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Is Google's open-source advocacy a patent-busting scheme?

Open source means different things to different people. It can be a software development methodology, a distribution technique, or a marketing gimmick. Could it also be a way to minimize patent infringement damages?

Brian Prentice, a research vice president with Gartner's Emerging Trends and Technologies Group, speculates that it just might be. Google has been actively developing open-source alternatives to leading proprietary products, like Google Wave to compete with Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint. As Prentice indicates, Google has also been publicly advocating passage of the Patent Reform Act of 2009, which might have a lot to do with its … Read more

Vendors increasingly control leading open-source projects

Given the momentum behind open source, and how it has grown through the economic downturn, it's not surprising that more and more vendors are getting involved to commercialize open-source projects. What is perhaps surprising, however, is how early in the open-source project lifecycle that commercialization is emerging, as Gartner indicates in a December 2008 report ("Predicts 2009: The Evolving Open-Source Software Model").

Gartner suggests that by 2012, "50% of direct commercial revenue attributed to open-source products or services will come from projects under a single vendor's patronage." What this means, however, is open to … Read more

Analysts wake up to open source

For years, the analyst community has largely ignored open source or, worse, has actively advised against it. While there are exceptions--Forrester, The 451 Group, Redmonk--the general mood in the analyst community seems to be one of steadfast denial of open-source's impact on computing.

Ignoring open source is a bit like denying gravity, however, and even open-source agnostics like IDC and Gartner are now stating the obvious:

Open source is having a massive impact on enterprise computing, and it's becoming big business.

IDC, for example, significantly revised upward its estimate of the market size for open-source solutions, now projecting … Read more

Intel eyes Google, but Microsoft is mainstay

Intel is endorsing Google's future Chrome operating system, but the chipmaker is being cautious as it already has a successful strategy supplying chips for Windows-based mobile devices.

Last week, makers of processors based on the ARM design, such as Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, were quick to cheer the news of Google's Chrome, which is slated to first appear on Netbooks in 2010.

"We're thrilled about the news that Google just issued," Ramesh Iyer, TI's head of worldwide business development for mobile computing, said last week. "You can see how simple the user interface … Read more

IT budgets: Shifting by the week?

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

The technology earnings season kicks off in earnest on Tuesday when Intel reports its second-quarter results, but the outlook for the sector may sound like a broken record: visibility is low, and IT budgets fluctuate with everything from CEO mood swings to the stock market.

A handful of companies--Dell, Infosys, Red Hat, Oracle, and Lawson--have already riffed on technology budgets amid a volatile economic picture. The common thread: IT budgets are just as jumpy as your friendly neighborhood stock, but there are signs of stabilization.

Goldman Sachs expects an 8 … Read more

Open source rising as the economy continues to fall

The market is clearly racing toward a bottom when we start looking to Monty Python for business advice and the most lucid (if profane) analysis of Google's announced open-source operating system, Chrome OS, comes from Fake Steve Jobs.

However fast we may be "racing," however, we're not there yet.

At least, not according to a survey of 200 IT executives by Computer Economics, which finds:

About 49 percent of the IT executives surveyed plan to make further budget cuts in 2009. Almost 50 percent will spend less than what is allocated in their IT operational budget. … Read more

IT spending to drop 6 percent in '09, Gartner says

Hit by the economic downturn and fluctuating exchange rates, worldwide IT spending is expected to drop 6 percent this year, according to a new Gartner report.

Spending will likely settle in at $3.2 trillion for 2009, compared with $3.4 trillion in 2008. Last year, IT spending had actually surged by 6.2 percent over 2007.

Due to the ongoing recession, the projected 6 percent spending decline is greater than Gartner's original forecast of a 3.8 percent drop, which the firm made in March.

"While the global economic downturn shows signs of easing, this year IT … Read more

Windows 7 may have limited XP downgrade rights

Microsoft will allow only limited rights for those who buy a Windows 7 PC to go back to Windows XP, according to an analyst who said he has been briefed on Microsoft's plans.

According to Gartner analyst Michael Silver, Microsoft plans to only allow the downgrade option to those who buy PCs during the first six months that Windows 7 is on the market (see update below). After that, Microsoft's proposed licensing terms would allow buyers of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate only to go back to the comparable Windows Vista edition.

That could put users, … Read more

Online banking is booming

Once a niche market, online banking has grown into a widely-used tool for the average consumer.

Among 3,988 adults surveyed in the U.S. by Gartner Group, 47 percent said they now bank online. In the U.K, 30 percent echoed the same response.

Results varied according to income. Gartner found that over half of all consumers earning more than $30,000 in the U.S. and 15,000 pounds in the U.K. bank on the Internet. Among lower-income households, 25 percent in America and 17 percent in the U.K. use online banking.

"Over the past … Read more