Open source: Providing a half-dozen hypotheses, Matt Asay dissects a report analyzing Apache and Mozilla, and Asay determines that, much like with commercial software, open source project contributors need to spend the time and effort to create something that is download-worthy. But the payoff for open source can be a user base that feels invested in the software, rather than just paying customers. Security: Microsoft asks for and receives feedback on IE 7 beta 2 from hackers. What did they say? Well, some like what they see, but won’t be switching away from other browsers, namely Firefox, anytime soon. Best of the blogs: A quiz to gauge your geek status, and Jon Udell weighs in on AJAX futures. From the path of Hurricane Rita, Mario Apicella highlights one story from the storm front that should not go unnoticed amidst the major media outlets dropping coverage as if all was well under the shadow Rita cast. The news beat: Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer to meet with the European Commission’s antitrust chief; Media companies are said to be rapidly converging with telecom providers; and India’s leading financial services company Karvy branches into business process outsourcing and research services. Storage: In his Storage Insider column, Apicella gathers and presents all the background information you’ll need to judge how Hewlett-Packard’s acquisition of AppIQ will impact your purchasing decisions. Technology Industry