Google today released Google Gadgets for Linux which provides a platform for running desktop gadgets under Linux. Google gadgets for Linux is compatible with the gadgets written for Google Desktop for Windows as well as the Universal Gadgets on iGoogle. Google Gadgets for Linux will be open-sourced, under the Apache License.
When Microsoft announced about Surface computing, all blogs and technology papers wrote a lot about it, but I didn't see anywhere in the blogsphere or tech papers I read, mention about the open source multi touch display. Engineers at Eyebeam, an art and technology center based in New York, have created a scaled-down open-source version of Surface, called Cubit.
IDABC reports that the European Parliament's IT department is testing the use of GNU/Linux distribution Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Firefox and other Open Source applications. The test proved that the open source configuration meets the Parliament's office requirements, but it doesn't mean they'll immediately replace the currently used system. Most of the European institutions use Microsoft product. This makes them dependent on a single supplier in a dominant position creating problems such as the accessibility of documents produced in proprietary formats and of interoperability. Using open source software will help them get rid of those issues.
Sun Microsystems announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire MySQL, a popular open source database. Sun will pay about $800 million in cash for MySQL's privately held stock and will assume about $200 million worth of options. MySQL CEO Marten Mickos will join Sun's senior executive team after the transaction closes. Following completion of the proposed transaction, MySQL will be integrated into Sun's Software, Sales and Service organizations. The transaction is expected to close in late Q3 or early Q4 of Sun's fiscal 2008.
The Dutch government has set a soft deadline of April 2008 for its agencies to start using open-source softwares. Government organizations will still be able to use proprietary software and formats but will have to justify it under the new policy. The government estimates it would save $8.8 million a year on city housing registers alone after switching to open source. The Dutch policy directs government organizations at the national level to be ready to use the Open Document Format to save documents by April, and at the state and local level by 2009. Kudos to the Dutch government!!!
More than half of all U.S. government executives have rolled out open-source software at their agencies, and 71 percent believe their agency can benefit from open-source software, according to a survey.
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