A Professor's Perspective on Open Source in Academia

Dec 02, 2010 GMT

In the past, I've written about Mel Chua and Red Hat's POSSE (Professor's Open Source Summer Experience). Now Heidi Ellis, Associate Professor and Chair of the Computer Science and Information Technology department at Western New England College, shares her thoughts on the differences between the open source and academic communities. Ellis says, "The open source way is very opportunistic and flexible, while academia is very planned and structured." Ellis goes on to say, "Clearly, there are also large differences in culture. But I think that collaboration between open source and academic realms can work, as there are also some strong commonalities between the groups."...

Announcing Smart Developer Magazine

Nov 30, 2010 GMT

Last week, before taking off to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, I had the happy task of announcing our newest print magazine: Smart Developer. If you're into (or want to get into) mobile app development, then this is the magazine for you. Our first issue of Smart Developer is hitting newsstands in Europe now and should arrive in North America in mid-late December. (And if you're worried you'll miss it on the newsstands, you're welcome to subscribe!) This first issue includes some pretty cool articles by Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier, Marcel Gagné, Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Dmitri Popov, Markus...

SuperComputing or Bust

Nov 11, 2010 GMT

Next week I'll be running our booth (and running around the gigantic expo floor) at SuperComputing (SC10) in New Orleans. If you're there, be sure to swing by our booth (#4552) and grab a free magazine or limited-edition Maverick Meerkat sticker or postcard. I hope to see you there!

Kansas City Here I Come

Nov 09, 2010 GMT

Yesterday Laura Rich posted an article on FastCompany.com, Why You Should Start a Company in... Kansas City. Rich looks at communities to consider if you want to launch a tech company. She says, "Kansas City is home to the Kauffman Foundation, a $2 billion organization dedicated entirely to research and funding of entrepreneurial efforts. And beginning February, entrepreneurs will descend upon the city in KC’s version of a startup incubator: Kauffman Labs, which is paying entrepreneurs for up to six months while they build out their startups." Rich interviews Bo Fishback, who runs Kauffman Labs. Fishback points out a few companies that are based in Kansas City, including...

ROSE Blog Interviews: The Document Foundation's Jacqueline Rahemipour

Nov 09, 2010 GMT

On October 31, Jacqueline Rahemipour posted a letter on the dev@native-lang.openoffice.org mailing list called Every end is a new beginning. The letter, which was signed by Rahemipour and 32 other OpenOffice.org contributors, addressed Oracle's response to the recent creation of The Document Foundation. The letter says, "Oracle's official response to the announcement of The Document Foundation was clear – Oracle will continue OpenOffice.org as usual. The result is now indeed the lately postulated conflict of interest for those community members who are in charge of or representing...

8 Interns Selected for Gnome Outreach Program for Women

Nov 05, 2010 GMT

  I first wrote about the Gnome Outreach Program for Women back in September and in the December issue of Linux Pro Magazine and Linux Magazine. Today the Gnome Project announced the eight new interns, their projects, and their mentors. Best wishes to the new interns: Tiffany Antopolski, Nanci de Brito Bonfim, Luciana Fujii Pontello, Eugenia Gabrielova, Laura Elisa Lucas Alday, Hellyna Ng, Natalia Andrea Ruz Leiva, and Chandni Verma. The Gnome Project is also sponsoring Tiffany Antopolski and Eugenia Gabrielova to attend GNOME's Boston Summit November 6-8. You can find out more about the new interns on Marina'z Blog.

Growing Participation By Women in Ubuntu Community

Nov 04, 2010 GMT

As the Ubuntu community has grown, the percentage of women participating in that community continues to increase. On her blog, Elizabeth Krumbach discusses the increase in participation and says, "It’s exciting to watch Ubuntu become a more inclusive community and to see the passion and support of new people joining from existing community members overcome (or negate) many of the barriers that may have been problems in the past." She also explains some proactive steps that have been taken since 2006 to grow participation by women from an estimated 2.4 percent to 5 percent.Perhaps you're thinking, "Well that's all fine and good, but gimme some $ for participating." If...