Open Format and MS Office Alternatives

 We have lot of Alternatives to MS Office available today to get the work done. Here are dozens of FREE alternatives to what Microsoft Office has to offer. We can select a web based or normal productivity suite. If you are always connected you can go for a web based office software suite.

With my experience I suggest to use Zoho (Zoho offers a suite of online web applications which is easy to collaborate. Zoho suite goes beyond that by offering a wiki, a planner, email , CRM etc..

Zoho provides a wide, integrated portfolio of rich online applications for businesses. With more than 20 different applications spanning Collaboration , Business and Productivity applications

The second choice is Google docs, Zoho  is far better than google docs) In both you can create word processing documents, spreadsheets ,presentations and lot more. You can share these documents with friends and co-workers quite effectively with the push of a few buttons. 

Zoho

 

Open Office can install in Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, it is better solution for those who are looking for a free open source alternative to the MS Office.

KOffice  have distros for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux , there are eight packages in this suite, including  project planning and image editing tools.

Lotus Symphony ,Libre Office,Abiword,Atlantis Nova ,SSuite Office and too many are in the list, but till this time MS office have one only competitor product , that is Zoho.

I am sure people have tried all most all these free suites to abandon MS Office, but the reality is, they always come back to MS office suites. The main reason for this trend is compatibility problems. So what we need along with Free Software and Open Source, we need Open Format in Software and in hardware too.

Migrate From Microsoft Windows or Mac OS to Linux

We support individuals and corporations for moving from Windows/Mac to Linux, when you decide you want the stability, flexibility, and a virus free environment of Linux. Recent few years we can see a steady growth in migration from Windows to Linux and the number of enterprises migrating from Windows to Linux is a dramatically growing during 2005 to 2010.

What most people do not realise is that there are very simple ways to help ease this migration. Microsoft Windows is one of the first computer operating systems  for individual and corporations,It is easy to use for a layman user during late 90s,but that doesn't mean it's perfect till this time. In fact, Microsoft Windows operating Systems cause continual trouble or distress by bugs, viruses, crashes and many other serious problems that can make your computer difficult to use. Linux, however, is much more stable, more user friendly than Apple Mac or MS Windows and, more importantly, it is free, no worries about Licence or software piracy and NO VIRUS threats.

1. Select a Linux Distribution

If you decide to migrate from Windows to Linux, you will need to take few steps before doing so. The first things is selecting a Linux distribution. There are hundreds  of Linux distributions out there, for just about every type of user and every type of use. There have been plenty of distributions that have attempted to mimic the look and feel of Windows and Apple Mac as closely as possible.We cannot say that which is the best distribution, it is just like which food is the best, it depend on your taste and need.

In my experience,we can select Ubuntu, OpenSUSE,Mandriva or Redhat. If you are new to Linux, Ubuntu will be the easiest distribution to learn, you will be addicted to great nice graphical user interfaces. Mandriva and OpenSUSE are also very popular versions of Linux.

2. Backup your Files and Configurations.

Back up all of the files you wish to keep when you migrate to Linux from Windows / Mac. If you are doing a complete reinstall on your drive and removing Windows completely, then these files will end up formatted and lost. Backing them up will allow you to replace them on the hard drive once Linux is installed.

3. Check your hardware

When you install a new operating system, and find a particular piece of hardware is not supported your computing life has become infinitely more difficult,but nowadays hardware incompatibility and driver support is not a problem with Linux Distributions, but this was a biggest issues that many people have had in the past eigh to ten years back, there are instances where a specific piece of hardware were not supported. You have to give particular attention to Networking cards, video cards, sound cards, I prefer to note down the details of this card name and their versions.

4.Export your Email contacts and Bookmarks.

Export your important contacts and personal information from Outlook or other mail clients in your Windows machine, backup all or important email messages, web browser preferences, email and browser configuration, and so on. Don't forget to backup your bookmarks from Internet explorer or other browsers.

5.Install the Linux distribution

Download and install the Linux distribution you've selected, then install other applications for use with your new Linux OS.

There is a nice website called OSAlt has a large database, comparing Windows applications to open source equivalents which can usually be run on Linux. You can find alternatives or better alternatives for Visio, Photoshop ,Dreamweaver, AutoCAD, WinZip, Movie Maker, MS Project, Norton Ghost, Access, Publisher, Sound editor etc...

Reference.

1.A complete migration guide,can be found at Tom's Hardware

2.Screen shots of my favourate linux Distribution, which i have installed in my machines can be found Linux Club Album.

Ubuntu Linux 10.10

OpenSUSE 11.3

OpenSUSE 11.2

OpenSUSE 11.2

An old story and few snaps

 Microsoft Xenix OS, an operating system for 16-bit computers, based on the  BSD 4.1. It was on 1976, when there was no Linus or Linux. It is really funny to, when we compare the current price of Windows 7 Pro or Apple Mac Leopard 5.6 with the price of a Microsoft OS In 1976, In 1976 the cost of Operating system  from Microsoft was $1000 to $7500 for educational institutions and from $5000 to $40,000 for full commercial open source (per CPU). On 1981, the IBM 5150 Personal Computer gained popularity.

Then, on 1984, the Apple Macintosh Released - Apple Computer- In 1980, ten years before (there was no known Linus or Linux),  Microsoft announced XENIX OS Microsoft port of Unix for various 16-bit microprocessors,

and the story continues , only an year later, in 1981 Microsoft purchased all rights to 86-DOS and "IBM Personal Computer DOS 1.0" was ready for the introduction of the IBM PC in October 1981, during this period development of XENIX and DOS was in parallel and XENIX greatly influenced DOS design.For six years (from 1984 till 1990) Microsoft was one of the leading Unix vendors, the provider of the  first cheap large volume commercial Unix and, simultaneously, owner of a major branch of Unix  -- Xenix

When we analyze MS was trying to bring all known and powerful features of XENIX in to DOS and they have announced all XENIX features for upcoming versions of DOS. That shows that Microsoft certainly tried to bring UNIX features to DOS,  but the forks, multitasking, and multi-user support never materialized. Till 1980s  Microsoft was used XENIX for  Internet gateways, running Sendmail and they functioned as internal gateways between MSMail and Exchange while the company converted everyone over to having personal mailboxes on an Exchange server. In 1996 completely removed XENIX internal network ( Microsoft's Local Area Network (MILAN) was on XENIX during that time).

 The important fact that MS was essentially a software company with Vision  can controls and extends the PC hardware standard without the Microsoft Vision in PC hardware standard there can be no any substantial base for Linux at all because price of hardware is discounted due to the volume of Microsoft software sells.  In this sense Linux is a side effect of Microsoft dominance.

Some Interesting Terms

Recently I have seen some  Interesting Terms on the web and tried one of them in my Compaq PC (AMD processor), It worked as expected, Cheers 

a) I pc 10.5.6
b) Ideneb 10.5.6
c) Itkos 10.5.5
d) Leo 4all v3 10.5.2
e) kalway 10.5.2

Linux Club Online Shop

Radio Shop Online is the virtual store front of Linux Club LLC. Radio Shop Online anchored by ALAN VU2AUZ, has more than 5 years of experience in the communications equipment business - wholesale and retail, domestic and international. Radio Shop Online provides a full suite of communication productions, including:

	• Amateur / Ham Radio Equipment
	• Commercial / 2-Way / Land Mobile Radio Equipment
	• Marine Radio Equipment
	• Avionics Radio Equipment
	• Receiver / Scanner Equipment

Radio Shop Online  is an authorized dealer for many of the top manufacturers in the market, including: Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu/Vertex, Motorola, Uniden, Garmin, Cushcraft, Larsen, Comet, Diamond and many more.

Radio Shop Online   uses state of the art secure e-commerce shopping technology consistent with the highest standards online to ensure that your information is safely and securely transmitted. All personal information collected is used only for fulfilling orders and telling you about our exclusive offers. We guarantee your information to be safe with us and is never shared with any third parties.

To ensure your transactions are secure when placing orders online, Radio Shop Online uses Verisign on every order processed. We take extra care to protect your information by using advanced encryption and firewall technology throughout the ordering process. We also use state-of-the-art Verisign SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption to protect personal information from unauthorized use.

FrOSCamp Zurich

FrOSCamp Zurich, an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees from all over Europe on Open Source and Open Standards. It is an international network of user generated non-traditional social conferences: open, participatory workshop-events,  often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats. Oh and super fun!!

FrOSCamp was  First of its kind in  the ETH University premises, The camp was being organized by Sandro of ORGA Team ,I think this program is an excellent start in the right direction by ORGA team to facilitate open source Promotion.We will also had a fancy party with creative commons licensed beer [Free Beer] and music in the evening of the first day of the event.

An Open Source Beer, which means that the recipe is under a creative commons license. It is open to everyone and everyone can make the brew beer or make yourself.You may even sell it and get rich with free beer,It Is produced by the Wadi Bräu as organic beer.It is a bright, naturally cloudy beer in special bio-quality buds. Brewed and bottled beer free from the Wadi-Brau-Huus AG in Wädenswil on the beautiful lake of Zurich.

OpenSUSE 11.3: The Linux for layman users

One week back I have installed a fresh copy of OpenSUSE 11.3 on my personal laptop (Copmaq Presario CQ61),This is very stable and optimized for performance without using much CPU resource, and what I feel this is a lightweight distribution.

I have used KDE 4.5 which is the better than any other propitiatory Operating System in performance and User Interface.I can say that this is for layman users or normal users of computers. With my experience in using various Linux distributions,OpenSUSE  resists to all update events and don't crash. This is the part that what I suggest this for a final user, for his daily activities.
OpenSUSE 11.3 uses KDE 4.5 along with Compiz Fusion for Desktop Cube kind of animations, which create an illusionary effects in UI for a normal user.

Compiz Fusion  seeks to provide an easy and fun-to-use windowing environment, allowing use of the graphics hardware to provide impressive effects, amazing speed and unrivaled usefulness, Compiz Fusion is an open-source software project, meaning anyone can use it and contribute to it freely.

All in all, I've found that openSUSE is, once more, a great Linux distribution.

KDE 4.5 Screen Shots

KDE 4.5 Screen Shots are here, I have successfully updated the KDE 4.5 Beta on my openSuse 11.2 Machine, See the screen shots of KDE 4.5 Screen Shots , after these updates I have solved another problem with Amarok Audio Player, Initially it had no sound.openSuse with KDE 4.5 is not so light or fast in machines having less than 1GB RAM. In my experience it is not a lightweight desktop distribution, when we compare with other linux distros, openSUSE 11.2 has a good Network Manager. Overall openSuse 11.2 with KDE 4.5 is an excellent release, I am using Compaq Prasario CQ61. I have put more screen shots of openSUSE 112. with KDE 4.5 here. In my experience openSUSE 11.2 runs faster, smoother, utilize  power more wisely, has a more polished desktop, and simpler installation. I got a decent, colorful choice of programs, lots of useful utilities, plus centralized management by YaST, which is smarter and easier to use than ever before. The one sore point is package management - it's slow. It works great and makes some quite intelligent choices, but waiting a whole minute for it to complete caching the repository info is too much. If only this could be solved - somehow, openSUSE 11.2 would be perfect. When they release the Final we hope it will be solved.

Installing and Running Linux on Sony PS2 Devices and Intel / Mac Computers

Linux can be installed in any INTEL based Mac Machine, here I have used a Mac Mini. It was successful (*please search for @installing Linux on Mac"), the same way and we can install on the Sony Play Station 3 video game console (try Mandrive,Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Yellow Dog, Gentoo. Linux kernel supports PlayStation 3, so no worries about patches or hacks are required to install and run a full-featured distro.

Use Xross Media Bar (XMB) menu of your Playstation,
XMB menu, select System , Format Drive to PS3 HDD.then do a classic a partition for the hard drive by selecting to Custom Partition and allocate atleast 10GB to the PS3 System. your Play station will restart after this.After restart login and insert your favouraite Linux CD/DVD installer. After this step go again from the XMB menu, go to "System" and then "Install Other OS". The PS3 will search for others.bid from the installer. Once found, install it. After the installation, you can now set the PS3 to boot Linux by default by navigating to System (Default System to Other OS) thats all..your PS3 is a PC

The Free Software Movement and the Open Source Movement

The Free Software Movement and the Open Source Movement are completely different. Stallman represents the former. Torvalds and Raymond represent the latter. For your freedom, download this video to your disk and watch it with a freedom-respecting program. ......

The Simple Economics of Open Source

Why in the world would anyone take the time to write complicated software programs for free?


It's a good question, one that has piqued the curiosity of a number of economists, who wonder what benefits, if any, lie behind the burgeoning "open source" movement in technology.


After all, outwardly the situation smells of economic anarchy. Where are the market forces, when thousands of talented programmers—and even many commercial firms—spend inordinate amounts of time writing and sharing computer source code: an activity that apparently gives the individuals and companies involved no pay-off, no reward?


Could it be driven, as some media reports have admiringly suggested, purely by intellectual fervor on the part of programmers, perhaps coupled with a noble desire to share and dispense knowledge to benefit mankind?


Not so fast, say HBS Professor Josh Lerner and his colleague Jean Tirole, an economist at the University of Toulouse and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In their new working paper, "The Simple Economics of Open Source," Lerner and Tirole make the case that an idealistic notion of programmer altruism only goes so far. After all, the pair argues, generosity and knowledge-bearing have not really been guiding factors in other industries: so why would they dominate the computer field?


Instead, they suggest, laboring on open source brings developers and companies specific, tangible and very favorable economic benefits: benefits that are sensible, potentially quite lucrative and, in a word, simple. Altruism is just a nice by-product.

A marriage between Web and Mobile

A marriage between Web and Mobile can lead to produce a new business era. it can be a combination of web services, socket services and mobiles, Opera mini can play a good role in web based applications in mobile phone. Apple iPhone and Blackberry can make a huge market in Financial trading worlds.

Using Fast Enumeration

Using Fast Enumeration

The following code example illustrates using fast enumeration with NSArray and NSDictionary objects.

NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:

        @"One", @"Two", @"Three", @"Four", nil];

for (NSString *element in array) {

    NSLog(@"element: %@", element);

}

NSDictionary *dictionary = [NSDictionary dictionaryWithObjectsAndKeys:

    @"quattuor", @"four", @"quinque", @"five", @"sex", @"six", nil];

NSString *key;

for (key in dictionary) {

    NSLog(@"English: %@, Latin: %@", key, [dictionary valueForKey:key]);

}

You can also use NSEnumerator objects with fast enumeration, as illustrated in the following example:

NSArray *array = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:

        @"One", @"Two", @"Three", @"Four", nil];

NSEnumerator *enumerator = [array reverseObjectEnumerator];

for (NSString *element in enumerator) {

    if ([element isEqualToString:@"Three"]) {

        break;

    }

}

NSString *next = [enumerator nextObject];

// next = "Four"

For collections or enumerators that have a well-defined order—such as NSArray or NSEnumerator instance derived from an array—the enumeration proceeds in that order, so simply counting iterations will give you the proper index into the collection if you need it.

NSArray *array = /* assume this exists */;

NSInteger index = 0;

BOOL ok = NO;

for (id element in array) {

    if (/* some test for element */) {

        ok = YES;

        break;

    }

    index++;

}

if (ok) {

    NSLog(@"Test passed by element at index %d", index");

}

iPhone SDK installtion on PowerPC G4 Mac Mini (Non Intel Mac)

These are contents from different blogs,sites and forums combined together for a successful installation of iPhone SDK on PowerPC G4 which I've used to install iPhone SDK.

I managed to install the SDK completely (in the right place) without using Pacifist, fully working on a Mac Mini PowerPC G4 32 Bit. My root partition is still spammed with 5 gb of redundant crap for following this "Tip", but thats why i decided to let others know there's another better way of getting it to work:

Pre Installation Steps( Create Installation Package for PowerPC G4)

1. Make the iPhone SDK.dmg read/write-able with Disk Utility using convert -> to read/write.
2. Mount the R/W dmg.
3. You need to delete some unneccessary file so that you can modify the installer config file, because the image is completely full. I choose the PDF in the root of the dmg.
4. Modify iPhone SDK/iPhone SDK.mpkg/Contents/iPhoneSDK.dist :(Right Click on "iPhone SDK.mpkg" from the Mounted disk ans Selelct "Show Package Contents"

Once we Select this menu, We will get a list of files . From this list ,Select iPhoneSDK.dist and edit with any text editor and you have to edit three functions from this file as follows..

- Goto Line number 70 and

function agreedToSLA()
{
var res = system.run("tempfileexists", "insttmp_37253734");
if( res == 0 ){ return true; }
my.choice.tooltip = system.localizedStringWithFormat('TT_NOIPHONESDK');
return true; // By default it is false
}

function SDKPresent()
{
var res = system.run("tempfileexists", "insttmp_37253735");
if( res == 0 ){ return true; }
system.log("To install the iPhone SDK you need to agree to the iPhone SDK License agreement through the GUI interface.");
return true; // By default it is false

}

function isIntel()
{
var res = (system.sysctl('hw.byteorder') == '4321');
// by default is 1234 change this to 4321
if( !res ){ my.choice.tooltip = system.localizedStringWithFormat('TT_NOINTEL'); }
return res;
}

/// End of File
Note :
- Line 71 ( in function agreedToSLA() ) - modify "return false;" to "return true;"
- Line 81 ( in function SDKPresent() ) - modify "return false;" to "return true;"
-Line 103 (in function isIntel() change var res = (system.sysctl('hw.byteorder') == '1234'); to var res = (system.sysctl('hw.byteorder') == '4321');

Save this File, Now we are ready for installation

Once we completed this step, we can directly install IPhone SDK into Power PC . From the Installation Screen do not select Mac OS X 10.3.9 Support and Web Objects (Web Objects is Optional if you want you can select)

Post Installation Steps

1. Once we completed the installation we have to replace a configuration file, which is used to identify the Architecture ( Make sure backup of original) as follows

Once you've moved the iPhone platform directories to their appropriate location under /Developer/Platforms, drill into: /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/
Library/Xcode/Specifications/


In this directory, you will find a file called "iPhone Simulator Architectures.xcspec" Make a backup of it and open the original in your favorite editor

Replace the file contents of "iPhone Simulator Architectures.xcspec" with the following line

(
// 32-Bit
{ Type = Architecture;
Identifier = Standard;
Name = "Standard (iPhone Simulator: i386)";
Description = "32-bit iPhone Simulator architectures";
ListInEnum = YES;
SortNumber = 1;
RealArchitectures = ( i386, ppc7400 );
ArchitectureSetting = "ARCHS_STANDARD_32_BIT";
},

// Old-style Debug
{ Type = Architecture;
Identifier = Native;
Name = "Native Architecture of Build Machine";
Description = "32-bit for build machine";
ListInEnum = YES;
SortNumber = 101;
ArchitectureSetting = "NATIVE_ARCH";
},

// G3
{ Type = Architecture;
Identifier = ppc;
Name = "Minimal (32-bit PowerPC only)";
Description = "32-bit PowerPC ";
PerArchBuildSettingName = "PowerPC";
ByteOrder = big;
ListInEnum = No;
SortNumber = 201;
},

// G4
{ Type = Architecture;
Identifier = ppc7400;
Name = "PowerPC G4";
Description = "32-bit PowerPC for G4 processor";
ByteOrder = big;
ListInEnum = NO;
SortNumber = 202;
},

// G5 32-bit
{ Type = Architecture;
Identifier = ppc970;
Name = "PowerPC G5 32-bit";
Description = "32-bit PowerPC for G5 processor";
ByteOrder = big;
ListInEnum = NO;
SortNumber = 203;
},

// Intel
{ Type = Architecture;
Identifier = i386;
Name = "Intel";
Description = "32-bit Intel";
PerArchBuildSettingName = "Intel";
ByteOrder = little;
ListInEnum = NO;
SortNumber = 105;
}
)

Location of Configuration File iPhone Simulator Architectures.xcspec



Xcode Location after iPhone SDK installation

Windows Mobile and Fring

Take all your buddies mobile with fring™, call and chat with them for free and see who’s online before dialling!

---

fring™ is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with all your fring, Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM®* friends using your handset’s internet connection rather than costly cellular airtime minutes.

Bringing PC-benefits to the mobile, fring will empower you with mobility and availability as never before, integrating all contacts in to one, searchable buddy list, allowing you to see who’s online before dialing with contact availability indicators, engage in multiple conversations simultaneously, send & receive files and more.

You can even make affordable local and international calls to landline and regular cellular numbers using your SkypeOut/SkypeIn account or almost any internet voice service (SIP) such as SIPNET, EuteliaVoIP, VoIPVoIP and VoIPTalk, even from non-SIP enabled handsets.

View fring features:

		take all IM buddies mobile and view them from one, integrated contact list
		free calls
		live chat instead of SMS
		call landlines and regular cellular contacts using SkypeOut or SIP
		view call history
		invite friends to fring
		send & receive files
		choose incoming call and message tones
		auto-roam in and out of WiFi hotspots

* fring is compatible with Symbian 8, 9.1, 9.2, Windows Mobile 5 & 6 and UIQ handsets.
** Voice for Yahoo!^TM and AIM® is still not enabled.

HTC Touch Review - Skype

Performance:

We are not pleased with the operating speed of HTC Touch, the fault for which lies with the 200 MHz processor used in most 2G other manufacturer’s phones. Yet it has been optimized for the device and there are no serious delays, but you often have to wait a little when moving trough the menus and applications. Symbian S60 OS which is much faster in the new smart-phone models of N76, 6120, N95 has a serious advantage here.

We are happy that the Touch can use Skype application for VoIP calls. The processor is not very fast and the system lag when you are during a call, but still you will be able to switch to different tabs and send a chat message for example, while you talk. The Voice is not lagging if you are using fast internet connection. For Skype calls, Touch uses the loudspeakers and you will not be impressed by its quality, but it is still usable. The other party hears you clear, but some echo also appears. For the test, we used WiFi connection.

We also installed Fring application, which connects to both Skype and Google Talk, but strangely, we weren't able to do a call. The application said that the phone has to restart in order to do a voice call, but after a few restarts nothing changed. In order to get installation file for Fring, we had to choose the phone model from the Fring's webpage. The Touch was not listed, so we selected an another HTC smartphone with touch-sensitive display.

We used Spb Benchmark to compare the Touch system performance with other PocketPC Phones. We are pleasantly surprised by the results, showing way better performance than the Wizard, although the two have similar system resources.

During our typical test with decreasing signal Touch did not perform very well and the grade mark we give it is 3.75/10, which places it in the category of Poor, below the standard level. The manufacturer claims 5 hours of talk time, but we are surprised that in our test it scored 6 hours of continues talk time. This is just an excellent result!

We are disappointed by the incoming sound during conversation and particularly by its volume: the loudspeaker is not heard very strongly and as the one for music snuffles at ‘max’ position and has to be turned down. On the other hand, voices through it sound very close to reality, clear and distinct.

Not so however in the opposite direction – you are heard just perfectly, very strongly, clearly and realistically. We have no remarks in this respect.


Conclusion:

We remain with mixed feelings about Touch – the Touch Flo technology is a good idea, but poorly realized and its actual functionality is quite limited opening only one shortcut menu and scrolling through long pages. To be competitive to what iPhone will be, a number of new extras should probably be added, such as a new way of imputing text with fingers, a more innovative display locking/unlocking, menus handling (back/forward), photos handling (zoom in/out, previous/next), etc.

On the other hand, Touch is a small and beautiful WM6 phone with the full functionality of the operating system and with all personalization possibilities, which, on functional level, places it to some extent above iPhone, PRADA and Samsung F700 which are not smart phones. Unlike them, Touch is very flexible thanks to a heap of 3rd party applications. Its interface may be not as interesting and beautiful as that of the competitors – the fashionable PRADA and the innovative iPhone, but if you want a really good-looking small phone using Windows Mobile 6 Professional, Touch is your perfect choice.

2007: A Year of Open-Source Acceptance

2007 has barely begun, and already I've been asked to look back on 2006! The trends of 2006 are still playing out, and will continue to do so through the first quarter of 2007, making it harder than usual look into the crystal ball for the upcoming year. But in a few years, we will all look back at 2006 as the year everything changed again.


Agile methodologies cemented themselves in the development environments of companies of all sizes, helping to shape the year to come. With increased customer interaction early in the cycle, the reliance on continuous integration tools grew paramount, especially with the maturity of Cruise Control and Cruise Control .NET. Continuous integration will become a cornerstone software development practice, increasing the quality of software releases industry wide. That being said, 2007 will be the year that Cruise Control captures the continuous integration market. The ability to support most major and minor platforms for free will be nearly impossible to compete with.


This brings us to the second trend of 2007, the increased reliance of Open Source software in the revision control and software release fields. Across the industry, companies using CVS, RCS, and looking at Perforce will start the move to Subversion. Visual SourceSafe and Vault will continue to lose ground in their respective niches, while Subversion captures the customer base. The ease of use and integration into all three major operating systems (Windows, OSX, and Linux), combined with its price and stability will force companies to reduce their expenses through quality software. For the first time in nearly fifteen years, free revision control systems can again compete with commercial ones, and on any platform.


Speaking of platforms, the crystal ball holds one more platform surprise in 2007. Having finally (officially) moved to Intel, Apple has guaranteed an interesting year is ahead. Companies will start the groundwork for releasing software on the Mac, with many companies announcing OSX releases in 2007. The Mac will return as a viable platform for software releases as companies slowly move to the Mac OS. Movement will develop slowly at first, but definite groundwork will be laid out for a multi-platform future.


With a revolution year behind us, we have to ask ourselves if 2007 can be even half as groundbreaking as 2006. In truth, I don't know if it's possible to have another year like 2006 so soon on its heals. Either way, 2007 will certainly be an interesting year.

Open source gets European boost

The European Commission has added its voice to the debate about the use of open source software.
A report funded by the Commission concludes that the software could offer considerable savings to organisations with little effect on their business.


The report found that in "almost all" cases long-term costs could be reduced by switching from proprietary software produced by firms such as Microsoft.


However, it warned that a move to open source could increase short term costs.


This would be largely be due to increased training for users of the software, said the authors of the report who are based at the United Nations University in Maastricht.


But some proprietary manufacturers such as Microsoft do not believe that open source always means cheaper. In 2004 the company launched a campaign called Get The Facts that gave examples of where its software was cheaper and more reliable than open source products.


Voluntary contribution


Open source software refers to software where the underlying programming code is made available to users to read, alter and improve. This is in contrast to proprietary software where a company controls the source code to prevent changes being made.


A great deal of open source software is produced and distributed for free by volunteer programmers, although some companies, such as Red Hat, do sell open source products and associated services to get them up and running.


The study estimates that just one-third of open source programs are produced by businesses in Europe.


Software made by volunteers includes operating systems, such as Linux, and Microsoft Office-like programs such as OpenOffice.org.


Open source programs are already used by many companies particularly to run web servers, the computers that store and deliver web pages.


According to the study, the number of existing open source programs already available would have cost firms 12 billion Euros (£8 billion) to produce.


It estimates that the available programs represent the equivalent of 131,000 programmer years.


"This represents at least 800 million Euros (£525 million) in voluntary contributions from programmers alone each year," the report said.


At the moment, the report said, public organisations were the dominant beneficiaries of this work.


To continue this uptake, the report recommends "correcting current policies and practices that implicitly or explicitly favour proprietary software".


As well as providing incentives to the open source industry it also recommends that schools start to introduce more of the software.


This would instil "an attitude towards information technology that favours the ability to create and actively participate rather than just consume," the report said.


This view echoes those of 111 UK MPs who signed an early day motion in December 2006 to support the use of open source in schools.


The motion also criticised the "outdated" methods used to purchase software for schools that locked them into buying proprietary software.

The Microsoft/Novell Deal: Has It Divided The Linux Community?

When Microsoft and Novell announced that they would work together, Linux enthusiasts were shocked. How has the agreement affected the open-source community, and can it recover?
By Jacqueline Emigh InformationWeek


In November, 2006, Microsoft and Linux vendor Novell knocked the software industry for a loop with their multifaceted, multimillion dollar business agreement unveiled. However, the biggest effect may be on Linux, the open-source software operating environment that many companies (and some consumers) are increasingly adopting as an alternative to Microsoft's proprietary but pervasive Windows operating system.

Initially announced on news conference November 2, 2006, the deal called for Microsoft, long seen as an enemy by many Linux advocates, to start working hand-in-hand with Novell, producer of the SuSE Linux operating system, in areas that included licensing, support, and joint research and development around Windows/Linux interoperability.

Also under the agreement, the two software makers inked a software patents covenant stating that Microsoft won't be able to sue Novell's customers for any potential infringements of Microsoft's patents, and Novell won't be able to sue Microsoft's customers for potential infringements on Microsoft's patents.

Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of dollars will change hands between Microsoft and Novell over the next three years for software licensing and patent protection, with a net balance of $118 million going to Novell.

The deal does have supporters among industry analysts ISVs, and VARs, who foresee benefits to Novell and to the advance of Linux in the enterprise. "Novell needs to look at its opportunity to gain Linux customers from highly Microsoft-loyal accounts. And when you consider the money, there'll be a lot of it going into Novell's coffers," said Raven Zachary, an analyst with The 451 Group.
Recognition by Microsoft lends more credibility to Novell as a second major Linux distributor (behind industry leader Red Hat Software), according to Adam Braunstein, an analyst at the Robert Frances Group. "No enterprise customer wants to get locked into a single distribution," Braunstein said.

The Linux Community ReactsBut what about the developers who create the actual Linux code, and who form the heart of what's known as the open source community? How will they be affected? As the calendar turns the corner into 2007, is this community of ISV and corporate developers, already split into hundreds of different distributions, only becoming more divided? Or conversely, is this community growing even more unified through joint opposition to the deal?

So far, the answer seems to be yes on both counts. By and large, Linux developers see the deal as an unwelcome intrusion by Microsoft, a huge and unabashedly proprietary vendor, into the open source world, where software development is highly collaborative, a lot of code is available free of charge, and vendor business models are frequently based more on service contracts than on software licensing.

Linux organizations that sounded disapproval for the Microsoft/Novell plan range from Red Hat to smaller Linux distributors such as Linspire and Mandriva, and open source projects such as Samba, a group that includes even some Novell employees. "I obviously can't speak for the entire community, but I see more banding together [against Microsoft] than divisiveness," said Nicholas Petreley, a professional open source consultant, author, and editor, and the creator of VarLinux.org.

But beyond shared distaste for Microsoft's perceived intrusion, reactions within the Linux community vary, from a cautious watchfulness to a conviction that the deal represents an intentional ploy by Microsoft to destroy the open source movement by pitting one Linux distributor — namely, Novell — against the rest of the Linux community. "[It] is clearly true [that] the agreement sets SuSE apart from the rest of the crowd. The Microsoft message here is clear. 'I can pick and choose among the players and bribe whomever I want,'" contended Francois Banchilhon, CEO of the French-based Mandriva.

The top five open source stories to follow in 2006

Following a year that bore witness to the proliferation of open source business applications and increased adoption of Linux across the board, experts predict that 2006 will be another big year for open source.


There's been a lot going on, including a hard-at-work open source community ironing out GNU General Public License (GPL) loopholes, plus open source virtualization hitting the mainstream and Sun Microsystems and Novell Inc. anxiously waiting to see if their open source gambits pay off. Indeed, the experts promise plenty more open source news to follow in 2006.


TechTarget spoke to a couple of IT industry experts to get their predictions for the five biggest open source trends and stories to follow in 2006. In no particular order of importance, here's what they had to say:


You can expect the GPL debate to go on for quite some time, but it's really going to take off in 2006 Tony Iams,vice president and operating systems analyst, Ideas International 



1. Debate will heat up over GPL version 3


Discussions over exactly what the next version of the GPL should look like have already begun, and experts say the debate could get fairly contentious as 2006 unfolds.


At issue will be what some believe are loopholes in current versions of the license -- loopholes that some think allow vendors to get around the "inconvenience" of having to reveal source code.


Created by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation, the GPL is one of the major open source software licenses. It lists the terms and conditions for copying, modifying and distributing free software.


"The GPL version 3 is being developed through an open process, whereas, in the past, the GPL was pretty much developed by individuals and sort of presented to the community," said Tony Iams, a vice president and operating systems analyst with Ideas International in New York City.


Iams said one of the major issues to be debated centers on whether software makers should be forced to reveal source code for applications that are only available on the Web.


"Right now under the terms of the GPL code, you do not have to release the source code unless you distribute the software," Iams said. "But some people are saying that if you're going to take advantage of open source programs to create a really attractive and profitable Internet service, you should also have to make those modifications available."


"You can expect the GPL debate to go on for quite some time, but it's really going to take off in 2006," Iams added.


2. Open source virtualization for the masses


There was a lot of talk about Xen open source server virtualization over the past year, but with Xen version 3 set to debut and vendors like Novell and Red Hat planning to bundle it with their Linux distributions, 2006 could be the year that Xen truly hits the mainstream.


"The parties that are going to be most interested in this are people that run data centers and want to consolidate, improve the way they run their data centers and lower their cost of ownership through better utilization and so forth," Iams said. "Those people are very closely looking at virtualization to help them achieve some of those goals."


Proprietary virtualization technology was pushed into the mainstream by VMware Inc., and later by Microsoft with its Virtual Server. But Iams said those well established players could be significantly disrupted when Xen is included with Red Hat's Linux and Novell's SuSE.


"The disruption is really going to be at the foundation of the virtualization stack with the basic ability to run multiple IS operating systems on a single server [becoming] more or less a commodity," Iams said. "That's going to push the differentiation to the upper levels of the virtualization stack, notably to virtualization management. That's where you're going to see lots of investments and activity in managing virtualized infrastructures."


3. Sun and Novell: Will their open source bets pay off?


Sun Microsystems and Novell have reshaped their respective businesses around open source over the past year, and in 2006, the world will find out if their gambits pay off.


Experts say those two companies are worth watching -- and even rooting for -- in 2006, because their success will have major implications for both IT pros and the industry as a whole. Those implications, says Iams, have to do with choice.


For Novell -- a traditionally proprietary vendor that has refocused its business on open source SuSE Linux -- success means that users will have a greater choice when it comes to Linux vendors.


For Sun -- a company that has opened up all of its source code and is now focusing on providing support for its flagship Solaris operating system -- success means that users will have a viable, high-end and Unix-based alternative to Linux.


"The industry should hope that this pays off, because this would be further affirmation that the open source business model is truly viable, and not just for pioneers like Red Hat and JBoss, but also for the established proprietary players," Iams said.



4. A growing open source challenge to MS Exchange?


When it comes to corporate e-mail systems, the combination of MS Outlook and MS Exchange are king. But more and more open source e-mail vendors -- such as Scalix Corp. -- are emerging to try and take a bigger share of the e-mail market, at least on the back end.


As 2006 unfolds, said Michael Osterman, principal of Osterman Research Inc. in Black Diamond, Wash., those vendors will focus on providing systems administrators with the functionality they need to swap out Exchange for open source on the back end, while keeping Outlook on the clients.


And keeping Outlook on the client, he said, is the key to building e-mail market share, because users are reluctant to take on new desktop e-mail applications. "I think that by and large [open source e-mail providers] have a growing market," said Osterman, whose firm focuses on enterprise messaging issues. "I anticipate that there is going to be increased use of open source e-mail [in 2006]."


5. Desktop Linux ready for take off -- again


Although it has been said before, experts predict that desktop Linux will gain a stronger foothold in corporate America in the coming year.


But this time, says Iams, don't expect an explosion in desktop Linux adoption rates, but rather slow and steady adoption.


Iams said this sure but gradual move forward for desktop Linux in 2006 will take place with the help of a number of software companies.


Linspire Inc. will continue innovating desktop Linux for the consumer crowd while Mandriva, a Linux and open source products, technology and services company, continues putting heavy focus on corporate desktops. In the embedded space, Iams said MontaVista Software Inc. will be hard at work pushing Linux into clients and mobile phones.


"Every year someone makes [the big desktop Linux] prediction, though it never seems to achieve quite the momentum that the optimists have predicted," Iams said. "But every year moves the bar forward a little bit, and so I expect that to continue this year."