OpenStreetMap.org was covered extensively in FLOSS Weekly 81: OpenStreetMap.org . What makes this project more interesting than a lot of open source projects is that it covers not just software, but also data. The data itself is owned by the community and in a wiki style format, updated by anyone who finds something in need of correction.

Liability and Authority are not especially complex concepts. Liability simply defined is the amount of responsibility you take for a situation or event. Authority simply defined is the amount of control you have over a situation or event. This applies to all things in life. It is a constant battle that parents face with teenagers, successful marriages find balance here, employers and employees face it often. Today I'd like to focus on what it means for software suppliers. (I don't say software vendors for a reason).

So I went to a Meetup.com Meet Up. The topic was MySQL and it was a bit frustrating because for the second meetup in a row I was stuck out side of a locked building unable to get in. After a bit of social engineering, I was in.

So the meetup is going really well. We were talking about MySQL and how it can be used to replace Oracle and MS SQL for any usage. And then the guy across from me talks about how he was on the team to integrate MySQL to Open COBOL.

This is definitely not an apples vs apples comparison. Unless you think about it from the over all impact of the movement on the enterprise. I think you'll find them to be two solutions to the same problem... Getting more done with less.

The operating system is dead. That's right, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, even Windows. They just don't matter anymore. XBox 360, Nintendo, PS 3, none of them matter anymore. Desktop and Server, they are all the same. The web is the great equalizer.

You think I'm crazy? Where do your applications run? Facebook? MySpace, Email? amazon.com? Do you even know? Most of the readers here probably do, but the point is you just don't care. Fallout 3 (bad ass!) came out recently... I couldn't decide which platform to get it on. The deciding factor was that my XBox was dead, and off to MS for repair. So I got it on PS3.