***You can always catch the latest LinuxWorld podcast at linuxpip.org/lwpodcast.rss ***

I sat down with Clint Oram, General Manager of Sugar Online at SugarCRM, and we had a nice chat about open source communities, the CRM market, where SugarCRM fits in, and how one goes about converting downloaders into paying customers. He makes several interesting points, including talking about "passion-ware" - the deciding factor between open source and proprietary software:

LinuxWorld Podcast with Clint Oram - Part 1

Unfortunately, we were sitting outside behind a local cafe, when the garbage truck paid a visit. So, I stopped the recorder and resumed after it left:

LinuxWorld Podcast with Clint Oram - Part 2

To many of us in the world of Linux and open source, it seemed pretty clear that open source development and the democratization of software - not to mention commoditization - was turning software as product development into a 2-way street. The trend was away from nice snazzy development kits that software vendors would release every 6 months and transforming into open development processes. This required giving something of value to prospective developers in the hopes that they would find a vendor's software compelling enough to contribute to its development, whether in the form of QA, documentation, bug reports, or in a small number of cases, writing actual code. This new 2-way street forced vendors to rethink their 3rd party development strategy, because simply viewing developers as consumers wasn't going to cut it. To remain competitive, vendors had to develop communities and ecosystems, partner with individuals outside the company, and generally convert their entire development process into an SOA.

This is not an easy process, and it has taken some time. Some companies got it much sooner than others, Red Hat being the prime example of the company that got it before many and is actually able to turn a profit. Without naming names, others are still lagging and one wonders if they're going to make it. It seems as though this process has turned a corner in the last year, and you can tell simply by the language used by woftware vendors. In the past, many commercial vendors have remarked that their #1 target audience was enterprise IT, both management and systems engineers, because they were the ones buying product, and it was easy to justify investing in marketing campaigns designed to reach that audience. What about developers? Oh, they were ok, vendors shrugged, but they're not going to buy much.

But things have suddenly changed and developers are no longer simply "tolerated". In the case of LinuxWorld, we're hearing from an unprecedented number of exhibitors that they want to work with us to find more developers. Almost overnight, software vendors have come to realize that in order to maintain a competitive advantage, they've got to have 3rd party developers, and they have to support an ecosystem around their platforms. If they don't succeed, developers will go elsewhere, and then the vendors have to spend enough on R&D to counter the armies of software guerillas working with and for the competition - for free. Hence the need to view independent developers as partners. And the companies that will succeed will be the ones that develop the most vibrant ecosystems, attracting open source developers, companies, and anyone else that benefits from access to the software. I went through much of the underpinnings of this process in my "There is no Open Source Community" article, and while it's still too early to say I told you so, it's certainly heading in that direction.

This is the first in a series of podcasts I'm releasing that I've uncreatively called the LinuxWorld Podcast. In this first installment, you'll hear Bill Weinberg, of OSDL Mobile Linux Initiative fame, wax rhapsodic on everything you ever wanted to know about mobile, embedded, and real-time Linux - and then some! He gives a great rundown of the challenges for Linux in these markets, including power consumption, security, and creating common API's to spur 3rd-party development. Enjoy!

Listen to Bill Weinberg

Running time: 25:51

Did you see any keynotes at LinuxWorld Boston, and you'd like to relive the moment? Or did you miss them entirely, and you wish you hadn't? If you want to see Nicholas Negroponte discuss the $100 laptop (again and again) and Bill Hilf give you details about Microsoft's interoperability, then you can either watch the video or simply listen to the audio at the following links:

Nicholas Negroponte video (AVI)
Nicholas Negroponte audio (MP3)
Bill Hilf video (AVI)
Bill Hilf audio (MP3)

Note: *please* mirror these or release as torrents.

This year's Boston expo will showcase some new wrinkles that we've added for our attendees' viewing pleasure.

The LinuxWorld and OpenSolutions World Conference educational sessions, tutorials and hands-on-labs have all been beefed up and offer the latest information on new Linux/Open Source applications, tools, and trends. Workshops will show you how to integrate Linux into legacy environments and give you particulars on how to smooth out the little bumps. The old favorites are there too, like the Golden Penguin Bowl (squaring the Oracle nerds against the MySQL geeks). A jam-packed roster of Linux and Open Source vendors will show discriminating Linux fans, tomorrow's premier Penguin powered technology.

The Keynotes are all about interoperability, enterprise applications, virtualization, innovation, cost savings, and productivity gains in real world companies. Come see our industry-leading roster of keynote speakers. Headliners include:

        * Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), will deliver a presentation titled, "The $100 Laptop." Dr. Negroponte, Chairman of The Media Laboratory at MIT, wants to revolutionize how the world's children are educated. The $100 laptop will be the first large-scale weapon in the fight against the digital divide and uses a free Linux core to make it all possible.

        * Bob Gatewood, CTO, athenahealth, will present, "Mission-critical Open Source in a High Growth Enterprise". Gatewood will give details about the infrastructure and integration of open and proprietary systems. Lessons learned over the past eight years will also be covered. athenahealth has built a $60M company on a mix of Open Source and proprietary solutions.

        * Kevin Kettler, PhD, CTO of Dell Inc. will give a talk titled, " Virtualization and Linux: Anything but Traditional". He will discuss how virtualization is challenging traditional models of computing and explore client virtualization opportunities that allow users to run multiple OS instances to improve productivity, provide secure Web browsing, and enhance digital entertainment.

        * Larry Augustin, Chairman, VA Software will moderate a CEO panel titled, "The Death of the Enterprise Software Business Model: How Startups are Leveraging Open Source to Change the Model". Panelists include CEO's from SugarCRM, MySQL, JBoss and Zend. The panel will discuss how industry leading open source software startups are changing the rules of traditional enterprise software with a more efficient model that saves their customers money and delivers better software.

        * Bill Hilf, Director of Platform Technology Strategy at Microsoft Corporation will present "Interoperability: Dealing with the Diversity and Heterogeneity of Today's IT Marketplace". Addressing one of the biggest pains for customers today, using research and analysis from the Microsoft Linux and Open Source labs, Hilf will outline how commercial and open source vendors are working together to solve interoperability hurdles.

Government Day is a special forum designed to help public sector IT professionals get reliable information directly from their peers who have already made great strides in the open source arena. The event is sponsored by Novell, Microsoft and Trusted Computer Solutions and will focus on the dominant issues facing public sector decision makers in building and maintaining systems and staff in a world of rapidly evolving open source technology. This conference program is open to all credentialed members of the public sector.

NEW - For Linux Newbies - Be sure to stop by and see "The ABCs of Desktop Linux" theater presentations, hosted by Tux Magazine. Sessions include "An Introduction to Desktop Linux: It's Not Just for Geeks Anymore!", "Breaking Free: Exploring OpenOffice.org, the Versatile (and Free) Office Suite for Linux", and "Can I do that with Linux? An Overview of Linux-based Applications".

You might want to hang out with the pioneers that brought hardcore geek news together with Open Source Web server crushing technology? Say hello to CmdrTaco when you stop by the new Slashdot Lounge, sponsored by SoureForge.net.

Intel, the Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA), and Global Grid Forum (GGF) are sponsoring the first-ever Enterprise Grid Solution Showcase. The new showcase will offer LinuxWorld attendees a first-hand look at how Grid, virtualization, resource sharing, automation and service-orientation, can help solve real-world challenges quickly and cost-effectively.

Special areas of interest in the showcase are the Enterprise Utility Computing (EUC) proof of concept, the Power of the Data Fabric section, the Grid Standards and Industry Consortia, and a live presentation theater promoting GRIDToday's new book titled, "The Emergence of Grid & Service-Oriented IT: An Industry Vision for Business Success."

The newly enlarged .org Pavilion sponsored by SourceForge.net in collaboration with IBM, offers a unique opportunity for attendees to meet developers of some of the Open Source community's stellar projects. Projects like Eclipse, the Fedora Project, LTSP.org, OpenOffice.org, OpenSUSE.org, Ubuntu, and X.org, among others will be there. Don't miss your chance to meet the people that create Open Source software.

Are You Certified? Do you think you're ready for your LPI test? Linux Professional Institute is offering free testing to all paid conference attendees (a $100 value), in the LPI Certification Room.

A panel of independent judges and industry experts will recognize the best and most innovative products, services, and solutions in open computing at the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards. The awards are sponsored by LinuxWorld Magazine and take place opening day, at 12:30 pm. Look for it on the show floor.

What happens if you feel compelled to talk about your conference experience or just give a little feedback? Included in each attendee's package is access to the LinuxWorld Wiki collaboration space, sponsored by SocialText. Read all about conference session descriptions, speakers, and other important conference topics. Post those comments and get involved at http://www.socialtext.net/linuxworld

The Software Freedom Law Center will kick off the Birds of a Feather sessions on Tuesday afternoon. Community members from OSSI, Samba, One Laptop per Child, OSDL, Amanda, LSB, Fedora, openSUSE, and many others will be there to discuss the latest trends. Attendees can sign-up to roll your own BoF session, if you feel the need.

Conventioneers will also want to swing by the Novell booth and speak to company representatives about their latest edition of SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. Updates will include the Beagle search tool, the Zenworks Linux Management toolkit, an enhanced version of OpenOffice.org, XGL graphics, and better support of networking and printing protocols. The new version will be available this summer.

Make sure to visit the Red Hat booth and find out about how they are making it easier for customers to run their infrastructures with a virtualized Linux environment. As IT managers seek better utilization of hardware resources and streamlined maintenance, virtualization is gaining widespread acceptance. A beta preview of the integrated virtualization technologies will be available in the upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 release. The production version is due out later in the year.

This year's LinuxWorld Conference is sure to be an exciting event, with useful and entertaining activities for the developers, IT managers, business leaders, and everyday enthusiastic Linux user. Make your plans, learn something new, meet your friends, and have a great time.

Looks like OSTG is looking for people to vote for their favorite SourceForge.net project. Should be fun when they announce the winners at LinuxWorld Boston in April. I'm really happy to be working with OSTG on the .org Pavilion. They will be doing some fun stuff in the Slashdot Lounge. Look for Robin Miller, Rob Malda, and some others at the lounge area in the .org Pavilion.

As we get closer to LinuxWorld Boston, we've started sending out newsletters giving people a heads-up on the show. Following is our newsletter all about the mobile Linux stuff we've added for Boston.

Visit The Mobile Linux Pavilion
Conference attendees definitely won't want to miss the Mobile Linux Pavilion, sponsored by PalmSource, in collaboration with OSDL and Lips. The Pavilion provides attendees a close up look at the latest mobile Linux technologies and the work done by OSDL and LiPS to promote and standardize Linux as the first choice of mobile device providers.

PalmSource - ACCESS Linux Platform
Consumers and enterprise level users are demanding increased functionality and capability from their mobile devices. Naturally, Linux and Open Source Software offer ideal solutions to satisfy those needs, through broad flexibility in development and streamlined licensing requirements.

PalmSource recently announced their new ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP), the latest version of their Palm OS for Linux. It provides an integrated, open and flexible Linux based platform specifically geared to smartphones and mobile devices. As manufacturers ramp up production of high performance, feature rich devices, the need for a consistent and easily customizable environment for these vendors becomes increasingly important.

For a little more in-depth description of the ACCESS Linux Platform, take a look at the official ALP product announcement.

Didier Diaz, of PalmSource, will discuss how the mobile phone market is evolving in a 3:30 PM conference session on Wednesday, 04/05/2006. Didier will talk about how Linux is quickly evolving into the platform of choice on mobile devices and how you can harness the benefits for your situation.

Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and their Mobile Linux Initiative
OSDL wants to boost the adoption Linux on next generation voice/data portable devices. They are working to help fill in the gaps in the Linux platform and the environment surrounding it.

They are focusing on areas such as:

• Fast booting of the devices
• Optimizing the memory footprints
• Power management of the devices
• Security
• Competitiveness in the market
• Integration with other systems
• Time to Market improvements

Mobile Linux Initiative members include phone chipset and headset manufacturers, Linux based mobile software platform suppliers, middleware and application ISVs, and wireless carriers and operators.

The project will provide gap analysis, use cases, and requirement specs to help streamline the development of new mobile device systems. They plan to also establish a registration process to validate a common platform.

Bill Weinberg, of OSDL, will give an lively discussion about the progress Linux has made in mobile telephony. He'll cover market and technical forces that have motivated mobile handset manufacturers to build their wares with Linux, and how those Linux-based devices are received by mobile carriers and operators.

You can browse their OSDL Mobile Linux Initiative page, for more information.

Linux Phone Standards Forum (LiPS) and the telephony industry
LiPS was created to speed-up the adoption of standardized Linux services and APIs in the telephony industry.

Their aim is to bring the major Linux telephony groups together and ensure that viable business models exist for all industry players.

LiPS is working to resolve the challenges of how Linux can provide top-notch performance, security and interoperability in the fixed, mobile, and converged telephony environments.

They also want to develop certification and testing programs, so vendors can adhere to a common set of industry standards, thus providing consumers with high quality products and services.

Make Sure To Hit The Mobile and Embedded Linux Conference Sessions
New to the LinuxWorld Conference is the Mobile and Embedded Linux track. If you're a LinuxWorld Conference attendee, be sure and check out the following speakers we've lined up:

Fabrizio Capobianco, CEO, Funambol
Fabrizio will talk about how companies will provide the functions and services users desire on converged devices.

Mark VandenBrink, Chief Architect for Mobile Device Software, Motorola
Mark will cover the technical considerations and requirements of using Open Source Software in mobile devices.

Jacob Lehrbaum, MontaVista Software
Jacob will show the significance of Linux and how it is making a difference in the mobile infrastructure.

Note that this is just a sample of what you'll find. You'll also find speakers from PalmSource, OSDL, and much more!

Looking for something to do the day after LinuxWorld Boston? Go to FUDCon! (FUDCon! is a name that lends itself to an appended "!". In fact, I don't think I can type FUDCon! without the "!"!) In all seriousness, it looks like a lot of fun with some interesting talks to boot. I think I'll drop by.

Bill Gates inexplicably goes after a charity designed to help poor kids in developing countries get a bead on technology and computing. One could probably argue about self-interest coloring one's views, I suppose. Oh yeah, here's the article.

Here's my contribution to the perennial debate/food fight about open source and free software: Free-dumb, Free software, and free beer!

It seems to me that choosing the term "open source" eight years ago de-emphasizes the very thing driving open source adoption: freedom.

Microsoft's Bill Hilf, for those who don't know, will deliver a keynote address at LinuxWorld Boston on Thursday, April 6, at 9 am. It's interesting to see the following in a Computerworld (New Zealand) article about Mr. Hilf:

"We've been in open source software for years"
"We draw a barrier between cooperating with the [open source] process and competing with the products."

Further down the article, we get this snippet:

Hilf emphasised the "open standards/ interoperability" message, citing web services and a welter of links between Microsoft and open source products in the identity, management and networking spaces, and (with Unix systems) through the architecture of Windows Server 2003 R2.

I've predicted for some time that it would be in Microsoft's interests sooner rather than later to openly support interoperability with open source software, although not necessarily adopt open source as a development process. Microsoft is a company full of intelligent people. Ergo, they're going this direction. It's really not a surprise.

It will be interesting to hear Bill Hilf's keynote and see what, if any, wrinkles he adds to this message.

In an effort to be more in tune with our attendees, we're letting you fill out the birds-of-a-feather sessions. Just give us your info and the topic idea, and we're ready to roll. There will be a sign-up sheet at the show, too, for those that suddenly feel the urge to discuss project FOO with likeminded individuals.

So LinuxWorld is doing Government Day again - yay for us. Despite a couple of spectacular debacles in the past year (Peter Quinn, anyone?), Linux and other open source pieces keep marching into the government IT space. Partly because government IT shops need to shave costs with open source skunkworks, and partly because IT shops everywhere are integrating more open source pieces, it is inevitable that this will continue.

Look for more government initiatives from us in a couple of weeks!

. ...we've been here for years.

Where will you be on Monday, April 3, 2006? We've made some incredible changes to LinuxWorld this year. It's still recognizable as the place where open source and IT come together, but we've added a few wrinkles that we think will serve our attendees better. For one thing, the conference portion is noticeably better. You'll be happy to know that we've gone through sessions with a fine-tooth comb to make sure the presentations are actually helpful to attendees - and that's just the conference bit. Open to all attendees will be all sorts of exciting stuff, including theatre presentations from Tux Magazine called "The ABC's of Desktop Linux". There's also the Product Excellence Awards, presented by LinuxWorld Magazine; the Slashdot lounge, where you can hang with Mr. Taco; the Enterprise Grid Solution Showcase, sponsored by Intel; the .Org Pavilion, sponsored by IBM in collaboration with OSTG; the LPI certification room; and, as always, the fan-fave Golden Penguin Bowl. This year, we pit the nerds of Oracle vs. the geeks of MySQL.

But wait, there's more! (how much would you pay??? $79.95? $59.95?...) We're also giving our attendees a wiki collaboration space, sponsored by SocialText, and we're introducing a new attendee matching service, LinuxWorld Connect. LinuxWorld Connect is where you go when you're searching for that special someone that can A.) hire you B.) buy your product C.) collaborate on a new project, D.) discuss a topic of interest, or E.) shake a mean cocktail. The SocialText-sponsored wiki is coming out Real Soon Now and gives you a chance to give live feedback on the conference and everything else at the show. You'll find all the conference session descriptions, speakers, and everything else worth commenting on. And if you don't, hey it's a wiki, so you can create your own entries.

As usual, we have some great tutorials and labs led by Jay Beale, Gerald Carter, Joshua Jensen, David Allen, Patrick McGovern, and many others. In addition to his tutorials, Joshua is also leading a 3-day set of workshops about RPM management and Linux network services and security.

And don't forget the Birds-of-a-feather (BoF's). We're happy to have representatives of the Software Freedom Law Center to kick off our BoF's on Tuesday, April 4, at 5:30 pm. Other BoF's include sessions with community members from OSSI, Samba, One Laptop per Child, OSDL, Amanda, LSB, Fedora, openSUSE, and many others. In addition, there will be a sign-up sheet at the conference so that you can create your own BoF if you see a need for one.