Posts about Open Source Software as of July 28, 2009

Ecommerce itself has become a rapidly growing approach for handling business transactions, from a simple on-line purchase to multi-million dollar dealings. The ecommerce industry is expected to continue to grow because of the low risk it has for both sellers and buyers. In the early years of ecommerce the concept of using this type of transaction for purposes of business was thought to be risky because of the potential for fraudulent activity . Ecommerce once required an expensive security certificate and interfaces .

Ever since I first dreamed of being a novelist and sitting down to write my first novel in a spiral-bound notebook (never finished it, but I wish I could be that young again), I never gave much thought to the basic tools of writing. If I had a computer, I used a word processor. If I didn’t have access to a computer, I wrote everything out longhand. Now that I’m all grown up, my tool of choice is usually my trusty Macbook. I use OpenOffice as my word processor of choice because I’m such a huge fan of open source software.

Guess post by David Van Sickle: While working on this project, I’ve been keeping track of some ways in which we might better stimulate successful open source hardware projects in global health. Many of my thoughts and suggestions focus on the academic setting, but could readily be applied to the community at large. 1. Aggregate information on open hardware projects in global health to maximize participation and activity. There are many open source software projects in (global) healthcare, but far fewer hardware undertakings.

My review of the fantastic book Decoding Liberation has been published in the American Philosophical Association’s newsletter on Computers and Philosophy. I highly recommend the book. (Shameless self-promotion: My perspective on the Freedom Zero problem is discussed in the second chapter.) Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter (Routledge, 2007) 232 pages. ISBN: 978-0-415-97893-4.

Something happened over the weekend. I’m not sure what it was, but there has been a huge release of beta , freeware , and open source programs that I frequently use for the maintenance of my machines, and the machines of others that I set up. What ever it was, stars in alignment, or a nod from the cosmic consciousness, it’s a good thing . But now would be a good time to take stock, check the reasons for update, and install or update the programs used. From Microsoft , an Extended Security Update Inventory Tool .

With less than 2 months till Atlanta Linux Fest 2009, we are close to finalizing the list of talks. There are two talks that I’d like to point out: Rikki Kite’sHer PR Problem/Tooting the Horns of Women in Open Source and Don McMorris’s Evergreen – the FOSS ILS behind GPLS. Rikki will be talking about positive steps women can take to promote themselves and the advantages of promoting the work of women.

From the “telling you what you already know” department, Portland is a great place for startups, it seems. No, I’m serious. Don’t believe me? Well, how about Entrepreneur magazine? They’ve named Portland, Oregon, one of the best cities in which to be an entrepreneur , nicknaming the Portland “the cooperator.” Portland has made do with the great resources it does have, creating vibrant electronics, clean-tech, health sciences and apparel sectors, and one of the largest and most innovative open source software communities in the world.

bilingual777 asked: The software we currently use doesnt support linux on everyones computer for several reasons but we cant find software to put linux on everyones computer for several reasons but we cant find software we currently use doesnt support linux on. The software we are wanting to remotely connect to other computers that does remote connections we currently use doesnt support linux on everyones computer for company that have windows the software to put linux.

The Software Copyright Act, better known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, has given software developers more power to protect their works. If you’ve bought software in the last few years I’m sure you’ve noticed some of the changes in the software buying process. Some of the more noteworthy achievements of this Act are the following: 1) It is now a crime to break any anti-piracy measures in the software.

Historic move adds Windows/Linux virtualization interoperability By John Fontana , Network World , 07/20/2009 In an historic move, Microsoft Monday submitted driver source code for inclusion in the Linux kernel under a GPLv2 license. The code consists of four drivers that are part of a technology called Linux Device Driver for Virtualization.