http://www.theopensourcerer.com The Magic of Open Source Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:18:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We don't often talk directly about our business activities on this blog. But once in a while something happens that rightly deserves a mention. Our Open Source consulting business, The Open Learning Centre, has been very busy of late. We've been working with a household name hardware manufacturer and a very ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/24/say-hello/ Here is a most excellent article in which Steven explains, in simple terms, why it makes really good business sense to dump Microsoft and use Linux and OpenOffice.org. It is so obvious, even the M$ Fanboy should be able understand it... It's time to give up our Microsoft habit. We used ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/18/steven-j-vaughan-nichols-linux-can-save-us/ I came across this pearl on the OpenOffice.org marketing mailing list and it certainly gave me a little chuckle... It was from Alexandro (CoLo of OO.o Spain) who is looking for a job in the USA working with OpenOffice.org. Here is one I don't think he'll be applying for... US-WA-Redmond-SMB Marketing ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/18/openofficeorg-job-in-redmond/ Bob Sutor, encourages all Europeans ... who are interested in open standards and interoperability [to] look at, comment, and, if appropriate, express their support for this draft or portions thereof. What draft is he talking about? This one. It the draft of a report by the EU's IDABC called the European ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/17/acronyms-galore-but-eif-v20-draft-warrants-your-attention/ I came across this fascinating article after stumbling over Matt Mullenweg's blog. If you don't know who Matt Mullenweg is (I didn't), here's what it says on his about page... I am the founding developer of WordPress, the blogging software that runs much of this site and thousands of other sites around ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/16/our-electric-future-%e2%80%94-the-american-a-magazine-of-ideas/ I know, I know... "I really don’t think OOXML is worth wasting much time over any more ..." And I only wrote that a few hours ago too! But I simply couldn't resist this gem of a story from Roy Schestowitz over at Boycott Novell: ... I got a couple of docx ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/13/ooxml-back-orifice-2007/ I haven't written much about the OOXML scandal for a while now for a couple of reasons: I've had more important things to do. I honestly believe that it is going to be a totally insignificant and inconsequential standard that will probably be dead (isn't it already?) before it's first birthday. However, having ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/13/ooxml-and-microsoft-in-memoriam/ One of my favourite commentators on the Open Source phenomenon is Glyn Moody. And today he has clarified something I had been struggling with for a couple of days now. The story in question, from The Inquirer, is basically this: Becta refused to satisfy a Freedom of Information request made by the ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/10/freedom-of-information-act-microsoft-rules-ok/ I generally enjoy Matt Assay's blog and I would say that the majority, i.e. more than half, of his prolific output (how does he find the time to do his day job as well as write 3-6 posts/day?) is either interesting, insightful or occasionally both. However, he wrote a post ... http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/07/07/blogging-for-traffic/ Answers on a comment and we are looking for precision in the location here, just the city name is not good enough! http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/06/27/geek-quiz-where-is-al/