Open Source Today http://opensourcetoday.org Open Source Today Web Blog Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:42:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en Open source makes a good donation http://opensourcetoday.org/open-source-makes-a-good-donation.html http://opensourcetoday.org/open-source-makes-a-good-donation.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:42:10 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/open-source-makes-a-good-donation.html Two disparate charities have successfully implemented open source software, saving money and creating happier users in the process. Jane Dudman looks at how open source can give smaller organisations greater control at minimum expense

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/open-source-makes-a-good-donation.html/feed Hands Across the Water: Open Source and Open Standards http://opensourcetoday.org/hands-across-the-water-open-source-and-open-standards.html http://opensourcetoday.org/hands-across-the-water-open-source-and-open-standards.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:41:58 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/hands-across-the-water-open-source-and-open-standards.html Having the latest computer technology is great. But what e-government users from the public sector as well as citizens really want is software interoperability. Unfortunately IT managers still only pay lip service to such interoperability, concludes a European project assessing today’s open-source movement.

So reads the lead paragraph of an article called Brainstorming ways to push open source at a European Website, reporting on the conclusions of a project called FLOSSPOLS, launched to support Free/Libre/Open Source Software policy support in Europe. The summary continues as follows:

“Open standards provide independence, not traditional vendor lock-in. They are good for users, purchasers and government from both the economic and competition standpoint,” says Rishab Ghosh, from the Merit/Infonomics research institute in The Netherlands.

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/hands-across-the-water-open-source-and-open-standards.html/feed Fundamentalist Software Foundation in the making http://opensourcetoday.org/fundamentalist-software-foundation-in-the-making.html http://opensourcetoday.org/fundamentalist-software-foundation-in-the-making.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:41:46 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/fundamentalist-software-foundation-in-the-making.html When Richard Stallman created the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in 1985, it was organised around a radical idea: software should be free, not just as in free of charge, but free as in the concept of liberty. During the next 20 years, this idea turned out to be not just radical, but surprisingly practical. Beginning with Stallman’s Emacs text editor, to the various Gnu utilities, the Linux kernel, and beyond, free software has proved to be an enduring success.

Much of the credit for this must go to Stallman himself. Through his tireless campaigning, he has transformed this idealistic notion into something that the wider world, and even the business community, can accept. Although it may not always be easy to agree with him, his arguments have been rational, and, if nothing else, intellectually consistent to the last.

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/fundamentalist-software-foundation-in-the-making.html/feed The Economics of Free Software http://opensourcetoday.org/the-economics-of-free-software.html http://opensourcetoday.org/the-economics-of-free-software.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:41:36 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/the-economics-of-free-software.html Some of the most puzzling aspects of open source software – that is, software for which there is no licensing fee charged to the user by the creators – are those related not to the technologies but rather to the underlying economics involved. I’ve written before about some of the benefits that open source software offers to users as well as developers (see Open Source Software: It’s Not (Only) About the Money) and also about how companies can seek and sometimes find profit from open source software as in Open Source and the Profit Motive that addresses some of the tactical uses of open source software. However, there is a deeper question about open source software: How do economists account for the creation of a good (in the economic sense of something of value) outside the traditional framework of the firm and the marketplace?

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/the-economics-of-free-software.html/feed Linux powers rugged vehicle computer http://opensourcetoday.org/linux-powers-rugged-vehicle-computer.html http://opensourcetoday.org/linux-powers-rugged-vehicle-computer.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:41:13 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/linux-powers-rugged-vehicle-computer.html Parvus will demonstrate a new Linux-ready in-vehicle computer on June 13, at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Rail Conference in New York City. The DuraCOR 1100 is a rugged, Intel Celeron-based “vehicle logic unit” (VLU) that targets “information-level applications” in road and rail transit vehicles.

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/linux-powers-rugged-vehicle-computer.html/feed A Firefox in a software hen house http://opensourcetoday.org/a-firefox-in-a-software-hen-house.html http://opensourcetoday.org/a-firefox-in-a-software-hen-house.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:41:03 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/a-firefox-in-a-software-hen-house.html Software companies, big and small, have failed to deliver on the promise to make life easier for users, said the 21-year-old inventor of the Firefox Internet browser during a speech today at the City Club of Cleveland.

Blake Ross, who draped his suit coat over a nearby chair and sported an easy grin during his 25-minute talk, told the audience mixed with young professionals and seasoned business pros that there is an “ever-widening gap” between developers creating software and the people using it.

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/a-firefox-in-a-software-hen-house.html/feed Creating virtual private networks with tsocks and VTun http://opensourcetoday.org/creating-virtual-private-networks-with-tsocks-and-vtun.html http://opensourcetoday.org/creating-virtual-private-networks-with-tsocks-and-vtun.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:40:50 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/creating-virtual-private-networks-with-tsocks-and-vtun.html Virtual private networks (VPN) let remote users connect back to corporate networks over encrypted links. Many VPNs are built with proprietary technology and can be tricky and expensive to set up. For a small business or an individual who needs a simple way to securely access remote networks, setting up a true VPN might be prohibitively expensive in terms of both money and time. Let’s look at two simple approaches that bring you transparency without the cost. All you need is Secure Shell (SSH) access to a server on the network you’re trying to access.


Click here to find out more!

SSH, a simple and common way to access remote networks without a VPN, can be used to get a command prompt on a remote machine. Through SSH extensions such as Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and Secure Copy (SCP), you can transfer files to and from a remote machine.

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/creating-virtual-private-networks-with-tsocks-and-vtun.html/feed Revamping the Web Browser http://opensourcetoday.org/revamping-the-web-browser.html http://opensourcetoday.org/revamping-the-web-browser.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:40:39 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/revamping-the-web-browser.html For years, the Web browser was a technology that seemed frozen in time. While the Web itself exploded with new types of content and virtual communities, the way users accessed that material changed hardly at all from 1997 to 2004 (not coincidentally, the years when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer had a chokehold on the browser market).

But now with a maturing base of open-source code for building Web tools, browser technology is thawing quickly — and upstart software engineers are bringing into question some long-dominant assumptions about the way browsers can and should work.

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/revamping-the-web-browser.html/feed AIM aims for developers http://opensourcetoday.org/aim-aims-for-developers.html http://opensourcetoday.org/aim-aims-for-developers.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:40:29 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/aim-aims-for-developers.html AOL was set to announce on Monday that it is opening up its AIM Software Development Kit to Linux, Mac OS X and Pocket PC developers. In addition, the company is providing the ability for developers to build customized plug-ins and other software that work with AOL’s location-based services, PC-to-PC voice calling functionality and multi-party voice chat.

Developers also will be able to create customized AIM Bots, opt-in screen names which help users send pictures or podcasts to their blogs, among other activities. More information on the Open AIM initiative is at developer.aim.com.

]]> http://opensourcetoday.org/aim-aims-for-developers.html/feed Open-Source Telephony http://opensourcetoday.org/open-source-telephony.html http://opensourcetoday.org/open-source-telephony.html#comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:40:19 +0000 admin http://www.opensourcetoday.org/open-source-telephony.html Open-source VoIP PBXes (Private Branch Exchanges) offer small to medium-sized enterprises a cost-effective entry point into deploying a VoIP PBX within their enterprise. Such PBXes could especially be an attractive option if you don’t want to outsource your VoIP PBX to a third-party provider.

Open-source PBXes such as Asterisk 1.2.7.1 (www.asterisk.org), Pingtel SIPxchange ECS (www.pingtel.com), and Signate Telephony Server 5000 (www.signate.com) offer the full suite of PBX features rivaling their expensive commercial cousins. Each of these IP PBXes is backed up by a vendor’s support and professional services organization.

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