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HP, EDS, and Open Source [OStatic]

HP seems to have a liking for big deals - remember when they spent $25 billion for Compaq? Now they're laying out almost $14 billion to acquire global services company EDS. When elephants go dancing together, the rest of us need to be cautious.

Whatever HP intends to get out of this deal (our parent site GigaOm interprets it as an investment in a cloud future), we look at it from a different point of view: what does it mean to open source?

Like most large companies, both HP and EDS have dabbled in open source. HP actually has a well-organized presentation of its open source efforts available. These include:
- Substantial sales (over $10 billion to date) of Linux servers
- Over a thousand supported open-source printer drivers
- Indemnification for customers against legal action by SCO
- Common criteria security certification for a variety of hardware/software Linux combos
- A variety of support offerings
EDS, by contrast, has much less invested in open source than HP. While mentions of open source do turn up from time to time in the EDS blogs, the company has no page on its site listing open source offerings. And in the past, EDS executives have been notably unfriendly to Linux. And no wonder: Microsoft is a part of the group of select partners in the EDS Agility Alliance, participating in major EDS deals and supplying the standard platform for many of EDS' efforts.While EDS is obviously familiar with open source, it seems to be more interested in steering its customers to closed source "enterprisey" products.

In the short run, this will be like any other big merger: existing open source and commercial offerings will remain much as they are now. Over the long run, much will depend on how independent EDS, operating as "EDS - an HP company", is from the rest of the corporation. Clearly they'll start selling HP servers into their accounts. But the result of the inevitable culture wars inside the company will determine the operating system on those servers. With HP apparently buying EDS to bring in an existing line of money-making business into the mix, we hope we'll see HP shipping more Linux - but fear the result will be more Windows instead.

What do you think the HP/EDS deal means for open source?�
How RSS Feeds Affect My Life & Work [WebWorkerDaily]
About a week ago, I posted about Needing a Gentle Intro to RSS Feeds. I mentioned that I would read my RSS feeds through Google Reader over breakfast while my husband reads the paper and would let you know how I fared. I know it has only been a week, but here are my first impressions [...]
Canadian Watchdog Seeks Bell Privacy Probe [GigaOM]
Network management practices employed by Bell Canada have led the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic to ask for an investigation of the telecommunications company. The CIPPIC, a University of Ottawa legal clinic, accuses the firm of using deep packet inspection tools to determine what customers are doing with their Internet connections and then [...]
YouTube Targets Ads to Vids about to Go Viral [NewTeeVee]
YouTube announced a new advertising product today called “buzz targeting” that makes a ton of sense. Since advertisers (like just about everyone else) have no clue what’s going to be hot on the site, YouTube will monitor videos that are seeing an acceleration of viewing, favoriting and ratings, and give advertisers the ability to piggyback [...]
Vid-Biz: SAG, ABC, NBC [NewTeeVee]
Studios, SAG Still Clashing Over Clips; studios want to pay a flat fee to use clips of old TV shows and films online rather than bargain with each performer. (Reuters) ABC Unveils New Ad Measurement Tool; to combat lower ratings and ad dollars shifting to the more-trackable web, the network created “Advertising Value Index,” which lets [...]
Alfresco Updates its OSS Enterprise Content Manager [OStatic]

Alfresco Software, maker of popular open source content management software, has announced the release of Alfresco Enterprise 2.2. The new release is designed to let web site managers delve into web 2.0 features and online community building. According to the company, "Enhancements support the creation, deployment and updates of scalable Web 2.0 sites that can be developed using any web application language." Alfresco is behind interactive sites in the entertainment, online gaming, sports, telecommunications and publishing industries, and many of the new features are targeted at such sites.

OStatic checked in with Ian Howells, Chief Marketing Officer at Alfresco, about the release:

"Next generation websites are about creating a community around a product or service, such as a game to new mobile phone packages. Communities are about people and two-way conversations where individuals want the simplicity and familiarity of the tools they use day-in and day-out. These conversations are about communicating new services, discovering them via blogs, downloading products, rating and discussing them and being notified of changes."

"We use the architecture and languages of web 2.0 delivering content, not as a 1990s suite, but content-as-a-service that can be mashed up with other services and tools such as blogs, forums and wikis to create next generation community sites."

Alfresco officials say their goal is to allow site operators to move beyond simple marketing-oriented Web sites to deploying interactive sites that fosters community and customer relationships around a product or service. Electronic Arts, Activision and Sony Pictures Imageworks Interactive use Alfresco, among others.

Among the enhancements, according to an Alfresco advisory, are:
- Web Farm Deployment Configuration ? supports advanced deployment rules for web 2.0 scalable, 3-tier web application architectures.
- Web Application Preview and Test ? provides the ability to preview in-context changes to any web application, including PHP, Ruby, Groovy, STRUTS, JSF, TILES and .NET.
- Site Templating and Branching ? enables rapid creation of new sites from existing templates and ability to baseline major site updates by branching existing site.
- Asset Reuse ? allows content to be updated and shared across web projects.
According to open source blogger Matt Asay, who is also general manager of the Americas for Alfresco, Alfresco had about "about five thousand plus registered developers" as of late last year. More information on Alfresco Enterprise 2.2 is available at the company's site.
DOE: Wind Could Power 20% of U.S. Needs [Earth2Tech]
While wind power has been growing by leaps and bounds — a record 45 percent last year — and is on track to set a new record this year with 1,400 megawatts of capacity installed in the first quarter, the Department of Energy thinks we can do better. Much better. In a matter-of-factly entitled report, [...]
Evernote Mac 1.1: Big Improvements [WebWorkerDaily]
The last time we looked at multiplatform note-storage application Evernote, they supported Windows and Mac and had a web version. That’s still the case, but with the release of Evernote for Mac 1.1 this week, their Mac support is much improved. The new version adds support for PDF files (though it doesn’t yet recognize text [...]
Metrics: Trouble in Online Adland [GigaOM]
PubMatic, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup focused on online advertising just released its PubMatic AdPrice Index based on data from over 3,000 publishers and billions of ad impressions. The findings of this month’s report: The U.S. economic slowdown is beginning to impact online advertising in a big way, with overall monetization dropping by 23 percent [...]
Synthetic Biofuel Startup Gevo Raises $17M [Earth2Tech]
The future of biofuels belongs to biology, and startups are getting more and more funding to engineer alternative fuels. Synthetic biofuel startup Gevo has raised another $17 million in a Series C funding according to Pehub.com. Existing investors Khosla Ventures and Virgin Green Fund participated, as well as new investors Burrill & Co. and [...]
HBO on iTunes, Pay More for Less [NewTeeVee]
As reported yesterday, HBO shows are now available through iTunes — and Apple is indeed charging more for the privilege. Popular series like The Sopranos and Deadwood go for $2.99, while The Wire Season One and Flight of the Conchords are $1.99 an episode. Now that Apple has opened that door, look for other networks [...]
5 Nice Things You Should Do for Your Clients [WebWorkerDaily]
Sometimes, business relationships tend to be too straightforward and formal. Those things have their place, but we need to include a more human touch when it comes to web working. After all, it’s much easier for clients to ignore and forget you if they don’t see you face to face on a regular [...]
Why Social Gaming Network Got $15M in Funding [GigaOM]
What began last March with Warbook, a no-frills Facebook fantasy strategy game first conceived by an intern, has lead to today’s announcement: Social Gaming Network, a startup still based in a Palo Alto garage, is getting $15 million in Series A funding from a VC team comprised of Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, Columbia Partners [...]
Making VoIP Work For You [WebWorkerDaily]
A common misnomer about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is that it requires you to be using a headset, tethered to your computer. This is simply untrue as modern VoIP services and solutions use either a) normal corded and cordless phones or b) a specialized phone that resembles a cordless phone or cell phone - [...]
Boingo Wifi Moving into Starbucks, iPhone [WebWorkerDaily]
Boingo, already one of the world’s largest providers of wifi hotspot services is hitting AT&T where it lives…or at least where it gets its coffee. Boingo announced in an e-newsletter to customers that it will be expanding its service into Starbucks restaurants across the United States: We’ll be adding Starbucks� locations market by market, but I’m excited [...]
Chameleo: New Open-Source Video Player [NewTeeVee]
A Korean software company called NomadConnection has released Chameleo, a pretty-looking open-source video player with a focus on extensibility and widgets. The software, based on GStreamer and other open-source projects, supports a wide variety of codecs. Chameleo doesn’t come pre-packaged with any content but will play a channel of local BitTorrent downloads or anything else on [...]
HP-EDS: It?s About The Clouds, Baby! [GigaOM]
Updated: With the Microsoft-Yahoo battle fading from the dynamic random memories of our over stimulated brains, it is time to turn our attention to Hewlett-Packard?s $12 billion $13.9 billion deal to acquire EDS, a services giant in its own right. The news was announced this morning. HP will purchase EDS at a price of $25 [...]
The Polysilicon Issue: LDK?s Solid Earnings, But Lower Margins [Earth2Tech]
Chinese solar cell wafer maker LDK Solar posted what appeared to be a pretty strong first quarter earnings report on Monday: a net income of $49.8 million, compared with $21.6 million from a year ago reports Reuters, and a raised revenue outlook for the year. But the company also said that the rising price of [...]
Mobile Backhaul Equals Big Money Opportunity [GigaOM]
As noted earlier, wireless industry experts believe that mobile backhaul networks represent a big opportunity, mostly because of the proliferation of 3G and 4G networks and the easy availablity of iPhone-type devices is going to boost mobile data and video use. Infonetics Research has issued a report that forecasts 4.4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide by 2011, [...]
Metrics: Fun Facts About iPhone [GigaOM]
Love it or hate it, one has to admit that Apple’s iPhone has been quite a game changer forcing the wireless industry to get off its duff and start innovating. I think a lot of people forget that iPhone is not just a pretty face and sleek curves. Instead it is a device that is [...]
Karina?s Capsule: Lindsay Campbell Gets Arrested [NewTeeVee]
Last Wednesday, the team behind CBS Interactive’s MobLogic went out on the streets of New York to cover the Sean Bell protests. During the protest, MobLogic host Lindsay Campbell (formerly of Wallstrip) was arrested…voluntarily. As the show’s executive producer, Adam Elend, puts it in a blog post regarding MobLogic’s episode on Lindsay’s arrest, which went [...]
The Daily Sprout [Earth2Tech]
SF Green Cleantech Meeting Tonight: If you’re in the San Francisco area this evening you should swing by the SF Green event where the big shot cleantech entrepreneurs and VCs will be on hand, showing off their companies, their wares and their thoughts - VentureBeat. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Biofuels: As the [...]
Prying Open the Social Graph [GigaOM]
Last week, I pointed out that MySpace?s Data Availability efforts were welcome in that they expand the number of sites on which a user can use her MySpace data, but that MySpace still had a lock on the user data since it hosted and determined who could display that data by approving site partners. If MySpace?s efforts were three steps forward in opening up user profiles, then Google?s Friend Connect represents two steps back.
Upgrading to 802.11n Wi-Fi: Easier Than Ever [WebWorkerDaily]
In an earlier post, I made the point that web workers who rely on home Wi-Fi networks, and who haven’t yet upgraded to 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless technology should definitely do so. Even though the 802.11n Wi-Fi proposed standard is not quite ratified yet, and some potential upgraders fear that the ratified products won’t be compatible [...]
comScore: 11.5B Video Views in March [NewTeeVee]
Online video continued its ascent in March, with comScore reporting U.S. Internet users watched 11.5 billion online videos during the month. This was a 13 percent bump up from February, and surpasses the previous record-setting total of 10.15 billion video views in December. Nearly 139 million unique U.S. viewers watched an average of 83 videos each [...]
OStatic Buffer Overflow..... [OStatic]

Startups Funambol and Laszlo Systems have announced that Funambol's open source mobile messaging software will integrate with Laszlo's web-based communications suite, including e-mail, contacts, and calendar.....

Sun Microsystems is promising regular updates to its new OpenSolaris operating system, and costs for support are expected this week.....

Powerset, a contextual, semantic search engine that relies on open source Hadoop cluster technology for processing, has launched new search services.....

Digium's CEO discusses his company's open source balancing act in the VoIP arena.....
Project Better Place Shows Off Electric Car [Earth2Tech]
The Silicon Valley electric car startup Project Better Place showed off a prototype for its electric vehicle in Israel this weekend, and said partner Renault-Nissan (Renault is building the cars while Nissan, via an agreement with NEC Corp., is supplying the swappable batteries) would likely spend between $500 million and $1 billion into building them. [...]
Online Isn?t the Only Place Privacy is Eroding [GigaOM]
Controversy around RealID is nothing new. When Congress passed an act in 2005 that required a set of machine-readable information on government-issued identity cards, plenty of opposition pointed out the expense, the unnecessary amounts of data and the bureaucratic nightmare of issuing all-new cards to citizens. So far not a single state has actually made [...]
YouTube at the Epicenter of Another Crisis [NewTeeVee]
The devastating earthquake in China today is just the latest crisis to showcase YouTube’s role as a primary source of firsthand accounts of breaking news. Last year, the video-sharing site gave us glimpses of the wildfires burning in southern California and of pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar. Now a video shot by a student shows us [...]
To-Do Times Two [WebWorkerDaily]
There’s no shortage of online task managers - but that doesn’t stop more from popping up all the time. Two relatively new (and free) entrants might be worth your while if you’re looking for a new app in this category. Goal Organiser tries to move you from task management to goal management. In addition to entering [...]
Iron Sky Opens Up the Filmmaking Process [NewTeeVee]
Making a film is a collaborative process, but the team behind the upcoming movie Iron Sky is taking that notion to a whole new level by opening up the production process to, well, the world. Based in Finland, Director Timo Vuorensola and his team made a name for themselves a few years ago with the release [...]
MIT Students Impress Google with Android Apps [OStatic]

The Associated Press has an interesting story out today about a group of MIT students who set out to show the power of open cell phone systems. MIT professor Hal Abelson challenged them to design an application for cell phones based on Android, Google's upcoming Linux-based mobile operating system. According to the AP story: "In the process, they revealed the power of an open system like Android to shake up the mobile phone industry, where wireless companies are being pressured to loosen the control they have maintained over what devices do." Is there something to this?

The majority of the students who accepted Abelson's challenge produced applications focused on location and social features. This, of course, closely tracks what's going on with many commercial mobile applications. Whrrl, for example,has gotten a lot of buzz for its ability to track you, your friends and when you might be able to meet up. According to the AP story, one application that the students came up with was called Flare, designed to help small businesses such as pizza deliverers track their drivers.

While the Open Handset Alliance, which includes about 30 wireless companies, has announced plans for many Android-based phones, there aren't any yet, so the students produced their applications on a computer designed to work like a phone. In the end, officials from Google who were observing the student challenge said that the applications they created were as good as any being developed in Google's official Android developer challenge.

This is yet more evidence of the fact that open source mobile platforms have a bright future, and can usher in as-yet-unseen applications. As we've written before, open source applications such as the Mozilla mobile browser Fennec, plus the many new Linux-based mobile phones coming to market can represent a big challenge to traditional mobile phone platforms. Open source platforms could strongly shake up the pricing models for mobile services and applications as well--not to mention handset prices.

This is a good trend all around, and will increase competition in the mobile technology arena. If you ever spend time cursing your cell phone and the expensive applications and services on it, watch as open source offerings level the playing field.
Stick-On Solar with Lumeta [Earth2Tech]
The holy grail of building-integrated solar might be paint-on solar, but in the meantime there is a peel-n-stick option. The Lumeta Power-Ply 380 panel uses adhesive to stick 8′x4′ panels to your roof in a matter of minutes without any racking or mounting systems — and as a result, no holes in your roof. [...]
Google Friend Connect: What?s the Point? [WebWorkerDaily]
The usual sites are buzzing with the news that Google has announced its new Friend Connect service (link won’t be turned on until tonight). Google is positioning this as “a service that helps website owners grow traffic by enabling any site on the web to easily provide social features for its visitors.” Let’s start with what [...]
Wine About to Hit Version 1.0 [OStatic]

The folks behind open source Windows API implementation Wine announced on Friday that version 1.0RC1 has been released. While application version numbers are a somewhat arbitrary measure, this seems like a good time to celebrate the maturity of this project, which has been active for 15 years now. For organizations and users committed to open source operating systems, but still needing specific Windows applications, Wine is an essential lifeline.

As of this writing, the bug list for version 1.0 still has 36 bugs on it - though some of those are likely to be postponed before the release. There are specific release criteria for Wine 1.0, the chief of which is that applications that ran well under 0.9.5 should not regress under 1.0. That's a set of about 1200 Windows applications (mostly games) that have been placed in the "Platinum" compatibility category - a not insignificant achievement. For more on this, see Joe's post.

Like most open source projects, Wine is currently calling for help - though unlike most, it's not currently begging for new coders. Rather, they'd like anyone with a bit of spare time to get involved in their Platinum Regression Hunt - checking some of those applications to make sure they're still running well under 1.0. If you've been wanting to help out on a prominent open source project but lack coding chops, this is a great opportunity.

There will always be people who pooh-pooh Wine as an attempt to replicate an operating system that many would rather see eliminated. But that misses the very real service that they do to those who, for business reasons, need to run Windows applications that don't have good free software equivalents yet (not to mention numerous game players).