Posts about Open Source Software as of October 14, 2009

Apache Tomcat is a free and open source software implementation for JavaServlets, providing support for Java Server Pages (JSP). Many popular web-based applications use servlets. You may choose to run Tomcat with either Sun’s Java implementation or the OpenJDK implementation of Java. (…) Read the rest of How to install Tomcat 6 on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) (345 words) © admin for Ubuntu Geek , 2009.

I’ve been researching and musing over how open source and business go together like two slices of bread. The contraption tastes good only if the stuff in between meshes well. Over the next few days I want to cover three main themes: What is Free and Open Source Software all about, where did it come from, when were the conditions right , why did it come about, and how is it relevant to open source hardware and the work going on at FeF?

The federal open source software conference is around the corner and we are recruiting volunteers to organize and sponsor the local user groups. You can check out the conference here FOSE . If you can help please comment below this story or hit up the mailing list.

Just stumbled on this new transparency website See.Click.Fix . The site states its reasons for existance as: Transparency – governments and most organizations work best when they conduct their business in plain view. We’ll do our best to do the same. Collaboration – Four brains are better than one. And millions of brains are better than three. Our goal is to give everyone else the tools to accomplish what we never could ourselves. Open source software and wikis are good models for us.

WordPress is a fantastic content management system that has been adopted by the masses. With huge demand and community support, many web designers are taking advantage of the open-source software to create innovative product themes that go beyond just looking great. These 10 WordPress themes and plugins could each be used to launch your own online business or breathe new life into your existing website.

I originally put this post together for RSC NewsFeed , but thought worth reposting here: One of the great features of open source software is the potential for the wider community to start rapidly developing and integrating new features, in many ways utilising the power of the crowd. The web browser Firefox is a great example. Its origins lie in the developers frustrations of developer driven feature creep. Creating an open project has resulted in a staggering number of add-on customisations.

There have been a few open source projects that have made the GNU/Linux community all happy as hell and one of the best is GNOME Do . While not really a member of the GNOME project many of us will admit to considering it one of the best apps ever written, which you can see on their new Preview page , and once you’ve used it for a while you hate having to use an operating system without it. When they brought out version 0.8 they added a new theme, Docky .

Document Formats BE: OpenOffice boom in Belgium The Port of Antwerp started preparing the migration of 1300 desktops to OpenOffice earlier this year. The completion of the migration is expected around September 2010. The IT-department decided not only to move to ODF, but also to use ODF as their primary file format for communication with third parties. Virtual Worlds Vuzix iWear VR920 – The New Virtual Reality for Gamers This would be a heck of a lot cooler if it didn’t just work on Microsoft Windows.

One increasingly important aspect of modern document management and enterprise content management software is effective records management . Properly defined, records management is the collection, classification and planned retention or destruction of an organization’s information. Unfortunately, records management tends more often to be two things: not clearly understood and not properly implemented. Faced with increased regulations and the fear of legal action, organizations are working towards doing it better.

Do you know who visits your website? How many visitors you get? On which pages they arrive and leave? How long they stay? You should know the answer to all these questions. Your webhost analytics will give you some data. If you have C Panel (very popular webhost interface), webalizer is provided as standard. But, 3rd party analytics programs will give you much more information. Google Analytics is free and it’s an excellent program, but choice is good.  Sourceforge is the world’s largest open source software development websites with more than 230,000 software projects.