Cody Taylor

kokito writes “OSNews managing editor Thom Holwerda reviews Haiku, the open source successor of the Be operating system. According to the review, Haiku faithfully/successfully replicates the BeOS user experience and ‘personality,’ boasting very short boot times, the same recognizable but modernized GUI using antialiasing for fonts and all vector graphics as well as vector icons, a file system with support for metadata-based queries (OpenBFS) and support for the BeAPI, considered by some the cleanest programming API ever. The project has also recently released a native GCC 4.3.3 tool chain, clearing the way for bringing up-to-date ports of multi-platform apps such as Firefox and VLC, and making it easier to work on Haiku ports in general.” (More below.)

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Smidge207 writes “Lately there has been a huge push by Certified Microsoft Professionals and their companies to call (potential) clients and warn them of the dangers of open source. This week I received calls from four different customers saying that they were warned that they are dangerously insecure because they run open source operating systems or software, because ‘anyone can read the code and hack you with ease.’ Other colleagues in the area also have noticed that three local Microsoft Partners have been trying to strike fear in the minds of companies that respond, ‘Yes, we use open source or Linux’ when the sales call comes in. I know this is simply a sales tactic by these companies, but how do I fix the damage these tactics cause? I have several customers who now want more than my word about the security of systems that have worked for them flawlessly for 5-6 years, with minimal expense outside of upgrades and patching for security. Does anyone have a good plan or sources of reliable information that can be used to inform the customer?”

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Periodically, we here at OStatic like to round up our ongoing collections of open source resources, tutorials, reviews and project walkthroughs. These educational tools are a central part of the goal here at the site. We regularly round up the best Firefox extensions, free online books on open source topics, free tools for web developers, resources

soDean writes “Miro just launched their 2.0 release today. The free and open source HD video player and Internet TV features an all-new interface and an entirely rewritten UI engine, plus tons of new features and improvements — it’s less of a collection of new stuff and more of a rethinking of the whole experience. You can download Miro 2.0 here for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Miro is developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, hell-bent on making Internet video more open and decentralized, along with a dedicated community of users, volunteers, translators, testers, and coders.”

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A group of prominent open source software vendors have written an open letter to the Obama administration encouraging broader adoption of open source software.

ancientribe writes “Metasploit hacking tool creator HD Moore told Dark Reading that the open-source hacking tool soon will come with back-end services-based features aimed at offloading resource-intensive penetration testing tasks. This is a departure for the software-oriented Metasploit, and Moore and company just may be on to something: it turns out commercial penetration testing tool vendors are looking at adding services-based versions of their software. Immunity Inc. will do so this year, and Core Security Technologies is considering doing so as well.”

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Linux is different, you see. Open source, as Microsoft is starting to recognize, is just another part of its ecosystem, one that it must support if it wants Windows to continue to be a first-class computing citizen.

Are you interested in taking the job of Director of Open Source Desktop Strategy at Microsoft? If so, here’s the LinkedIn job description. Matt Aslett at The 451 Group notes that Microsoft is looking for “a strong team member to lead Microsoft’s global desktop competitive strategy as it relates to open source competitors.”

jammag writes “Combining GPL and proprietary software is ever more common, especially in the world of embedded devices like cell phones. But the question is: how to combine them legally. As sticky as the issue is, there is an answer, as self titled “open source strategic consultant Bruce Perens explains. The proper procedure entails fully understanding what type of open source software you’re using, and knowing why you need to combine these disparate licenses. The problem, he notes, is that many companies don’t know or care about doing this legally. ‘They’re used to just “clicking yes” with no regard to what they’re committing themselves and their company to.’ Hopefully Perens’ guide can be read by more company execs — resulting in fewer lawsuits going forward (but we’re not holding our breath).” update 21:31 GMT by SM: Bruce wrote in to make sure we knew he was not a lawyer, even though he is weighing in on a legal issue, updated to reflect.

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volume4 writes “With two MySQL execs leaving Sun in the last week, the internet is buzzing about what is going on at Sun, what is the future of MySQL and what lies ahead for Michael Widenius. Over at Open Source Release Feed, Widenius spoke candidly regarding his split from Sun, the future of MySQL, Monty Program AB and the open source ecosystem in general.”

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