Just occasionally you read something and then have to re-read just to make sure that it said what you read the first time round.
Well, a recent post on the Windows Server Division Weblog this morning has had me reading the same single paragaph so many times I've lost count.
The whole thing is only a paragraph long. You can read the original here, but I'll pull out the line that drew my attention.
This isn't the first time Forbes - a purveyor of capitalism - has pointed out the schism in the open source community as we see more commercialization of open source.
I was fitting a replacement DVD+RW drive to one of the machines today and when I plugged it back in, the PSU on this unit (which I've had odd experiences with before) blew.
It did so in spectacular fashion - not only did it blow, but it also tripped the UPS and the UPS blew the fuse on the plug. The UPS is toast - I'm waiting for a judgement from APC on what to do next.
Fortunately I'm prepared - I have two UPS units, and each one is capable of protecting all the equipment in the server room. By splitting it in two, I can be sure that I'm protected in the event of a failure of one of the units. Obviously I had some kind of subliminal premonition.
While I was at LinuxWorld Expo last week (you can now read my full report on the show) I spent some time on the Centrify stand. Their product allows direct login from a Unix, Linux or OS X host into an Active Directory. As part of those discussions we talked about heterogeneous networks at the role of Linux in a modern IT company. In particular, we both agreed that there are very few situations where Linux is going to be used in an exclusive or ubiquitous installation - it's going to part of a wider range of hardware, operating systems and environments in use at a company.
The OpenSolaris community is very active at the moment, partially because it's a comparatively new project, but mostly because it is a very interesting project. You have the bulk of the Solaris community on board and interested and you have dis-illusioned Linux users who want to use an OS with a longer heritage.
That's lead to a lot differences of opinion on the dicussion groups, some unsurprising OS religious debates but on the whole a lot of good discussion on what is wrong, what is right and still needs to be done.
This is a relatively new area for the open source movement. Most open source products started out that way, here we have a 20 year old commercial product, and a very successful one, and are making it an open source project. That's a big undertaking and its likely that some lessons will be learnt.
I'm a big fan of virtualization, mostly because if configured correctly it provides an easy way to make better use of your system resources and, for a heavy tester like me, it provides an excellent way to run and test multiple operating systems, applications and environments without requiring lots of hardware.
From a business perspective, virtualization can be a licensing nightmare. It can also be prohibitively expensive. Although Microsoft's Virtual PC software will work on servers, the Virtual Server product is a much better solution.
Now Microsoft have changed their licensing model. Providing you are virtualizing Windows servers, from Windows Server 2003 R2 you can run up to four virtual servers for free.
Martin Streicher - someone I've worked with before on open source projects - has started what looks set to be a definitive guide to open source licensing.
It makes hefty reading, so I suggest you print it out and read it in the comfort of an armchair, but the points Martin makes and his approach don't make it difficult to follow. Just be prepared to absorb a lot of information.
I've always loved the idea of putting together many smaller computers to make a 'personal grid' or cluster, partly out of sheer interest but also because I do some grid work and having a small grid of individual machines in a relatively small case would be an easy way to test things out.
I always liked the BriQ, although it was expensive. Now there's a cheaper Xscale CPU based unit from Team ASA in the form of the catchily titled NPWR SCE.
We don't often get conferences in London for some reason. Instead they end up in Amsterdam or Paris. The LinuxWorld Expo this week was a rare event, which is why I decided to attend.
At the end of November MySQL are running the first 1st Annual MySQL Northern Europe Customer Conference. It's only one day (but a full one, with evening dinner reception) with a lot of detail crammed in, including a good look at MySQL 5.
Now I have to decide if I can make it - it conflicts something else, but as such a rare event, it seems churlish not to go.
Novell were once a major competitor to Windows as a network operating system with their Netware system. In fact, for many years, and especially before NT became widespread, Netware was the network operating system used for Windows machines.
Recently (comparatively), Novell purchased Ximian and SUSE, both Linux solutions, one for the desktop and one an operating system.
Now, Novell have decided to use SUSE and Ximian for their own internal network and you can read all about the migration process at Linux Planet.
A recurring theme at LinuxWorld Expo was the idea of the community spirit of open source.
Let's explain what I mean by that. A lot of people mis-undersand the the term 'free software' and take it that it means the software does not need to be paid for. While in most cases that applies, the term free software generally means 'free to use and modify', that's why it's often used with 'open source'. Because we have access to the source we can check it out, modify it, improve it. For a more in depth discussion, read this post.
For some, the open source model appeals very much because of this ability to make changes and improve or customize the software to their own ends. From the developers perspective, opening the source also means that other people can look at the code, improve it and hopefully provide those improvements and enhancements back into the main code base.