Home
Investment in open source software set to rise, Accenture survey finds
Mon, 08/23/2010 - 12:17 — rgardlerThe open source software market has reached a turning point, with organisations in the US, UK and Ireland now committing to clear strategies and policies for open source software development. According to the findings of a survey released by Accenture, more than two-thirds of organisations anticipate increased investment in 2010, with more than a third expecting to migrate mission-critical software to open source in the next 12 months.
OSS Watch's August newsletter published
Tue, 08/10/2010 - 10:29 — rgardlerWelcome once again to the OSS Watch monthly newsletter. As you know we are here to help you so why not put us to work? This month's featured article comes from Steve Lee who explains how to engage OSS Watch in support of your project bid. The full version of Steve's article, available on the OSS Watch website, also includes a checklist designed to be used as you work on your bid. In his blog piece Sander van der Waal talks about how OSS Watch has helped the Wookie project sustain itself beyond its initial funding period.
Sustainability lessons for research infrastructure
Mon, 08/09/2010 - 16:42 — rgardlerDespite the availability of an impressive range of online systems and resources for UK researchers, a recent JISC-funded Community Engagement Report has identified a number of barriers to their adoption. These include limited opportunities for collaboration between competing partners during the bid process, lack of recognition for the open sharing of research outputs, and inadequate long-term provision of software development support.
Breaking down barriers for women in open source
Mon, 08/09/2010 - 14:55 — rgardlerThe Free Software Foundation (FSF) is acting to implement strategies to broaden the participation of women in the FOSS community. Recommendations for removing barriers and broadening membership among women in open source projects were published recently by the FSF's Women's Caucus, tasked to devise solutions to address the problem.
Open source software provider launches on-demand version of vtiger CRM solution
Tue, 08/03/2010 - 10:19 — rgardlervtiger, a leading provider of open source customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, unveiled the cloud-based version of its popular tool: vtiger CRM On Demand. Unlike other cloud-based CRM offerings, vtiger is a true open source solution, providing the benefits of the cloud while allowing clients to customize or extend their own unique versions.
Google opens up Android development (a bit)
Mon, 07/26/2010 - 08:40 — rgardlerSpeaking at OSCON 2010, Google Android open-source and compatibility program manager Dan Morrill announced that in the future third party contributions to the the Android code base would appear within the publicly-available Android source tree. Currently contributions go into Google's private Android source tree to be incorporated (or not) at Google's discretion. However Google will continue to be keep new versions of Android entirely private until release, citing concerns that handset manufacturers might otherwise release poorly tested new code to appear more 'advanced' than competitors.
Vodafone demonstrates commitment to open source innovation
Mon, 07/19/2010 - 11:47 — rgardlerVodafone Group has made the majority of all the location- and navigation-related software developed at Wayfinder Systems, a fully owned Vodafone subsidiary, publicly available under a BSD licence. This includes the distributed back-end server, tools to manage the server cluster and map conversion, as well as client software, for example Android, iPhone and Symbian S60.
How to engage OSS Watch in support of your project bid
Tue, 07/13/2010 - 14:36 — rgardlerOne of the criteria that funders consider when assessing project bids is the project's approach to sustainability. In particular, they will assess the project's ability to continue after the funded period without relying on continuation funding. Steve Lee describes how OSS Watch can help you plan for sustainability in your project bid.
OSS Watch's July newsletter published
Mon, 07/12/2010 - 14:08 — rgardlerOur July newsletter comes to you post TransferSummit and we think it's a good opportunity to reflect on what happened over the two days of the conference. To this end we bring you excerpts from two blogs written at the TransferSummit, one from the innovation track and one that covers both the collaboration and development tracks. We also bring you an article written by Rowan Wilson that disentangles the ideas of invention, innovation and open innovation and explores how open innovation intersects with software development.
Firefox is default browser at IBM
Mon, 07/12/2010 - 08:47 — rgardlerFirefox has become the default browser for nearly 400,000 IBM employees, a big coup for the open source project during a time of increasing browser competition. 'All IBM employees will be asked to use it as their default browser,' Bob Sutor, vice president of open source and Linux at IBM's Software Group, said in a blog post Thursday. 'Firefox is enterprise-ready, and we're ready to adopt it for our enterprise.'
