Open Source: The Myths of Open Source
At first glance, the company Employease seems unremarkable. But look a little closer. Employease, which provides employee benefits administration services to more than 1,000 organizations across America, has an IT architecture chiefly built around open-source software, which makes it a rare bird?not that it was planned that way when the company was founded in 1996.
"It’s been quite a surprise to me. The open-source model just seems intuitively wrong," says John Alberg, the company’s cofounder, CIO, CTO and vice president of engineering. But the facts speak for themselves.
The company’s 25 production application servers run on Red Hat Linux, having been switched from Windows NT in July 2000. Webpages once delivered by Netscape are now served by Apache, supplemented by Tomcat, an open-source Java servlet engine. Send an e-mail to Employease and it’s processed by Sendmail, an open-source mail server, while the company’s software developers use XEmacs, an open-source development tool.
But that’s not all. Although the company’s main applications use Informix for database management, Alberg happily confesses that he can see a time when the proprietary software will be displaced by MySQL, an open-source relational database system already used by the company for less critical applications. Snort, an open-source intrusion detection tool, is also under active consideration, says Alberg.
Companies such as Employease herald a sea change in corporate attitudes toward open-source software. Once seen as flaky, cheap and the work of amateur
developers, open source has emerged blinking into the daylight. With unrestricted access to the source code to run or modify at will, and support coming from an ad hoc collection of software developers and fellow users, the open-source model is very different from proprietary software. But it is nevertheless proving attractive enough for a host of CIOs to make the switch. So who’s using open source? Why are they using it? And are the benefits worth the risks? The answers are surprising?and dispel some of the myths surrounding open source.
The attraction is the price tag
One of open source’s most touted benefits is its price. Download the software, install it?and don’t pay a penny. That’s the theory. But to a surprising number of open-source user companies, the price tag?or lack of one?is irrelevant. "It’s not about being cheap," insists Employease’s Alberg. "It’s about doing our jobs effectively?and we’re willing to pay quite a bit for that. We want stable software that does what it says it will do."
What Alberg finds fascinating about moving to open source is the performance improvement that resulted. The move to Linux, for example, dramatically cut the rate of server failure experienced by the company. Typically, under NT, one of the company’s servers would fail each working day. Now, he says, "we get at most two failures a month?and often don’t get any in a month."
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Japan Becomes First Asian Nation To Embrace Open Software Standards
Interoperability Framework Cites ODF as Example of Open Standard
Washington, DC, July 9, 2007 – The OpenDocument Format Alliance (ODF Alliance), the leading organization advocating for openness and accessibility to government documents and information, today congratulated Japan for adopting a policy under which government ministries and agencies will solicit bids from software vendors whose products support internationally recognized open standards.
Previously, government agencies could ask bidders to submit bids based on whether their products offered functions comparable to particular software suites. With the new interoperability framework, which takes effect immediately, the government will give preference to procuring products that adhere to open standards, and which interoperate easily with other software.
The new guidelines, available from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at www.meti.go.jp/press/20070629014/20070629014.html, were designed to be implemented by government ministries and agencies. The interoperability framework also suggests that the guidelines would also be useful for private industry.
“With its new interoperability framework, Japan is setting an important worldwide example,” said Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance Managing Director. “By giving preference to open software formats such as ODF, it is saying that information should be competitively priced, innovative, and easily available to the widest range of people, now and in the future. We hail Japan for its diligence and vision."
Said Masayuki Hayase, General Manager, President's Office, Justsystems Corporation: "The formal launch of the interoperability framework by the Japanese government is an epoch-making initiative for Japan. Securing open standards based interoperability is critical to accelerate innovation. The interoperability framework will propel healthy competition and open up more opportunities for small and medium size companies in Japan."
The OpenDocument Format Alliance is an organization of governments, academic institutions, non-government organizations and industry dedicated to educating policymakers, IT administrators and the public on the benefits and opportunities of ODF.
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Sun, Solaris and Bundled Virtualization
When we double the speed of our computers, our customers don't buy half as many, they tend to buy twice as many. Hold that thought.
I was with a variety of external audiences yesterday - our business results stirred up some questions, partially based on comments we made about virtualization's impact on the quarter. Which I thought I'd clarify in a quick note, before a broader summary next week.
I'd like to go on record saying virtualization is good for the technology industry - which seems to be counterintuitive. The general fear is that technologies like Solaris 10 or VMware that help people squeeze more work from the systems they already own is somehow bad for Sun. In my view, quite the opposite is true.
As I said, when we double the speed of our computers, people don't buy half as many - they tend to buy twice as many. To companies that see information technology as a weapon (that's not everyone, btw), increasing the power of the arsenal without increasing its price incents more purchases, not less. The same applies to efficiency - a computer in use only half the day is less valuable than one used throughout the day. The objective of virtualization is to increase the level of utilization in pursuit of more value, efficiency and affordability.
And that's exactly the theory behind the newly bundled virtualization features in Solaris 10 - from Xen to ZFS, Crossbow to Java (fancy names for the same idea - reducing complexity to increase productivity). Solaris 10's virtualization enables customers to consolidate the sprawling Linux, Solaris and Windows boxes laying around their datacenters, without having to pay exorbitant software licenses for add-on products. We built virtualization in to Solaris 10 not to encourage fewer computer or storage purchases, but instead, more - systems that are twice as utilized are twice as affordable. (When you double the mileage of a car, more people can afford it.)
What impact did those features have on Sun during Q4? When you use Solaris to consolidate lots of small, poorly utilized computers, into a smaller number of bigger computers, you may depress unit volumes. But you bulk up the configurations of the systems you sell (more memory, more cores and threads, more storage, etc.). That's exactly what we saw in Q4 - fewer, but more richly configured systems, and not just at Sun. But at HP, Dell and IBM, too.
Why? Because Solaris 10 is now running like a champ on their hardware, as well. It's being used to consolidate Solaris, Linux - and with this release of OpenSolaris, Microsoft's Windows, as well. (You can get more info here.
As an integrated feature in the operating system.
Because this is all about efficiency - and the most efficient virtualization solution is the one you didn't have to pay extra to use.
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CTO Makeover in Second Life
Sun Microsystems Expands Sun Startup Essentials Program to Emerging Markets in Asia
Program Offers Eligible Startups Deep Discounts on Sun Products and Services
SANTA CLARA, Calif. August 8, 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced that it is expanding its successful Sun Startups Essentials program into the People's Republic of China(PRC) and India to help early stage companies get up and running quickly while conserving cash in these emerging markets. The program offers startups discounts on a range of Sun's industry-leading technologies and services and the ability to subscribe to Web hosting services from Sun partners at deeply discounted rates.
In today's market, early stage companies are challenged to bring highly available and scalable applications to market quickly and cost-effectively. These startup companies are constantly looking for ways to become more efficient with limited resources while planning for long-term success. Sun provides startups with an opportunity to reach their full potential through the Sun Startup Essentials program. Launched in the United States in November 2006, approximately 700 US companies have applied for Sun Startup Essentials, while many more outside the US have expressed interest. In response to large demand from startups based outside the United States, Sun is extending the program to the PRC and India, two regions seeing a significant increase in both developers and start up companies. This extension is the first step in Sun's larger BRICK (Brazil, Russia, India, China and Korea) strategy to expand programs to the world's most vibrant, rapidly emerging markets.
Sun is hosting an event in Beijing, China with keynote presentations delivered by Mr. Qiu Shan Qin, deputy director, Ministry of Information, China Software and Integrated Circuit Platform (SCIP); Juan Carlos Soto, vice president of Market Development at Sun, and Fred Sit, corporate director at Sun PRC. The event will provide an overview of the Sun Startup Essentials program and discussions will focus on how the startup community can access key technology and services to help them stay ahead of competition and get to market quickly. Sun and CSIP will discuss how they will work together to help strengthen and grow the startup community in China.
"Sun is an avid supporter of building communities and through the Sun Startup Essentials program we're able to share our experience as well as offer substantial discounts to these early stage companies," said Juan Carlos Soto, VP of Market Development at Sun Microsystems. "By making the program available in these emerging markets in Asia, we're tapping into an innovative community that adopts and adapts new technology rapidly and enabling startups to get to market quickly and economically."
Sun's Startup Essentials program enabled SearchForce Inc., a market leader in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), to upgrade from Dell and Linux to an enterprise class architecture based on the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), Sun Fire T1000s and Sun Fire T2000s, and Sun StorageTek 6140 SAN arrays.
"There was really no comparison," said David Simon, Chairman of SearchForce. "Sun was unmatched by any other vendor, including HP, IBM and Dell, for price, performance and scalability. SearchForce manages more than 25 million keywords and over $100 million in SEM spend through direct and indirect customers and is growing rapidly; our new architecture based on the Solaris 10 OS gives us the ability to scale on demand and exceed our customer requirements."
SearchForce, Inc. now provides an end-to-end Sun-based solution, including a Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application running on the Solaris 10 OS and hosted on Sun Fire T1000, Sun Fire T2000, and Sun Fire X4100 M2 servers.
Sun Startup Essentials Program
Like the U.S. program, the Sun Startup Essentials program in the PRC and India helps eligible startup companies by allowing them to purchase a range of discounted Sun products and services, including the award-winning Sun Fire x64 servers and Sun Fire servers with CoolThreads technology. Program members can also work with Sun partners Joyent and NaviSite to rent discounted Web hosting infrastructure based on Sun technologies. In addition to offering products and services to eligible PRC- and India-based startup companies, Sun is also offering free technical advice via email and access to free software, such as Apache, MySQL and Perl (AMP), optimized to run on the Solaris 10 OS.
To join the program and have direct online access to these offerings, please visit http://www.sun.com/startupessentials
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.
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CNET
The 2008 BMW 535i was love at first drive. And while we do have to admit to a BMW bias, we always thought of the 5-series as a family car. But no more. Once behind the wheel of the new 535i, we felt its silky, smooth power and the strong kick from the twin-turbocharged, 3-liter, straight 6-cylinder engine. Although designed with a little understeer, the 535i handled hard corners well, with the rear end giving a satisfying kick out.
And unlike many other cars, the 535i didn't let us down in the electronics department--its beauty extends beyond the road. BMW is incorporating a new live traffic reporting system into its navigation, which, though not perfect, is the best we've ever seen in a car. Add to that excellent stereo sound and one of the best Bluetooth hands-free cell phone systems available, and the 535i starts to sound like a tech dream come true.
Although our love didn't fade during our time with the car, some of the 535i's idiosyncrasies became less than endearing. For example, we've learned how to use iDrive, and can make it do whatever we want, but it's not our favorite car interface. The navigation system's quirks made it less usable than it could be, and try as we did, we couldn't get our average fuel economy above 20mpg.
Test the tech: Rush hour
Generally, we stay as far away from traffic as we can. We don't commute to work by car, and we mostly do our test driving on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. But with the 535i's live traffic feature, we plunged right into the evening rush-hour traffic. There are currently only two live traffic systems available in cars: one delivered by XM satellite radio, and the other through Clear Channel's FM radio network, using RDS. We tested the former in the Acura TL.
The navigation system shows that we've got slow traffic on Highway 92.
The navigation system shows that we've got slow traffic on Highway 92.
The 535i uses live traffic delivered by Clear Channel, a standard feature with the navigation system. Clear Channel gathers traffic data from local traffic authorities, incidents reported by first responders, and a number of other sources. Traffic flow data is provided by a company called Inrix, which uses historic patterns, real-time data gathered from fleet vehicles, and local events, such as baseball games. The upshot is that this live traffic feature has traffic data for roads that aren't monitored by traffic authorities.
We set out from CNET headquarters at 4:30 p.m., driving south on Highway 280. We turned west on Highway 92, even though the navigation system showed slow traffic on the road. Sure enough, we slogged up the road behind a line of cars going about 25mph. Highway 92 is not monitored by CalTrans, the regional traffic authority, but it's frequently slow, so the navigation system was probably relying on historic data.
At Skyline, we turned south and got to speed along mountain roads for bit, until we hit Highway 84 and turned east. The navigation system showed no problems, so we drove down to El Camino Real. At this point, we set a destination in San Francisco. The navigation system calculated the route, then immediately told us there were traffic problems ahead, and dynamically changed our route from Highway 101 north to Highway 280 north.
The traffic is definitely backed up on 280, but the navigation system shows it being clear.
The traffic is definitely backed up on 280, but the navigation system shows it's clear.
On the approach to San Francisco on Highway 280, we hit traffic that wasn't reported by the navigation system. After a quarter mile we passed its cause--a minor accident--and saw the navigation system start to fill in slow traffic icons behind us. This particular traffic problem was too recent for our traffic service to register and report it. Once in San Francisco, we noticed one other flaw in the system. The map showed slow traffic on Van Ness Avenue running north through the city, but the route guidance still tried to put us on this road. With our local knowledge, we took Franklin Street, which runs north and parallel to Van Ness, and usually has less traffic.
In the cabin
Although the interior of the 535i is pleasant, it doesn't feel luxurious. Rather, it leans toward functionality. The steering wheel is nice and thick, making it easy to grip when pushing the car around turns. Wood accents in the dashboard clash with the futuristic-looking electronic shifter for the 6-speed automatic. And the incredible array of power adjustments on the seats seems more about getting into the right driving position than about comfort. We were impressed that we could even raise and tilt the headrests with a switch.
We were also impressed with the wide-screen LCD in the dashboard, which shows a main screen for whatever function you are using, and an auxiliary screen, which can be set to always show a map or trip computer. Of course, the whole system is operated through iDrive, which may cause some people to despair. But we've gotten pretty comfortable with the system, and were able to use it handily, making no mistakes and generally finding what we were looking for. We had some issues with the system, but these centered around how individual functions were programmed.
The navigation system offers detailed information about each traffic incident or slowdown.
The navigation system offers detailed information about each traffic incident or slowdown.
The two things that bothered us most were the map display and the audio settings. When you select navigation, you have to push down then turn the iDrive knob through three selections, and then push it down again to see the map. We think the map should come up as a default display under navigation. Likewise, you can't reach the audio settings from the entertainment menu. To change audio settings while selecting music, you have to push the menu button, then push the iDrive knob down, then down again to get to the audio settings. There should be a shortcut from the audio selection screens.
We tried the voice command system as an alternative to iDrive, but were initially frustrated when the system wouldn't recognize any of our commands. We eventually got it to work, however. It worked for changing CD tracks, but we could never enter a complete destination into the navigation system. Instead, it worked better if we gave it top-level commands to get to the function we wanted to use, and then used the iDrive knob to fine tune.
We talked extensively about the live traffic system above. We liked some things about this navigation system, but not everything. Its map resolution is great, and we like how it shows many street names. But we didn't think much of its route guidance graphics. Destination entry was also harder to use than on other systems; it only lets you enter destinations through an address, from the map, or with a point-of-interest location. Other systems we've seen have more options, such as finding a freeway entrance. Its point-of-interest database, while fairly complete, wasn't easy to use as it had too few top-level categories.
As for the stereo, we were very impressed with its audio quality--which isn't surprising as we had the optional Logic7 system, which uses 11 speakers and two subwoofers. This is sound that you can feel. The bass is strong and the overall quality is rich, with decent clarity. Among the audio settings is a 7-band graphic equalizer, along with basic treble, mid, and bass levels. There are also two digital sound processor settings. Concert Hall puts the music in front of you, while Theater enhances the surround effect.
BMW offers all the audio sources you could want, from an auxiliary audio input (strangely mounted behind the console), to satellite radio, to a 6-disc, in-dash changer which reads MP3 CDs. There is also an optional iPod connector and an HD radio tuner, which we had on our test car. We found that the HD radio enhances the audio quality a little bit, but it doesn't increase range or get rid of static. With this high-tech system, we were surprised that it didn't display ID3 tagging information from our MP3 CDs, but only showed folder and file names.
Pair your phone with the car, and it shows your phone book contents.
Pair your phone with the car, and it shows your phone book contents.
The Bluetooth hands-free cell phone system is top notch--and it's standard. We particularly like this system, because it displays your cell phone's phone book plus recent calls. Its call quality is also very good.
For some extra tech features, the 535i has park distance control, which displays front and aft obstructions in a graphic on the LCD. There is also an optional lane departure warning, which we haven't tested since it wasn't included with our review car.
Under the hood
The 535i's cabin electronics impressed us, but the tech under the hood got us excited. The 535i uses the twin-turbocharged, 3-liter, straight 6-cylinder introduced in the 3-series last year. This power plant is every bit as capable in the 5-series, putting out 300 horsepower at 5,800rpm and 300 feet per pound of torque at 1,400rpm. BMW's specs show that 535i, with an automatic transmission, can go from 0 to 60mph in 5.7 seconds. It felt a lot faster than that, but we didn't get a chance to do our own measurements. We found the car clocking close to 90mph on the freeway before we realized it. The 535i moves effortlessly, and when called on for a burst of speed, it doesn't let down. With this power train, we can't imagine why anyone would buy the 550i.
BMW competes with and surpasses all the 3.5-liter V-6s around by adding twin turbochargers to its 3-liter, straight 6-cylinder engine.
BMW competes with and surpasses all the 3.5-liter V-6s around by adding twin turbochargers to its 3-liter, straight 6-cylinder engine.
Using the 6-speed automatic transmission shifter requires a progressive mindset. You can't be stuck in the past to accept this weird, science fiction-styled hunk of metal as a shifter. And you really have to be able to give up your old ways to use it. The shifter has a button on top, which puts the car in park. Push the shifter up for reverse, or down for drive, and you're on your way. Slip it to the side for Sport mode, and you can also push it up and down to go through the gears sequentially (we appreciate that you do push forward to downshift). The shifter doesn't feel mechanical--BMW doesn't try to disguise that each movement activates an electronic gear shift.
Although we had a lot of fun pushing this car around hard corners on mountain roads, the steering has a somewhat suburban feel. It's not particularly tight, and there is noticeable understeer. But it kept its grip around the corners, at least until we pushed it hard enough to get the tail to kick out. At that point, traction control kicks in, and the whole driving experience becomes very satisfying, as the car lets you have fun without getting too dangerous.
The shifter for the automatic looks like it came straight out of a concept car.
The shifter for the automatic looks like it came straight out of a concept car.
We would have liked to get better fuel economy with this car. The EPA rates it at 17mpg in the city, and 26mpg on the highway. We had it stuck at 19.7mpg in our mixed city and freeway driving, even when we tried some easy freeway cruises to pump up the average. Emissions ratings aren't yet available for this car.
As for design, the 535i is a classically European-looking luxury sports sedan. BMW Designer Chris Bangle's influence is apparent in the car's liquid-smooth surfaces. The front of the car is particularly intriguing, with flattened fenders to either side of a hood bulge that contours up from the grille. The rear of the car is ugly, with a diagonal line that runs down the sides of the trunk lid then along the bottom of the tail lights. That line makes it look like the back was sliced off, then hastily reattached with superglue.
In sum
We found few strikes against the 535i, but price is one--the 2008 BMW 535i has a base price of $49,400. Our test car also came with the Cold Weather package ($750), the Premium package ($2,100), the Sport package ($2,800), a smart key ($1,000), Park Distance control ($700), navigation ($1,900), HD radio ($500), and the premium stereo ($1,200). With its $775 destination charge, the total came to a hefty $61,125.
It seems like a lot of money to pay, but this car drives like a dream. You can drive reasonably or you can drive hard, and the car responds well. Beyond some of the issues we found with the navigation system and the iDrive interface, the electronics in the 535i are excellent. For almost exactly the same money, however, you can get an Audi A6 powered by a 4.2-liter V-8. Although the A6 gets 50 more horsepower and has all-wheel drive, the 535i feels more agile and smooth.
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