Open Source News
March 11, 2004
Why Not MySQL?
A document on the Open Architecture Community System web site which explains why they don't use MySQL and don't consider it to be appropriate for critical data or systems. The document is quite old but still makes very valid points. "There are very good reasons for using MySQL. A need for a reliable, ACID-compliant datastore isn't one of them."
WebGUI Content Management System
"WebGUI is a content management platform built to allow average business users to build and maintain complex web sites. It is modular, pluggable, and platform independent. It was designed to allow the people who create the content, to manage it online, rather than content management taking up the time of the busy IT Staff."
CMS Matrix
The CMS Matrix website aims to provide a comparison of various Content Management Systems with feature lists supplied by the manufacturer or creator of the system. It currently lists 29 systems including open source, free systems and proprietary systems costing tens of thousands of dollars. eRoom is NOT currently listed.
Fedora Core 2 Shows 2.6 Kernel's Stuff
eWeek takes Fedora Core 2 (test) for a spin. "We also found that Fedora's implementation of the KDE Project's KDE 3.2 and the GNOME Project's GNOME 2.5.3 desktop environments were much improved compared with the versions of those interfaces that shipped with Fedora Core 1."
knoda 0.6.3-test3 released
Version 0.6.3-test3 of Knoda, a database front end for KDE, is out. "Besides a lot of bugfixes knoda now supports local sql statements in forms and reports."
Animal Shelter Manager 1.32 released
Version 1.32 of Animal Shelter Manager has been announced. "The installers have been rewritten to work better in a *nix environment (and under Kaffe/GIJ). Many new features added, including better embedded diary support, membership expiry, declawed flag and new shortcut bar on find animal screen."
SQL-Ledger Version 2.2.5
Version 2.2.5 of SQL-Ledger, a web-based accounting system, is out. New features include a new AR/AP aging summary report, and an updated Estonian translation.
GenChemLab 1.0 released
Version 1.0 of GenChemLab is out. "GenChemLab is an OpenGL-based application intended to simulate several common general chemistry exercises. It is meant to be used to help students prepare for actual lab experience. It could also be used in cases where laboratory facilites are not accessible, for instance in K-12 schools or home schooling. At present, supported experiments include titration, calorimetry, freezing point depression, vapor pressure, and spectrophotometry."
When to use elements versus attributes
Uche Ogbuji explains when to use XML elements and when to use attributes on IBM's developerWorks. "The oldest question asked by adopters of XML is when to use elements and when to use attributes in XML design. As with most design issues, this question rarely has absolute answers, but developers have also experienced a lack of very clear guidelines to help them make this decision. In this article, Uche Ogbuji offers a set of guiding principles for what to put in elements and what to put in attributes."
Spam's tenth anniversary is today
Netcraft looks at ten years of spam. "Ten years ago today, spam as we know it was born. On 5 March 1994, a message was posted to some Usenet newsgroups by a law firm called Canter and Siegel, advertising their services for the U.S. Green Card lottery. It sounds mild enough today, but at the time that move and its follow-ups provoked increasing outrage across the Net. Many were appalled that "netiquette" - the unspoken rules that hitherto had maintained order in cyberspace - had been breached, sensing perhaps that things would never be the same again."
Open source gets serious
USA Today looks at the growing acceptance of Linux and reviews five desktop-oriented distributions. "In terms of end-user training requirements, Lindows, Lycoris and Xandros present the least costly options for switching to a Linux desktop interface. Libranet and Mandrake may require more training but are still worth considering."