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I have several friends that are either working on an open-source project or are looking for a project to work on. Because of this (and the fact that the power went out and somehow managed to scramble the text of 20+ documents into Klingon and Webdings) I would like to explain several organizations that help friends like mine cut their teeth on open-sourced projects.

In August of 2000, VA Linux System (now VA Software) launched the Open Source Development Network. This is one of the largest communities of open-source developers, as it is a conglomerate of well-known, high-profile sites which cover everything from news to hosting to education and discussion (similar to how the GameSpy network is to the gaming community — though they don’t host projects).

SourceForge - is the world’s largest Open Source software development web site, providing free hosting to tens of thousands of projects. Collectrix is a case-in-point example as to how a company can utilize the projects hosted by SourceForge. Collectrix is entirely open-sourced based using the LAMP model (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). The content-management system both Collectrix and BlogPromtion use is MamboServer, a SourceForge project. The blogging software we install by default is Cafelog, a SourceForge project.

Savannah - is a central point for development, distribution and maintenance of GNU Software. The GNU project is the driving force behind many of the well-known open-source projects, most notably Linux. Savannah is similar to SourceForge only with a more “pure” geek twist (you’d have to meet or talk to the guys that make up this software movement to understand completely). They host about 1500 projects altogether and just like SourceForge you can start up your own and have them host it for free (libre, gratis, etc.).

Mozilla - If you are familiar with Mozilla it is most probably because of Netscape, which created this open-source community as a last ditch effort to stay alive back in ‘98 (at least that’s one side of the story). Anyways, Mozilla is really a software suite with dozens of smaller open-source projects merged together. Coincidentally, most of the projects are geared around web-based applications like: browsers, email clients and newsgroup readers.

OpenOffice - This was originally an office suite developed by a German company (StarDivision) and acquired by Sun Microsystems back in ‘99. Just like the “commercial” version of Mozilla is called Netscape, OpenOffice is dubbed StarOffice, so as to impress would-be consumers (”I don’t own just any old Office, I own StarOffice”). There are multiple open-source projects hosted by the OO group, one of which integrates XML-based standards into the suite - something that Microsoft ‘reluctantly’ won’t do for all of its Office 2003 product line.

The Apache Foundation - is a natural outgrowth of The Apache Group, a group of individuals that was initially formed in 1995 to develop the Apache HTTP Server. In 1996 Apache overtook both the NCSA and Other (hehe, most probably Novell) webserving software in terms of market share. As of February 2003, more than 11 million servers use Apache as the webserver (if you see 8080 in a link, they use Apache), which amounts to about 67% of the entire market. Microsoft is the next big player, with over 4 million uniformed webhosts using Microsoft�s IIS software (~25% of the total market). Anyways, they host and help organize dozens of open-source projects including those geared around PHP, Java and XML.

Scriptlance - this is a company similar to eBay in which they facilitate bidding on projects (not strictly open-sourced). For instance, if you’re a webmaster that needs a content management system developed or maintained all you have to do is post the project requirements on Scriptlance and programmers will bid for it. For programmers this is a great way to gain both experience and exposure, especially if you live outside North America. Note: this is the very machination that Ed Yourdon and others described 10 years ago with the decline of the American programmer (many cheap and efficient programmers from Russia and India bid there).

LinuxFund - these guys help fund open source projects with scholarships and grants. If you think you’re all that and a bag of chips check them out. No, I currently do not have a seat on their Oversite Committee, but I still accept monetary donations.

Now that you know where you can strut your stuff, I will compile a list of actual projects that you might enjoy working on (like MySQL, PHP, GAIM, GIMP, etc.).

A friend of mine pointed out that the Los Alamos National Laboratory created a plutonium trigger (pit) for the American military, the first time any agency has done this in the past 14 years. It is designed for the W-88 warhead, one used in submarine launched missiles. To date, approximately $350 million has been spent on development and the initial project is estimated at costing about $1.5 billion.
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If you currently are registered and own any stock at Blogshares, remember to sell all of what you own before May 1. All of your cash carries over; however your stock does not. In addition, whatever blogs you do own (’claim‘), during the reset you will receive 1000 shares once more.

I actually think everything should be reset, including how much money you currently have. However, its not very difficult to make cash quickly. In one week I went from $1k to $15k. All you do is buy low and sell high (yea, profound). It’s already halfway done for you with the best priced blogs listed in one easy to navigate screen: Hot Blogs.

Here are a few more useful strategies:

- Purchase as many shares as you can at once from that low priced blog. If there is 4000 available, purchase the full 25%. The stock price will increase a few percent afterwards and the little scrolling marquee at the top will display the positive gain which will spur other less ambitious investors to purchase stock which drives the value of the stock once more.
- Look at the blog and see how many incoming links it has. Try to purchase those that have more than zero or if you look hard enough, those with more incoming than outgoing. I suppose if you wanted to “cheat” you could link to the blog after you purchase it, wait for the reindexing to occur and then sell the stock.
- Look to see what the blog is discussing. If it is really really boring (like 99% of them) then odds are no one will link to the blog. One way to observe how boring they are is if they link to a trendy weblog: like Wil Wheaton.
- If it is a LiveJournal, Pitas or Xanga weblog, don’t purchase their stock. It only encourages people to continue using those [inferior] services.
- Don’t listen to free advice, more on this below.

Please understand that the blogs and individuals worth oodles of ducats got that way primarily because dozens of people linked to their blog. So if nothing else, this should be an incentive for you to post something original, something interesting, and something that someone would want to read. If you need something to blog about: read books, magazines, newspapers and the messages written on the walls of bathrooms. If your interest is piqued by something, odds are others might be interested in it too. If readership is a problem look for other channels to syndicate your blog — I have a list of 50+ directories that will list your blog plus another 150+ blog specific rings you can join.

This could also be an opportune time for you to “sell” the idea of blogging to your friends. If they link to you and you link to them your stock will be worth that much more. If they give you any lip about having nothing to blog about, ask them if they verbalize anything at all during the day. If they do then they can indeed blog (hence: if you can talk you can write — assuming you have arms).

Now that you’ve read this, please wire $10 via Paypal to: tim at movementarian dot com.