The Open Source Update #35

Compiled weekly by Raven Zachary for Enterprise Open Source Journal (EOSJ)

THIS WEEK'S TOP NEWS

MICROSOFT OFFERS OFFICE DOCUMENT FORMAT AS STANDARD. Microsoft offers it Office Open XML document format as an open standard. Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, the British Library, Essilor, Intel Corporation, NextPage, Statoil ASA, and Toshiba are co-sponsoring the international standards submission.

OPEN SOURCE MEDIA CHANGES NAME. Open Source Media, a news blogging site unrelated to open source technology, changes its name back to Pajamas Media due in part to complaints from the open source community about the name confusion.

MASSACHUSETTS CIO INVESTIGATED FOR OPEN SOURCE CONFERENCE TRIPS. Peter Quinn, Director of the Massachusetts Informational Technology Division and the states' Chief Information Officer, is being investigated by the Governor's office for potential violation of state travel policy for trips made to open source conferences. Quinn is at the center of the Massachusetts Open Document decision.

PARIS, VIENNA MOVE TOWARDS OPEN SOURCE DESKTOPS. The European cities of Paris, France, and Vienna, Austria, are both moving towards open source desktops for municipal employees.

PATENT THREAT TO LINUX 'RECEDING', SAYS OSDL CHIEF. Stuart Cohen, CEO of the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), says that the threat of software patent infringement claims against Linux has receded. OSDL recently launched the Patent Commons Reference Library, a searchable archive of more than 500 patents pledged to the open source community.

PERSPECTIVES
A collection of open source editorials, opinions, and blog entries from around the world.

Open Source Turns Strategic
Debra D'Agostino

Is Open Source capitalism, socialism or communism?
Marc Fleury

Why open source projects are not publicised
Ingrid Marson

Reduce the Risk, Hire Programmers From Open Source
David Hansson

Linux: The Most Powerful Labor Union in the World?
Rob Enderle

From the Outside Looking In: Analysts, Developers on Microsoft, Open Standards
Steven Vaughan-Nichols and Mary Foley

Can open source still save Novell?
Deni Connor and Jennifer Mears

Massachusetts open source fight becomes partisan
Dana Blankenhorn

Oregon city builds reputation as software revolution hub
Elizabeth Moore

Open Source Content Management Set Up
PDM

ANNOUNCEMENTS
News, press releases, and announcements from open source vendors, organizations, and projects. Submit your news to update@eosj.com.

4PSA
The New 4PSA Integrator is Available

Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)
FSFE files application for leave to intervene in antitrust suit against Microsoft

InsyncQ
InsynQ Announces Always-On CRM

Linspire
ThinkFree's Newest Microsoft-Compatible Office Suite Now Available for Linspire Desktop Linux

Microsoft
Microsoft Offers Office Document Formats to Ecma International for Open Standardization

Novell
Novell Appoints Dr. Jeffrey Jaffe as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer

Open-Xchange
Open-Xchange Inc. Enhances Support for Mobile Devices With Free, Limited Time Upgrade Offer

PostNuke
Pixels for Sale at PostNuke dot com!

Sourcefire
Sourcefire Provides Coverage in Advance of Latest Microsoft Internet Explorer Threat

Sumo Computer
Low Cost/High Performance Open Source Gentoo Linux LAMP Server Now Available

Sun
Dartmouth College Collaborates with Sun to Contribute Security Features to the OpenSolaris Project

UPCOMING EVENTS

Gartner Open Source Summit
Orlando, FL, USA
December 7-9, 2005

ApacheCon US 2005
San Diego, CA, USA
December 10-14, 2005

Open Source in the Enterprise
San Francisco, CA, USA
January 23-25, 2006

ObjectWebCon'06
Paris, France
January 31-february 2, 2006

OSBC West
San Francisco, CA, USA
February 14-15, 2006