France plans open source centre of excellence

06 December 2006

The French government will make Paris a centre of excellence for open-source software development, it has announced.

French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry, Thierry Breton, said the goal of the centre will be to develop a healthy and profitable open-source software industry.

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UK open source centre established

The open source and open standards (OS&S) debate just got a permanent UK home, where a think-tank can evolve the innovative technology. The National Open Centre (NOC) will house the thoughts and possibilities of OS&S software strategists in Birmingham. [...] OpenAdvantage (University Central England) is partially sponsoring the endeavour alongside Birmingham City Council, Digital Birmingham and Midland Open Source Technologies.

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Dutch Municipalities demand 'Openess'

In February 2003, the program "Open Standards and Open Source Software (OSSOS) for the Dutch government" started, funded by the Dutch government. One of the main tasks was to make the government independent from single software suppliers, among which are Microsoft and SAP. After three years, the effort starts bearing fruit. Ten big municipalities - together 2,7 million inhabitants and including Amsterdam and The Hague - signed a manifest.

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In the OSSOS program, big municipalities have discussed what the demands for software tenders should be in the future. It became clear, interoperability and independence from software supplier should be the most important aspects for such tenders.

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Nonetheless, open source software isn't mentioned in the manifest. This is done deliberately. Instead of asking for open source, the manifest explains what the goals of that 'open source' should be; making it harder for suppliers to abuse the term 'open software', and label their closed software 'open'. There are four terms of 'openness' in the manifest:

1. Supplier independence
2. Interoperability
3. Transparency and verifiability and
4. Digital durability

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"The most significant trend since the early 1980s"

"IDC declares in this study that open-source software represents the most significant all-encompassing and long-term trend that the software industry has seen since the early 1980s. IDC analysts also believe that open source will eventually play a role in the life-cycle of every major software category, and will fundamentally change the value proposition of packaged software for customers. "

It's not just Linux: Open Source has arrived

Government Insights Predicts Open Source Software Will Grow Fastest in Government Sector

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 2006--According to a recent analysis conducted by market research firm Government Insights (an IDC company), open source software will gain momentum faster within the government sector than it will in other markets. Government Insights predicts government information technology (IT) will most likely see the most substantial growth in the use of open source software over the next five years, with rapid growth in the five to ten year time frame. This study also predicts a 'value shift' for software within the government community, citing the initial shift driven by state and local governments sharing their custom-developed solutions."

Open source in the national interest

"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come." Victor Hugo.

So states a report from the Department of Defense's Advanced Systems and Concepts Office, which recommends that the DoD move to a roadmap to adopt open source and open standards, maintaining that such a move is not only in the US national interest, but in the interests of US national security.

The 79-page report proposes that the DoD adopt what it calls "open technology development," which incorporates open source methodologies and open standards, but also takes into account the fact that the DoD has systems that it would rather keep secret.

"It is important, in the context of this report and resulting policy discussions, to distinguish between OSS and OTD, since the latter may include code whose distribution may be limited to DoD, and indeed may only be accessible on classified networks," states the report, before maintaining that OTD does also not "impinge on the legal states" of commercially-developed software.

What it does do is recommend the use of open source software, open standards, and open source development methodologies within the DoD. According to the report, this is in the national interest, as it holds the potential to reduce software purchasing and development costs.

"Currently within DoD, there is no internal distribution policy or mechanism for DoD developed and paid for software code. By not enabling internal distribution, DoD creates an arbitrary scarcity of its own software code, which increases the development and maintenance costs of information technology across the Department," it states.

"Other negative consequences include lock-in to obsolete proprietary technologies, the inability to extend existing capabilities in months vs. years, and snarls of interoperability that stem from the opacity and stove-piping of information systems."

Cultural Environmentalism Conference at Stanford

Cultural Environmentalism at 10: "Ten years ago, Duke Law Professor Jamie Boyle suggested that the history of the environmental movement offered powerful theoretical and practical lessons to those who sought to recognize the importance of the public domain, and to expose the harms caused by a relentlessly maximalist program of intellectual property expansion."

Stallman and Perens are coming to Belfast

The FOSS Means Business conference will take place in Belfast on the 16th March 2006. It will focus on the adoption and use of Free Software/Open Source Software (FOSS), with particular emphasis on the economic and competitive benefits for both the public and private sector.

Read more at FOSS Means Business...

Levanta - EMA Study: Get the Truth on Linux Management

Levanta - EMA Study: Get the Truth on Linux Management: "In various older studies, Microsoft and some analysts claimed Linux has a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) than Windows. [...] However, in a new study of over 200 Linux enterprises, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) found that this perception is no longer accurate. Sophisticated management tools now allow Linux management to be fast, effective, and inexpensive. With far lower acquisition costs, Linux is now a cost-effective alternative to Windows."

Software's economic contribution hugely undervalued - ZDNet UK

Software's economic contribution hugely undervalued - ZDNet UK News: "The Government has been hugely underestimating the contribution that the software industry makes to the UK economy for more than a decade, according to a report released on Monday by the Office of National Statistics (ONS)."

Free Mesh Networking with Metrix Pebble - O'Reilly Network

By using OLSR to connect the access points together, we were able to quickly roll out as many APs as needed to effectively cover the huge conference area. There was simply no wired infrastructure present at the event, and running CAT5 throughout the space was impractical. Using OLSR meant that we could simply plug in a node wherever power was present, and the network would "figure itself out." People connected to the network using the traditional AP services that were provided on the second radio, and their traffic was automatically forwarded over the mesh all the way back to the uplink.

Read more at O'Reilly Network...

The World of Smartboards - Vic Divecha's Blog

A fascinating video demonstration of an innovative touchscreen interface developed at NYU...

Watch the video at Vic Divecha's Blog...

Open Source moves centre stage - Deloitte

TMT Trends: Predictions, 2006 - A Focus on the Technology Sector "The software world will likely see its dynamics continue to change, as open source becomes a growing threat to the established software business model, impacting both established software providers as well as end-users. Open source may well challenge long-established products and services in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other enterprise software infrastructure functions, in addition to its growing strength in server management, operating systems and office productivity software6. Open source’s key differentiation will likely remain the global community development model, which may continue to usurp the legacy approach of closed source software development, driven by a single company’s developers. As well as lowering R&D costs, the global collaborative effort of thousands of developers will be likely to be seen increasingly as a way of sharply reducing product development time frames."
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Open source moves towards center stage

2006 will likely see open source ramp up its challenge to the established software business model, impacting both established software providers as well as end-users. 2006 may well see open source challenge long-established and credible products and services in CRM, ERP and other enterprise software infrastructure functions, in addition to its growing strength in server management, operating systems and office productivity software²⁸.

Open source’s key differentiation will likely remain as its development model, which in turn changes the cost structure for software. Open source’s global community development model will likely continue to usurp the legacy approach of closed source software development, driven by a single company’s developers. As well as lowering R&D costs, the global collaborative effort of thousands of developers can sharply reduce product development time frames.

In 2006, open source’s growing adoption will likely cause many in the industry to take a different view towards the value of intellectual property, and how to best leverage it. Many established software players may well choose to provide previously proprietary intellectual property to open source communities, recognizing the power of the open source model as a distribution mechanism; and one which need not threaten the value of intellectual assets²⁹. As a result, it will likely become increasingly difficult to identify pure open source development projects.

The hype caused by open source will likely catalyze market entry, particularly encouraging start-ups building enterprise grade open source products. Some new entrants will likely focus on developing service and maintenance businesses based on open source software provided; others may develop integrated closed and open source software solution; others may rely on charged-for ancillary toolkits to generate revenues.

Bottom Line

The maturing and growing acceptance of open source will likely require considered responses from both established software suppliers and end-users alike in 2006.

Established software industry players should, if they have not already done so, develop an open source strategy that is agreed by the Board. Elements of this strategy may include identifying new areas to accrue revenues, if the belief is that the traditional charging model no longer applies. Alternatively some companies may seek out specialist niches in which the open source community would most likely have no interest, such as developing specialist software to reduce the overhead associated with regulatory compliance. All, however, should seriously consider the power of the open source model as a means of distribution in an increasingly crowded, competitive and complex market.

Businesses considering acquiring open source software should bear in mind its dynamics. While open source is sometimes mistakenly perceived as free, businesses should bear in mind that its ultimate impact may be to redistribute, rather than sharply reduce, the flow of revenues to the software sector. Ancillary products and services, from maintenance to developer tool kits, may well consume technology budgets, rather than the core product itself.

Furthermore, while the cost of software R&D – and hence the cost of products themselves – may decline in the short-run, as pride, rather than profit, becomes a major motivator for developers. In the long-run profit may resume its pole position as the principal lure for the best developers. This may well have a knock on impact on the cost of software.

Additionally, while key potential benefits of open source products include flexibility and lower total cost of ownership (TCO), the downsides include a potentially poorer quality product. Businesses should ensure that operations are not disrupted because of breakdowns in lower cost, but lesser quality, software. Moreover, businesses should think carefully about whom they contract to provide their software solutions. Just because a small open source company has access to worldclass code, does not mean it will be able to support its clients properly.

Finally, the open source community should start to broaden its reach. There remains a considerable opportunity to take open source code into new areas, including mobile smart phones, PDAs and even set-top boxes³⁰. As more and more devices become intelligent, the opportunity for the open source model will likely grow accordingly.

Read more at Mondaq...

Nuclear War over Software Patents?

In 1991, open-source pioneer Richard M. Stallman warned that software patents -- then something of a novelty -- would create enormous havoc for industry. His concern? Locking software behind patent walls, away from developers, would have a chilling effect on a nascent open-source movement, with its promise of sweeping innovation. He was dismissed as an alarmist. But 15 years later, most sophisticated observers admit that his prediction had merit.

Read more at Businessweek...

Google, Skype in startup to link hotspots - Seattle PI

FON's idea, floated just three months ago in a Web posting by founder Martin Varsavsky, is to sign up people who have Wi-Fi hotspots in one of two ways.

"Linus" members, named after Linus Torvalds, who created the freely distributed Linux software, will share their hotspot with other Linus members for free.

"Bill" members, named after Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, will charge for access to their hotspot. FON will get some of that revenue, and share it with Internet service providers, or ISPs.

Read more at Seattle PI...

Open-Source Hardware Challenges Licensing Models - Sci-Tech Today

The open-source movement is entering a new era with industry heavyweights such as IBM and Sun Microsystems Relevant Products/Services from Emulex announcing that for the first time in their companies' histories they will make the documentation for some of their hardware open source.

Read more at Sci-Tech Today...

OSS Watch - Open Source and Sustainability 2006

OSS Watch - Open Source and Sustainability 2006: "Open Source and Sustainability is a 3-day conference exploring the theme of open source sustainability: the perspective for higher and further education."

Read more at OSS Watch...

Bluetooth set to take over from WiFi as IEEE abandons UWB - NewsWireless.net

Here's a thought-provoking (if slightly speculative) article about how Wifi's dominance of the wireless market will be challenged by the next version of Bluetooth - which the author predicts will be a form of mesh-enabled UWB.

Read more at NewsWireless.net...

Firefox joins top ten global brands - ZDNet

Marketing professionals rate Firefox a more influential brand than eBay or Sony

The open source browser Firefox has been rated alongside Google, Apple and Starbucks as one of the most powerful brands in the world in 2005, according to a study published on Monday.

Read more at ZDNet...

Seminar leads to ongoing forum for UK FOSS - NewsForge

When Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli agreed to deliver a seminar on "Open Source in Government" to parliamentary staff members and representatives of local government in the United Kingdom earlier this month, he planned to introduce his audience to some basic concepts. However, when he got there, he found that most of the audience was already familiar with the concepts. As a result, instead of educating people in public life, he may have done more than he hoped -- he may have helped to create an ongoing forum in which the free and open source software (FOSS) communities, political lobbyists, and members of the governing Labour Party and the opposition Conservative Party can work together to promote the use of FOSS in the governments of the United Kingdom.

Read more at NewsForge...

Study: 40 percent of Irish companies choose open source - iReach

More than 40 percent of organizations in Ireland will use some form of open-source software in 2006, according to a study by iReach, a research company in Dublin.

Read more at iReach

Firefox 'passes 20 percent market share' in Europe - ZDNet

Mozilla Firefox has achieved an market share of over 20 percent in Europe, according to the latest figures released by French Web metrics firm XiTi.

Read more at ZDNet

EU directive spells end to e-mail, internet privacy - Irish Times

It's official: your e-mail and internet usage information is now going to be stored for a minimum of six months, and probably for three years, joining all your mobile and landline call details in giant databases available to all EU member states.

Read more at Karlin Lillington's blog...

Interview: Gartner's Mark Driver - IT Manager's Journal

Here's a good interview with Mark Driver, Gartner vice president and research director. Interesting not only because it shows Gartner's attitude to FOSS becoming more positive, but also because it contains some worthwhile observations, eg:

"A common barrier to entry for some open source products is the cost of migration from established solutions. Although the return on investment for open source is attractive in many scenarios, it's often dampened by the initial cost of migration. This is especially true when organizations have deeply entrenched commitments to established technology providers. Therefore, open source growth tends to be slow in some established markets but is rapid in emerging markets.

"However, the single largest threat to the success of the open source model is software patents. These patents inhibit the commoditization of software services through legal restrictions, rather than free-market competition. Open source relies heavily on freely available specifications and standards."

Read More at the IT Manager's Journal...

The Patent Epidemic - BusinessWeek

General awareness of the risks posed by ill-considered 'Intellectual Property' laws appears to be growing. Recently, mainstream journals such as the Economist ("IPR should be limited") and the Financial Times ("Deconstructing Stupidity") have been raising concerns.

According to a recent article by BusinessWeek, "The Patent Epidemic [is] wasting companies' money and slowing the development of new products."

Read more at BusinessWeek...

Top Ten Open Source Projects - Independent

Ana Kronschnabl and Tomas Rawlings recently picked the 10 best open source websites for the Independent newspaper. Some interesting choices including Dyne:Bolic and Outfoxed.

Read more at the Independent Online...

A Watershed for Open Source - BusinessWeek

According to a recent Business Week article FOSS "now poses a legitimate threat to the established software giants." And: "According to a new study by consulting firm Optaros, 87% of organizations are now using open-source software".

It lists the five biggest open-source events of 2005 as:

1. Red Hat finally proves it can make money from free software.
2. Sun Microsystems open sources everything -- except Java.
3. Motorola bets big on mobile Linux.
4. Firefox goes mainstream.
5. Venture capitalists wake up to open source.

Read more at BusinessWeek...