Openness: November 2003 Archives
From Open source genetics needed to feed the world:
"This week Australian genetics pioneer Richard Jefferson was recognised by Scientific American, the prestigious international science magazine, as one of the 50 global technology leaders of 2003."
"His latest inventions could unleash a new Green Revolution, giving farmers, researchers and agriculture businesses across the world access to the potential of modern genetics."
"And he’s calling on the global biotechnology community to adopt open access genetics – freeing up the tools of modern genetics and biology from the shackles of excessive patenting."
(my emphasis in bold)
Free / Open Source Research Community presents quality open source research resources, and it is one itself as a result of having collected and organized these research articles.
A must read site for those interested in the interplay of open source software as an actor in the complex network of this thing we call society.
In SCO: GPL threatens $229B software market InfoWorld reports McBride (SCO's CEO) as stating:
"The world, especially here in America, is shifting to one that is an information society," McBride said. "In the future, is that $229 billion in software still going to be there? Or in the case of the Free Software Foundation's goal, is proprietary software going to go away?"
Well, if our society is shifting to an information society, it also means that the software 'industry' could gain even more importance in such society where the flux of information is critical to people's everyday lives.
In such case, isn't it obvious that the software industry (or should I better say the software development activities) should be also shifting? And why is it wrong if this shift is towards open source software?
McBride is actually making a good point in favor of open source software, and he does not realize it. If we have shifted towards an information society, why should an enormous amount of money be spend in developing commercial software? Instead the software could be as 'free' as the air around us (or become a world public good), and various corporations, non-profit organizations, the governments around the world, etc., can concentrate on more important activities.
In such society, software will no longer be able to provide competitive advantage. Instead, the current commercial software companies will have to reinvent themselves, and people will need to become more skilled in the way they use and integrate various open source software.
Shifts in the means of economic production have changed throughout the history. The philosophy and the economics of software development will have to change sooner or later. Maybe we are already in the midst of such shift.
In the past week or so I've been testing various Linux distributions to see which one fits better for my needs. For a long time I had installed (dual-boot) RedHat Linux 9.0. I have used RedHat since its earliest releases and was pleased with its stability.
However, the recent announcement by RedHat to discontinue support of its RedHad Linux products prompted me to try other distributions. I installed Mandrake 9.1 (and 9.2), Suse 8.2 (still waiting for 9.0) and obviously RedHat 9.0. Of the three, Suse (download version) appeared to be the most stable in my case, it recognized all the hardware (self build machine) with no problems, etc. While Mandrake has a lots of look and feel bells and whistles, few things didn't go well. So far in my case Suse happens to be the winner.
I also tried to install Fedora Core 1 (the 'successor'' of RedHat Linux 9.0), but couldn't get past the installation due to an error that my hard drive was full, despite the fact that Mandrake and Suse installed on the same amount of space (partition). I'll probably still check Fedora when the next release comes out.
The Register asks rather the obvious question: So WIPO, why did you scrap the Open Source meeting?
"WIPO is an international organisation dedicated to promoting the use and protection of works of the human spirit. These works - intellectual property - are expanding the bounds of science and technology and enriching the world of the arts. Through its work, WIPO plays an important role in enhancing the quality and enjoyment of life and helps create real wealth for nations."
Good so far ... and then ...
"Given its background and mandate it is surprising that it scrapped its first meeting on "open and collaborative" projects such as "open source software." After all open source software does, indeed rely on intellectual property rights. It cannot exist without them. It is, therefore, bemusing that the US Director of International Relations for the US Patent and Trademark Office apparently opposed such a meeting, claiming that such a meeting would run against the mission of WIPO to promote intellectual property rights. At least one of the major US software companies, probably beginning with the letter "M", is reported to have lobbied against the holding of such a meeting."
No comments...
Great development in the open source activities for eGovernment and Education. OSSI has released Phase 1 of Leopard:
"Project Leopard is a web services application framework that provides fast, efficient access and implementation of LAMP technology for eGovernment programs. Phase 1 release of Project Leopard is now available for free download and evaluation at http://leopard.sourceforge.net"
Back in July, prompted by the NewScientist.com's article E-voting system flaws 'risk election fraud' reporting that Diebold Election Systems's e-voting system contains certain flaws that 'risk election fraud', I said I would be more comfortable e-voting if such system is open source where the code is open for public scrutiny.
Well, the Wired.com reports (Aussies Do It Right: E-Voting, also commented by slashdot) that an Australian company has done just that for the Australian election:
"While critics in the United States grow more concerned each day about the insecurity of electronic voting machines, Australians designed a system two years ago that addressed and eased most of those concerns: They chose to make the software running their system completely open to public scrutiny."
"Although a private Australian company designed the system, it was based on specifications set by independent election officials, who posted the code on the Internet for all to see and evaluate. What's more, it was accomplished from concept to product in six months. It went through a trial run in a state election in 2001."
Rep. Rush Holt's bill seems a step in the right direction for the US:
"The issues of voter-verifiable receipts and secret voting systems could be resolved in the United States by a bill introduced to the House of Representatives last May by Rep. Rush Holt (D-New Jersey). The bill would force voting-machine makers nationwide to provide receipts and make the source code for voting machines open to the public. The bill has 50 co-sponsors so far, all of them Democrats."
The Open Source Software economics article explores and presents the open source software (OSS) concept from view different perspective. An interesting read for people familiar with OSS as well as those that want to learn about.
Quote:
"Open Source Software" is not a new concept; it's just recently been coined as a catchy phrase. For decades, people have routinely released source code into the wild, and told people to do what they will with it. I was doing it about 15 years ago, and many others were doing it long before me. What's different is that people consider it a movement, and a movement with some momentum -- and they do have a point, but the situation isn't as simple as it might seem."
