Category: free and open source software

Slashdot reported a long-term field test by John Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School and CareGroup regarding Operating systems in corporate environments on a notebook.

CIO Article

The power of Windows lies in its availability for niche business software, OS X and Ubuntu appeal to the usability and enterprise Linux systems such as Novell and RHEL focus on Windows like usability and are meant to fill the corporate Client/Workstation segment.

Regarding Linux strategies, enterprise solutions should be the first ones to take some market shares from Microsoft in the corporate segment.

Ubuntu is gaining more and more support due to its stable Debian base and its usability. Taking Ubuntu to the corporate sector seems very possibly but this may rely on further strategies of the Canonical Foundation.

here is the Ubuntu report

One thing regarding Debian: There may be some confusion to people jumping in the Linux sector regarding the Debian policy on non-free software. The fact is Debian is very attached to its roots in the GNU and the ideology of the Free Software Foundation which is a good sign in times where Linux distributors are contracting with Microsoft, the very company that states open source as something evil and a violation of individual intellectual property and tries to stop the growing success of Linux by fear mongering potential users by stating that Linux and Open Source violate several hundred Microsoft patents without delivering a proof.

The openmoko has launched its first “completely freed” cell phone – the Neo 1973

Currently it is only available in order to give developers a head start, so consumers will have some software when it releases to the main stream market. The Neo Base is currently priced at 300 USD which should be around 250€ in the european market.

Here is a list of features from the openmojo project:

• 2.8″ VGA TFT color display
• Touchscreen, usable with stylus or fingers
• 266MHz Samsung System on a Chip (SOC)
• USB 1.1, switchable between Client and Host (unpowered)
• Integrated AGPS
• 2.5G GSM – quad band, voice, CSD, GPRS
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Micro SD slot
• High Quality audio codec

Some of the more advanced technology such as UMTS (3G) and Wi-Fi are functionality are missing but further releases on the mojo project should have all the features a tech-oriented hacker would want.

With my e61 and and n800 i have all the features i need ocvered by two devices. But this gadget looks very promising.

More to come so check out http://www.openmoko.com/

 

 

 

Wammu is a gui interface for gammu – the most common phone manager to Linux users.

The SyncML library supports a large variety of mobile phones. Here is a list of phones supported by gammu, although not all features may be available depending on the phone you are using.

Here are the features listed on the developer page.

• complete support (can read/edit/delete/copy) for contacts, todo, calendar
• can read/create/save/send/backup smses
• sending files to phone (OBEX and Sony Ericsson phones only)
• sms composer for multi part smses (currently only text and predefined bitmap/sound can be edited)
• display message including pictures and ringtones playback
• support for backup and import in various formats (vCard, vCalendar, vTodo, iCalendar, gammu own backup,…)
• export messages to mail (IMAP4, maildir and mailbox storages are supported)
• searching for phone
• translated into several languages
• rated as best on many software servers

Here is a selection of thumbs from the gui:

So get your phone cable ready or fire up bluetooth and goto http://wammu.eu/

Zonbu.com is offering an environment-friendly (running at 15W) slim computer powered by open source software (Linux, Mozilla Firefox, OpenOffice).

Zonbu is a compact, ultra low power mini with all the bells and whistles:

• Intel-compatible ultra-low power CPU
• 512 MB RAM + 4GB flash-based local storage
• Graphics up to 1400 x 1050 (16 million colors). Hardware graphics and MPEG2 acceleration
• PC-compatible ports for keyboard and mouse
• 6 USB ports to plug-and-play all standard USB accessories
• Broadband ready: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet built-in

Currently, the zonbu can be purchased in some kind of financial planning. Im sure some retail version around 250€ would be a hit on the market.

This device would certainly look good in the living room although there will probably be some limitation regarding multimedia (since there is no interlal DVD drive) . Design also customizable so it will fit virtually anywhere in the house.

The homepage seems to be under construction at the moment. Some pages are not up yet, but have a look yourself at www.zonbu.com