Category Archives: Postings

Not just cash…

There are many ways to support open source software. However your business uses it, supporting its development is key to ensuring that the software continues to be maintained and improved. When I wrote “Supporting its development”, did your mind jump straight to “making a donation”? Other ways of contributing support abound and are just as crucial to the health of the project.

From participating in the community and buying from community members to promoting the project and contributing directly to the code, there are a lot of options out there. What’s encouraging about many of these options is that they flow very naturally out of a businesses needs and practices.

To read Simon’s full article “7 ways your company can support open source”, check out the article in InfoWorld now.

Open Data – Digital Gold

Bolzano LogoThe delightful Tyrolean city of Bolzano will be the locale for a “Festival of Innovation” running from the 26th to the 28th of September this year.

On the Friday of the festival there will be  a half day open data conference entitled “Open Data – Digital Gold“. The event will feature notable keynote speakers Mark Madsen from Third Nature and ODI’s Ulrich Atz as well as case studies from two Italian municipalities exploring the value of open data. Essential material for all those seeking to understand how open data can make a difference for their cities and citizens.

SUSE LibreOffice developers move to Collabora

Along with SUSE’s announcement that they are stopping development of LibreOffice, they also announced that they’re facilitating the migration of their staff LibreOffice contributors to Collabora, a new home for LibreOffice support. The core of SUSE’s LibreOffice developers (contributing around three quarters of SUSE commits), will now continue their work from within the newly created Collabora productivity suite business unit, named Collabora Productivity.

Whilst many of those left behind remain committed to contributing to LibreOffice on their own time, the developer core moving to Collabora Productivity ensure that both LibreOffice community support and continuity for SUSE’s enterprise customers remain priorities.

For the LibreOffice project overall, the news seems a very natural step for SUSE and highlights the importance of The Document Foundation’s role in managing the project; even in times of corporate change for contributing companies, impact on the project itself is minimal, as all infrastructure for development and distribution is managed by the Foundation. For more commentary, check out Simon’s InfoWorld article.

Campus Party Tonight

This evening Simon will be speaking at Campus Party Europe. He’ll be speaking on the meshed society and why politics and intellectual property law are broken. The slot starts at 21:00 on the Archimedes stage of the O2 arena, where the free software track has a range of speakers and panels happening all week.

Nokia: Microsoft’s new patent troll?

Since the announcement of Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia there have been numerous assessments of what this says with regard to Microsoft’s future business model. Are they becoming another Apple clone? Much less attention has been paid however to the remains of Nokia.

You see, Microsoft didn’t acquire everything. They’ve got the traditional mobile phones, the smart devices and all related services. That’s all the important bits right? Not quite, Nokia has been left with a mapping data business, a technology business providing phone companies with infrastructure, and (significantly) a considerable portfolio of patents.

Having sold on their physical devices, Nokia is now free to ruthlessly pursue anybody they feel is “infringing” those patents without worrying about counter attacks against their own technologies. Licensing the patents to Microsoft but keeping the patents themselves in hand, Nokia is left as a potentially very unpleasant patent troll, presumably seeking to harass Microsoft’s rivals. For the full story, see Simon’s InfoWorld article.

Can Ballmer’s exit boost Microsoft’s Open Source profile?

News of Steve Ballmer’s departure has already created a lot of speculation, but what might it mean for Microsoft’s open source commitments?

Simon’s seven step process model for understanding the shift towards full adoption of open source in large corporations is a useful tool for understanding Microsoft’s open source profile. He explains the model and gives some observations about Microsoft’s current position within that model in his current InfoWorld article (where an insider comment suggests his evaluation that Microsoft is stuck at stage 3 is spot on)..

Progressing to the 4th step, (“A new C-level exec is able to defend actions by the open source office and to counter strategies elsewhere in the corporation that threaten to destroy the reputational credit the open source office creates.”) might seem unlikely, but perhaps now is the time. There are several factors which could contribute to this, ranging from the legacy of the Microsoft’s Codeplex forge to the spate of executive leavings over the last few years.

Perhaps it’s still wishful thinking, but there’s never been a better time for Microsoft to commit more solidly to open source. For more detailed discussion check out the InfoWorld Article.

Open Core – not just a religious issue

Having a business model in which you sell a proprietary version of an otherwise Open Source project is a slippery slope that erodes user freedom. Nginx’s decision to release a paid only version of their popular server software might seem like good business sense, given the widespread adoption of their product, but in fact it has potential to decrease their value. Continue reading →

Open World Forum Track: Meshed Society and Freedom to Innovate

Open World Forum is an annual Free and Open-Source European forum which is running this year between the 3rd and 5th of October in Paris, France. The event provides a chance for the Free and Open-Source community to debate the different effects of their work on the market, with a range of politicians decision makers and experts in attendance.

On the Friday of the forum, from 10am Simon will be helping lead a track entitled “Meshed Society and Freedom to Innovate“. The track explores ways in which freedom to innovate is threatened and limited by market control points erected in a previous, unconnected era of our society. It also looks at some of the practical steps available today that can encourage innovation and ensure that the freedom to do so is refreshed and kept from being further eroded. In addition to that track he’ll also be participating in the “Future of Open Source Foundations” panel discussion on the  Thursday morning.

Already in it’s 6th year, the forum continues to grow in size and reach. This year it’s grown again and moved to a larger venue. There’s still plenty of time to register for this years event, so make sure you’ve got your place secured today.

Neuroscience and the Vision of Computing’s Future

Whilst attending OSCON, Simon ran into and conducted a short interview with Jeff Hawkins. Hawkins has a number of different claims to fame. The Palm Pilot and the Treo particularly stick out in the memory and indeed it’s  for “the creation of the first commercially successful example of a hand-held computing device” that he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Yet despite originating what is now a massive market in hand held devices, his personal passion is to be found in neuroscience and it’s to that cause that his energy is now dedicated. Continue reading →

Make a stand against censorship!

Open Rights GroupDavid Cameron’s web filtering agenda is particularly unhelpful. There are a raft of reasons why “default on” filtering is a bad idea. Filters don’t effectively block explicit material and lots of helpful, wanted material gets caught up in the same blockages (including this site!). Even if there was some practical way to avoid problems of this nature (which there isn’t) there’s another, deeper problem involved concerning censorship.

As ORG’s campaign “David Cameron: Stop Sleepwalking the UK into Censorship” points out, “adult filtering amounts to censoring legal content”. No other modern, democratic country is behaving this way. By pushing this agenda David Cameron sets a dangerous precedent for the administration of any country which is seeking to justify the suppression of information to its people.

Signing ORG’s petition is one way that you can have your say on the matter. By adding your voice to those calling on the prime minister to drop his proposals you can make a valuable stand against censorship. So take a look at the campaign and if it’s something you agree with, make your voice heard! If you’re still unconvinced that “default on” filtering is a bad move, ORG’s page on censorship goes over some of the issues in more detail. This is an issue which is cropping up more and more, in parliament and in the news and a lot of the coverage has a clear and ill considered bias. Get informed and don’t let the UK get “sleepwalked into censorship”.