Info

Open Source

Open-Source Routers Are Becoming an IT Option

Many large IT operations are extensively using open-source technology -- in operating systems, applications, development tools and databases. So why not in routers, too?

Africa's Premier FOSS Institution links up with Europe's FOSS hub.

The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), is set to embark on its longest out-of-the continent working trip to Berlin, Europe's Open Source and ICT hub. The Foundation's executives and staff from the Western, Eastern and Southern Africa shall be touring Berlin and and its environs for one full week.

Africa's Premier FOSS Institution links up with Europe's FOSS hub

The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), is set to embark on its longest out-of-the continent working trip to Berlin, Europe's Open Source and ICT hub.

How Open Source Can Beat the Status Quo

One of the biggest problems with open source is understanding what it means out in the real world. I'm not talking about understanding the actual technology. I'm talking about the impact of open source. How open source is actually useful.

CZ: Ministry funds open source document management system

The Czech Interior ministry has funded the development of an open source document management system (DMS) meant especially for public administrations. The DMS is developed by the OSS Alliance, a Czech open source support organisation. The application is currently tested by several municipal administrations and dozens of others have already expressed interest to join in, says the alliance.

Ubuntu releases second alpha of Karmic Koala

The Ubuntu team this morning released a second alpha of the upcoming Karmic Koala operating system, also known as Ubuntu 9.10. While it is still early days for Karmic, this release does give some insight into plans for the final release, scheduled for October this year.

OpenSource World Offering Free Admission

Organizers of the upcoming OpenSource World conference broadened the event program and are offering free admission, hoping to attract more attendees in a time of slashed travel budgets and increased competition from similar shows.

EU software liability law could divide open source

The world of open-source development could be divided, if the European Commission succeeds in passing a law extending consumer protection rules to software, according to experts. The Commission proposes that software companies be held liable in the European Union for the security and efficacy of their products.

Fedora 11 roars with potential

The Fedora team yesterday released latest version of its Linux operating system, Fedora 11. The much-anticipated release from the Red Hat-backed community team promises to be one of the best Linux releases to date with Fedora’s reputation for making Linux as easy as possible increasing with each new release.

FOSSWAY meets the Dakar FOSS community

FOSSWAY project coordinator met in Dakar members of DakarLug, the local Linux User Group, and GAW, an association that promotes the use of FOSS in digital creation and arts in Senegal. The meeting was an opportunity to present FOSSWAY, FOSSFA's advocacy project in West Africa, to the Senegalese community of FOSS programmers, users, enthusiasts and advocates.

An OA mandate for the University of Pretoria

The University of Pretoria senate voted unanimously to adopt an OA mandate, to take effect immediately.

EU: British join French/Italian open source campaign on EP elections

The French/Italian campaign to get candidates for the European Parliament to pledge their support for free software is joined by British open source activists this week.

IT: Statistics institute: moving to open source increases cooperation

Moving to open source leads to increased cooperation between public administrations, says Carlo Vaccari, manager of software development at Italy's National Institute of Statistics, Istat.

CH: Open source vendors protest public agency's no-bid software deal

Eighteen open source IT service providers are appealing a Swiss government agency's no-bid licence agreement with Microsoft.

Finding the right open-source savvy lawyer

Some days, like it or not, you need a lawyer. For most business purposes, picking the right law firm isn’t usually that big of a deal. Chances are you already have at least an idea of how to find a contract lawyer, a tax law specialist or a real-estate attorney. But what if your programmers are using open-source code that’s licensed under two different licenses? What if you’re concerned with how a patent might affect open-source software your company is already using?

The New Economic Imperative for Open Source App Development

Finding it harder to get the resources needed to develop your business's apps? Open source options for software development, such as Ruby on Rails, offer ways to get software projects done during the current brutal economic climate by providing community-based resources and saving users from paying licensing fees.

Going to Class with Moodle Open Source Courseware

Moodle is a free software virtual learning environment--it can be used to create stand-alone online tutorials, training courses, or integrate with classroom-based education. It is implemented in PHP and can run on a variety of Web servers and databases, and is designed to interoperate with common authentication, enrollment management, and content management systems found at higher education institutions.

New Kenyan Open Source awards announced

The nominations for the first ever Kenya Open Source awards, to be held on the 27th May 2009, has been declared open. The awards recognise information and communication industry developers, system administrators and end users who have made notable contribution to Open Source technological advancement.

Glug hosts free talk on OSS migration strategies

The Gauteng Linux User Group (GLUG) will this week host Sun Microsystem’s open source migration specialist Michael Bohn who will be talking about the risks, benefits and opportunities in migrating to open source software.

European Council: moving to open source desktops will not result in savings

The European Council says migrating the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors to open source desktops will not decrease budgetary costs.

Plonegov Italy officially launched

The Italian chapter of Plonegov, an international project to develop open source e-government applications using the Plone open source content management system, was launched officially today at a conference in Sorrento, in southern Italy.

FI: Finance ministry updates its tailored version of OpenOffice

Finland's ministry of Finance is publishing an update of its localised version of OpenOffice. The tailored office application is this time also made available from the Osor website.

FI: City of Oulu publishes e-government platform as open source

The City of Oulu is releasing the source code and the architecture documentation for its e-Government platform, the OmaOulu municipal portal.

SA department of education shuts out FOSS

Despite a national open source strategy and a well-publicised set of minimum interoperability standards for government, the South African education department has launched a teacher laptop project that excludes free and open source software (FOSS).

OpenSuse’s Community Week kicks off

The OpenSuse community today kicked off its first Community Week programme. The week-long event running until May 17 includes sessions on KDE and Gnome as well as sessions on marketing, board matters and education.

Managing Technology: Open To Change

With the introduction of Web sites such as Recovery.gov and a new federal chief information officer, the White House has made it clear it will use technology as the main vehicle for creating a more open, accessible government. Open source applications, such as Linux and Apache, most often feed the back end of networks - operating systems, security programs, Web servers and databases. But they are quickly making their way to the desks of users. Members of the intelligence community, for example, use them to share information on investigations. The Defense Information Systems Agency announced in March its plans to open source a suite of 50 applications for human resources, training, security, acquisition and other related functions. This will allow agencies to streamline and share information inside and outside the Defense Department.

Shuttleworth Foundation announces open source school admin app

The Shuttleworth Foundation has announced the release of SchoolTool 1.0, a web-based open source student information system and calendar server for primary and secondary schools around the world. Developed by the Foundation’s SchoolTool development team, the product includes customisable student demographics, parent/contact management, attendance, gradebook, calendaring, resource booking and report card generation.

Call for tender for a study on "FOSS and Software Expenditure in West Africa"

The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) is a not-for-profit Pan-African organisation whose mission is to promote the use of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and the FOSS model in African development and to support the integration of FOSS in national policies. Since its creation in 2003, FOSSFA has become Africa's premier non-governmental FOSS organisation in the continent.

Open source: How e-voting should be done

'Current U.S. policy ensures that e-voting remains in the hands of very few proprietary vendors, including the much-maligned Diebold, which has received so much bad press that it has renamed its voting machine division Premier Election Solutions.Don't let the new name fool you.

Free/Open-Source software: guide to localization

This guide covers all the steps involved in the localisation process starting from fundamental topics such as locale, character encoding and fonts creation to advanced topics including input methods, gettext framework and translation guidelines.

Open to development: Open-Source software and economic development

This paper examines the role that open-source software can play in an economy and its development, with a focus on empirical evidence and economic logic. It argues that, while open-source can clearly be a viable part of a developed software industry, the available evidence does not support the position that open-source software can form the basis of an industry on its own, especially in nations where the technology sector is still embryonic
Print this Send this