What FOSS is really all about

TerraCycle knows how to recycle. We should see more of this.

From the CIO article...

How TerraCycle Built a Corporate Network With Discarded Hardware and Open Source Software

"Since the whole company is focused around doing things with waste, we decided to find old computers that no one else was interested in and put those to use," says Beyer. The two visited the Princeton surplus department, where they found a plethora of computers that Beyer says weren't horribly old but nonetheless were unwanted. Using essentially free monitors, keyboards and mice, Beyer and Szaky built their network. Using open source, they developed their applications: The most recent iteration of the ERP-related software they developed in-house uses Ruby on Rails, says Beyer.

"The decision to use open source was based partly on the fact that it's cheaper because it's free. But we also thought it was the best platform to develop on," he says. The hard drives on the used equipment came wiped, and Beyer says he didn't run into any problems as he got the systems up and running. "We probably have a slightly higher hard drive failure rate, given that most of them are five years old," says Beyer.

Unfortunate Google

Blog of Helios has revisited issues near and dear to my heart... Google and Linux.

.... Linux is still the means by which Google became one of the richest and most successful corporations in American History. Google remains a leader in Internet Technology and Innovation. Linux is still the backbone of the largest server farm in private enterprise. It would seem that Larry Page and Sergey Brin would have the common courtesy to acknowledge this little detail by providing the Linux Desktop with a decent desktop search tool. You would think.

This is very unfortunate.

On so many levels... Most specifically the Open Source level. Google doesn't produce for linux because it would mean releasing its Intellectual Property to the Open Source community. Then where would Google be? Anyone with a little attitude and a few resources could mount a Google alternative. Probably be a couple of unknown guys in a garage somewhere. Right! Like even a major player could impact Google 's hold on the search engine market.

...

No Mo Mob Blogging!

At the risk of repeating myself I will again state; I did not, do not, will not condone terroristic threatening or misogyny.

Now, here are a couple of things I found out when I exercised my personal decision-making right and I unsubscribed from blogs that endorsed or advocated Mob mentality reactions or cyber-lynching.

When I unsubscribed from the Mob Blogs I found ...

1. the remaing blogs that I did read were balanced, fair, thoughtful and dedicated to maintaining a healthy Internet environment.
   
   
2. I DID NOT MISS the yards and yards of tripe that Mob Blogs produce about everything else in the universe.

I know that my one vote in the great election of the universe doesn't count for more than, well, one vote. But I can say that by exercising my one vote I have made my internet experience exponentially better.

Addendum: Confused of Calcutta

I’ve yet to see what CNN aired. But in the meantime. Kathy Sierra and Chris Locke have published some “coordinated statements” which are worth reading. We have to get these things right, rather than wallow in mass hysteria and McCarthyism.