Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1037
www.iltanet.org 46 Peer to Peer The Long View If the progress of the open source movement over the past 20 years is any indication, then the development trend will continue. There are a number of bellwether OSS projects — Linux, FireFox, OpenOffice — that continue to demonstrate long-term growth and success. Recent college graduates are increasingly more knowledgeable and comfortable with OSS. It is worthwhile then to consider open source where possible and to compare it to proprietary solutions when selecting and implementing new software. The potential benefits are finding the best possible solution that delivers the cost-savings so important in our current economy. ILTA Mark Manoukian has spent the last 15 years in legal it at Kegler, brown, hill and Ritter, a mid- sized law firm in columbus, ohio. he's been an active member of ilta over the last several years and is currently the vice President of ilta's open source Peer Group. he can be reached at mmanoukian@keglerbrown.com. Obstacles There are a few obstacles associated with OSS. A quick troll through SourceForge.net, home to many OSS projects, reveals an abundance of software that is still in beta. The trick is to separate the wheat from the chaff and find the winners. Fortunately, there are a number of resources through which you can find the successful OSS projects. These resources include: • The ILTA OSS E-Group • osalt.com • Wikipedia There are also numerous variants of open source licenses. The specifics of a particular license may have a bearing on one's usage of a particular piece of OSS. OSS licenses also lack the indemnification language that many firms want or need in license agreements. BREAKING NEWS IN THE OSS WORLD! MysQl version 5.4 has been released. This release claims that some types of queries will run up to 90% faster than version 5.1. canonical has announced the release of ubuntu 9.04 Desktop and server editions. Known as "Jaunty Jackalope," Enterprise-Ready ubuntu server enhances common workload features and delivers cloud computing inside the firewall and on amazon Ec2. the Desktop version boasts faster boot speeds (some reports show boot speeds under 25 seconds), an enhanced application suite and more visual appeal — giving users more reasons than ever to choose ubuntu. Two second boot times? Intel reckons you'll soon be able to take your netbook from a cold start to a desktop that's ready for work in just two seconds. That's the target for Moblin, the mobile- optimized Linux variant which Intel is developing for netbooks and mobile Internet devices. More than 1,000 students were accepted in to the 2009 Google summer of code. Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a global program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source software projects. We have worked with several open source, free software, and technology-related groups to identify and fund several projects over a three month period. Since its inception in 2005, the program has brought together over 2600 students and 2,500 mentors from nearly 100 countries worldwide, all for the love of code. Through Google Summer of Code, accepted student applicants are paired with a mentor or mentors from the participating projects, thus gaining exposure to real-world software development scenarios and the opportunity for employment in areas related to their academic pursuits. In turn, the participating projects are able to more easily identify and bring in new developers. Best of all, more source code is created and released for the use and benefit of all. ILTA Join the oss Peer Group for their monthly teleforums to discuss recent oss developments, product releases and hot topics like the ones listed below.