What's new in the open source world? We've put together a list of software that was first released (or first made open source) in the last couple of years. While many of these apps are still early in the development process, they're all usable, and in fact, have all acquired fairly substantial user bases in a short time.

Open source software has a lot to offer the business world. Aside from the fact that they’re generally free, many open source programs are more secure, reliable and customizable than their proprietary counterparts. In fact, many large companies, including big names like Amazon, Google, and Yahoo, run their servers with Linux rather than Windows.

Checkout this short video of Compiz Fusion running on Ubuntu. Its a short demonstration from chavanak about the cool 3D desktop effects of Compiz Fusion.

Pop the hood on our new Web site and you’ll find one very powerful engine. It’s called Drupal, a free, open-source platform that powers all of our content entry. As many healthcare IT workers know, the value of open-source solutions isn't just the (lack of) price tag: it's the fact that the products are user-developed, community-tested and constantly improved.

It is not enough to have Richard Stallman travel around the world endlessly giving standard Free Software speeches among other things repeating how Open Source is not the same thing as Free Software and how the operating system widely known as "Linux" is actually "GNU/Linux" (because GNU project in fact started that OS).

Integrating disparate data, applications and systems is a challenge that has made companies like Tibco and Informatica rich. There’s good reason for that – it’s a difficult task, not made any easier by the fact that the artefacts that you are trying to integrate are in constant flux as new versions of applications, systems and even standards are constantly changing.

Unless you have been living under a tree, you are aware of the fact that money in the Linux market by and large appears to be coming from the mobile market. Despite efforts from developers and various companies alike, the fact remains that it is the mobile development world that is gaining the bulk of the Linux developers out there.

Much as we in the open-source world may not like it, progress doesn't necessarily look like a heavily customizable system. In fact, it might just be the opposite. At least, once a market matures.

This question keeps cropping up every once in a while on different LUG lists where I lurk. It is a fairly established fact now in the FOSS world (or for that matter in the software world) that businesses can be both Open Source as well as commercial (ie: for profit). However...