Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

In part 1, we gave a general overview of Decibel. In part 2, we cover everyone's favorite section - the definitions! Well, at least we hope that the definitions will be informative. Part 3 will describe some benefits for developers while part 4 deals with benefits for users. Read on for the details. Decibel is a service that is concerned with real time communications; therefore, everything that connects one user with another user and makes it possible to get replies instantaneously is in the scope of Decibel. Decibel is based on the Telepathy D-Bus API's and uses the Tapioca implementation of these API's.

Fred Trotter onGPLMedicine writes:'...Medsphere will release a version of"VistA" under an open source license. The license will probably not be the GPL, since that would mean that they might later have trouble interfacing that code with proprietary modules they might release. Medspheres“release” will be at least 90% standard VistA. Medsphere will take something that is public domain and put it under a FOSS license and say"See, we are open source!!". They will point to minor improvements (or merely changes) and say,“see we have contributed to the community!” However when a real VistA mumpster takes a look at the release, they will be underwhelmed...'

Cuba's communist government is trying to shake off the yoke of at least one capitalist empire _ Microsoft Corp. _ by joining with socialist Venezuela in converting its computers to open-source software.

Nokia has announced the latest version of its S60 software platform, S60 third Edition Feature Pack 2. A key feature of the latest release is the extension of the C++ development environment to include what Nokia is calling Open C. Open C is an extension of P.I.P.S (PIPS is POSIX on Symbian, introduced by Symbian in January) and provides standard POSIX C APIs on Symbian OS.

As you’ll no doubt be aware, the Mono Project is an ambitious, open-source initiative, largely coordinated by Novell. The aim is to build a complete suite of ECMA- compliant .NET tools (C# compiler, runtime, class frameworks, etc) which work across all supported platforms, including Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. For more background on the project, check out “Mono (software)” on Wikipedia.

On February 6, the blog Boycott Novell ran a story suggesting that Novell's Samba development team had resigned en masse to take jobs at rival Red Hat, in protest over Novell's well-publicized patent agreement with Microsoft. That would be big news, a major coup for Red Hat. Closer inspection, however, reveals that it simply didn't happen.

The release of Mozilla Firefox 2 further expands the capabilities and features of this highly regarded Internet browser, proving that just because you are popular doesn't mean you should slack off. Some of the new and updated features include: a visual refresh, integrated phishing protection, browser session resuming, live Titles and JavaScript 1.7 support (a more complete listing can be found in the release notes).

A new open source alliance is in town, consisting of "nobody and everybody" in open source development and looking to do some good. Called the Open Solutions Alliance, the group unveiled itself at the LinuxWorld Open Solutions Summit today as first first reported by internetnews.com. The consortium counts companies such as Jaspersoft, Hypernic, EntepriseDB, Spikesource, Adaptive Planning, OpenBravo, Groundwork, CentricCRM, Collabnet and Unisys as members. "We are nobody and everybody," Barry Klawans CTO at JasperSoft said.

Two reports released this week show that open-source software is gaining adoption worldwide - to the extent that it is putting significant pressure on commercial software companies and their business models.

Last June I wrote about suspending and hibernating laptops under Linux. Since then a few things have changed -- thankfully, for the better -- so it's time to revisit the subject. Also, a few readers have responded offering suggestions for improving the suspend shell script I wrote back then, and I've incorporated these suggestions in a new version; unfortunately most of the comments are anonymous, so I can't give proper credit to their authors.

Let’s be clear, Linux really isn’t the most lucrative platform on the market. It goes on the least expensive hardware, and much of what goes into it appears subsidized by other revenue streams. The marketing, such that it is, appears largely voluntary. The organizations that sit at the center, like the Linux Foundation, seem constantly underfunded or in the process of downsizing or changing leadership in preparation for downsizing.

[You know, we should all just quit supporting Linux and jump in the river.. - Scott]

One sure way to catch the eye in the IT marketplace these days is by announcing that you are "going open source" - whatever that means. In one of the latest such happenings, CNET reports that a company named Aras, which develops software entirely using Microsoft technologies released the code to a design application.

A tiny Russian software piracy case that ended up pitting Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin against Bill Gates has been thrown out of court.

Colonizing a new world is not a trivial task, even when you're doing it in a clone of a famous game. FreeCol is a free-as-in-free-software Java-based clone of Sid Meier's Colonization that's currently at the 0.5.3 release. But even this far short of a 1.0 release, it is coming along nicely enough to have earned it the designation of SourceForge.net Project of the Month. It is certainly playable, albeit with a few rough edges here and there and a few missing pieces.

HP today gave its Unix business the big squeeze with a new release of HP-UX and a pair of compact Itanium-based servers.

Sizing the Linux market ecosystem is no easy task. Downloads of Linux operating systems and applications are not an accurate measure. Analyst firm IDC, however, has a handle on the market and its size, and it's large. At this week's LinuxWorld Open Solutions Summit in New York City, IDC analysts detailed where they see the Linux ecosystem today and where it will be by 2010.

According to Forbes, SCO recently tried to subpoena Pamela "PJ" Jones, editor of the popular Groklaw legal news website. They were not successful. I've been unable to confirm with SCO that they indeed attempted to have Jones file a deposition for one of their Linux-related lawsuits.

WorldVistA is offeringVistA Office EHR (VOE) training at the1st WorldVistA Learning Conference and Seminar.The early bird registration rates will be expiring on Feb 17, as will the special hotel rates. Further, the list oftopics and presenters is now available. The presenters include some of the top Free and Open Source luminaries in the VistA community.This is the only place to learn about the new Open Source Clinical EHR that has beenfeatured in the New York Times

French bluetooth accessory specialist Com One is readying a portable WiFi clock-radio powered by a 2.6.15-7 kernel and the Familiar Linux distribution. The battery-powered "Phoenix IP Radio" is based on an Intel PXA270 (Bulverde) processor, and goes on sale direct to consumers next month.

Is there something new that open source development methods and values can bring to the economy? How about something old? I think the answer may come from the developing world, where pre-industrial methods and values persist and offer some helpful models and lessons for a networked world that's less post-industrial than industrial in a new and less impersonal way.This began to become apparent to me a few years ago I had a Socratic exchange with a Nigerian pastor named Sayo, whom I was lucky to find sitting next to me on a long airplane trip.