How significant is Open Source

More history.  These are quotes from itsolutions.com:

Jeremy Zawodny, Yahoo! -- Open Source at Yahoo!
In this presentation, Jeremy Zawodny talks about how Open Source software scales at Yahoo! He discusses how Yahoo! leverages Open Source software to scale its system. Yahoo! recently acquired Konfabulator and Flickr and Zawodny explains how Yahoo! is changing internally to cater to Web 2.0.

Kartik Subbarao, Hewlett Packard -- Enterprise IT: Open Source Powerhouse
How can enterprise IT organizations embrace open source but still meet their critical individual business requirements? This presentation from Kartik Subbarao at HP provides a successful framework illustrated with numerous real-world examples in production at HP.
Paul Graham, Author of Hackers and Painters -- OSCON 2005
Paul Graham, popular essayist and Lisp programmer, discusses what business can learn from open source. According to him, it's not about Linux or Firefox, but the forces that produced them. He delves into the reasons why open source is able to produce better software, why traditional workplaces are actually harmful to productivity and the reason why professionalism is overrated.

Tony Gaughan, Senior VP of Product Development, Computer Associates -- Open Source Licensing Issues
Open Source software has yet to make substantial inroads into the Enterprise market, but when companies as established as Computer Associates not only release a technology as powerful an the Ingres database but also continue to build their enterprise applications on that platform, the combination adds stability to Open Source efforts. In this Keynote from O'Reilly's 2005 Open Source Convention, Tony Gaughan, Senior VP of Product Development at CA, discusses CA's decision to release the Ingres database to the open source community.

Word for the day - Wiki

If you don't know what a wiki is, give it a look. There are a number of
inexpensive wiki's we could implement.

http://news.zdnet.com/2036-2_22-5815948.html

MySQL 5.0 Now Available

MySQL 5.0 Now Available for Production Use
Enterprise Platform Vendors Express Enthusiastic Support for World's Most Popular Open Source Database
MySQL AB :: MySQL 5.0 Now Available for Production Use

• Stored Procedures and SQL Functions -- to embed business logic in the database and improve performance;
• Triggers -- to enforce complex business rules at the database level;
• Views -- to ensure protection of sensitive information;
• Cursors -- to allow easier database development and reference of large datasets;
• Information Schema -- to provide easy access to metadata;
• XA Distributed Transactions -- supports complex transactions across multiple databases in heterogeneous environments;
• SQL Mode -- provides server-enforced data integrity for new and existing data;
• New Federated and Archive Storage Engines -- MySQL's unique pluggable storage engine architecture allows greater flexibility, functionality and performance by making it easy to swap database engines in and out, based on users' application requirements;
• New Migration Toolkit -- A new graphical toolkit that completely migrates all data and objects from Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access and other database platforms to MySQL;
• Instance Manager -- new management assistant that allows remote starting/stopping of any MySQL Server, as well as remote editing of configuration files, reading of error and query logs, and more;
• Updated Connectors and Visual Tools -- new high-performance versions of MySQL's ODBC, Java and .NET database drivers"

OpenOffice release 2.0 is here

Unbelievable how good this stuff is.
1. All the functionality you could want.
2. Office file compatibility
3. Native PDF output
4. Much more
OpenOffice.org: Home: "OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. To help build the community, join us.


Download OpenOffice.org 2.0

Listen to "Security Now!" with Steve Gibson

I think everone needs to get this information. I would say it's "easy" to keep yourself safe on the net. The reality is that for most people it's difficult and it is certainly not easy if you don't have the information. Episodes 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 are a must.

http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

Please use the lower quality mp3 (2 - 3 Mb) if you are on the corporate network in order to conserve bandwidth.

Companies expect open-source desktop software | News.blog | CNET News.com

Companies expect open-source desktop software | News.blog | CNET News.com: "Companies expect open-source desktop software
October 21, 2005 10:00 AM PDT

This is interesting history.  Excerpt:

On the same day that programmers released version 2 of OpenOffice.org, survey results showed a significant opportunity for the open-source rival to Microsoft Office.

By 2010, 22 percent of companies surveyed by Saugatuck Technology expect their core desktop productivity programs will be open-source software. The survey polled more than 100 senior executives, about 80 percent in the United States and the rest from other parts of the world.

'That's a big number when you consider Microsoft has about 95 percent market share,' said Saugatuck president Bill McNee.

Among areas, 28 percent said open-source software would at the core of their operating system software by 2010, 28 percent for development tools, 26 percent for application servers and 24 percent for database software.

The survey also showed a significant willingness to use open-source software for core business applications that handle a company's critical computing tasks such as accounting and customer relationship management, with 20 percent saying they expected to use open-source software by 2010. 'That blew me away,' McNee said of the result.

The survey also polled users on where they expected not to use open-source software. The category with the most reluctance there was databas.....

Zimbra - Open Source meets Collaboration - Is this where we're headed

Integrates search, archiving, discovery, anti-spam and anti-virus/security
Ajax based web client
Compatible with all leading browsers
Enables e-mail, calendar and contact functions to work with Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird and Apple Mail
Works within Email
Email and Web "mash ups" - gotta see this...
Integrates RSS & Web services
Tightly integrated indexing and search
$30 per user per year

Zimbra Unveils Innovative, Open Source Collaboration Software and Messaging Server

Great free email account from Google

To close out my night I've got to pass this along.  Every techie worth his salt these days seems to have a GMail account and love it.  GMail, like everything Google does, is the hottest thing going.  It has only been by invitation thus far but now you can get gmail here:

https://www.google.com/accounts/SmsMailSignup1
If you would like or need a great personal email address, get it while you can.  It's 2.5 gig of online storage with instant searching.  Free pop access, and forwarding.  And the interface is slick.  
Some other great stuff from Google:
Desktop Search http://desktop.google.com/?promo=mp-gds-v1-1
Great photo management software: http://www.picasa.com/index.php?tid=Y2NpZD0zNzQ4
Of course the Google Toolbar: http://toolbar.google.com/?promo=mor-tb-en
Google Maps: http://maps.google.com (try the hybrid)