Open source by any other name

news
Sep 29, 20062 mins

Best of the blogs: Gatner’s code reuse suggestion smells like open source advocacy. When speaking about reusing components, a Gartner analyst posed the question, ‘Why would you ever code an app from scratch again?’ There is more to that answer than just reuse. “Reading between the lines, or reading into his comments my own bias, this sounds like a clarion call to use more open source software,” Matt Asay writes.

Columnists’ corner: With Windows Vista right around the corner — regardless of the final delivery date — it’s time to begin planning that massive migration. So Oliver Rist has 10 rules for OS upgrades. First, delay, delay, delay. And, no, these rules are not directed at Microsoft. Just don’t rush it. Others include ‘harass your applications vendors’ and ‘impress the brass.’ For what it’s worth, they don’t all have that Dylanesque rhyme scheme.

The news beat: Lenovo joins the problematic notebook party and recalls 526,000 ThinkPads with Sony batteries. Google complies with Brazilian courts and hands over data about its Orkut social networking service. And analysts say that HP’s pre-texting scandal won’t degrade the company’s ability to compete in the long run.

Virtualization: Now for some shameless self-promotion. And when I type ‘self’ I do mean InfoWorld and not just me. Anyway, this week was the first InfoWorld Virtualization Executive Forum, held in NYC. David Marshall reports on Day 1 in this post, and follows that up with a look at Day 2.