The Linux kernel is the lowest level of software running on a Linux system. It is charged with managing the hardware, running user programs, and maintaining the overall security and integrity of the whole system. It is this 
kernel, which after its initial release by Linus Torvalds in 1991, jump-started the development of Linux as a whole. The kernel is a relatively small part of the software on a full Linux system (many other large components come from the GNU project, the GNOME and KDE desktop projects, the X.org project, and many other sources), but it is the core which determines how well the system will work and is the piece which is truly unique to Linux.
The Linux kernel is an interesting project to study for a number of reasons. It is one of the largest individual components on almost any Linux system. It also features one of the fastest-moving development processes and involves more developers than any other open source project. This paper looks at how that process works, focusing on nearly three years of kernel history as represented by the 2.6.11 through 2.6.24 releases.
Complete Linux Foundation report here
Sun has put its weight behind open-source storage, with the release of new developer tools and services connected to the OpenSolaris developer effort.
Sun released OpenSolaris, an open-source version of its flagship Solaris operating system, in November 2004, and has continued to polish its open-source credentials through moves such as its recent acquisition of MySQL. The storage effort, announced on Wednesday, makes Sun the biggest IT vendor to date to fully embrace open source for major enterprise storage systems.
Today’s storage industry resembles the server market of 10 years ago, with most companies locked into proprietary systems, Sun said, arguing that open source can increase performance, cut costs and allow for more innovative software. Open source also means companies can repurpose existing hardware, something not possible with proprietary systems from the likes of Dell, EMC, HP and IBM, according to Sun.
“The storage industry is undergoing a radical transformation that parallels what servers went through a decade ago,” said John Fowler, executive vice president of Sun’s Systems Group, in a statement.
Complete story here
The vision for immense savings by agencies re-using software has been something of a holy grail in government. Yet despite significant investments over many years in object-oriented and modular programming, repositories like www.Core.gov, and more recently, service-oriented architecture (SOA), federal, state and local governments have largely failed to generate those savings.
Many federal agencies, including the Defense Department, have invested in efforts to share software and related system assets, like requirements definition and other documentation that are germane to their domain. The Office of Management and Budget has tried to encourage software re-use with its push for Federal Enterprise Architecture and the potential to identify common service components. The ambitious effort behind the Lines of Business initiatives, also lead by OMB, was designed in part to produce re-use savings through shared systems and services. The General Services Administration’s Smartbuy program also attempted to tackle this re-use challenge indirectly by consolidating governmental purchasing power.
Why is something that seems so logical - re-using software - so difficult in practice? A big reason is the complexity of the task: It is impossible to coordinate and control the creation of software applications governmentwide and any effort to do so centrally is certainly doomed. That’s one reason that there is no central policy mandate to require or explicitly value the re-use potential of information technology investments.
Complete story here
“In a move to tap the growing market of free and open source-softwares in developing economies, Microsoft and Novell have announced they were expanding their alliance into the Chinese market. 
Microsoft and Novell believe big enterprises in China are willing to pay to have the US firms keep hybrid systems updated and running and for assurances that there is permission to use patented software involved. The companies are marketing ’supported Linux’ in which they take a fee to maintain software systems blending the open-source programs with Microsoft products such as Vista, Office, Excel and Outlook.The longtime US computer software rivals unveiled their alliance in late 2006, saying their engineers were ‘building a bridge’ between Microsoft’s proprietary software and Novell programs based on the Linux operating system. Sunday was the first time the firms publicly targeted a specific country with their effort.”
story found here
(who’s the commie now?)
Marten Mickos, head of Sun Microsystems’ database group, says MySQL will remain an open-source product.
After several days of blog posts and headlines, the dust that kicked up over Sun Microsystems’ commitment to keeping MySQL open source seems to have settled.
At the center of the controversy were reports of plans to close-source backup features in Version 6.0 of the MySQL database, making them available only to subscription-paying users of its enterprise version. In an effort to clear the air, Marten Mickos, senior vice president of Sun’s Database Group, responded to blog posts on Slashdot and elsewhere.
In an interview with eWEEK, he stated emphatically that Sun will not withhold or close-source any features that would make the MySQL community server less functional for users.
Complete story here
IP purity is gaining the attention of developers who work with the Department of Defense, which is using more and more open source software, despite some bureaucratic misgivings. One roadblock: the lack of a highly developed and widely recognized governance regime for open source, said Brigadier General Nickolas Justice, in a recent interview with Military Information Technology.
The Multinational Information Sharing Initiative (MISI), for example, is part of a DoD effort to share counterterrorist information among the nine countries of trans-Saharan Africa. MISI, which will also have many nonmilitary uses, was deliberately built around open source to make it easy to deploy by organizations within those countries that might balk at the hefty licenses fees charged by commercial software vendors, says Bernard Golden, CEO of Navica, which developed a governance framework for the project.
“To work with open source, you have to adhere to the letter and the spirit of the license,” Golden says. Sure, that seems obvious, but MISI has to keep track of 60 or so open source products while being careful not to let unlicensed software slip into the code base. Unknown code also creates a support problem, Golden adds. After all, without knowing the provenance of the code, how can a support engineer identify and fix a problem?
Complete story here
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. - (Business Wire) Based on findings from a recent survey, IDC foresees that open source software and related services will continue to expand in importance to end-user organizations. Additionally, almost 60% of the survey respondents said their company’s spending on open source increased in 2007, in terms of relative percentage of IT spending. Quality assurance, testing, and certification of open source systems was rated as the fastest-growing services opportunity by respondents, who projected their spending on this service would grow 150% between 2007 and 2008. “The economic slowdown in the United States may actually boost demand for open source services,” said Gard Little, program manager, IDC’s Worldwide Services and Emerging Services Opportunities research programs. “If organizations adopt more open source software as part of a strategy to reduce software costs, the demand for related services should increase.”
IDC predicts more pure service providers will be driven to forge alliances or partnerships with leading open source technology vendors or development communities to stay top-of-mind with end-user organizations. This is because pure service providers ranked lower than IT product vendors in terms of respondents’ plans to use external service providers, and because pure service providers generally ranked lower on the attribute of open source-related service innovation.
Complete story here
SAO PAOLO, Brazil–At a Las Vegas conference on Thursday, Gartner analysts warned that Windows is in danger of collapsing, according to a report in ComputerWorld.
Upon reading that, I wondered how this could have happened in the 10 days I have been traveling around Latin America. Although Microsoft faces challenges from Linux and piracy here, looking out from the company’s futuristic offices, it hardly seemed like either the building or the Windows empire was in imminent danger of collapse.
Seriously, though, Gartner analyst Michael Silver appears to be noting some important long-term issues that threaten to make it harder for Microsoft to maintain its dominant position in the market. These threats are not new, but nonetheless all bear consideration. First, Microsoft has had an inordinantly difficult time upgrading its core product. Although Microsoft has said it will not go as long before its next release of Windows as it did between XP and Vista, even the possible sped-up timetable hardly shows a product that can quickly adapt to change.
Complete story here
What’s the secret of success for open-source software projects? The same as other teams: trust, cooperation and a broad network of external contacts. Those are the main findings contained in an important new working paper by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Texas at Dallas. The paper is entitled “Network Effects: The Influence of Structural Social Capital on Open Source Project Success.”
The researchers studied 2378 projects hosted at Sourceforge.net–a site where, according to the study’s authors, 90 percent of all open-source projects are hosted–and found:
(1) “Teams with greater internal cohesion are more successful.” Open-source projects are more successful when members trust one another, communication is strong, and there’s a strong spirit of cooperation and belonging to a team.
Complete article here