Twitter Buys Tweetdeck

$40-50 Million

The Layers of Truth | Let Them Fail

The Layers of Truth | Let Them Fail

Open Source Ecology

The video posted above explains a new process some clever guys have come up with to reproduce commonly used machines at a fraction of the price. The process is considered open source because all of the plans are available freely online. This is a great example of how open source ideas can lead to real world reproduction that can save everyone time and money. Producing things in a free and open way gives people the opportunity to have an input and is more efficient than competition from companies.

I truly believe this is the future of production for many common things found in society today. By producing as a collective, you eliminate the need for competition which allows for "cutting edge" technology to be released concurrently alongside of its discovery. Instead of being kept from public eye for future profits. Just like the first iPad didn't have a forward facing camera, technology won't be hidden. I believe this benefits everyone involved and truly is the future of production.

SAP

SAP is the largest enterprise level software developer in the world. When a company like SAP decides to start using open-source platforms and code to manage it's own operations, it's a big move. As Claus von Riegen, SAP's program director of technology standards and open source, states "We have a lot of areas where we develop our own software, but there are a lot of commodity areas where we don't need to differentiate ourselves." That's where open-source software fills in the gap.

SAP isn't just "leeching" off the open-source community, they are also very large contributors. Recently SAP contributed 1.8 million lines to the Eclipse project, making it the third-largest corporate contributor. So it's not all about making money, SAP can contribute in a meaningful way to the community. This move signals to the market that open-source software won't necessarily kill for-profit software development, in fact, it may help produce this proprietary software even faster. Like the famous poet Ralf Waldo Emerson said, "Our best thoughts come from others".

Ebay and Open Source

eBay recently announced that they are deploying "an open-source content management software as a framework to provide its employes with analytic tools." eBay plans to utilize the open-source software (Joomla) to create their own analysis and programs within eBay to analyze their unique statistics. eBay continues to rule online auctions because of their ability to quickly adapt to change and ability to innovate. Bob Page, eBay analytics platform vice president, said "eBay has always made it a key priority to encourage employees to collaborate and drive business innovation."

It is clear that eBay focuses on it's customers by listening to it's employees. eBay saves money and time by working within the corporation to find solutions, rather than looking for outside support. I shouldn't say "without outside support" because the open-source community is all about helping other and collaboration. Without collaboration with other companies these endeavorers would be "dead in the water".

eBay is yet another example of a large corporation looking for new ways to cut costs and improve efficiency through the utilization of open-source software. Hooray for open-source!

Android's Open Source Bloatware

The Android operating system that Google creates only contains certain programs and processes that come "stock" when shipped to phone manufactures. Companies like HTC, Motorola, LG, and Samsung have decided to add what they like to call "enhancements" and what we like to call bloatware, to their devices before final release. Sometimes this is a helpful add-on, as with HTC. HTC enhances their phones by adding Sense, a slight modification to the way users access and view information on the phone. Other times this can be seen as unnecessary software that takes up valuable space and sometimes runs processes that can effect the speed of the phone. This tends to be the case with cell phone carriers' own proprietary applications and modifications to the open-source platform Google created. The problem with these programs is that they cannot be easily removed without modifying the operating system, which is too complicated for some end-users.

I think that this goes against the original intent of open-source, as the operating system should be modifiable by the end-user. It is clear that companies like Verizon use the new platform to make money where others have already cashed in, like Apple. Apple doesn't license their iOS as open-source and makes decisions on which programs make it to the App Store and which ones don't. Google has been much more "open" about their applications approval process allowing basically anything to be in the "market". The difference is what the users get when they buy the phone, if it's bloatware from one company or many companies. Is the pre-loaded stuff helpful, as in the case with Apple's calendar application, or does it detract from the phone as is the case with Verizon's pre-loaded software. Another question to pose is whether these companies should be able to make these applications a permanent fixture on their devices. What's clear is that all of the smartphone makers load basic software onto all of their devices and that will always be the case. But the bigger problem is when you make it impossible to remove the bloatware without voiding the warranty on the phone. End-users should have the ability to utilize their property as they see fit, and these companies should be able to pre-load whatever they see fit, as long as it can be modified. Give the people what they want, more functionality at a lower price and with less bloatware!