Links: Apache Software Foundation Board Members, Mozilla Bug Bounty, Governments Approach Free Software
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2010-07-21 23:03:54 UTC
- Modified: 2010-07-21 23:03:54 UTC
Summary: Gathering of some Free software and Open Source news
We run down the 10 best open source alternatives to the business software we use every day.
Running a business can be costly at the best of times, so we’ve delved into the open source world and plucked out some great alternatives to those heavyweight proprietary applications that we all know and need.
These applications could prove viable solutions to real business needs and could save you and your organisation money in the process. What’s more, if you’re just starting out these pieces of software could have your business up and running (and earning) a site quicker, not to mention keeping you in the black for longer, which is no mean feat in 2010.
The 2010 New Zealand Open Source Awards are now open for nominations at http://www.nzosa.org.nz/.
This year's Awards will focus particularly on achievements from over the past two years.
"There were so many strong nominations for the 2008 event," said panel chair Don Christie, "that we are keen to hear back from projects that have moved forward in the last years, as well as new initiatives using free and open source solutions."
In the field of graphic arts, vector clip art is associated with pre-made images used to represent whatever medium. It is comprised completely of illustrations made using computer software, and it does not contain stock photography.
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is pleased to announce that Shane Curcuru, Doug Cutting, Bertrand Delacretaz, Roy T. Fielding, Jim Jagielski, Sam Ruby, Noirin Shirley, Greg Stein, and Henri Yandell have been elected to serve on the ASF Board of Directors.
-
Mozilla
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE HOUSE Mozilla has upped the bounty it offers to anyone that discovers a bug in its software.
In a blog post Mozilla said that the evolving threat landscape had lead it to raise its reward to $3,000 in order to "better support constructive security research".
-
Education
For K-12 IT directors, the major appeal of open source software (OSS) generally focuses on savings in licensing fees and access to software that would not otherwise be affordable. Many also are finding that OSS simply is the best solution for their school districts--even compared to commercial versions.
IT directors with OSS experience largely have been opportunistic about how they got started. In a series of interviews conducted for THE Journal, three IT directors shared their experiences--the hows and the whys--launching OSS in their districts.
They have very different stories, but have all learned that the transition to an open source "shop" takes time.
-
BSD
The FreeBSD Security Team have identified a little bug in FreeBSD where a lost mbuf flag can result in data loss.
-
Government
The government's decision not to renew an agreement with Microsoft for up to 800,000 NHS desktops could be an opportunity for open source suppliers to prove their worth.
According to an article on IT channel website Microscope.co.uk, the government did not feel the deal, known as an enterprise agreement, which aims to give lower prices in return for group buying was not value for money. It prefers individual NHS Trusts to buy what they want, rather than being forced to be part of an enterprise wide deal.
The European Commission is planning to spend 3.344 million Euro until 2016 to continue the services provided by its projects - such as OSOR.eu and SEMIC.eu - on open source and on electronic data exchange.
The EC published the budget details last week Thursday for its e-Government project. Apart from the 3.344 million Euro planned for the new platform to provide collaborative services for current Semic.eu and OSOR.eu users, another 8.8 million Euro are foreseen to provide support for existing and future communities around eGovernment in general, including the growing Open Source community on OSOR.eu and the community around interoperablity assets on Semic.eu.
-
Openness/Sharing
Why should the free and open source software community regard their work as a commons? For people focused on building a specific piece of software, the need to label it a “commons” may seem gratuitous. What’s the value? But there are some good reasons for understanding free/open source software as a commons, as I explain in a recent essay published by the FLOSS Roadmap project.
It's hard to predict how an open source hardware revolution could change consumer electronics. There are very few ideas that stem from complete air -- nearly every great new thing has come from modifying something that came before.
-
Programming
Adobe has announced that its partnering with Sourceforge to expand its open-source offerings and have more flexibility with the related programs. Basically, all of Adobe’s open-source and standards efforts will be hosted and managed on Sourceforge through the site’s new developer platform. Adobe is actually the first customer of the newly launched platform.
The US State Department has thrown its weight behind an initiative to promote software development for the good of East African residents.
The Apps 4 Africa contest was launched earlier this month and aims to encourage developers to produce software that will improve the quality of life for residents of this region.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- XBox is Rapidly Turned Into a Slopfarm by Microsoft
- Slop isn't about efficiency and saving money
- Reboots Should Never be Necessary
- "BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
- Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.
- Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
-
- Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
- Links for the day
- The Danes Want GNU/Linux
- David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
- Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
- It's a very long article
- BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
- "I went on a date with a chatbot!"
- Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
- Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
- There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
- Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
- Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
- Links for the day
- Coming Soon: Another OSI Scandal, This One Implicating Molly de Blanc
- OSI has been fairly quiet lately
- Outreachy & Debian pregnancy cluster, Meike Reichle evidence
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Again, "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
- Microsoft Lunduke is not trying to "protect" Linux
- One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs
- It's so ridiculous
- Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project
- The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
- Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion
- unlawful communications like threats
- Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots
- Links for the day
- Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
- What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
- Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
- Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
- The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
- Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
- Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
- Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
- DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
- We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
- For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
- Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
- Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
- Links for the day
- Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
- People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
- People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
- It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
- Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
- Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
- Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
- Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
- Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
- Links for the day
- More EPO Leaks on the Way
- We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
- Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
- systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
- copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
- So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
- Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
- If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
- Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
- There are 67 left before reaching the target
- Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
- On behalf of violent men
- Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
- Links for the day
- Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
- people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
- Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
- That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
- The Demise of LLMs
- We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
- Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
- Links for the day
- Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
- Links for the day
- Firing Away With Nonsense
- Or fighting fire with fire
- Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
- Links for the day
- Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
- Neither legal nor useful
- The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
- This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
- Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
- Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
- Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
- And likely in prior years, too
- Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
- Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
- EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
- Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
- Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
- Gemini Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025