OSCON Lessons for Africa
The Open Source Convention of 2008 has closed its doors. It might not have been right to count our gains and losses during the conference, but it is time and timely, to do so.
tigers and elephants
Is Microsoft a tiger or a rogue elephant? A tiger has its own agenda, and cannot be diverted from its mission:to kill and eat. An rogue elephant is powerful and…
What Microsoft can do for Open Source
This morning Sam Ramji gave one of the closing keynote presentations at OSCON 2008. He talked about writing a new chapter in Microsoft’s history with the open source community, and…
Microsoft, Apache POI and the Open Specification Promise
I have been working with Sam Ramji and Robert Duffner from Microsoft, and I have been very pleased to resolve the issues that I had with the work they are…
Everything happens for a reason
This week I’m attending OSCON 2008, where the OSI is celebrating its 10th anniversary as an organization, but that’s only one reason I’m here. Another reason I’m here is because…
OSCON: Open Source, Open World. What should we discuss there?
In one week the open source community will meet at OSCON. I’ll be part of a panel – Open Source, Open World – that will discuss the success and challenges…
OSI presents at OSCON 2008
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. And it will be participating at the O’Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) in Portland this July 23-25, 2008….
Franchise
In a free market, over time, competition in the production of a commodity product will eliminate all profits. Bread-makers can sell their bread for enough money to cover the cost…
Open Source is taking new turns in Africa.
Open Source in Africa is taking a different turn. It is going policy. We have done the “raising dust” or advocay part. We have also done the debate part of…
Fair trade coffee & Open source Java
When Starbucks grew from regional powerhouse to cultural phenomenon, there was one small problem: the coffee they sold did not jive with their brand. So much so that in 2000…
Open Source and Sustainability
Last week I read the book small is possible. It’s a great read, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoyed books like The Tipping Point, The Wisdom of…
Speaking of linux clusters…Roadrunner is /fast/
I was happy to learn on Monday that the Petaflop barrier has been broken. IBM’s Roadrunner supercomputer achieved this feat with commodity hardware and open source software (including Red Hat’s…