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Open source software can offer functionality well beyond its price, but it doesn't come without costs. Deborah Moynihan of Progress Software looks at some of the perils of using open source software and offers some solutions that address those problems.

There's no question that the open source community is a passionate one -- and one with significant influence on technology directions and options. We're way past the days when people asked if Linux or Apache was safe to depend on in business. Open source is now a mainstream part of the technology fabric. Nucleus Report: Who's ready for SMB? - read this white paper. Yet it remains connected to its roots around a passionate community working together to solve problems and share the fruits of their labors with others. Any endeavor based in community is bound to spark passionate debate. After all, without contention, how else to determine the best way forward?

Yesterday I filed a pro bono amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief with the United States Supreme Court in support of the Federal Trade Commission's petition for writ of certiorari in its suit against Rambus Technologies. I'm pleased to report that 19 standard setting organizations (SSOs), representing over 13,300 members, joined as amici curiae supporting this brief; the list of participants appears later in this blog entry.

There is a way to make money from Linux even in a down economy -- it's called subscription revenues. Linux vendor Red Hat yesterday reported growth in income and revenues on the back of renewal rates for its Linux support subscriptions. Revenues for the company's third fiscal quarter for 2009, which ended Nov. 30, hit $165.3 million, an increase of 22 percent over its third-quarter fiscal 2008 performance a year ago.

Talk about tempests and teapots. Yesterday had quite the controversy as reports swirled around the Intertubes that Garmin would be releasing an Android handset. This all started when website DigiTimes posted that Garmin would launch Android handsets during the second half of 2009. Immediately, everyone started speculating whether the upcoming Nuvifone would be Android based. Apparently not. Garmin responded with a press release disputing the DigiTimes report and saying the story contained "a number inaccuracies in both sales figures and product rollout schedules."

Hot on the heels of a mobile device browsing tip, I see that Mozilla has outed the next alpha version of their Fennic browser. Fennic is the mobile version of Firefox that’s currently targeted at the Nokia Internet Tablet line, but that’s likely just the beginning of device support considering the vast amount of mobile phones out on the market.

Google Maps gives you a quick and easy way to add maps to your Web site, but when you're using Google's API, your ability to display other data is limited. If you have your own data you want to display, or data from sources other than Google, OpenLayers, an open source JavaScript library, can give you more options.

SATELLAR Digital System with TCP/IP-capabilities and Linux can run software applications as well as operating system, IP-router, and web configuration server. Different units can be combined to construct radio modem with functionalities for specific location; radio unit (basic building block) can be used to access RS-232-based devices or act as a radio repeater, while central unit, with TCP/IP-capabilities and Linux platform, can be added to locations where more functionality is needed.

In order to attract some interest for certain slow, but extremely important projects I’ve picked out a few attractive apps which could become powerful contributors to the widespread adoption of the Linux desktop.

Lately I've been reading a lot of bad news about Ubuntu. Saying that they aren't giving back to the community, and how they are going to be charging for non free software. I don't know specifics here but I know the Debian community is pissed off with Ubuntu because they don't give back to the community as much as other distros do. The truth is though. Ubuntu has given a lot back to the Linux community as a whole. They are helping set a new standard of sub par distros. There is a reason why they are number one in the community right now. The huge reason is that Ubuntu is user friendly. Although a bit constricting at times, but still much more customizable and user friendly for the first time user.

First there was Compiz, a compositing window manager that brought very interesting desktop effects to Linux, and then Beryl came about as a fork of Compiz before it ultimately turned into Compiz Fusion. Today though, on Christmas eve, the world can now meet Compiz++.

Compiz++ is a branch of Compiz that brings several new features to the table and there are huge changes...

I was pleased as the proverbial punch to receive a link in the latest Distrowatch Weekly, and I didn't even have to stoop to my usual begging. (Thanks Caitlyn!) What I also saw in the column was the announcement of a new distribution, CentServer, which is based on CentOS. For those who might not know, CentOS is itself a free clone of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

A new center aimed at speeding the development of mobile computing devices around the Linux-based Moblin OS opened in Taipei on Tuesday. The idea is for Taiwanese companies to use the center as a testing ground for new netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs), as well as develop more applications around Moblin. The Taiwan government teamed up on the center with U.S. chip maker Intel, which developed Moblin. Intel plans to support the new center by further development of Moblin, which includes open source software with an OS, a user interface, a browser, developer tools and other software. Intel created Moblin software to run on devices that use its Atom microprocessors.

A Sun Microsystems executive has provided a glimpse into the company's future plans for open sourcing JavaFX, its recently released technology for building RIAs (rich Internet applications) for the desktop, mobile devices and other platforms. Sun's corporate image is grounded in its embrace of open-source software and some components of JavaFX, including the JavaFX compiler and elements of graphic libraries, are now available under the GPLv2 open-source license, according to the official JavaFX FAQ.

Tux is no mere drone -- he likes having fun every now and then. When it comes to gaming, open source tools and applications have a lot to offer developers, but that's not where it stops. Open source games themselves can be had for little or no cost, and a lot of them offer just as much baddy-blasting entertainment as proprietary titles.

I am pleased to announce the availability of LSB 4.0 Release Candidate 1. This version of LSB 4.0 has been put in the normal release directories, but IS ONLY A RELEASE CANDIDATE! In particular, certification is not yet open for LSB 4.0. We are continuing to use the previously-announced beta page for accessing information on LSB 4.0 prereleases.

GroundWork Open Source and Roaring Penguin Software Inc. are preparing a technology alliance to jointly serve VARs and managed service providers starting in January 2009, MSPmentor has learned. From my perspective, the anticipated deal will further legitimize open source in the managed services market. And it could accelerate GroundWork Open Source’s push into the IT channel. On the flip side, Roaring Penguin gains a growing partner that has been disrupting the corporate IT management market previously dominated by Hewlett-Packard OpenView, among others.

Video acceleration APIs for Linux has been a hot topic recently with NVIDIA having introduced VDPAU last month (the Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix) that brings PureVideo-like features to Linux with great results while it's already finding its way into MPlayer, FFmpeg, MythTV, Xine, and VLC. AMD has been working hard on XvBA (X-Video Bitstream Acceleration), but that has yet to be officially introduced. In the open-source realm there has been talk of extending XvMC to support video formats besides MPEG-2, but that hasn't yet amounted to anything. Today though another video API is now on scene with VA-API finally being implemented in MPlayer and FFmpeg.

Seasons greetings to one and all :)

You know, we were hoping for a Nokia knock-off to poke fun at this morning, but what we got instead was a comprehensive five page review of a vaguely N810-ish, Linux-based handheld called the MID-2008. The 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen phone / media player features a 628MHz processor, 128MB RAM and supports a 16GB expansion card, WiFi and Bluetooth.