open source - Page number 16

One of the things I love most about the open source communities I’m a part of is that when I ask a question, I just don’t get the answer, I get taught how to find the answer. » Read more

The free-market capitalistic definition of companies' goals was, for a long time, very simple: to make as much profit as possible. With that in mind, the only difference between a success and a failure was the investor's return on investment. Short-term profit became priority number one. However, this classic definition of capitalism hastransformed the way companies are perceived in the population over time. » Read more

I can remember so clearly the exact day my mind became open sourced. It was a crisp and sunny November day in 1973. After class in middle school, I called up my best friend, Bruce Jordan, and asked, "Can I come over to play now?" Bruce replied, "Sure." I jumped on my red, one-speed Schwinn bicycle and biked like mad the two miles over to Bruce's house. I arrived happily breathless. » Read more

The recent announcement by Blackboard (Bb) that it was acquiring two Moodle service providers was quite interesting to anyone who follows open source in higher education. Over the years, Blackboard has emerged as a market leader in the learning management system (LMS) arena, through both product development and acquisition.  At the same time, Blackboard has attracted considerable heat and a large dose of scorn for a patent the company filed and tried to enforce. That patent was viewed by many to be an attempt to corner the LMS market and to claim invention of many LMS features in use well before Blackboard’s supposed date of invention. (Read coverage of the long story and eventual Blackboard loss in the courts.) Particularly for fans of open source, this sort of behavior does not make Blackboard an admired company, and acquisitions in the Moodle niche are much more likely to raise eyebrows than cheers. » Read more

Black Duck Software and North Bridge Venture Partners, working with 451 Research, are conducting the sixth annual Future of Open Source Survey. I took the survey, but one question caused me concern, considering what I do for a living. Question 11 states, "OSS [Open source software] forges and foundations have played an important role in the past few years. How will OSS forges and foundations evolve over the next 2-3 years?" Answers range from growing or decreasing equally in terms of adoption, one growing at the expense of the other, or staying the same. I’m troubled because forges and foundations serve open source project communities in radically different ways. » Read more

The 2012 Developer Conference (held at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic) included talks on numerous topics and had several side events in smaller rooms. Most of them were practical workshops focused on a certain technology or project. Aslak Knutsen had two of them--the first one focused on Arquillian SPI and the second on development of Java EE applications. » Read more

It's a two-second trip to visit walkyourcity.org. But before you head over there, you'll want to hear from Matt Tomasulo, founder of CityFabric and chief instigator of Walk Raleigh and Walk [Your City]. Urban Times called Walk [Your City] "Open Source Guerrilla Wayfinding." It's a simple idea of helping pedestrians overcome the hurdle of distance perception, and by doing so, promoting a healthier lifestyle.

A few weeks ago at Triangle Wiki Day, Tomasulo mentioned he wanted to take his Walk Raleigh idea global, and using the principles of open source were the perfect way to do so. The open source walking adventure is starting. Tomasulo has started a successful Kickstarter campaign and is gathering support for the Walk Your City platform.

See how open source has influenced the Walk [Your City] project in our interview with Matt Tomasulo. » Read more

Last month, Verizon announced their HomeFusion broadband Internet service, which provides faster-than-DSL Internet service to a broad swath of rural America. After paying a one time fee of $200 for a device that hangs on the side of your house, you can live anywhere Verizon's LTE cell phone service reaches and receive fixed wireless broadband Internet at that location for $60/month.

For the longest time, rural home dwellers have had very poor choices for high-speed Internet. Some chose to use satellite Internet service, but that was often a costly and unsatisfactory solution. Verizon's new option is going to be » Read more

You've been thinking about starting an open source company. Or maybe you've got an idea but don't know how to take it to the next level. You need something to accelerate your idea. Maybe you need to pitch it to investors? Perhaps you're looking for a co-founder with skills that compliment yours? Startup Weekend could be the event that gets you moving.

We caught up with some of the organizers from a local Start-up Weekend in the Research Triangle, North Carolina. We wanted to find out what Start-up Weekend is looking to accomplish. And while we were investigating, something unique caught our attention—a track specifically designed for open source. » Read more

I was at the Palmetto Open Source Conference (POSSCON) a few weeks ago and one of the best exhibits was from SparkFun, an electronics company that sells open source hardware, offers classes, and provides online educational tutorials. A massive collection of electronic gadgets drew me to their booth.

Which got me thinking... » Read more