When you’re in Open Source your error longevity is nearly eternal
When you have a startup you ego-surf a lot. It isn’t for the normal reasons people ego surf (indeed there is something inside of me left over from my punk…
Archived posts by the Board
Do Patents Encourage or Hinder Innovation? The Case of the Steam Engine
The Freeman, in December of last year, published an excellent study of a natural experiment in patents: the Steam Engine. The power of a steam engine is rated in “duty”:…
Not a coder? Want to contribute to open source?
Are you not a coder? Or are your coding skills rusty, having moved on? No matter! You can still contribute to open source. Open source is only one part of…
275 Open Source Policy Initiatives (and growing)…
The Center for Strategic and International Studies released their sixth update to their CSIS Open Source Policy Study last year, and given their track record we should expect to see…
Open Source Business Conference Retrospective
Along with the Free and Open Source Developers European Meeting, the Open Source Business Conference was one of the two best conferences I’ve been to recently (I generally hate conferences)….
Please forget to FLOSS
In email to a third party, copied to me, Linux activist and long-time friend Rick Moen comments on the acronym FLOSS (usually explanded “Free, Libré, and Open Source”. I continue…
Reducing the risks of vendor lock-in
Peter Hansteen of Bergen Norway reports that the Norwegian Police Force has disclosed two large-scale information security incidents. He explains that: Apparently large parts of the bureaucracy that is responsible…
Finland warms up to Open Source for Public Adminstration
I just saw the news that Finland has made the decision to use open source software where possible for public administration. The order is written in Finnish, but thanks to…
A New Software Manifesto for India
A new voice is rising from the great democracy of India, and that voice is proclaiming that the only responsible choice for public sector software is software that is first…
From the End of the Beginning to the Beginning of the End
When Eric Raymond posted the first of the Halloween Documents in 1998, it marked the end of the beginning for open source. That is to say those documents demonstrated that…
One Laptop Per Child in Afghanistan
CNN reports Laptops bring lessons, maybe even peace. It’s good to see the One Laptop Per Child project back on track. To me, the most exciting thing about the One…
Support Carl Malamud as Government Printer
Please lend your support to Carl Malamud’s effort to be appointed as the Government Printer, called YesWeScan. He has a history of breaking out closed (or difficult to get) government…