Blog

Names of open source projects are suddenly getting ridiculous. Two new names were just unveiled in the Open Source world: Zimbra, and Joomla. While the names may be silly and potentially off-putting, the projects themselves are compelling.

Brian Proffitt, editor of Linux World, has a nice editorial debunking "Total Cost of Ownership" (TCO) studies in general, because they only fit the particular business being studied.

Here's a short interview with John Terpstra, one of the main developers of the Samba project, from LinuxWorld in San Francisco: LinuxWorld: Small vendors on right track with SMB focus

Another good, brief story shedding insight into the economics of Open Source. It's not just about licensing and deployment costs--it's about investing in your people, which can generate bigger gains down the road. It's not just saving money, it's creating opportunity.

This essay is from an open source developer, talking about his motivations to write free software. It refers to a bunch of projects that may not mean anything to the general public, but it still provides insight into some of the key motivations. Hint: it's not to make money...

Putting together a proposal for a potential client, we've unearthed a couple of cool Electronic Medical Record (EMR) applications.

It's been a bad week for computer security. Basically, if you use the Internet and have a computer, it needs updating. Even Mac and Linux users are affected.

First off, Windows. For those of you trying to limp along with Windows 98, ME, or NT, I'm sorry to say we've reached the end of the line. Microsoft has announced that they do not plan to release a fix for these operating systems, for the critical vulnerability revealed earlier this week. If you use any Windows 98 or ME machines to browse the Internet, you're vulnerable, and the only thing you can do is update to a newer operating system.

Interesting analysis of the cost of software, applying the pricing model for financial instruments such as options and calls to support contracts: ONLamp.com: Calculating the True Price of Software.

Found a great little how-to for using Rsync to create multiple snapshot backups, with full explanations: Easy Automated Snapshot-Style Backups with Rsync.

The New York Times has a story about people throwing away their PCs because the cost of cleaning out the viruses and spyware costs more than a new computer.Corrupted PC's Find New Home in the D

The New York Times has an interesting editorial running today by Joseph Nocera, about solving the identity theft problem.

Today, there's a review in the New York Times about Hot Property, a new book by Pat Choate that essentially claims the US is in technology decline because of "piracy."

From the article: