Computerworld UK "Open Enterprise"

OpenX: the Unknown Variable

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:17:00 GMT

The open source company OpenX, which is behind the free ad server of the same name, is something of a mysterious beast.

Straight Talking About the Unspeakable ACTA

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:15:00 GMT

I and many others have written a fair amount about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

(Open) China Rising

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:27:00 GMT

It's become something of cliche in recent weeks to invoke the rise of China as an economic superpower. But what about its role in the world of free software?

The Super Windows That...Couldn't

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:14:00 GMT

One of the more bizarre accusations flung by Microsoft at GNU/Linux over the years is that it doesn't scale. This is part of a larger campaign to portray it as a kind of “toy” operating system – fine for low-end stuff, but nothing you'd want to run your enterprise on.

Gartner's FUD

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:06:00 GMT

Good news:

Spreadthunderbird is Go

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:14:00 GMT

One of the reasons that Firefox has been successful is the extraordinary way that users have been mobilised as part of a vast, global marketing group without precedent.

Novell's Faustian Pact

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:33:00 GMT

There is something rather curious about software companies operating in the open source world. Although they may be competitors in a particular sector, the open source licence they employ means that they are also partners: they can generally use the code of other companies if they wish.

Opening up Business Process Management

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:28:00 GMT

I wrote earlier this week about the increasing maturity of open source ERP solutions, and how this represented a fleshing out of the open source enterprise stack. An obvious question to ask is: what's going to be the next area of activity? One candidate is business process management (BPM).

The Economic Impact of Software Patents

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:47:00 GMT

The UK's Patent Office – which now goes by the awful name of UK Intellectual Property Office, which means it's really the UK Intellectual Monopolies Office – is a curious beast. On the one hand, as its name suggests, it's tied into one of the biggest confidence tricks around, dressing up conceptual mutton as intellectual lamb. On the other, there are odd outbreaks of sanity that suggest someone in there understands some of the deeper issues concerning software patents.

Open Enterprise Interview: Tam�s B�r�, Sense/Net

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:18:00 GMT

Once hackers have stopped arguing whether it's “free software” or “open source”, and discussing the relative merits of GNOME or KDE, they can always get stuck into the perennial question of whether they ought to develop applications using Mono, tied as it is to Microsoft's .NET framework, or not.

A question of priorities

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:27:00 GMT

Britain's only specialist police human trafficking unit is to be shut down after two years because of a lack of funding, the government said today.

Open Source ERP Comes of Age

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:51:00 GMT

Earlier this year, I called open source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) the “Cinderella of the business free software world”. But even then, I was aware of considerable activity in this sector, and that it was a matter of “when” rather than “if” ERP made its big breakthrough into the mainstream.

Straws in the Wind

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:04:00 GMT

Alongside all the high-profile wins for free software, there are what might be called guerilla gains happening in the background – small conceptual victories that point to greater things. Here are two.

Open Spectrum Victory in US

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:18:00 GMT

Radio spectrum is inherently a commons, a resource that is owned by no one or by the state, but available to all. Too often in the past, that commons has been enclosed – sold off to the highest bidder. Now, it seems, some of the fences are being torn down, in the US at least:

Of Patents and Property

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:03:00 GMT

As long-suffering readers of this blog will have noticed, one of my favourite hobby-horses is that the whole idea of "intellectual property” is a trick, designed to plug into the warm and fuzzy feeling most people have about the idea of property, and aiming to cover up the fact that what we are really dealing with here are intellectual monopolies – of which few people are fans.

Open Content's Great Healing

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:18:00 GMT

There is an irony at the heart of the open content world: that the two biggest successes there – Wikipedia and the Creative Commons movement – cannot share content.

Open Enterprise Interview: Ross Mason, MuleSource

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:36:00 GMT

One of the hottest buzzwords/buzzphrases over the last few years has been Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). This is rather good news for open source, since SOA's underlying philosophy of linking together many separate elements fits free software like a glove.

Bilski: Almost the Big One

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:25:00 GMT

Those with good memories will recall a short post I wrote back in February about a case, generally known as “Bilski”, that was going before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC).

Open Enterprise Interview: Dirk Morris, Untangle

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:42:00 GMT

One of the reasons the open source development methodology is so powerful is because of the modularisation that lies at its heart.

Cloud Computing Dispels the Fog of FUD

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:05:00 GMT

One of the anomalies of the currently-fashionable cloud computing is that people tend not to talk about the underlying operating system – presumably because they tend to think the cloud *is* the operating system.

La Bell'Italia

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:34:00 GMT

Italy is famous for its glorious art, fine food, and friendly people; maybe we should add “enlightened uptake of open source” to that list. Here are two more data points:

The EPO's Reductio ad Absurdum

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:55:00 GMT

I've written a lot about the danger that software patents pose to open source. The problem is that intellectual monopolies like patents are fundamentally incompatible with the idea of unfettered exchange of ideas, and the possibility that software patents might be strengthened within the European Union is a serious concern.

AMQP's Long Spoon

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:55:00 GMT

Here's Red Hat blowing the trumpet for the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol, or rather for its latest supporter:

The Facebook Approach to Open Source

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:14:00 GMT

Here's an interesting sign of the times. Facebook is opening up a big wodge of code:

All Russian Schools to Use Free Software

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:12:00 GMT

I've often lamented how few schools in the UK use free software, and how difficult it is to break the lock that Microsoft has on the entire educational system. The pathetic state here is highlighted by contrast with Russia, which is making amazing strides in rolling out open source to schools.