Topic: Open Source
Building a system that is capable of handling one billion transactions a
day is easier than it sounds. That is Adam Bosworth's view and he
should know because he works for a company that has managed to achieve this
level of scale. Adam covers a lot of ground in this presentation that focuses on the success of the web, the scalability of simplicity and the emergence of the information server. [MySQL Users Conference audio from IT Conversations]
Open source is an indispensable element of the software industry but how did it get that way? Was it due to the success of pioneers such as Stallman and Torvalds? Was it the innovative licensing models, the collaborative community or was it just market economics at work? Michael Tiemann, founder of RedHat, President of the Open Source Initiative, Coder and long term open source advocate explores the many dimensions of the open source movement and poses some interesting questions to its community. [MySQL Users Conference audio from IT Conversations]
In the openening session from Supernova 2005, host Kevin Werbach interviews Jonathan Schwartz, president of Sun Microsystems. They cover a lot of ground, but the dominant theme is the ways in which technology and control of technolgy are decentralizing: moving into the hands of users. As Kevin suggests, consider a world in which one billion people will have camera-enabled mobile devices.
Innovation certainly isn't dead, says Jonathan. As computing continues to get cheaper (a trend that began when employees demanded PCs from formerly centralized IT departments), decision making also migrates to lower levels within organizations. It's massive decentralization. It's even having an effect on media and entertainment, as users demand that they be able to listen and watch what they want and when they want.
It wouldn't be an interview with Jonathan if the subject of blogging by executives of public companies didn't come up. He describes what he's learned about public and internal blogging -- Are they really separate? -- and the importance of openness and transparency, even in public, or perhaps particulary in public. [Supernova 2005 audio from IT Conversations]
MySQL AB founders Monty Widenius and David Axmark open the 2005 MySQL Users Conference in traditionally entertaining style with a presentation on the "State of the Dolphin". The Dolphin, of course, is the MySQL logo and Monty and David look back at some of the major milestones in MySQL history, the current state of the MySQL world, and the future wonders in store for MySQL users. [MySQL 2005 Conference audio from IT Conversations]
Companies are still spending up to 70% of their IT budgets on infrastructure and application maintenance, which is severely impacting their ability to support new business opportunities. HP is addressing this imbalance by investing in enterprise software innovations. Innovations such as open source software, web services and utility computing are changing the competitive landscape, reducing operational costs and providing a new dimension of opportunities that have previously been inaccessible. Shane Robison, Chief Strategist for HP, shares his company's views on the enterprise software landscape and what they are doing to support the adaptive and real-time enterprise. [Software 2005 audio from IT Conversations]
Guido van Rossum reflects on the early days of the Python community, describes its development into maturity, and explains why he is still having a good time after 13 years of herding cats. In an entertaining and informative talk, he also describes the origin of many of Python's most characteristic features and compares Python to some of the other languages in widespread use today. Part 1 of 2. [SDForum Distinguished Speaker Series audio from IT Conversations]
Guido van Rossum reflects on the early days of the Python community, describes its development into maturity, and explains why he is still having a good time after 13 years of herding cats. In an entertaining and informative talk, he also describes the origin of many of Python's most characteristic features and compares Python to some of the other languages in widespread use today. Part 2 of 2. [SDForum Distinguished Speaker Series audio from IT Conversations]
"Fight!" exhorts Professor Lawrence Lessig, as he rallies the open source community in what he calls the war against monopolistic businesses. How is this war affecting the culture of innovation? How do you need to defend your right to innovate? Hear Professor Lessig lay bare with his powerful arguments the stories behind the defining milestones of this war starting with the historic 1976 Sony Betamax judgment, in his keynote talk at the OSBC 2005.
Open source has crossed the chasm and is heading straight for the tornado.
This insightful keynote address by Geoffrey Moore proposes a marriage between the capitalist community, which is inherently competitive, and the open source community that supports voluntary collaboration and cooperation. Listen and discover the strategies to make this relationship work.
Unlike architects (who figure out what to build) and engineers (who figure out how), great hackers and painters do both. Who makes a good hacker and how can you identify a good hacker/programmer in a job interview? Why is empathy an important skill for programmers? As a hacker who also studied painting in Europe, Paul may be uniquely qualified to write a book entitled Hackers and Painters. If you leave your day programming job only to get home and write more code, this is a great book for you.