Whether you're looking for an alternative to expensive commercial software or just trying to get a feel for what's out there, AlternativeTo is a handy service for finding software alternatives.

I originally thought the article from Silicon.com, "Naked CIO: Open source ain't cheap" was written by a troll. Most IT authors realize that the quickest way to get a rise out of readers is to say something negative about one of two topics, Apple computers or open source. This author decided to write about the latter.

SSL acceleration is a technique that off-loads the processor intensive public key encryption algorithms used in SSL transactions to a hardware accelerator. These solutions often involve a considerable up front investment as the specialized equipment is rather costly. This article though looks at using off the shelf server hardware and open source software to build a cost effective SSL accelerator.

President Obama came to office with the promise of change. His administration has pledged to create an environment of openness and participation. Some have already called him the “open source president” such as consultant and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos. There’s no better time than now. Transparency builds trust. Participation solves problems.

Why the demise of proprietary software is creating a vacuum which is about to be filled... and we may not like it.

At the Linux Collaboration Summit, held last week in San Francisco, an interesting panel discussion took place about Linux' position in the wider operating systems market. Included were Jim Zemlin, Linux Foundation executive director, Ian Murdock, Sun community and developer vice president, and Sam Ramji, Microsoft platform strategy director.

GroundOS.org has announced a new open source cloud web application server. They claim that "cloud computing is little more than a marketing buzzword, used to dress up the cold ugly business model of renting software...