Mitigating Risk by Hiring Open Source Developers

Hiring a new employee is almost always a risk, and hiring the wrong employee is one of the most costly mistakes that a manager can make. As a result, tech companies spend ....

If, however, you are choosing a candidate from the ever-growing pool of programmers who contribute to open source projects, you can get an inside look at a programmer's work on actual projects with actual team members by examining the open source projects he participates in.

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Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act.

SSSCA, CBDTPA, and BICCA: Acrimonious Acronyms
by Susan at 09:17PM (EDT) on July 29, 2005 | Permanent Link

All three of these acronyms stand for federal legislative attempts to design digital devices and applications. The first two failed. The third has just been proposed.

So what are these things? The first, the 2001 Security Systems Standards and Certification Act, suggested that any "interactive digital device" (defined as "any machine, device, product, software, or technology, whether or not included with or as part of some other machine, device, product, software, or technology, that is designed, marketed or used for the primary purpose of, and that is capable of, storing, retrieving, processing, performing, transmitting, receiving, or copying information in digital form") needed to respect digital content restrictions and "certified security" technologies. Because standards for indicating digital content restrictions (and implementing them) didn't exist, industry was supposed to come up with them.

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Open-Source Software Ratings System

A university, a startup, and chip giant Intel are pushing a proposal for
a standard model to rate open-source software to provide customers with
a better sense of the maturity of the more than 100,000 open-source
projects available today.

The Business Readiness Ratings (BRR) model unveiled Monday (http://www.openbrr.org/) is the brainchild of Carnegie Mellon University (Profile, Products, Articles) West's Center for Open Source Investigation (COSI) and is being cosponsored by open-source testing and certification startup SpikeSource and Intel.

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OGRE3D: 3D Rendering Package

OGRE v1.0 [Azathoth] represents the culmination of 4 years of continuous development, resulting in what is now regarded by many as the leading open source real time 3D rendering engine. OGRE is packed with features to make your development life easier, whether you're making games, architectural visualisation, simulations, or anything else which requires a top-notch 3D rendering solution.

Eclipse.Org

Eclipse is a kind of universal tool platform - an open extensible IDE for anything and nothing in particular. Find out what eclipse is all about - check out the Eclipse Roadmap, white paper, read some technical articles, visit the newsgroups, take a look at the projects, and pick up the latest downloads. Don't forget to check out the Eclipse Project FAQ and online documentation. You can find out about eclipse-related events, projects, plug-ins and websites on the Community page.

For software licensing, website terms of use, and legal FAQs, please see our legal stuff page. Eclipse logos and graphics are found on our logos page. And, our thanks to HP, IBM, Intel, Magma and Novell for generous donations to our website infrastructure!

voip-info.org: Open Source VoIP Wiki

Welcome to the VOIP Wiki - a reference guide to all things VOIP
This Wiki covers everything related to VOIP, software, hardware, service providers, reviews, configurations, standards, tips & tricks and everything else related to voice over IP networks, IP telephony and Internet Telephony.

Comprehensive list of Open Source Telephony work at:

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Open+Source+VOIP+Software

SourceLabs: Installation/Support/Certification

SourceLabs lets corporate IT buyers realize the strategic flexibility of using open source software without trading off the dependability, convenience and mission critical support that production systems require.

SourceLabs sells support and maintenance subscriptions for tested, certified "stacks" of open source infrastructure software, which we provide free of charge. Rather than simply repackaging the unit tests produced by open source communities, the company's rigorous CERT7 testing framework produces a documented, reproducible certification for functionality, scalability, stress response, failover and security.

Groundworks: Open IT Infrastructure Management

GroundWork's open source IT infrastructure monitoring solution delivers enterprise-class availability and performance for a fraction of the cost of commercial alternatives.

Based on powerful open source software such as Nagios, RRDTool and MySQL, GroundWork Monitor is a complete and practical solution for today's mission-critical IT infrastructures.

Open Source Availability and Performance Monitoring

GroundWork Monitor provides a low-cost, open source-based solution for accurately monitoring your network availability and performance. Using active and passive agents, GroundWork Monitor queries applications, network equipment, servers and other components to identify availability and performance, and communicates these system metrics via a browser-based interface. If service levels or availability dip, GroundWork Monitor proactively alerts your IT staff via pagers, email, and phone calls.

Black Duck: Open Source License Compliance

Black Duck offers software compliance management solutions that help companies govern how software assets are created, managed, and licensed. The company was formed in late 2002 to apply advanced technology to this challenge — a challenge addressed today by manual, expensive, and error-prone approaches.

Software development has changed radically over the past ten years. One aspect of this change is the routine use of third party and open source components to boost productivity. But building on code from third parties injects business and licensing issues into the software development process — issues that can put software assets at risk.

Plone: Content Management with Python

Plone is powerful and flexible. It is ideal as an intranet and extranet server, as a document publishing system, a portal server and as a groupware tool for collaboration between separately located entities.

The Plone Foundation was formed in May 2004 to serve as a supporting organization for Plone. We are modeled after similar ventures, such as the Apache Software Foundation, and will be providing support for the development and marketing of Plone. In addition, the Foundation will be the legal owner of the Plone code, trademarks, and domain names. Our goal is to ensure that Plone remains the premier open source content management system and that we broaden its acceptance and visibility.

Open Source Industry over the next 10 years

'The future is open source'
Dawn Kawamoto and Stefanie Olsen
CNET News.com
July 22, 2005, 08:50 BST

That's the view of many top players in the industry, as they explained at a Stanford conference yesterday.

In the next five to 10 years, the open source movement will transform the software business, according to several top industry executives speaking at the AO 2005 Innovation Summit at Stanford University.

"We're building a whole new world in the software industry," said Ray Lane, a partner at venture capitalist Kleiner Perkins Caufield &Byers, who was moderating the open source panel.

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PLoS: Public Library of Science

PLoS Biology is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), a non-profit organization committed to making scientific and medical literature a public resource.

PLoS Biology (eISSN-1545-7885; ISSN-1544-9173) is an open-access, peer-reviewed general biology journal published monthly, online and in print, by the Public Library of Science (PLoS). PLoS is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.
Open-Access

All works published in the PLoS Biology are open access, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Everything is immediately available without cost to anyone, anywhere — to read, download, redistribute, include in databases, and otherwise use — subject only to the condition that the original authorship is properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the author.
Scope

PLoS Biology features works of exceptional significance in all areas of biological science, from molecules to ecosystems, including works at the interface with other disciplines, such as chemistry, medicine, and mathematics.

Developing Code using Open Source: ADP Lessons Learned

Open-Source Developers Need New Ways Of Thinking About Their Business
By Mitch Wagner
InformationWeek
July 14, 2005

Open-source developers can't afford to have blinders on and think only about technology. They also need to be sensitive to intellectual-property issues and maintain relationships with the open-source community, says the head of R&D for systems integrator ADP.

SAN DIEGO--Developers working on open-source projects for business need to develop new ways of approaching the business issues of software development.

They need to be careful where they get code that they believe to be open source, to be sure the code doesn't have licensing provisions that can cost their employers money in the future, cautioned Mark Rankin, director of research and development and a research fellow at ADP Dealer Services.

He also said developers need to get used to the idea that they can count on getting some--but not all--of their tech support from the open-source community. And they need to give back to the open-source community, by donating code to open source so that other organizations can use it.

ADP avoids using code licensed using the General Public License, which governs the terms and conditions for modifying and distributing Linux and other open-source projects. The reason: the license requires developers who modify GPL code to make the modified code public under the GPL, effectively giving up their intellectual property. Instead, the company uses the BSD open-source license, based on the open-source Berkeley Software Distribution Unix, which allows developers to keep modified code proprietary.

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Intel overclocks Chinese IT fund with $200m | The Register

Intel overclocks Chinese IT fund with $200m | The Register: "Intel overclocks Chinese IT fund with $200m
By Ashlee Vance in Chicago
Published Monday 13th June 2005 18:29 GMT

Like any technology giant worth its salt, Intel has put aside $200m to nurture young IT firms in China.

Handouts from the Intel Capital China Technology Fund will go to Chinese companies that fit in well with Intel's hopes and dreams. Intel plans initially to target players in the cellular, broadband and semiconductor design markets. Overall, the idea is to create a larger, more sophisticated Chinese IT market which will in turn spur demand for Intel's chips.

'Intel plans to stimulate local technological innovation and the continued growth of China's IT industry,' said Intel CEO Paul Otellini. 'We will invest in Chinese companies to accelerate technology adoption locally and to foster development of innovative technologies with potential for global distribution.'"

Google developing online payment system

Google developing online payment system: "Google developing online payment system
Tue Jun 21, 9:01 PM ET


SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Web search leader Google Inc.(Nasdaq:GOOG - news) is developing an online payment system but not a direct rival to eBay Inc.'s PayPal, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday.

Schmidt spoke after several days of heated speculation over reports that Google was working on a potential rival to PayPal, eBay's popular online payment system.
Schmidt said Google does not intend to offer a 'person-to-person stored-value payments system' like PayPal's, in which money briefly resides in PayPal's control during the transaction, but he did not give details of how the Google system would differ."

2003: Bahrain Central Informatics Organisation drives for e-Government on IBM and open standards platform | IBM Middle East

Bahrain Central Informatics Organisation drives for e-Government on IBM and open standards platform:

"Bahrain Central Informatics Organisation drives for e-Government on IBM and open standards platform
In a pioneering move, Bahrain Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) Government is to build its advanced national e-government infrastructure based on the open standard Linux platform."

Economic Cluster: Innovation Incubation Example

Services, Facilities, and Funding to support Innovation within the Cluster. Tagalder provides a working example of an Innovation Center. The organization is focused on the Chinese market.

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Tagalder is active in merger and acquisition in North/South America and Asia.

Tagalder's current projects include:

* A high-tech company in gamma ray container scanner inspection system
* A life science R&D startup company
* A finger print recognition equipment manufacture
* A finance and brokerage company in developing small business market in Asia

Services
Tagalder provides the following services to it clients:

* Market study and Promotion
* Web site development and hosting
* Prototype and product development
* Trade show, Function development and lighting production
* Consulting in joint-venture development
* Traveling arrangement
* Patented technologies and trade marks
* IT development and outsourcing
* Language translation



Latest News

* Tagalder Affiliate Program
* Tagalder Corporate Web System
* Tagalder Real Estate Broker Web System
* Tagalder and Inno Biotech Inc.
* Tagalder's Press Release

.....details....
Product
Tagalder produces, distributes and wholesales products. Tagalder imports and exports from China. Its international trade division can assist foreign product to penetrate China market and search for foreign distributors for Made-In-China product.

Tagaldere is distributing the following product into China:

* Coverall Building Technologies
* Car wash equipments
* Brushstrokes Fine Art Collection

Tagalder is distributing various products from China to the international market:

* Gamma Ray Container Scanner
* Fire extinguisher
* Shoes
* Plywood
* Cell phone accessories
* Electronics
* Energy Saving Light Bulb
* Skin-touch hands free and microphones

For further inquires, pls email to trade@tagalder.com

Economic Cluster: Governmental Involvements

An Example of Governmental integration into the strategic development of the economic infrastructure of a Cluster:

IBM CHINA SECURES STRATEGIC COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH LIAONING
21 June 2005
Asia Pulse
(c) 2005 Asia Pulse Pte Limited

The government of Liaoning Province in northeast China recently signed an agreement on strategic cooperation with IBM China Limited, under which the two sides will strengthen cooperation in information exchange, business cooperation and personnel training.

Contents of the cooperation cover: the two sides will jointly plan to provide an information exchange platform for enterprises in Liaoning Province; IBM will provide IT information services and advisory services on information application to enterprises and institutions in Liaoning Province; Liaoning will give priority to the solutions and system proposals of IBM in its information system construction; the two sides will jointly arrange personnel training for information industry of Liaoning Province; the two sides will undertake strategic of multiple forms under the frame of the agreement.

IBM entered China 20 years ago and opened a branch in Shenyang, capital city of the province ten years ago.

Liaoning, an old industrial city, is now implementing a rejuvenation drive, which needs advanced information technologies to upgrade its old industrial enterprises. Information industry has been one of the fastest developing industries in the province. So far the province has secured cooperation with 22 world famous IT companies in the form of joint venture.

Ecconomic Cluster: Industrial Cluster of Shenyang China

INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER

From a global point of view, Shenyang is situated in the central area of Northeast Asia, close to Japan, south Korea, North Korea, Mongolia and Russia, while a glimpse at a map of China will locate Shenyang in the joint section of the Northeast China Economic Region and the Bohai Sea Rim Economic Region which consists of five provinces and two cities, namely, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong Beijing and Tianjin. With regards to Liaoning province, Shenyang is Surrounded by a number of cities, such as "Iron and Steel City" Anshan, 'Coal City" Fushun,"Chemical Fiber City- Liaoyang, "Coal and Iron City" Benxi and "Grain and Coal City" Tieling, which constitute an economic community in the middle part of Liaoning Province with Shenyang in the center, where the economic exchanges are frequent enough with a big market and a promising future. The favorable geographic location makes Shenyang a key element in the opening and development of the Northeast Asia Economic Region and Bohai Sea Rim Economic Region

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT as it relates to Industrial Cluster:

http://www.china-rmb.com/shenyang/major%20Enterprises.html
Since its establishment 12 years ago, SETDZ has attracted 1,140 project investments from 40 countries.

Instant Messaging: Jabber Overview

Jabber Overview:


ContactJabber :: About :: Overview
Jabber1. Rapid and indistinct speech
2. To talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
3. A streaming XML technology mainly used for instant messaging

Jabber is best known as 'the Linux of instant messaging' -- an open, secure, ad-free alternative to consumer IM services like AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo (see the IM quickstart). Under the hood, Jabber is a set of streaming XML protocols and technologies that enable any two entities on the Internet to exchange messages, presence, and other structured information in close to real time. Jabber technologies offer several key advantages:

• Open -- the Jabber protocols are free, open, public, and easily understandable; in addition, multiple implementations exist for clients, servers, components, and code libraries.
  
• Standard -- the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has formalized the core XML streaming protocols as an approved instant messaging and presence technology under the name of XMPP, and the XMPP specifications have been published as RFC 3920 and RFC 3921.
  
• Proven -- the first Jabber technologies were developed by Jeremie Miller in 1998 anand are now quite stable; hundreds of developers are working on Jabber technologies, there are tens of thousands of Jabber servers running on the Internet today, and millions of people use Jabber for IM.
  
• Decentralized -- the architecture of the Jabber network is similar to email; as a result, anyone can run their own Jabber server, enabling individuals and organizations to take control of their IM experience.
  
• Secure -- any Jabber server may be isolated from the public Jabber network (e.g., on a company intranet), and robust security using SASL and TLS has been built into the core XMPP specifications.
  
• Extensible -- using the power of XML namespaces, anyone can build custom functionality on top of the core protocols; to maintain interoperability, common extensions are managed by the Jabber Software Foundation.
  
• Flexible -- Jabber applications beyond IM include network management, content syndication, collaboration tools, file sharing, gaming, and remote systems monitoring.
  
• Diverse -- a wide range of companies and open-source projects use the Jabber protocols to build and deploy real-time applications and services; you will never get "locked in" when you use Jabber technologies.