Archive for the 'Uncategorized' category

Via YAHOO.

The U.S. government could save billions of dollars by moving to more open-source software, cloud computing and virtualization, a recent study suggests.

Over three years, the potential savings would be US$3.7 billion for using open-source software; $13.3 billion for using virtualization technologies; and $6.6 billion from cloud computing or software-as-a-service, the study said. It was published by MeriTalk, an online community about IT and public policy; Red Hat, an open-source software vendor; and DLT Solutions, a value-added reseller of Red Hat and other IT products.

“After years of boosted funding, federal IT managers are facing a new challenge — the budget crunch,” the study says. “With a grave economic outlook and a new administration in office, federal agencies will be forced to do more with less.”

Truth Happens has a Facebook page, and a Facebook group.

Paul Jones runs ibiblio at the UNC-Chapel Hill.

In the digital realm, Paul Jones is a rock star. He invented ibiblio, a contributor-run, digital library of public domain and creative commons media in the Office of Information Technology Service at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a clinical associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications and a clinical associate professor in the School of Information and Library Science. And, he’s the guy who put Roger McGuinn’s catalog online. He also writes poetry and knows his Tar Heel history. Today host Frank Stasio meets the real Paul Jones.

Listen here.

via Meet Paul Jones — North Carolina Public Radio WUNC.

CEOs ask Obama to mandate that agencies consider open source software — Federal Computer Week.

Backers of open-source software asked President Barack Obama to make it mandatory for federal agencies to consider how applications purchased by the government are developed. The request came in a letter from the Collaborative Software Initiative and others sent to Obama today.

“We urge you to make it mandatory to consider the source of an application solution (open or closed) as part of the government’s technology acquisition process, just as considering accessibility by the handicapped is required today,” the letter stated

The letter said the open and collaborative way that open-source software is developed mirrors Obama’s goals of government transparency and openness. Collaborative Software Initiative Senior Developer David Christiansen and Chief Executive Officer Stuart Cohen, along with 14 CEOs of software development companies, signed the letter.

via CEOs ask Obama to mandate that agencies consider open source software — Federal Computer Week.

This seems cool. “A code editor that lives in the cloud…”

Software maker Mozilla has launched a prototype of its new web-based XHTML code editor. It’s called Bespin, and it’s still in the demo stage, but the app is live and you can test it out right now.

The logo pretty much says it all — it’s a code editor that lives in the cloud. It definitely fills a need seeing how many web developers and programmers are working in co-ops or coffee shops, or collaborating with others from a home office.

You get all of the advantages of a webapp — a synchronized work environment, real-time collaboration tools and access to your files from anywhere — without the pains of other web-based writing tools. For example, the most popular web-based editors like Google Docs and Zoho Writer don’t handle code well at all. They’re mostly for writing regular old text docs. Bespin gives you coder must-haves like syntax highlighting and line numbering. The team plans to add emulation modes for vi and emacs (for the die hards out there).

via Mozilla Labs Releases Bespin Web-Based Code Editor | Epicenter from Wired.com.

From Meritalk, an online community for government/tech workers.  You can download the pdf here.

The new administration is redefining IT’s role in developing a 21st-century government – from agency investments and management agendas to healthcare, public safety, and energy policy initiatives. While the promise for IT to drive change is exciting, the budget reality is brutal. With no new funds, IT needs to generate its own funding by changing the economics of existing programs.

Against this backdrop, The DIY Federal IT Bailout Report examines the real savings that three computing paradigms can offer – Open Source, Virtualization, and Cloud Computing/SaaS implementations. The report highlights the hard “dollar, nickel, and cent” potential savings that agencies and the entire Federal government can realize by utilizing these models.

via MeriTalk.

From:
State of the Union at Red Hat
by Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO

7. Keep on fighting the good fight. There is a Mohandas Gandhi quote that covers the full length of the lobby at Red Hat’s Raleigh headquarters: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” As I walk through the doors each day, this is a constant reminder of the open source ideals that are the foundation of everything we do at Red Hat. While Red Hat may be small in comparison to the proprietary giants we challenge, our open source culture promotes the free exchange of ideas and enables us to deliver better software, faster. With an endless abundance of creative thinking and collaboration, I’m proud to say that Red Hat is well equipped to continue to fight the good fight.

via Red Hat News | State of the Union at Red Hat.

Note:  I pulled this up from the archives today when I read this.

Can I Get An Amen?, 2004
recording on acetate, turntable, PA system, paper documents
dimensions variable
total run time 17 minutes, 46 seconds

By Nate Harrison

Can I Get An Amen? is an audio installation that unfolds a critical perspective of perhaps the most sampled drum beat in the history of recorded music, the Amen Break. It begins with the pop track Amen Brother by 60’s soul band The Winstons, and traces the transformation of their drum solo from its original context as part of a ‘B’ side vinyl single into its use as a key aural ingredient in contemporary cultural expression. The work attempts to bring into scrutiny the techno-utopian notion that ‘information wants to be free’- it questions its effectiveness as a democratizing agent. This as well as other issues are foregrounded through a history of the Amen Break and its peculiar relationship to current copyright law.

This is why this blog talks about music, DRM and copyright control. If you have 20 minutes, check it out. Especially the Judge Alex Kozinski quote at the end.

“Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it. Culture is impossible without a rich public domain. Nothing today, likely nothing since we tamed fire, is genuinely new: Culture, like science and technology, grows by accretion, each new creator building on the works of those who came before. Overprotection stifles the very creative forces it’s supposed to nurture.”

* Dissenting in the White v. Samsung Elec. Am., Inc., 989 F.2d 1512 (9th Cir. 1993) ruling.

A Creative Commons video directed by Jesse Dylan.

From the Google Open Source Blog:

The Google Desktop team has been steadily releasing our Desktop gadget (widget) creations as Open Source for the past few years. If you check out this list, you can see most of the official Google created gadgets are actively maintained by the Google Desktop developer community. We had many good reasons for opening this code for the community:

• Source code can be a valuable learning tool. The gadgets not only show you how to develop Desktop gadgets, integrate with Google APIs, but also provide other tidbits of knowledge such as how to calculate phases of the moon or StarDates.
• The images and graphics are also Open Sourced. Being an engineer, I know how frustrating it is to work hard on an application only to have it dismissed because of hand-drawn stick figures and shapes. We hope people can take advantage of our graphic designers’ talents. If you’re a fan of clocks, I have something right up your alley.
• We get warm fuzzy feelings by simply supporting the cause. It fosters a spirit of openness and collaboration between the team and developer community.

via Google Open Source Blog: Open Sourcing Google Desktop Gadgets.