Anything Google can do to make Javascript more valuable to you is in its best interests, and the tools described on its blog today are pretty marvelous.

I recently wrote this piece for MSB’S Annual Supplement.. then decided I liked it enough to post it on my Blog.. read more

What I have not seen is any reduction in intensity when I write the word Microsoft, from readers, e-mail correspondents, or the open source people I meet. Why is that, I wonder.

Here are some stunning facts that were published at the end of July in Malaysia: More than 70 percent of Malaysian government offices are running open source software, according to figures released by the country's Open Source Competency Centre. The centre was established as part of the 2004 Malaysian Public Sector OSS Master Plan, to guide and co-ordinate the implementation of OSS in the public sector.read more

Ramji has gone from Microsoft, where everything is defined and the fight is continuous, to Sonoa Systems, where nothing is defined and contention is nebulous. It's more wide-open and, he says, more fun.

It seems the idea is to hit the low-end of the market with something that looks like an iPhone, but isn't, and a network that seems like the Internet, but isn't.

CodePlex is delivering code to the commons that might not be contributed otherwise, valuable code that can be used to build new applications.

With Zapatec, Funambol believes it can create a one-stop shop for building mobile applications that run as well as native apps across multiple platforms.

All Skype really plans to open source is a Linux version of its client. The protocol remains proprietary. So if you have a Linux phone and want to support Skype's proprietary protocol on your new hardware, you can.

Traffic Server is designed to optimize Web sites by caching popular content at the network edge, closer to users. It's not something Google needs -- they have their own solution -- but it could be very useful for relatively new, fast-growing sites.

The Open Source movement is consistent with a larger democratic proposition that the more that we can all be involved in affairs that concern them, the better off we'll all be. But sometimes the involvement of some people, whose concern is the maintenance of monopoly and control, doesn't serve the great good. Glynn Moody uncovers the sinister results that are threatening to emerge from a committee in Europe in a blog posting titled EU Wants to Re-define "Closed" as "Nearly Open". I think the EU got it right the first time in 2004, when they said this about open systems: read more

If you have ever thought to yourself, "gee, I'm not a programmer, and I can barely afford my daily bread, how can I help an open source project," here is your answer. Download this buggy code and report on what's wrong so it can be made right.

Anyone seeking a case study of how a proprietary software company can "embrace and extend" itself into the open source world should stop thinking Microsoft and start thinking Blackboard.

CoPress, the brainchild of former University of Oregon editor Daniel Bachhuber, aims to build a vertical of college papers within the CMS market, with managed hosting and training.

When I was invited to speak at the STS Forum in Kyoto in 2006, I thought it would be a good idea to write an extremely concise white paper-3 pages total-comparing and contrasting open source software and proprietary software. Since then I have been invited to speak about, defend, and expand upon that paper. Now it's time to give it an update. read more

The mission of the new mySQL Foundation would simply be to hold the code base together, to provide a central point for updates, QA and bug fixes, to run the "official" version of the code base and plot its future direction. To run the forge, in other words.

What should open source be doing in a car? What would you do that Sync isn't doing now? How should an open source community focused on automotive features be managed? And what features should be off-limits to the open source community?

Ubuntu 9.10 advances Canonical’s ambitious push into cloud computing — and the enterprise. Ubuntu is best known for its Linux desktop and there are several desktop improvements in this upgrade — including a faster boot and login and enhanced audio and and 3G broadband connectivity. But the spotlight is on the server side. Canonical claims the new edition [...]

Several years ago, we had the chance to visit a crocodile farm in Queensland, Australia. There were several highlights, not least the chance for the children to hold a crocodile - a very small one, of course, with its jaws taped shut. Even with one that small, the frisson of terror remained and the children all laughed nervously for the camera.read more