionally run into a release that it'd rather just put behind it and move onwards. The release itself, when finalized, might be the best ever -- but getting to the finalized point will induce flashbacks for years.
Debian's Lenny hopefully isn't that emotionally scarring, but it's undoubtedly been a release fraught with more than the usual amount of headaches. In October, Lisa reported that Lenny faced a delay due to some critical bugs. As the voting period on whether the inclusion of non-free binary blobs in Lenny meshed with the Debian Free Software Guidelines was held, Manoj Srivastava announced his resignation from the secretary post.
Last week, the votes were tabulated, and Lenny is set to move forward.
The end result is that Lenny will be released with the assumption that all blobs comply with the GPL unless proven otherwise. This means that the kernel packages that are currently in the Lenny archive have been given the all clear to appear in the final release.
Though there's not yet been a date set for Lenny's launch, the Debian team announced that a few final issues were being addressed (the finalized installer) and they anticipate a second release candidate (accompanied by a deep freeze on included packages) will be announced shortly.
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Make Your BlackBerry Double as a Modem With Barry
Although I suppose, technically speaking, everyone at OStatic should use the G1 smartphone with its open source platform, some of us really love our BlackBerrys. You already know Kristin uses Funambol to sync contacts and calenders with the desktop, but tethering the BlackBerry to a laptop takes an entirely different approach.
Barry, created by open source software vendor Net Direct, lets you not only sync your contacts and calendar but also use your smartphone as a computer modem. Sure, it's not as fast as T1 or cable, but you can't beat it if you're stuck somewhere with no Internet access.
Currently, there are packages available for Ubuntu, Debian, Mandriva, and Fedora (although syncing is not supported on Fedora 9). Most older BlackBerrys work just fine with Barry, but the newest generation of devices -- the Storm and Bold -- are not yet fully supported.
According to Net Direct's Web site, you'll need three things to get your phone up and running as a modem: a Barry install, a working pppd and matching kernel, and an options file and chat script for your Blackberry provider. The apps binary packages already include chat scripts for many popular service providers including Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and O2 Ireland.
In addition to tethering your BlackBerry to a laptop, you can also use Barry to make data backups, export your address book, retrieve email and memos, and perform full restores in the event of data loss.
According to a recent review of Barry, you can even use it to charge the phone's battery via the USB port on your computer. Reviewer Adam Williamson writes, "It should also be noted that another special piece of software, also provided by Barry, is needed for your Blackberry’s battery to be charged when plugged in to a Linux computer. This is because the standard default current for USB devices is 100mA, but Blackberries require 500mA of current to charge. Barry provides a utility named bcharge that handles this. When installed correctly, it will kick in automatically when the Blackberry is connected."
Clearly, a lot of work has gone into making Barry a robust app for BlackBerry users who also rely on Linux. The developers have a roadmap outlining where they plan to take the project in the future, so if you want to jump in and help, they're looking for C++ and python programmers, documentation writers, and BlackBerry users who can help identify bugs.
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Indian Startup Marries Voice with PHP
"Marrying web applications with voice has long been seen as the proverbial pot of gold: easy to dream about but hard to actually find," says this post on GigaOm today. The post covers a Bangalore, India-based startup called TringMe, which has come up with a way to marry VoIP with PHP--dubbed VoicePHP. According to TringMe: "With VoicePHP, there’s no need to learn a new markup language, tags, attributes associated with VoiceXML. Widely and freely available tools for developing, and debugging PHP can be continued to use with VoicePHP." PHP is hugely popular in the open source community, and readers may want to check out the GigaOm post.
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Two Ways to Find Images for Free, Open Use on Flickr
If you've spent much time blogging or working in any form of electronic publishing, you've probably run into the sticky issue of copyrights on images. One wants to believe that copying and pasting any image from any web page is perfectly fine, but you can get in a heap of trouble if you ignore copyrights. Fortunately, among the several types of licenses for images that Creative Commons makes available, you can find ones that allow for free, open use of images found in large libraries. In this post, I'll cover two easy ways to do this with the free photo sharing service Flickr.
As covered here, the CCOOo extension for OpenOffice makes it very easy to find photos on Flickr that you want to use and automatically insert them where you want them to appear. Best of all, the extension searches only for images with Creative Commons licenses that allow for free use.
I am also a big fan of CompFight, which adds a lot of flexibility to the Flickr search process. It's a web site that allows you to search for images on Flickr in numerous ways. To the left of its search bar, you can choose to search only by tags for very targeted searches, or toggle for an All Text search. If you’re looking for images that you can reproduce without worrying about copyright issues, you can also use CompFight to restrict your searches to photos that fall under the Creative Commons license. And, you can toggle to a Commercial setting for commercially usable photos.
Creative Commons has several licenses, including one that specifies intent for commercial publication of photos. The terms for all licenses are found here.
Flickr is old enough now that it's pretty good for finding stock images for almost any purpose. Using the tools described here, you can make sure you are using images in permissible, free, open ways.
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OSCA Foundation, Nepomuk, and the Importance of Semantics
Last month's Technology Review featured a piece on semantic computing. Semantic technology -- whether it's applied on the web or the desktop -- seems almost impossibly complex, as it tries to bring some very human traits of relating and connecting information to a machine environment. The artificial intelligence field, relatively speaking, is in its infancy, and since the human brain is largely an indistinguishable mix of biology and culture, it would seem semantic technology would be confined to psychology departments and computer science labs.
That isn't the case, of course. And when you consider that semantic technology deals with computers and people, and that any technology or study ultimately benefits from larger participant pools, it's little wonder that the Nepomuk project is open source and now even comes integrated with the KDE desktop.
At least for now, semantic computing relies heavily on adding relevant tags and metadata to make connections between files. Ideally, as items on a system are labeled and indexed, they are linked not only by the traditional -- common tags, keywords, creation dates -- but by more obscure, "human" connections. If I were to search for the keyword "chicken" on my desktop, for instance, I'd get a few recipes and likely many more photos of my nervous little dog. This isn't particularly new, conceptually, but Nepomuk seems better positioned for long term success, as adding generalized metadata is automated (using crawler applications to associate files) and this data can be modified at any time. Semantic search is useful, but associating files is time consuming, and Nepomuk has lessened the burden.
Nepomuk was managed previously by the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (please note that the previous link references a Wikipedia entry, as the official site isn't resolving currently). In December, Nepomuk's official funding ended, but it continues as an open source effort, and the newly incorporated Open Semantic Collaboration Architecture Foundation (OSCAF) plans on working closely with Nepomuk (and similar applications) to further new developments in semantic technology.
Nepomuk, while incorporated with the KDE desktop, is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux systems (regardless of desktop environment). There is also a "simple" (though limited) plugin offered for Firefox and Thunderbird integration.
These types of projects lend themselves so well to the open source approach. Except in this case, it isn't necessarily the variety of hardware the applications get tested on, or the number of knowledge programmers looking at the code that are the major advantage -- it is a diverse world of users, making common connections in different ways.
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Compiz Faces After-Effects of the Eye-Candy Sugar Rush
In Friday's OStatic Buffer Overflow, Sam linked to a Phoronix write up on Compiz's uncertain future.
Compiz, the project that brought eye-candy to Linux (with effects ranging from useful to breathtakingly beautiful to "why would I want to do that?"), has been in trouble for some time. It's not yet had a stable release, though it has branched (and merged) several times.
If it's confusing for an end-user to figure out what branch of Compiz they're using, think about developing when branches and re-merges fly out of nowhere, like flames behind a mouse pointer, forcing code re-writes (or rendering months of work useless).
Kristian Lyngstol, a Compiz developer, says while the "current situation is rather dark," it is "not without hope." He doesn't sugarcoat the situation, and proposes what's next for project survival. Maybe not exciting, but his statements are precisely why Compiz still has a fighting chance.
Lyngstol cites a number of reasons why the project is losing developers and stagnating. His breakdown is simple: there is a lack of direction and no clear leadership.
Lyngstol says that direction and organizational concerns must be addressed before Compiz moves any further. Identifiable goals, roadmaps, and (yes) even clearly defined procedures are encouraging to developers. Lyngstol points out that many developers leave because their work is lost when an obscure branch is merged into the core.
Pair that with code that's not particularly well documented, multiple bugtrackers, multiple development mailing lists, and code and plugins spread far and wide, it's harder and harder to develop, use -- and becoming impossible to manage.
The problem is compounded by a few years of waiting, as he puts it, for "something that will change everything":
...whether we call it an object framework, nomad or Compiz++, the reality is that all these branches are counter-productive, regardless of how fun or flashy they are.
Compiz has three branches presently. Lyngstol proposes that all involved need to look at the bigger picture, and meet to talk about compatibility and long term maintenance issues. He says if this can't be done, there isn't much choice but to forge ahead with Compiz's master code and consider the other efforts forks.
The last issue Lyngstol mentions makes me feel as though Compiz has a shot at moving forward: "Compiz is a research project."
Too many have forgotten this. When Ubuntu opted to include Compiz on Gutsy, a major sticking point for many was that Compiz was simply not ready. It didn't make systems burst into flames, sure, and it wasn't that it didn't work reasonably well on generic hardware. It also wasn't what many would expect in a stable application -- and it still isn't there. It needs to get there. Stability and known quantities don't mean a project can't be cutting edge or is suddenly "boring" -- it means there's a solid basis for starting new, more innovative work. A solid core means new ideas have a better chance of success.
I like eye candy, and I think the Compiz project, thus far, has nailed some impressive, beautiful (even functional) desktop effects. I installed Compiz successfully for the first time (with Xgl) on Gentoo about three years ago. It was gorgeous then -- it still is. Three years later, however, all that feels significantly different is that it has been packaged for a number of distributions, and Xgl/AIGLX configuration is less of an issue.
This is an exceedingly cool project. It's suffering at the hands of its desire to be on the bleeding edge, however. Lyngstol has taken a first, very public, step to pick Compiz up and push it forward: Sort out our management and organizational problems, use this new management structure to maintain a stable branch, and work on the "wow" factor from there.
It's a reasonable plan of action to combat the project festering and splintering further -- and draw developers back into the fold.
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Android, Minus the Phones
The other day we mentioned in this post that there may be more momentum gathering around implementations of Google's Android platform on non-phone hardware. Today, both ZDNet and apcmag.com are discussing a more laptop-friendly version of Android, dubbed Cupcake. Also, folks have already demonstrated the efficacy of putting Android on netbooks with two experimenters putting it on an Asus Eee PC in under four hours. This trend is going to continue.
Having already announced its plans to get its open source Chrome browser on OEM hardware platforms as the default browser, and announced plans to do both Mac and Linux versions of Chrome (Android is Linux-based), Google itself may be able to pack a powerful free, open source punch on hardware platforms such as low-cost netbooks. The mail, video recording and other types of new features in Cupcake point to a broader future for Android than just going on smartphones.
As Dana Blankenhorn notes, one big benefit to having Android on non-phone platforms is that it would free Android from just being dependent on "the carrier business model." There are other benefits too. More people will develop for a netbook- or laptop-focused version of Android than will develop smartphone applications, for example. I'm not going to be suprised to see a low-cost netbook arriving with Android, Chrome, Google Apps and a slew of open source applications on board. We may even see Google help fund the proliferation of these systems.
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SCaLE 7x is Open for Registration
The Southern California Linux Expo opened registration for its 2009 event on December 30th. The event will take place February 20-22nd, 2009, in Los Angeles, California.
The SCaLE organizers have filled the available speaker tracks, and this year's events include co-hosted mini-conferences, such as the Women in Open Source Conference (a continuation of last year's discussions to encourage women of all ages to become involved in FOSS), and the Open Source Software in Education Conference (focusing on FOSS in the K-12 setting).
The Demonstrating Open-Source Health Care Solutions conference will be held at the SCaLE venue during the conference, but as it is run by a third party, those wishing to attend will need to register with the DOHCS organizers.
The Expo floor is filling fast, but if you're involved with a project (or company) who'd like to host a booth, SCaLE has instructions on contacting the appropriate parties for exhibit space. A number of non-profit and commercial exhibitors are already on tap, including Fedora, Ubuntu, OpenVZ, Rockbox, Sun, IBM and O'Reilly.
The future of tech-related conferences is uncertain, but as some pass into history, others seem to be assuming slightly different approaches. SCaLE, the Ohio LinuxFest, and the Linux Foundation's new LinuxCon are tending to focus less on enterprise and industry professionals, and instead draw in smaller businesses, non-profit (non-IT) industries, and individuals. Whether this approach will work in the long term isn't certain, but it seems plausible that after years of preaching to the "already keen on open source" enterprise choir, the conferences who target new voices will sing different -- but no less vibrant -- songs.
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The Inherent Danger in "Just Working"
I am admittedly not a normal computer user. I don't always fully grasp what's going on deep inside the operating system, nor am I always confident I'm clear on how an application is working with all of the services it requires to function. But I find it interesting, even if just on the most simple, conceptual level.
The majority of computer users want their machines to "just work." And though I like seeing how my hardware and software interact, it is preferable to have things "just work," so I can get what I need done, and then spend the time I saved doing so leisurely poking at my application's innards. There's an inherent danger in the "just works" philosophy, however.
When something doesn't "just work" on a computer, it's frustrating. I'd say when anything that you'd expect to work doesn't, it's a nuisance. But when people find the refrigerator isn't keeping anything cool, or the car engine is making knocking noises, they assume the appliance in question is broken for whatever cause. At least some of these same people, when experiencing difficulties with their computers, reach a resigned acceptance that something is broken beyond repair from the start, or (quite commonly) adopt some form of "magical thinking." I've jokingly referred to some technical difficulties I've experienced as if the machine is a cognizant being that just is feeling uncooperative -- there are many sane, intelligent people out there who, on some level, seem to buy into that belief. Your operating system, like your braking system in your car, should respond predictably to the commands you give.
Wait -- and what's this got to do with open source? A lot. It's also got a lot to do with misconceptions (not just the fear-uncertainty-doubt variety), and -- yes -- self-confidence of both end-users and programmers.
Linux usage -- if not outright, across the board, full time adoption -- has been on a healthy increase for several years. Part of this is undoubtedly due to the focus on new-user friendly distributions (such as Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, and Mandriva) that make the now rather wide range of hardware supported by Linux "just work" seamlessly. Before we go further: This is a good thing to strive for and make new users aware of.
It's a good thing to strive for, whether the operating system you are developing is open -- or closed. I'd venture on a limb and say I've had more luck in the past three or four years with hardware working out of the box (no additional disks or special configuration needed in either GUI or textual .config file formats) in Linux than I have with proprietary systems. When I have had trouble on a closed front, getting things working is trickier all around -- both in terms of finding the solution (usually hidden deep in a knowledge base -- sometimes with incomplete instructions), and applying the solution itself. It is disturbing to me to make Registry edits when every Registry screen spells out the certain doom I face in doing so.
While do-it-yourself fixes might be simpler in Linux, a great many people who use computers don't want to fix anything -- at all. It should just work. If it doesn't, dialing tech support for help (or to unleash their wrath and fury) is generally where they find themselves.
Here's the kicker: I've heard many say that because some things didn't quite just work in Linux, they've passed over it for another operating system, with which they also have issues (though not necessarily quite the same), but "there's a phone number to call."
Here's another zinger: At a former life, in the systems department at a library, I found our printing software was having an issue with our lockdown software (both closed source, with paid technical support). For a few days, the solution I was given by the print provider was that we should probably invest in a compatible lockdown software solution -- no recommendations as to what a compatible application might be, even, except that it wasn't one we were using. The lockdown software technical support staff took a few calls before I broke through the "find another print solution" barrier, but after a few weeks, together we got everything to cooperate.
The question arises as to why this is acceptable with computers at all, especially when support is purchased as part of a license or by subscription. Yet it goes on, and I believe a lot of it is a magical thinking scenario -- the idea that a computer is not simply a machine. How many people who call tech support and accept at face value questionable fixes would be onboard with their mechanic telling them that the knocking in their car engine can be solved by turning up their radio?
It's not realistic to expect every person with a computer to hunt down the answers as to why applications, or hardware, aren't working as they should. If they like to look under the hood to discover why themselves, they should be able to -- they shouldn't be required to. They shouldn't have to wrangle with technical support services that send them in an endless loop of finger-pointing and blame. They wouldn't accept it with a broken kitchen appliance, and computers are marginally different in the end.
I could see a viable market opening for independent Linux/open source tech support services. These sorts of services have traditionally fallen on LUGs, but would probably best work as a commercial venture just from the time investment needed to launch and tend to a service such as this. But before this happens, there's a real need for software developers and end-users to come to terms that not everything "just works" every last time -- and this isn't necessarily a failing of the code, the hardware, or a personal bias of the machine against the user.
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OStatic Makes PC Magazine's Top 100 List
Everyone here at OStatic is very honored to be recognized by PC Magazine (now exclusively on the web as PCMag.com) as one of its editors' choices of Top 100 Blogs in its annual roundup. Our sister blogs WebWorkerDaily and NewTeeVee were also named, and congratulations to their excellent editorial teams. Blogs depend more heavily on participation from the reader community than many other kinds of publishing entities, and we want to extend our most sincere thanks to the readers of OStatic for reading, participating, and even correcting us when needed. OStatic will deliver several new and exciting kinds of editorial content in 2009. Please stay tuned!
Thank you PC Magazine for the kind words:
OStatic
Another fantastic blog from the folks at Giga OM, Ostatic is the go-to
resource for information about open-source software. The site features
news, reviews, and recommendations, aiming to be "the most
comprehensive web destination for information and insight on Open
Source Software and Services."
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Cyn.in Looks Good for Open Source Group Collaboration
WebWorkerDaily is giving high marks to cyn.in, an open source collaboration application that organizes your various collaborative efforts, like blogs, wikis, discussion boards, in addition to facilitating file sharing and repositories. The WWD post walks you through a free demo of an enterprise edition of cyn.in, and Darrell Etherington writes: "I’d recommend Cyn.in for consultants working with larger, established companies looking for an alternative to their current collaboration solution." Check out the review and screenshots.
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Desktop Android, HyperSpace, and the Future of Desktop Linux
While a lot of the 2009 predictions about open source and Linux are rosy, here is a decidedly negative take from Datamation. Among the predictions: The "marginal run" that Ubuntu and OpenOffice had for the desktop will come to a screeching halt, and a desktop derivative of Google Android (which is Linux-based) will be a surprise success. Some of the points made are good, but some I definitely disagree with.
Writing for Datamation, Rob Enderle cites the following case study from Microsoft. It concentrates on the city of Sudbury, which standardized on the free OpenOffice suite and then switched to fee-based Microsoft Office after costs for software support skyrocketed. "Sudbury, like most public and private entities, had limited human resources and simply couldn't staff up to the [support] needs that Open Office required," writes Enderle.
I've used both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice for years, at companies large and small, and this is how many times I sought support while using these productivity applications: zero. Sure, I understand that people developing mission critical applications might seek support, but there are robust forums and other types of support for OpenOffice and other open source applications, and the vast majority of end users of OpenOffice are hardly crying in their beers because they can't enlarge the size of their fonts.OpenOffice gets more compatible with everything with each new version, and the Go-oo variant of it, which we wrote about yesterday, introduces extra forms of compatibility for those who need it.
Entire communities surround top open source titles, and they are helpful communities. The Microsoft case study is a biased, cheap shot at open source, and the argument about lack of support is a tired one.
Enderle does make some good points about the prospects for desktop Linux, though. Hardly anyone in the open source community is discussing the twin-headed Hydra of Windows 7 and the Mac OS as threats to desktop Linux. Apple's market share has been on an absolute tear in the last two years, rising to more than 10 percent of the desktop market after years of languishing at around five percent. Much of that was driven by disappointment with Windows Vista, but not all of it was. Apple makes an operating system that many people consider to be best-of-breed, and its computers set the design bar for the whole tech industry.
Meanwhile, Windows 7 is starting to draw some serious buzz, especially its multi-touch interface. Pirated copies of Windows 7 are already hot items. Its arrival next year could reverse Microsoft's downhill slide and, along with the growing popularity of the Mac, start to encroach on the installed base for desktop Linux. Still, I have confidence that the long-standing goodwill that there is toward Linux won't be snuffed out, and Enderle doesn't even address the fact that fast-growing netbooks are spreading Linux and open source applications to lots of new users.
The most interesting points that Enderle makes surround rumors that Google is doing broad-based testing of a desktop derivative of Android, and the arrival of HyperSpace, which is Phoenix Technologies' Linux-based virtualization platform. In all the talk about Android, hardy anyone is forecasting that it could make a splash on desktops. Likewise, HyperSpace and other virtualization options point toward a future where we might not be content with only one operating system, which might very well benefit Linux on the desktop. Both of these trends will be compelling to follow in 2009.
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OStatic Buffer Overflow......
AMD move brings open source gaming closer.....
Open source predictions from Ingres' CEO.....
Richard Stallman is visiting Hyderabad to oversee the migration of thousands of computers to a new "Indian" OS.....
Dell sells Ubuntu boxes that cannot run Ubuntu.....
Installing Yellow Dog Linux on a PS3 console.....
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Choosing an Open Source CMS -- Planning, Playing, and Page Views
There are a number of full featured open source content management systems out there. Content management systems (CMS) are used increasingly in lieu of more "traditionally" managed web pages, on various sites with diverse audiences and very different goals. They can be updated quickly, easily, and require very little (if any) knowledge of how the inner plumbing works.
There are, of course, proprietary CMS platforms. Many -- from individuals to businesses -- opt for open source alternatives. Cost is naturally a factor, but having used both closed and open CMS platforms, it's been my experience that the open alternatives offer better features, an increased ability to modify and customize easily, and behave with more consistency in different browsers than most of their closed counterparts.
Finding the right open CMS for your needs is the hardest part. But there are a few considerations and rules of thumb that can make this decision a little easier.
The major open source CMS/blogging platforms -- Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, Alfresco and Mambo -- have features that cater to administrators with varying levels of technical expertise, as well as specific visitor and site functions.
Know your audience
It makes sense to consider the people who'll be coming to your site. The appeal of open CMS platforms to many is that besides a number of customized themes available in the respective communities, they are simple to customize (at least on a purely aesthetic level) with relatively little programming knowledge.
That's where it's easy to go off-track. The curb appeal of your site is important, and open source solutions are great for making your site stand out, even if you are using fairly standard design templates. What your site looks like is somewhat CMS dependent (for instance, OStatic uses Drupal, which presents a bit differently -- color schemes aside -- than GigaOM's WordPress installation), but it's almost always negotiable, and even very different platforms can get the "look."
Presentation is important to site visitors. It's what's on the site that keeps them coming back. Of course, this is largely content dependent -- and it may be that a major component of your content is visitor/user driven. Some open CMS lend themselves more readily to a "community" setting.
Tweaking the "look" of the site is usually much simpler than tweaking visitor-centric features. Drupal, Joomla, and Alfresco, like other open content systems, offer a modular configuration. Adding community features in this way is similar to adding extensions in a browser. How these modules are installed on the CMS, and how they ultimately behave, are important to consider.
Joomla, for instance, installs and manages modules in a very visual, "friendly" manner. While this is ideal for those who don't have extensive experience with mucking around behind the scenes, it makes it a bit more troublesome to roll out unusual configurations, or sometimes even tell why something isn't working as expected.
Drupal tends to require more "hands-on" work with deploying modules. Depending on how different pre-existing modules are from what you'd like to have on your site, a site function might take minutes to roll out, or significantly longer.
WordPress has historically been a blogging platform, but there are a number of features and plugins that invite further visitor interaction (in a more limited sense than the aforementioned content systems). If your site relies on internally driven content (WordPress supports multiple author accounts) with visitor interaction and input as a secondary focus, it might be a better match for your needs.
It is key, especially if you've not mastered the finer points of the traditional programming languages used on the web, or in specific module design, to choose a CMS that has a majority of the modules that mostly closely match what you'd like to offer your visitors. Checking out the platform is important, but look at the extensions you'd want to use, and do some detective work on how well they work on sites with similar audience demographics as you'd see visiting.
My tech skills are...
Most of the mentioned open CMS platforms are relatively simple to deploy, and the respective communities are helpful for ironing out any wrinkles. Some are decidedly more intimidating to install and update than others, however.
I've found Joomla is one of the friendlier "true CMS" applications in terms of installation and maintenance. If community is a lesser focus, WordPress, with its now famous five minute install, and automatic update feature can make life simpler.
The others, while possibly more intimidating, and requiring varying amounts of manual labor, are almost liberating to the right administrators. While all of these projects are open source, some of the traditional "heavy lifters" make the process of getting in and seeing how all the components fit together less convoluted.
Webhosting providers often offer automated installs of these content management systems. This is helpful -- with installation. It's also good to keep in mind that installation happens, ideally, once. Keep the bigger picture in mind.
If you are able, testing on a local machine is always recommended. It will allow you to experiment if you're having trouble making a decision, or test (and configure) the CMS you've chosen. I'm partial, of course, to using the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) to test sites locally. There are a number of options (XAMPP, WAMP for OS X and Windows) that make testing locally on other operating systems easy.
There are a lot of good, strong, open source content management systems out there. Thinking beyond installation -- considering long term goals, audience, and tech skill involved -- will increase the likelihood of choosing one that not only "sticks," but works exceedingly well.
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A Diatribe Against OpenOffice, But What's the Real Agenda?
Matt Asay weighs in today on whether OpenOffice is "profoundly sick," as Novell employee Michael Meeks claims it is. Meeks argues that OpenOffice is "not getting better with age" and that a big part of the problem is that Sun Microsystems exerts too much control over the suite, not allowing more contributors to innovate and improve. Matt correctly points out that most big open source projects move along thanks to a small, core group of committers, but, whether Novell's Meeks is right or wrong here, I get the strong sense that he has an agenda that may not be apparent at first glance.
The key thing to notice about Meeks' diatribe against OpenOffice comes at the very end of his long, well-supported, graphical essay. I don't disagree with his basic argument about how Sun could pay more attention to the first word in OpenOffice (open), but this is what Meeks delivers at the essay's end:
"Will you help us make OpenOffice.org better ? if so, probably the best place to get started is by playing with go-oo.org and getting in touch, please mail us."
There are a number of forks availabe of OpenOffice, and one of them is the Novell-backed (and via pass-through, possibly Microsoft-supported) version called Go-oo. Go-oo is a lighter, faster version of OpenOffice, with its own team of core contributors. I like it and use it, but when I wrote it up in early November, more than 20 readers shot arrows at me for failing to mention the Novell/Microsoft connection. Here is one example from the reader comments:
"Maybe I'm off-base, but it looks to me like MS-infected OOo. It's coming from Novell (which I refuse to use), and is paid for by MS-license fees. Sure, I'm paranoid, but I'm not touching this..."
I do happen to find that a little paranoid, but I now recognize that the Novell connection should be called out when discussing this variation of OpenOffice. In his diatribe against the suite, Meeks saves his real message about Go-oo until the end, where his "please mail us" request appears. I agree with much of his post, and I like Go-oo, but let's be clear about mudslinging from the competition.
Am I above chastising myself for not mentioning the Novell connection when I wrote about Go-oo? No, although it was an oversight and not obfuscation, the readers were right that I should have mentioned it.
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