Category: open source

I'm on the advisory board for OpenSource World. I was excited to be asked. One, it's flattering to be feel that your opinion is valuable. Two, I was excited to help make OpenSource World a success. Three, I have an active interest in making sure that open source software in general is successful and in particular on making sure open source on the desktop is successful. Four, I always like learning new things and being on the advisory board of a large conference is bound to teach one new things.

Then, in addition, I volunteered to run the desktop/netbook track at OpenSource World. When I volunteered, I envisioned myself sitting in an easy chair with a huge pile of proposals like a professor grading term papers. Sharing quotes from the good ones and sorting them into the good, the bad and the ugly. Then on the day of the conference, I'd introduce speakers and stand back and watch with pride as excellent speakers drew huge audiences.

The problem with my vision? Those huge stacks of proposals aren't coming in! So, if you have something you'd like to say, a message about open source software on the desktop or how netbooks are affecting our world, please submit a proposal to OpenSource World! Or call me. Or email me. If you've seen a really good talk about open source on the desktop, call me, twitter me or email me. I'll try to get the speaker to come to OpenSource World!

While I probably won't end up sitting in my easy chair reading proposals, I am looking forward to sitting on my fitball in front of my monitor and twittering about them! So submit your proposal to OpenSource World.

First off, Microsoft is not going to open source Windows. (I used to say it wouldn't make business sense for them to open Windows. These days I'm not so sure.) I do know that it would take them years and it would be really hard to do legally and logistically. See Zonker's post.

But people keep talking about Microsoft open sourcing Windows and asking why they don't do it. So what would happen if they did?

If Microsoft open sourced Windows under a standard permissive license,

• would we quit working on Linux?
• would we finally fix the blue screen of death?
• would end users benefit?
• would Windows play better with others?
• would any non-Microsoft employees fix Windows bugs?
• would we still get breakthrough projects like OLPC?
• would any of the code get adopted into other projects?
• would more people use Windows?
• would Microsoft still be able to charge for Windows?

What do I think?

• Some Microsoft technology might be adopted into other open source technologies, actually improving their competitors. However, adopting new technology into a project is never easy, so it wouldn't be as much as they might fear.
• The price of Windows would fall to zero. (And few would pay Microsoft for support.)
• Linux usage and adoption would continue at its current rate – it is the best operating system for many uses.
• Free software projects would have to get better at marketing. (They're being used because they are good technology, not because they are free. But most marketing hype is around free.)
• None of the current open source developers would move to Microsoft projects. Any community built around an open source Windows project would be a new-to-open-source community so it would have growing pains.

Ok, now back to work. Microsoft is not going to open source Windows and if they did, the world wouldn't change … much.

I have a friend who just installed Linux for the first time. He asked me for recommendations on a book that would help him get started. I asked on Twitter and got the following recommendations:

• A Practical Guide to Linux(R) Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming
• Ubuntu Linux Bible
• Linux Phrasebook (Developer's Library)
• Running Linux

When I looked them up on Amazon, this well rated book also came up too.

• Linux in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))

Any others you would recommend? Or a particular one you'd recommend most, as most people aren't going to buy more than one?

I think there'd be two types. One for a like to read the manual, primarily Windows user and another kind of book for those used to Unix.

Ian Tree has written an open letter to IBM asking them to release Domino under an open source license. While I agree with him that open sourcing Domino could have lots of positive effects, he's ignoring the cost and time involved. All those good things might not happen given how hard it is to open source a large existing code base. Just ask Sun if you want to know how much work it is to release an existing product under and open source license.

• First off, it's going to take years.
• IBM will have to go through all the code, line by line (hopefully automated) and make sure that they own all of the intellectual property. Was it written by them? Were those developers under non-disclosures with other companies at the time? Did they leverage some of their patent cross-licensing? And so on. Any good lawyer could write pages of all the things they should check.
• Then when they open it, in the short term it's going to take more resources than they currently have, assuming they want to create an external community around it. Now not only do the developers need to work on the code, but they also need to interface with the community and bring other developers up to speed.
• And that community, while willing to help, will not be ready to jump in immediately. It will take a few years to grow that community – it may take a year or two for each individual developer to come up to speed on the project!

Picking the license and model (the parts Ian Tree suggests are hard) might be the easiest part. Making it happen will be the hard part.

So I'm not saying that opening Domino is a bad idea. To the contrary, it might be really interesting. I'm just saying that his reasons for why it's a good idea need to take into account that it might take 4-5 years to actually happen.

 So I have to admit that although I've been preaching for years that open source software needs more documentation, it wasn't really something I worried about. (Probably partially because I have a good network I can always ask when in doubt.) At least that's how I felt until I got my G1 phone.

I read manuals. I read the G1 manual in a couple of minutes. And then I really wished I had the real manual – one of those that tells you everything about your phone – when …

• At one point in time I saw a list of wireless networks on my G1. Now it just seems to connect to one. I can disconnect and reconnect … to whichever random network it wants. Nothing in the manual. Some where on my phone has got to be an option that would show me the available wireless networks and let me select one.
• I was trying to add shortcuts to the home screen to no avail. A quick google search told me that tapping and holding would show me the most used six apps. Nope, but it did let me add a shortcut!
• Speaking of which, my phone does a lot of cool things that I keep accidentally discovering. Like an accidental swipe to the right showed me that the home screen is three times as big as I thought!

It's a really cool phone and it does cool things, but accidentally discovering features one by one makes me feel like I'm missing out. (Not to mention the frustration I feel when I'm trying to do something I know it can do.)

So I'm not complaining about my G1. I'm just pointing out that good documentation is a good thing.

Photo by romainguy.

According to Stephen Vaughan-Nichols there will be 2.4 million more Linux desktop users by the end of the year. And that's only counting Eee PC users.

That's a lot of people. We need to invite both those people and Asustek to engage with our communities. The default install that comes with my Eee PC 700 still does not have wireless or camera working correctly. That's fixed in other Linux distributions but installing a new distribution requires more technical expertice than your average user has. (As anyone who saw me running around at GUADEC with a half installed distro on my Eee PC can attest to.)

As more and more open source software comes out on devices and netbooks, we need to make sure the vendors and the users are aware of the network of passionate people that are here willing to lend their expertice via mailing lists, forums and blog posts.

I just got back from GNOME.Asia. Emily Chen (and a host of volunteers) put together GNOME.Asia to foster and grow the GNOME community in Asia. It was a great event – definitely the first in an annual tradition.

What was the conference like? There was tremendous energy. There were lots of talks – keynotes in the morning and four tracks in the afternoon. I understood most of the keynotes and a few of the presentations, but I was glad to see a lot of talks in Chinese. (Most of the audience was Chinese.) Each of the speakers drew a few questions after their talk, but they were also approached a lot during the conference on a one to one basis. During the conference I was asked diverse questions from how to find a job in open source, to how to get started in GNOME, to why I was concerned about women in GNOME, to what I thought of Linux on the desktop, to our relationship with KDE, to how I liked China, to how a company could sponsor GNOME.

Thanks to all the sponsors who helped make the conference a success: Sun, Nokia, Motorola, Mozilla, Red Hat, Google, Lemote, Csdn.net, and Programmer. They also provided gifts for the “Lucky Draw” at the end of every day
where cell phones and laptops were handed out to lots of applause.

The volunteers were great. I believe a special thank you goes to the Beijing LUG (BLUG) as well as the volunteers that helped out with the web pages and logo. The first day people showed up before the venue opened (two hours before the talks) and when they saw people setting up, they jumped in and helped! (Emily equated that to the 10% of Beijing’s  population that helped out with the Olympics last summer.)

None of this would have happened without Emily Chen from Sun. Although she credits Quim Gil with having the idea for a GNOME.Asia, Emily gets my respect for pulling off the planning of a large event without a hitch. I first met Emily at GUADEC where she already had her plan for GNOME.Asia all laid out. She found sponsors, she found local speakers,
international speakers, a venue, attendees – especially involving local university students, and most importantly she inspired and motivated the volunteers. With her coordination and volunteers, the conference went smoothly – good venue, good press, wireless coverage was good (always important at a technical event), great volunteers, good speakers, tremendous enthusiasm … give Emily a round of applause!

I should mention that Emily even put together entertainment for speakers and volunteers – a dinner at a traditional Chinese tea house with a show, as well as a sightseeing trip to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs for the
speakers! Pockey, a volunteer from BLUG, went along as our guide.

The conference was well attended, with more people on the first day than the second day. I believe there were 500+ registrations – we’re still waiting on a count of how many attendees. Most attendees were Chinese but I also met people from Finland, France, United States, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

I believe every year the international aspect, especially the Asian representation, will increase. I’m looking forward to seeing who puts in bids for GNOME.Asia 2009, (The Beijing team was so jazzed, they volunteered to do it again!)

I also got to meet the Sun and Motorola GNOME teams located in China. Everybody I talked to agreed that meeting people face to face, even if it’s only once a year, really fosters relationships throughout the whole year.

Here’s to a successful GNOME.Asia 2008! I’m already looking forward to GNOME.Asia 2009!