Since it was revealed that Apple's recently-announced .mac replacement, MobileMe, was partially built on something called SproutCore, the buzz around this hot new JavaScript framework has been growing. Although this is the first that many people will have heard about it, SproutCore has actually been around for a while, powering services like .mac's Mobile Galleries. Now it's getting so much attention that SproutCore.com has been unreachable all day, a week after the WWDC announcement.
So, why SproutCore? Daniel Eran Dilger, over at RoughlyDrafted, has a great rundown of things to love about this open source JavaScript framework: it will allow developers to build web apps that look more like desktop apps, function offline, and take advantage of modern browser features. Apple's using SproutCore to build a front end for WebDav and its own WebObjects, but other developments could easily add PHP, JSON or XML data to the mix, to name a few.
It's official - SourceForge.net has joined the OpenID bandwagon. SourceForge, the world's largest open source software development website, is a little late to the party but nonetheless, it's nice to see a leader of the open source community adopting OpenID and walking the walk.
OpenID is an open source, decentralized, digital identity user system which allows users to have one identity across the internet and alleviates the hassle of having multiple user names and passwords to log-in to different sites.
OpenID is gaining traction with big companies such as AOL, Sun, Microsoft, and Novell who are accepting and providing OpenIDs. Today it is estimated that there are over 160-million OpenID enabled URIs with nearly ten-thousand sites supporting OpenID logins. Thanks FF!
It's understandable, of course. Most new Linux users feel more comfortable with something a little heavier than a window manager like Fluxbox or WindowMaker. The interesting thing, of course, is that many new users are either consciously or unconsciously playing the field of not only distributions, but desktops.
Rest assured, KDE will not text you a hundred times a day to beg, plead or curse if you switch desktops. GNOME will not mail you a dead fish from the opposite side of the country, book rate. In this relationship, it is always okay to have a wandering eye, not only for what is out there, but for what's on the horizon.
We like Enlightenment as it stands now. It's one of our favorite window managers. It doesn't feel too foreign to the new user, but it is still extremely lightweight. If there was a spectrum with the heaviest desktop environments on the right, and the lightest window managers on the left, just right of the middle would be the venerable Xfce, and just to the left of the middle would be Enlightenment.
But as for what's on the horizon for Enlightenment? We have seen e17. Right now it's an alpha release, and we're waiting not too patiently for the coming out party. We are smitten.
Google is gearing up for their 4th year Summer of Code 2008, where students developers get paid $4,500 to write code for various open source projects over the summer, starting about May 26 and ending around August 11.
To qualify as a student, you have to be enrolled at a college or university as of April 14, 2008 and no, you don't have to be a computer engineer major to apply, but it is helpful to know how to code. Sorry to those who hail from Iran, Syria, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea and Mynamar (Burma), who are ineligible to participate due to U.S. law.
Google is expecting over 130 organizations to be paired with over 900 students for 2008. The goal of the program is to inspire students to work on open source projects, and to help open source projects recruit more developers.
Applications for mentor organizations are being accepted March 3-12, 2008 and student applications will be accepted March 24-31, 2008.
Who doesn't love choices? You can "have it your way" at fast food restaurants. No two cars ever cost the same, because of add-ons and price negotiations. We like choice. It's a good thing.
Right?
Choice, really, is a double-edged sword. We get too many choices, and we can get easily overwhelmed. "Oh crud, another option..." leads to "What do I care?" leads to "Forget it." We either select our options without thinking through (or understanding) the consequences, or we drop what we're trying to customize without ever getting all the way through.
Choosing a Linux distribution is tough. We're not kidding. There are a lot of them out there... some wonderful, some not so wonderful, and some that are designed to fit very specific needs you may (or may not) have.
So how are you supposed to sort through them all?
Here's a hint. You don't. Not all of them, anyway.
It's fun to follow all your friends on Twitter and get updates from Darth Vader but now the bomb is getting Tweets from your little plant friends. If you have a burning desire to get tweets from your plants advising you on their need for water and nutrition, well, there's an interesting DIY gadget you can build courtesy of the folks at Botanicalls.
Basically, using an Adafruit Ethernet shield from Arduino, some nails, a soldering iron, a healthy plant, and a few other things, like your computer, as well as Arduino's software environment, (an open source, cross platform electronics prototyping system), you can build a gadget which will provide you with online Twitter status updates for your green leaf friend.
If you're smacking your head saying, Sheesh, I wish I had thought of that - well, imitation is the greatest form of flattery, right? Let us know what you build for your aquarium fish who are known to have the Twitter fanatic witihin, and while you're at it don't forget your little pond friends. They have so much to tell us.
With Congressman Tom Lantos' recent death, some attention has been given to the idea of Lawrence Lessig, running for the vacant Silicon Valley seat in a special election in June. The idea is purely speculative at this point, however, there are some signs that a bid could be in the works.
For one thing, Facebook has a new group, "Draft Lessig for Congress," with 425 682 members at the time of this writing. Another interesting development is Lessig's purchase of domain name change-congress.com. He is also on record endorsing Barack Obama, the presidential candidate whose message of change has undeniable momentum. Additionally, in his blog he is posting oblique references to the meaning of "real" change.
Clearly, the idea of change is one Mr. Lessig ideally suited for and whether the tea leaves we're sifting through here indicate he's going to run for Congress is wishful thinking or quite possibly the real thing, only time will tell.
A long time open source advocate, Joe began using Linux in 1996, after purchasing a set of Slackware CDs at a local store. He says, "...I was blown away by the concept of 'free as in beer' software. The idea that you could share software, and even modify it and distribute it, was (and is) extremely exciting to me.
"I also find the community aspect of Linux and free and open source software particularly compelling. I love the fact that people around the world can come together and build useful tools, and then make those tools available for anyone to use. I knew pretty early on that I wanted to be part of that community." We recently got the chance to talk with Joe about Linux, Novell, and the direction openSUSE (and open source) is headed.
There are a lot of funny, preconceived notions about Linux (and Linux users). Some ideas fall in to the realm of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). Some ideas have an inkling of truth to them, and have grown and mutated into full fledged myths. Sort of like how Vlad the Impaler became Dracula, but with a lot less violence and a lot more compiling.
Some of the myths may even be stopping you from trying Linux. You want to try it, sure... but it's too hard or can't do what you need or you're not a hacker.
Let's lay some myths to rest today. Pitchforks, torches and garlic are optional.
There are many unique ways to test your system stability (like faking an earthquake by shaking your desk wildly), but this one takes the cake.
The System Stability Tester, a freeware download for Linux, Unix, and Windows, claims to test the stability of your system by calculating millions of digits of Pi in different threads, and comparing the threads for any disparities. You can also run the test on a single thread for benchmarking purposes.
Originally developed as a system stressing and benchmarking tool for overclockers, the System Stability Tester has since gone open source (licensed under the GNU public license) and more mainstream (e.g., by giving Windows users an easy executable install file).
So after your system calculates up to 128 million digits of Pi, what comes next? Memorization, of course. In "White and Nerdy," Weird Al claimed to know Pi to a thousand places. In the real world, if you can believe it, that number is paltry.
Fun fact for the day: the world record for number of memorized Pi numbers is held by Chao Lu of China. Want to know how many numbers he memorized? Click the jump...
Sun Microsystems has made a huge leap into the open-source market by purchasing MySQL AB, the company behind the wildly popular MySQL database, for $1 Billion in stocks and cash. In a humorously named blog post titled "Helping Dolphins Fly", Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Shwartz stated that Sun would not only support MySQL once the transaction is finalized, but they'll be throwing their engineering support behind making MySQL more efficient on Sun's software platform.
MySQL is a widely used database product. It is the database used behind many popular sites -- Facebook, Digg, and Google, among others. Sun has long been a proponent of open source software, up until this point Sun has promoted PostgreSQL as a favored database.
MySQL AB was about to seek an IPO offering. We think Sun got a good deal by giving MySQL AB a cool billion, but just hope the MySQL database continues to innovate and carry on it's reputation as a fantastic database platform.
Perhaps with the influx of $800 Million, MySQL can make the leap from your favorite website into the enterprise where the real money is. Some large corporations wouldn't touch a database product that doesn't have support behind it, but if MySQL has a good system in place -- and a sales team who've marketed inside the enterprise for years -- new customers are more likely to take the bait and ditch Oracle or Microsoft's SQL Server.
In case you were rooting for Vista to take over the world, we've got bad news. The agency that takes care of all things technology in regards to education in the U.K., Becta, states in a press release that the upgrade to Vista should be "avoided."
Considering that free and open source operating systems and office suites do things about as well if not better than Microsoft products, especially if price is taken into consideration, this is hardly surprising. Becta stated that a primary reason is incompatibility - Office 2007's lack of support for the ODF format as well as the new Office format (those blasted DOCX files) - which doesn't make it a hot contender.
The release recommends that Vista should be considered an option only if there are any institution-wide ICT provisions being planned. Even so, that doesn't sound too good when you have schools on a budget trying to get the most out of their money. And when it comes to the bottom line, the Microsoft option looks downright grim.
The beginning of a trend? Perhaps. It's hard to beat free.
This week's Squadcast features an interview with one of our own. Kristin Shoemaker joins Grant and Christina to talk about what it takes to switch to Linux and leave Windows behind, for good.
Also, we take a look at our five favorite Linux applications for people who've recently switched. Direct replacements for a few of those must-have apps on Windows.
You have until tonight at Midnight (MST) to buy all basic JumpBoxes for just $24.99. What is a JumpBox? It's an easily installable server application, similar to BitNami. In their library of downloadable JumpBoxes, JumpBox has applications for Document Management, Blogging, Bug Tracking, CRM, and Development, among others.
What sets JumpBoxes apart from other server products is they are aimed at Virtual Environments. Using virtualization, IT managers and other curious geeks can try out server software packages without having to use existing hardware, therefore softening the cost of adoption. Also, unlike most open source solutions, JumpBoxes are supported by a company that will give you technical support. This added support feature takes a bit of the unknown factor of many of these open source packages.
JumpBox is attempting lower costs and save time for those responsible for getting IT software solutions up and running.
Does anyone have any experience with JumpBoxes? Sound off in the comments!
The ReactOS project has one simple goal: to create an Open Source implementation of Windows. It borrows heavily from the WINE project for obvious reasons, but despite this, it is a stand alone OS. Since the last time we covered it, development of ReactOS has progressed very nicely. It now supports several components of OpenOffice, Firefox, and even Remote Desktop sessions.
The OS is still in Alpha state, making it more of a developer's plaything than anything else for the time being. However, anyone can try out premade images from the official site for giggles and grins. If you're not brave enough to try it out yourself, the site has plenty of screenshots as well.
Since it was revealed that Apple's recently-announced .mac replacement, MobileMe, was partially built on something called SproutCore, the buzz around this hot new JavaScript framework has been growing. Although this is the first that many people will have heard about it, SproutCore has actually been around for a while, powering services like .mac's Mobile Galleries. Now it's getting so much attention that SproutCore.com has been unreachable all day, a week after the WWDC announcement.
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Who doesn't love choices? You can "have it your way" at fast food restaurants. No two cars ever cost the same, because of add-ons and price negotiations. We like choice. It's a good thing.
Today, 
