OStatic blogs

Over 10 Open Source Cloud Computing Tools and Resources

Sam Dean — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:42:41 -0500

"Open source software has been on the rise at many businesses during the extended economic downturn, and one of the areas where it is starting to offer companies a lot of flexibility and cost savings is in cloud computing," GigaOm reports. Open source cloud deployments can cut costs, free businesses from vendor lock-ins that can cause major problems over time, and more. GigaOm offers a collection of over 10 open source cloud resources, services, support options and more. Check it out here.

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Thoughts on the Koala

John Mark Walker — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:17:50 -0500

It's been a week since Ubuntu 9.10, aka the Karmix Koala, was unleashed on the world. I wanted to post a general review after having used the special K since it went RC in late September and early October. In general, I've been very impressed, especially in comparison to another, recently released, operating system. This mini review will focus on using Ubuntu as a desktop system. When I drop it onto my Linode server, I'll provide commentary on server usage as well.

I have been a (mostly) happy Ubuntu desktop user since late 2005, when I finally ditched Fedora for what looked like a better desktop experience. For the most part, I have not been disappointed by that move, although I still check out Fedora and, to a lesser extent, OpenSUSE on occasion for comparison purposes. But there were always some niggling issues that popped up, whether it was a hanging update, bluetooth flakiness, a slow network connection that needed to be reconfigured, or not providing some bleeding edge library necessary for installing an "out of network" .deb. These were all minor annoyances, and were never enough to make me seriously look elsewhere. Imagine my surprise when I loaded up the most recent incarnation, 9.10, and could find nothing that particularly irked me. For the most part - and to me this is a great thing - Karmic Koala gets out of my way and lets me get stuff done.

After spending a few weeks on Karmic, I have found only one niggling issue - because I prefer to use wicd for network management, I apparently cannot use UbuntuOne, Canonical's hosted storage solution. But then, I haven't needed to use UbuntuOne, so it's been a moot point.

The first thing I noticed is the speed of bootup, as seconds have been trimmed from previous versions. The second thing I noticed is that it looked more professional, although I recognize that's a matter of taste. Still, it's apparent that a lot of work went into the UI side of things. The next thing I found is that, in contrast to previous installments, I really didn't need to use a text editor to set configs. Being a Linux user since 1998, I do it anyway because I'm comfortable with it, but I had to remind myself to do it in this case - and that's a first. Previously, there was always something that didn't behave quite as I expected or wanted, and so moving into vi was necessary to improve productivity. Not this time. As I have done with every other Ubuntu install, I decided to ditch the default GNOME GUI for Kubuntu. This was a matter of simply typing "apt-get install kubuntu-desktop" and all was good.

Of course, most of my experience on any operating system is spent on web-centric things, whether via a traditional web browser, or some web services-capable utility, such as a twitter client. What this brings to mind is that much of my experience with an operating system is no longer about bells and whistles. As long as it gives me speedy access to the net and a selection of tools for operating on the net, I'm happy. it's utterly pointless for a platform vendor like Canonical to spend oodles of engineering resources on remaking the desktop experience, when the rewards of such will continue to diminish over time. And you can see them embrace this strategy with their work on UbuntuOne (ahem... it would be nice if that dependency issue were fixed soon) and a Eucalyptus-based set of cloud services. They get it - the future is about services delivered over the network, and future enhancements will probably focus on improving that experience.

Of course, it's also important that my laptop, a Lenovo Thinkpad T400, has a good set of hardware components that Linux works well with. The experience would be different were that not the case - although Ubuntu could hardly be blamed for that.

One other pleasant surprise worth mentioning - Karmic came with Amarok 2.2, which recognized my iPod with no fiddling around, something that had been broken ever since Amarok 2.0 was released.

Next, I'll write up some of the tools available by default in Karmic, and some that you'll still need to get via a supplemental repository.

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Google Provides Closure: Releases Open Source JavaScript Optimizer

Joe Brockmeier — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:37:35 -0500

JavaScript programmers, rejoice! It's been a good week for open source from big companies. Earlier this week Yahoo! released its Traffic Server it acquired from Inktomi, and now Google has unleashed Closure Tools. These are part of the toolset that Google uses to create JavaScript-heavy applications like Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Maps.

The tools from Google include templates, a JavaScript optmizer, a library of User Interface (UI) widgets and controls, and more. If you're sensing a love of JavaScript here, you're not wrong.

The Closure Compiler is a tool that optimizes JavaScript so it runs faster. It also provides warnings about "common JavaScript pitfalls," so developers can get some insight into writing better code. The compiler comes in several flavors -- a CLI tool, a Web app, and a Firefox extension. Nice to see Google playing well with other browser projcts.

The Closure Templates are for HTML and UI elements, and should be not only easy for developers to use but also to localize. This is pretty important for projects that hope to serve an international audience.

Most interesting is the Closure Library, which Google uses as a "standard JavaScript Library." Perhaps they can be successful in pushing this library as an industry standard. The fact that it's open can't hurt.

All of the Closure bits are licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Having external access to Google's tools -- obviously a set of high-quality tools that are production ready -- is good in and of itself. The fact that they're now open source means that the rest of the community can join in the heavy lifting and improve them, even for Google's competition.

Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier is a longtime FOSS advocate, and currently works for Novell as the community manager for openSUSE. Prior to joining Novell, Brockmeier worked as a technology journalist covering the open source beat for a number of publications, including Linux Magazine, Linux Weekly News, Linux.com, UnixReview.com, IBM developerWorks, and many others.

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OStatic Buffer Overflow...

Sam Dean — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:54:44 -0500

Why Google released Closure tools. The release of Closure Tools by Google under an open source license is about putting muscle behind Javascript.

Microsoft Linux: Why one free software advocate wants it. An ex-Microsoft employee says Windows is doomed, and FOSS will rule.

Vint Cerf plugs Android into the Interplanetary Net. He has added a software stack to the open source Android code.

Q&A: Ubuntu 9.10 security. What are the most notable security features introduced with Ubuntu 9.10, and how can you work with them?

Barnes & Noble, aided by Android, aims to disrupt the Kindle. The Nook has two capabilities that could expand the market for e-book readers beyond Amazon's.

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SFLC Provides Background Info for Bilski

Joe Brockmeier — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:07:17 -0500

The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing opening arguments on Bilski vs. Kappos on Monday, November 9th. Not surprisingly, many open source advocates are on the edge of their seats because it's an opportunity for the Supreme Court to decide that software is not patentable. Confused about the details? As part of its mission to advance Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) through "law-related services," the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has provided a backgrounder with information on briefs filed by parties of interest to the FLOSS community.

The page also provides additional resources discussing the Bilski case and its implications for FLOSS. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has a good summary of the case, and describes Bilski as "an appellate court case that called into question business method patents and curtailed efforts to claim monopolies on basic human skills, behaviors, and interactions. Bilski challenged the rejection of his application for a patent on a method of managing the risk of bad weather through commodities trading."

Even though the case is not specifically about software patents, it created a test for patents that is broad enough to restrict granting patents on some software as well. Some of the amicus briefs have been filed in support of the respondent (Kappos), and some are going a step further and asking the court to affirm that software is not patentable.

According to the SFLC, 66 amicus briefs have been filed with the court. Of the briefs filed, 24 side with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 16 are against it, and 26 of the briefs are in support of neither party.

IBM, for example "walks a fine line between opposing patents on business methods and supporting 'patent reform' as applied to software" with its brief, which isn't surprising for a company that simultaneously has a huge interest in FLOSS and is the world's largest patent holder.

Red Hat and the IEEE have weighed in heavily in support of affirmance, meaning that they are asking the court to go a step farther and affirm that decision smacks down software patents as well as business method patents.

It's hard to tell which way the court might side, and it won't be decided on Monday. However, if the court decides that software is not patentable it will be a huge win for FLOSS.

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SixthSense Creator Releasing Code for Super-Cool Wearable Gesture Interface Device

Lisa Hoover — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:40:25 -0500

Remember the scene in the movie Minority Report where Tom Cruise uses hand gestures instead of a mouse to interact with a computer screen displayed on the wall? The idea isn't really that far-fetched and software developer Pranav Mistry has been working on making it a reality.

Mistry is the creator of SixthSense, a wearable gesture interface that uses a camera and tiny projector to display data and information onto surfaces, walls, and even your hand. Special fingertip sensors let users manipulate the data and use their hands to interact with it. During a presentation at the TEDIndia conference this week, the PhD student announced plans to release SixthSense under an open source license in the coming months.

"I notice that it's hard to for these kind of things to market in some sense. . . because I don't want this to comply with some of kind of corporate policy," says Mistry. "Rather than waiting for that time to come, I want people to make their own system. Why not?"

"People will be able to make their own hardware. I will give them instructions how to make it. And also provide them key software...give them basic key software layers. . . they will be able to build their own applications. They will be able to modify base level and do anything".

The device, which can be built for about $350, has fascinating implications beyond its infinite coolness. SixthSense has the ability to sense objects around you and displays content relevant to your environment. If you're in a bookstore, for instance, and hold up a copy of Learning the Vi and Vim Editors, SixthSense shows you pricing guides, information about the author, and so on. Mistry's device puts the Internet literally at your fingertips.

Image courtesy of Pranav Mistry and Sam Ogden.

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Open Source: More than a License

John Mark Walker — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:51:10 -0500

Has the terminology finally evolved in the debate over "who's open source?" It would seem so. After years of haggling over the essence of open source, free software or other monikers, Simon Phipps gets right to the point in "A Remarkable Reversal" - his critique of Richard Stallman's joint letter to the EC regarding Oracle and MySQL.

For the first time, there seems to be a growing concensus that an OSI-compliant license alone is not enough to define one's position on the openness spectrum. As Phipps notes:

"Dual licensing is everywhere in commercial open source. So the letter from Stallman is a surprise because it's the first time I have really seen him acknowledge that the license alone can be no guarantee of software freedom. It takes more - including community governance, trademark and copyright ownership and administration, the percentage of core function in the commons - as partial indicators of software freedom. They need to be taken together to get the full view."

The remarkable thing about the Oracle - MySQL case is that it forces us to put up or shut up in a realistic, fact-based way not clad in ideological robes. Whatever your opinions, you now have a test case against which to apply them. In the past, I decried the software freedom debate as much ado about nothing - the 21st century equivalent of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But now we see it in real-world terms where something tangible is at stake. This is no longer a case of visionary hippies vs. business pragmatists engaging in religious combat with no consequences or outcomes. This is now a battle with winners and losers, and in the case of dual-licensed projects, the communities of said projects could very well end up the losers.

This episode has opened up the debate in a way I haven't seen since the OSI was established over 10 years ago. I once said that "open source is boring" because there was nothing to add to the debate. I'm happy to say that I was quite wrong, and that I will enjoy seeing how it all shakes out. If we want to ensure that communities win or at the very least avoid losing in our brave, new world of open source M & A, then we will need to be vigilant in defining the terms.

Previously, an open source approach could be defined in the same way a senator once defined pornography: "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it." This led to much sturm and drang over whether company X was really open source. By defining the terms more clearly and recognizing that the choice of software license only goes so far, we can hopefully create a stronger ecosystem for all parties involved. We do not yet know the outcome of the Oracle - MySQL affair, but by forcing us to address this shortcoming, it has been A Good Thing(tm). For now it's safe to say that open source is more than just a license, it's a state of mind.

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Cable Modem Hacker Indicted on Federal Charges

John Mark Walker — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:19:39 -0500

In a case reminiscent of the DVD hacking cases from the early 2000's, Oregon cable modem hacker and author of "Hacking the Cable Modem" has been charged with conspiracy and aiding and abetting wire fraud. This is another sad commentary on a criminal justice system that prosecutes the toolmaker without noting the legitimate uses of hardware hacking and modding.

The art of taking an existing product and modifying it in ways never intended by the original manufacturer has been a core tenet of the open source and free culture movements from the beginning. It is long past time for more sanity when considering these issues and crafting public policy.

From the Wired article, linked above, Ryan Harris (DerEngel, as he is known in modding circles) disputes the charges: "I would never sell to anyone who had the intent to break the law.” Indeed, it would appear that Harris is being punished for the crimes of those who purchased unlocked modems and used them toward nefarious ends. By this logic, one has to wonder how gun manufacturers escape FBI scrutiny.

The fact of the matter is that it *is* possible to prosecute those who break the law without holding responsible those who create and distribute legitimate hardware or software tools. But after what happened to Jon Lech Johansen and others in the past, this is hardly surprising.

After witnessing several cryptography and multimedia efforts migrate overseas as a direct result of our misguided law enforcement and technology policies, it would seem that we can ill afford to cede yet more innovation to other locales around the world. If you care about the future of open source innovation in the United States, you need to care about this issue. One hopes that the EFF is supporting Harris in his legal efforts. Have you contributed to the EFF lately?

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There Can Be Only One: Choose the openSUSE DVD Cover

Michelle Dively — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:28:37 -0500

Just ahead of next week's launch of openSUSE 11.2, the open source community has posted three variations on a really green theme and invited openSUSE users and FOSS community members to choose the one they like best.

The choices are:

openSUSE Community Manager Joe Brockmeier says once the community has spoken (and hurry up, there's only a few days left), the chosen art will go through a brief approval process to check for trademark violations, then be shipped off to a printer. The complete turnaround time is expected to take about three weeks. He also mentions a couple of other interesting tidbits about the opensSUSE DVDs:

* You asked for 64-bit, you’ve got it! We’re creating dual-sided media for openSUSE so that we have 32-bit media on one side, 64-bit on the other. This will be especially handy for folks (like me) who have a smattering of 32-bit only hardware still laying around.

* Live CDs: In the past, we’ve not created live CD media, but we wanted to provide some swag for GNOME and KDE specific events — so, we’re going to be creating a limited amount of live CDs that we will provide at events.

So, head over to Brockmeier's blog to cast your vote for openSUSE 11.2's cover art. Help choose Geeko's next look, then go crazy and build your own.

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eZ Systems Names Former IBM Exec as CEO

Lisa Hoover — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:25:06 -0500

Open source content management software vendor eZ Systems put former IBM executive Christoph Rau at the helm today as the company's new CEO. He's replacing co-founder Aleksander Farstad, who will become chief business development officer.

Farstad says the move is the next logical step following 10 years of sustained growth in the open source industry. "For the first 10 years of eZ, we grew successfully by focusing on our unique commercial open source business model," says Farstad. "Our value came from our focus on how we did things better. Now, as the commercial open source business model has matured and is well established, we will focus on what we do better than any other competitor: help businesses manage and publish any type of information, created and managed by anyone and published through any digital channel.“

Rau's pedigreed background should serve him well in his new role. He held several different positions at IBM, including international management positions in both sales and software development. He also served as general manager of the IBM Printing Systems Division for the entire EMEA region. Rau left IBM to take a VP job at BEA Systems, and was named CEO of Parsytec AG in 2006. All told, Rau brings 25 years of management experience to the table.

One of Rau's goals as CEO is to continue to offer open source content management solutions to customers. "We will build from our strengths and make eZ the preferred choice for customers that need to manage different types of digital and multimedia content from different sources," he says. "And, eZ is the ideal choice for people who wish to publish in different channels, including web, mobile and print. We simply manage any content from any source to any user and device. At the same time, we will keep our technology as open as possible in order to make integration through open standards like CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services) very simple."

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Sam Dean — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:47:59 -0500

Eucalyptus cloud platform updated. It now features multi-cluster support and enhanced concurrency management for improved scaling on almost any infrastructure.

Linux to own 32 percent of the netbook market? ABI Research predicts that Linux will get there, particularly because of sales in less developed countries.

What would make you trust Microsoft? Without the competition of open source, would Microsoft’s trend toward bureaucracy have ever been slowed?

Amazon's move mocks EU's fear of Oracle. Oracle hasn't even started with MySQL yet, and it already faces significant competition from forks like Amazon's.

Why Funambol acquired Zapatec. Fabrizio Capobianco explains how the move extends Funambol's mobile tech strategy.

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Bringing ERP to Small Business with Tryton

Joe Brockmeier — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:07:19 -0500

If there's any upside to the lousy economy, it's that it has pushed a lot of people to realize their dreams of starting small businesses or going into business for themselves. Thanks to open source projects like Tryton, small businesses have the tools to run with the big dogs. Tryton is a general application platform that is split into three parts: A client, server, and modules that provide functionality like accounting, invoicing, sale and purchase management, inventory management, and so on. The default set of modules provides much of the functionality any small (or large) business needs to track its money, inventory, and employee's time.

Tryton is an application platform, so you can extend it to suit your business needs. You're not limited to the modules that are currently available. If the base modules provided with Tryton don't do it for you, then the platform is open and extensible so you can add (or hire a contractor to add) modules that extend the functionality. A tutorial is available for developers looking to develop their own modules.

The platform is written in Python and uses PostgreSQL as its database engine, and also adds SQLite support with 1.4. The 1.4 release also includes Neso, a standalone version that combines the server, client, and modules -- an approach that works well for single users. If you're looking to manage your business from a single system, Tryton can fit the bill nicely.

If you're looking for a demo, try out Neso, or grab the client and point it at the demo server provided by the project. The project provides a demo server for each of the major releases in use (1.0, 1.2, and the current 1.4).

The project started as a fork of openERP and has been in development for about a year. Tryton is licensed under the GPLv3, and packages are available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Looking for support? Several companies provide professional services around Tryton.

The roadmap for the next major release of Tryton includes support for MySQL, Oracle, and many other improvements.

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Live from ApacheCon: Subversion Joins ASF

John Mark Walker — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:09:12 -0500

The Apache Software Foundation is celebrating 10 years since its incorporation, and so we're partying like it's 1999 here at ApacheCon. By which I mean ApacheCon has remained true to its roots with a community-driven feel that seemed more common in the Open Source events of 10 years ago.

The big news today is that the Subversion project is joining the Apache Software Foundation. To mark the announcement, representatives from the Apache Software Foundation, the Subversion Project and CollabNet held a joint press conference at the downtown Oakland Marriott in a cozy, if poorly ventilated, hotel conference room. Read on for more details, as well as news about Git repositories and comparing the ASF to the new Codeplex Foundation.

Addressing press and analysts in attendance and on a conference call, conference participants discussed in detail why and how the project will migrate. Noting that several of the founding members of Subversion are also members of the ASF, more than one developer opined that there were too many layers of duplication between the two foundations and initiated the process out of a need for more efficiency. Greg Stein and Sander Striker, long-time ASF members and Subversion contributors, noted that maintaining separate governance of the Subversion Corporation seemed to be inherently inefficient. The decision to move came when a concensus formed that governance of Subversion was beginning to take away from time needed for software hacking. The remaining obstacles centered on how to migrate without negatively impacting the large developer and ISV community that has grown around Subversion. Bill Portelli, CollabNet CEO, mentioned that much of the work needed to ready Suversion for migration, including an IP review, had already taken place as a result of Subversion's incorporation.

In the migration process, the extra duplication that caused project inefficiencies might actually prove beneficial - because the structure of the Subversion project was designed to mimic the ASF (no surprise, given Brian Behlendorf's and Greg Stein's involvement), the migration period should be minimal with little impact on users and developers. Stein mentioned that the full code repository will move to apache.org, and that there will be an incubation period that will proceed "real fast."

Among other highlights of the press conference, Justin Ehrenkrantz, in response to a question about demand from ASF developers for Git or Mercurial, noted that all canonical code repositories will remain on Subversion, although there will be read-only mirrored Git repositories. And in an amusing sidenote, when asked to compare the ASF with the newly formed Codeplex Foundation, Roy Fielding, co-founder of the Apache HTTPD project, expressed his skepticism: "Codeplex will probably end up in trouble in a couple of years" on account of its "interesting" by-laws and a "self-replicating board that, once appointed, will keep reappointing itself over time. I hesitate to guess what Codeplex will become."

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Thankful for Android

Sam Dean — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:54:53 -0500

It was only back in March that questions were swirling about the fate of Android, Google's open source operating system. Now, of course, Android is flourishing, with approximately 20 new handsets to be on sale by the end of the year, and questions being raised about the fate of Windows Mobile as Android spreads out. Today, JKOnTheRun has a thank you letter to Google posted, in which James Kendrick says that Android has fired up the smartphone space. It's worth reading. Check it out here.

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Likewise Software's New Starter Packs Make Upgrading Easier for Enterprise

Lisa Hoover — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:50:08 -0500

We've written a number of times about open source security and authentication applicaiton vendor Likewise Software, because they're a quality company with a great product line. Likewise Open supports over 125 platforms and links Linux, Unix, or Mac systems to Active Directory domains in one easy step. Likewise Enterprise allows IT departments to authenticate users, create reports for regulatory audits, and control access to applications and data.

If your IT department has been considering giving Likewise a whirl, the free download of Likewise Open is available for the taking. If you're already a Likewise Open customer, then you'll want to listen up. Tomorrow, the company is formally announcing new ways to upgrade to Likewise Enterprise but we've got the skinny right now.

Likewise Software plans to roll out three packages solutions that include desktop and server licenses, support services, and training:

* Likewise Enterprise desktop starter pack: 10 desktop licenses, 1-year support, half-day of training services for $1,608;

* Likewise Enterprise server starter pack: 10 server licenses, 1-year support, half-day of training services for $4,488;

* Likewise Enterprise combo starter pack: 5 desktop and 5 server licenses, 1-year support, half-day of training services for $3,048.

Likewise Enterprise provides 100% native support for Apple’s Workgroup Manager application, and contains several additional features you won't find in Likewise Open. The starter packs are designed to make upgrading painless by including support and training services that help make the process a seamless transition.

All three starter packs will be available for purchase online tomorrow, but you can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Likewise Enterprise today.

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