It’s been a little over 10 months since we mentioned open text purveyor Flat World Knowledge. Since then, with a very limited, but growing offering, the company’s user base has exploded going from 0 to 40,000 in a single year. The concept is simple: Texts are free, and printed copies can be purchased as is or in instructor modified  form at very low cost.

Not only a new business model for textbooks, I believe it is yet another illustration of how creative commons can fuel learing and economic opportunity.

IT Conversations recently posted an interview with Flat World’s Eric Frank and Jon Williams. You can hear them discuss open source textbooks on our handy player below:

 

 IT Conversations [58:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yawn? Surely you jest. Oh I know that multihead conferencing has been around. Most of it corporate using dedicated circuits and equipment. Or public services like WebEx. But what makes VuRoom is that is does not require a lot of specific gear. If your PC can run the latest version of Skype it can run VuRoom.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ViVu, Inc. (www.vivu.tv), an emerging leader in creating innovative and easy-to-use solutions for live video participation, today released VuRoom – a ViVu-powered plug-in for Skype, the popular software that enables the world’s conversations. VuRoom is built on the Skype platform to provide customers with instant multi-user video conferencing – an exciting new breakthrough previously unavailable to Skype users. Along with its presentation and desktop sharing functionalities, VuRoom is designed to help remote business users collaborate in real-time, while also saving valuable time and money.

“Having experienced the technology, I believe that ViVu is well positioned to deliver on the video collaboration needs of SMB and enterprise customers. In particular, I see strong potential for ViVu’s new Skype plug-in.”

“Our recent research studies predict a big year for global growth in the web conferencing market,” said Krithi Rao, an analyst in the Information & Communication Technologies Practice at Frost & Sullivan. “Now more than ever, enterprises are looking for cost-effective communication and collaboration solutions to help them succeed.”

Demo here.

Now why the tither Dog? The price. The problem with most of the other services is they run $30-40/month. That can run into some serious coin on a 10 person team every month. This is running $10/seat. A fourth the price. At that price point if using the software for the entire team replaced but one airline ticket a month it paid for itself and then some.

The fact that it is on Skype provides for a very ubiquitous platform. One could add external input sources as needed into the video conversations with little cost or set up charges. The real question is does it last in its current biz plan form. Skype with there latest release now provide P2P video on the three major OS platforms. That is probably 60% of all the Skype usage out there. Couple that with some geek will pull this off as a freebie somewhere as well. Time will tell.

But while it lasts VuRoom lowers the bar on multihead video.

Linky.

A New Zealand high school running entirely on open source software has slashed its server requirements by a factor of almost 50, despite a government deal mandating the use of Microsoft software in all schools.

Albany Senior High School in the northern suburbs of Auckland has been running an entirely open source infrastructure since it opened in 2009. The 230-pupil school was set up to follow open learning principles, offering large “learning commons” areas where multiple classes interact rather than conventional classrooms and setting aside one day each week for pupils to work on self-driven research projects.

Albany SHS’ unorthodox approach is also reflected in its IT infrastructure. Deputy principal Mark Osborne was determined to use open source software throughout the school, even though planning for that process began less than two months before the school opened.

Totally open. Further in the article, it is revealed that a student can bring in other foreign platforms like a Mac and use them on the network as well. A good thing for the school? Sounds like it. Little early to tell. The school only started in 2009. Give it a year or so and lets hope there is a follow up article.

Linky.

The  Open Source movement has revolutionized software. Consider this: If you use the internet, most of its enabling technology is Open Source. Even if you use Windows or a Mac, the massive library of Open Source applications and utilities available free for the download are enabling society to become more productive.  Open Source hardware designs are shifting emphasis from building proprietary fiefdoms to building better products based on an open platform.  Open Source also enables economic growth by creating opportunities for training, support and customization. Open Source education is providing truly equal access to higher learning for the first time in recorded history.

So why not Open Source Science? So much science today is funded by agenda driven political interests and patent lawyer driven industry. These “patrons of research” rarely serve the public interest. With the collaboration of the many available to all for the taking, the many elusive goals of science could become reality.

The Open Source Science Project, which is developing a research-based, openly accessible scientific curriculum, addresses this issue by allowing scientists to document their process of discovery all along the way.

“Our project was designed so that researchers willing to conduct open research would be protected from this form of theft by their ability to maintain an openly available paper trail from the time they submit their project proposal until the time they publish their final report,” Priyan Weerappuli, executive director of The Open Source Science Project, told Linux Insider. “It’s worth noting that while the risk of intellectual theft is real, the ability for researchers to work off of one another is an invaluable tool for furthering any given field of study. We seek to ensure is that researchers are properly credited for any such property they produce.”

Creative Commons-type licensing is another option for scientists, publications, and institutions that want to allow open access to data, methods and discoveries, while at the same time give some measure of protection to those who produce this information. Science Commons, a project of Creative Commons, for instance, provides licensing for scientific content; over a thousand scholarly journals worldwide are making use of Science Commons’ licenses. It is also involved in patent licensing for companies such as Nike (NYSE: NKE), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO).

“What we do at Creative Commons in the sciences is try to intervene and change the fundamentals,” John Wilbanks, vice president of Science Commons, told LinuxInsider. “More access to information and tools means more people can take a shot at science. More freedom to operate means it’s easier to be an entrepreneur. It’s all about democratizing access to the information and tools enough to allow that distributed innovation to occur.” (Linux News)

Everyone — scientists, the general public, and even taxpayers — stands to benefit from a new scientific model, argued Wilbanks, who prefers the term “distributed science” to “open source science” to describe this process.

My apologies to Ed Berridge its not our practice to just lift articles bodily from a publisher. But this is just too sweet not to —

LINUX VENDOR Red Hat hit a milestone yesterday when its share price rose above Microsoft’s.

True, Microsoft has a hell of a lot more shares out there in the marketplace and its own share price has not been that healthy over the past year, but this is being seen by analysts as a great day for the free software outfit.

Since 2001 Red Hat has experienced more than 600 per cent growth, while during the same period Microsoft has experienced negative growth in its share price.

Actually 2001 was a darn good time to invest in Red Hat. In those days its stock was worth a piddling $3 per share. Now Red Hat stock is priced at over $28 per share.

Analysts say that while Red Hat’s share price has been higher than today what is important is that actually it is worth the figure.

Red Hat’s profits come from server support subscriptions and it is a stable maker of earnings.

The only thing that could go wrong for Red Hat is if other Linux suppliers come along and offer lower subscription fees.

However to balance that, Red Hat is making a killing with virtualisation and its Java application server business in Jboss.

According to CIO Today, Red Hat could make out like a bandit on the craze for Cloud computing. µ

Ed, if you or your publisher have heartburn, please just send us a note. We will take this down. But this is just too sweet not to savor. Go Red Hat!

Linky.

Ever wanted to be a movie mogul? See your name up there in the credits. Wield power. Manage the casting couch. Well you can, well except for the last part —

Get your credit!

If you purchase and pay the DVD by september 15th latest, you can get your name mentioned on the official movie credit scroll! To make sure the crediting works fine, we will remind everyone via email a month before the movie goes to premiere.

As you can notice on the campaign “money meter”, we target at a pre-sale of 2000 this time. Very ambitious, but the targets for this project are ambitious too. Order now!

General donations are welcome too, check the Sponsor Prospectus for offerings, or use the Donate button there.

Thanks for the support!

The Durian Team

Yep its an Open Source project. Only this time it is going for Open Funding too. So all it takes is for you to preorder Durian by September 15th and your name will be added to the list of credits as a ‘producer’ I guess. Ego? Hey you bet. But where else can the average schmo like me get a crack at this? My point exactly.

Linky.

It’s all about open source. Wikipedia is an open source true believer and the first with real muscle to get behind open standards in online video. Are Flash and Silverlight in trouble? No way. Never the less an open platform being deployed on a portal as significant as Wikipedia is bound to keep them from becoming too closed.

For those that are of a geeky sort and want to play with the code that is the base for the Palm it is now available. –

To comply with the GPL, Palm has released the source code packages for its Linux-based WebOS used by the new Palm Pre, which has been on sale in the US since the beginning of June. The company has also set up its own open source site.

For its WebOS, Palm uses version 2.6.24 of the Linux kernel with nearly 1,000 patches, most of which relate either to the Pre’s ARM processor architecture or to platform-specific drivers. Some Palm developed new drivers are also included in the source code, such as a driver for the acceleration sensor in the Pre.

The Pre is already in the stores and seems to have developed a decent following. With but a few exceptions (eg no X11) any linux developer would feel right at home with the Pre.

Linky.

Ever wondered which countries use Open Source? Well wonder no more. Head over here for a look at what is happening with Open Source.

Any surprises? Not really. If you looked at the individual Euro countries count as the EU they surprass the US in usage. Which I would have expected. That Russia is so far down on the list is a minor surprise. But their lesser population tends to drive them that way. Its an interesting read.

… and could still be if we got our heads out of the sand. All those large muni installs that never happened still could. But the muni itself has to give up the idea of WiFi as an income source. –

…just wanted to share the joy. This week we successfully completed the first 802.11n long range link in the network. Its not very far (only 4KM) but it is very promising. 80 to almost 100Mbit TCP Traffic with 20MHz channels and ~150Mbit with 40MHz. Currently we are dealing with the redesign of our feeders and trying to find an optimal soft/hardware set. We are all really excited to see what AWMN V3 will bring to us. The first link has been routing traffic successfully at 80Mbit since the 11th of June 2009.

That’s right, 80-100Mbit data rates on N channel commercial hardware and open source software. Happening here in the USA? Nope. Athens, Greece. They just happen to have one of the largest Muni WiFi installations on the planet. Web Page here. (Brush up on your Greek)

The logic here by many in the Muni world here is that WiFi should be like a toll road and everybody pays. The reality is they should be treating it like a freeway and charge nothing. Why? Same reason as the freeways — access. A Muni should not look at WiFi as a revenue source but a revenue enabler.

The reason Muni’s support freeways is that the improved access increases business interest in relocating there. The Muni benefits indirectly by increase in revenue volume and revenue velocity by those who relocate businesses there. That gets reflected in the increased sales tax revenues.

The same can be said for Muni WiFi. The WiFi presence increases the sales velocity of product. Need a restraunt? Geolocate one using the Muni system. Pablos Mexican restraunt business improves he pays more to the city. Its the same game. Of course you can play the tiered game as well. Open free base service at a given base rate. Become a subscriber and your base rate is raised. The subscriptions going to pay for the electric bill.

That model with a few exceptions is being deployed everywhere else but here. Why?

HT: saschameinrath.com