open source - Page number 59

In his keynote speech at the Red Hat Summit in Boston, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst made the case that of the $1.3 trillion USD spent in 2009 on Enterprise IT globally, $500 billion was essentially wasted (due to new project mortality and Version 2.0-itis). Moreover, because the purpose of IT spending is to create value (typically $6-$8 for each $1 of IT spend), the $500 billion waste in enterprise IT spending translates to $3.5 trillion of lost economic value. He goes on to explain that with the right innovations—in software business models, software architectures, software technologies, and applications—we can get full value from the money that's being wasted today, reinforcing the thesis that innovation trumps cost savings.

But then along comes Accenture's Chief Technology Architect Paul Daugherty, and in his keynote he presents a list of the top five reasons that customers choose open source software (which is now up to 78% among their customers):

#1 (76%): better quality than proprietary software.

#5 (54%): lower total cost of ownership.

So which is it? Does innovation trump cost savings? Or does quality trump cost savings?

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All right, I get it. The iPhone is certainly a leader in both terms of sales and product ingenuity. I have often been known to blast Apple for being late to a party, then claiming they are introducing some incredible new feature (see Spaces vs Virtual Desktops). I won't hide the fact that I am not a fan of Apple. Even so, the iPhone is truly something innovative. » Read more

This open thread is an opportunity for you to tell us how you explain what the open source way is, but without mentioning software or technology. » Read more

Graham Taylor of OpenForum Europe (OFE) and  Karsten Gerloff of Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) cite standardization policy as the principal battleground for free software & open source communities in Europe.  As Taylor observes, “We [OFE] identified that 90% of the public sector had lost their choice about freely choosing the next step [of software procurement], using all proprietary technologies.”   » Read more

I haven't watched any of the World Cup except for a few highlights on ESPN. I have, however, heard (no pun intended) about the vuvuzela horn. The World Cup is a big deal to football (soccer) fans around the world, but the vuvuzela horn is making quite the buzz.

Some folks seem to be annoyed by the sound and want to watch the game free of the vuvuzela horn noise. Create Digital Music has a solution for you: » Read more

The rising cost of development and research is making drug companies turn to each other for help. Rival companies that include Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Roche plan on sharing clinical data in a standard format. But this isn't the first time we've seen pharmaceutical companies start to share data.

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A little over a month ago, the Fedora Project announced a plan to replace the existing Fedora Individual Contributor License Agreement (FICLA) with something new, which we've imaginatively titled the Fedora Project Contributor Agreement (FPCA). After gathering some feedback on the first draft from the Fedora community, the Fedora Project published a revised draft. » Read more

What most people do not know about the making of software: It Is Hard. » Read more

We were extremely fortunate to have Dr. David Upton, chair in Operations Management at Oxford University, kick off our first ever Open Your World forum. Dr. Upton's presentation, entitled "Radically Simple IT ... or, a Strategic Argument for Open Source in Business" was a highly relevant and insightful commentary on how open source principles can help business leaders transform how they approach and engage the more traditional strategic planning process. » Read more