Updates from December, 2006 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Roberto Galoppini 12:47 pm on December 30, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

    Commercial Open Source Software 

    I meet a lot of people using the term “commercial software” as the opposite of open source or free software, and that’s why I titled my blog Commercial Open Source Software. I was amazed today when I happened to read Wheeler’s essay Commercial is not the opposite of Free-Libre / Open Source Software.
    David A. Wheeler, who has written a number of articles as the famous “Why OSS/FS? Look at the Numbers!” paper or the list of the most important software innovations, about himself and his approach to open source said:

    I’m not a Linux advocate. I’m an advocate for considering the use of open source software / free software (OSS/FS). As I clearly state in my “Why OSS/FS? Look at the Numbers!” paper, I think it’s a serious problem that many people fail to even consider OSS/FS products.

    I always recommended his paper to have a in depth look into the TCO thing, and from now on I will suggest people getting wrong thinking that FLOSS and commercial software are opposites to read his last work.

    I found interesting his walk through the U.S. regulation to show that FLOSS programs are commercial items for purposes of the U.S. government, and I hope it applies to other countries.

    I liked very much his conclusion, a good advice for CIO busy choosing good consultants:

    A speaker who uses the term “commercial” as an antonym for FLOSS is probably someone who doesn’t understand FLOSS yet. And someone doesn’t understand the fundamentals of how software is governed will be constantly confused about what controls every device on the planet. Be wary of people who have such a basic lack of understanding; they are far less likely to give good software advice or to make good software-related decisions.

    Thanks David for your job!

     
  • Roberto Galoppini 6:03 pm on December 28, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

    Software Patent: “No Lobbyist As Such” 

    Over the last four years I have been actively involved with the so called war over software patent, and I had a chance to know many entepreneurs, politicians and lobbyists involved with.

    No one like Florian Mueller was able to keep a strategic vision all the time, and despite he was criticized by both parties, he was conceded the category award “Campaigner of the Year” by the European Voice, and many other awards.

    Evil lobbyist
    Evil lobbyist by mimax

    Unfortunately I couldn’t manage to help him to get his book translated in Italian, but I can recommend it as the most interesting and entertaining book you can read on the topic. Besides software patentability it’s a book about European legislative processes, about lobbyism and, somehow, about Democracy.

    Below some comments about the book from known voices.

    Florian’s book vividly conveys the feeling of what we experienced. A must-read for all who are concerned about software patents, and for those who want to know how things work in EU politics.
    Benjamin Henrion, FFII Belgium

    The fascinating story of how a group of activists made EU history and saved our industry from a potential flood of lawsuits. When reading this you feel like you’re standing in a parliament and talking directly to the politicians who made the decisions.
    Kaj Arnö, VP Community Relations, MySQL AB

    Technorati Tags: software patent, Florian Mueller, no lobbyist as such

     
  • Roberto Galoppini 8:27 am on December 15, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

    Blog! the book 

    I’m a newbie blogger, and few days ago I bought Blog! How the newest media revolution is changing politics business and culture, by David Kline and Dan Burstein.

    It’s a collection of interviews with influential and well-known bloggers, and I found it simple adn effective. I believe that a complex and various phenomen like the blog might be revealed just through different opinions, and I like very much their approach.

    As I’m more interested in business and corporate blog, I start reading “Business and Economics” chapter. I found resources like “The Corporate Manifesto” , the innovative marketing methodology Double Loop Marketing or the rewarding revenue sharing policies set by Weblogs.

    I agree with the author David Kline, who concisely pointed out:

    Ultimately, blogging is all about empowerment.
    And woe be to any politician or businessman who tries to ignore the roar of today’s blog-enabled citizenry.

    By the way I sorted out that part of the Italian translation was done by my dear friend Antonella Beccaria, journalist, entepreneur and last but not list my patient Webmaster.

     
    • zeno 4:36 pm on December 15, 2006 Permalink

      What a serendipity! I’ve just posted onto my blog about ethics and web 2.0. I think you gonna win the mara of the week award! 🙂

      welcome to the blogosphere
      zeno

    • Dawud Miracle 3:22 pm on March 9, 2007 Permalink

      Roberto, when you began as a new blogger, did you feel welcome? I wonder if there are things that we fellow bloggers can do to help newbie bloggers and nonbloggers find their way into the blogosphere? There’s a number of barriers for people, especially the non-techie types. But I wonder if the biggest barrier isn’t us. Is the blogosphere too cliquey? What do you think? You’re certainly welcome to view the post I’ve written and add your two cents to the conversation.

  • Roberto Galoppini 11:55 am on November 2, 2006 Permalink | Reply  

    Industrial Design: “Shaping things” by Bruce Sterling 

    Bruce Sterling wrote a book about the future of industrial design, and I bought it because I knew and appreciated him as one of the best science fiction author, master of the cyberpunk genre.

    The Italian version has a different cover (and title, by the way) from the American one: there is a picture of a lemmon with impressed a bar code, very effective in my opinion.

    Unfortunately the cover is the only thing that worthes the money. The whole book repeat over and over the idea that in the next future every object (named “spime“) will be location and environment aware, describing a world of spimes talking each other, exchanging information, changing our lives..

    My expectation went unfulfilled, I didn’t find anything new and next time I’ll spend some time fiddling around with the mouse over Howard Rheingold‘s website Smart Mobs (named after his amazing bestseller).

     
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