Microsoft hails open source outreach

Original Article

By Paul Krill
Infoworld
September 16, 2008

The company detailed accommodations made for open source, including the Microsoft Open Source Technology Center, at ZendCon 2008

Microsoft continued to make its case on Tuesday that it is a friend to open source, listing a number of efforts it has undertaken in spaces ranging from Linux to virtualization and rich Internet application technology.

Traditionally, Microsoft has been viewed as the commercial counterpoint to the open-source movement. But the company's presentation on Tuesday at the ZendCon 2008 conference in Santa, Clara, Calif. reiterated accommodations for open source

"We are trying to drive interoperability and integration with open source into the Windows platform by design," said Tom Hanrahan, director of the Microsoft Open Source Technology Center.

This center, he said, is composed of engineers from Linux and the open-source world hired by Microsoft to better understand how to cooperate and collaborate with the open-source community. The center features both an open-source software lab, to research how open-source software can run on Microsoft products, as well as a Microsoft-Novell interoperability lab.

Microsoft works closely with Novell on identity management and on translators for the OpenOffice and Microsoft Office office suites, he said. Also, Microsoft has assisted with a Novell-backed effort to produce a Linux implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight rich Internet application technology, dubbed Moonlight, Hanrahan said.

(The two companies also recently extended an interoperability arrangement pertaining to Windows and Novell's Suse Linux.)

Other Microsoft open-source efforts have included testing between Windows and Samba open-source file and print services technology. Collaboration with the PHP community also has taken place, Hanrahan said. Future projects under discussion with the PHP community could include more database and application support

Microsoft's business strategy involves supporting open-source software on Windows. Interoperability between Windows and open source is being done at a product level and through use of networking standards that allow for interoperability. Data interoperability also is offered.

Work with open-source communities also was cited. The company recently became a Platinum-level sponsor of the Apache community and made available a C# plugin for Eclipse, Hanrahan noted.

Microsoft also has made protocols available to the open-source community, such as its VHD format for virtualization, Hanrahan said. Anyone can access and share the data without licensing requirements, he said. The company also wants to make sure that Linux performs well as a guest on Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization platform, said Hanrahan.

There also is a MySQL database plugin to the Microsoft Visual Studio development platform.

A conference attendee held out hope for Microsoft's commitment to open source. "I'm hoping that they get more serious about open source so that way, it's easier for me to use PHP in the enterprise environment that we already have," said Michael Kierstad, database administrator at forwarding and logistics services provider Panalpina. The company uses PHP on Windows with Microsoft's SQL Server database, Kierstad said.

Hanrahan also cited other developments, such as provision of a downloadable plugin for Windows Media content to run on the Firefox browser and work with the Java, PHP, and Ruby communities to provide APIs for Microsoft CardSpace authentication capabilities.

Paul Krill is an editor at large at InfoWorld, specializing in news and features related to application development, Java, and .Net. He can be reached at paul_krill@infoworld.com.

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Project Portland: Linux Desktop Developers Find Common Ground

By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
December 6, 2005

News Analysis: A developer meeting strengthens a Linux desktop alliance that could lead to better leverage with hardware vendors and more cross-distribution efforts such as the newly created Portland Project.

Open Source Development Labs Inc. this weekend called together architects from over two dozen key desktop-oriented Linux projects to work out their differences and to find common cause in their efforts to create the best possible Linux desktop.

"Portland will provide a common set of Linux desktop interfaces that allows applications to easily integrate with the Linux desktop that the end user or his organization has chosen to work with," said Waldo Bastian, a KDE engineer and a FreeDesktop leader.

Nokia heeds the call for open source

11/4/2005 5:20:41 PM, by Ryan Paul

Is open source software the next big thing in the mobile computing market? Nokia certainly seems to think so. Linux is scalable, portable, free, and extensible, which makes it an ideal operating system for embedded platforms. From toaster ovens to orbital death ray cannons, Linux does it all.

Nokia's new web tablet is finally available for purchase in Europe, and could potentially reach shelves in the states late next week. The 802.11b/g enabled, Linux-based Nokia 770 features an ARM port of Debian GNU/Linux, and a powerful user interface based on GNOME technology. Though the product just recently became available to the general public, Nokia distributed a number of them at a GNOME development convention earlier this year. The eight ounce 770, which features a three hour batterey life and 64 MB of RAM, is Nokia's first attempt at a Linux powered portable. With an 800x480 pixel four inch screen, the 770 was designed specifically for mobile web browsing. Integrated bluetooth and USB support make the 770 appealing, but the absence of an internal hard drive is a real disappointment, particularly since the 770 comes with support for a wide variety of media formats.


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Storage vendors launch open source consortium

Building on existing efforts
By Lucy Sherriff
Published Tuesday 25th October 2005 16:04 GMT

Eight major storage vendors, including IBM and Cisco, have joined forces to develop a common open source platform for managing storage devices. The idea is that customers will be able to use the result of their labours to make it easier to manage their storage systems, regardless of the vendor.

Brocade, CA, Engenio Information Technologies, Fujitsu and McData complete the line up, while players like Sun, Symantec, EMC and HP are more notable by their absence

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A novel definition of a SOA platform

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>http://ct.zdnet.com.com/clicks?c=626123-2205239&brand=zdnet&ds=5&fs=0
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Miko and I also delve into why <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_Service_Bus>ESBs, as a subset of a SOA platform, are sprouting open source projects like mushrooms after an autumn rain, but UDDI registries remain commercial. Miko suspects that an open source UDDI/SOA registry is likely in the near future. I wouldn't be surprised if Infravio has something significant to do with that.
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Tracking Mobile Phones For Real-Time Traffic Data

By David A. Lieb, The Associated Press
18 Oct 2005

Missouri and other states are planning projects to monitor thousands of mobile phones to map traffic conditions, as privacy advocates raise red flags.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)--Driving to work, you notice the traffic beginning to slow. And because you have your cell phone on, the government senses the delay, too.

A congestion alert is issued, automatically updating electronic road signs and Web sites and dispatching text messages to mobile phones and auto dashboards.

In what would be the largest project of its kind, the Missouri Department of Transportation is finalizing a contract to monitor thousands of cell phones, using their movements to map real-time traffic conditions statewide on all 5,500 miles of major roads.

It's just one of a number of initiatives to more intelligently manage traffic flow through wireless data collection.