Open Source Wrap Up: May 15, 2015

By “OpenSourceToday” via Reddit

All content in this post is shared under a CC-BY-SA License.

=====News from the Samsung Open Source Group Blog=====

2015 Future of Open Source Study

For the last 15 years, North Bridge and Black Duck Software have joined efforts every year to conduct a survey about the use of open source in modern business. A record 1,300 people responded to the survey this year, up from 822 in 2013. Respondents included software engineers, CIOs, CEOs, educators, analysts, and more. There is little that has changed in open source trends, and this survey demonstrates the continued pervasive expansion of open source.
Here are some notable findings from this year’s survey:

Enterprise Use/Participation

  • 78% of companies run on open source, and less than 3% don’t use FOSS at all.
  • 64% of respondents said their company currently participates in open source projects, up 14% YOY.
  • 88% expect their companies to increase open source contributions, up from 56% last year.
  • 66% consider OSS to be the default option before proprietary.

The Open Source Advantage

  • 50% said open source involvement helps their company recruit top talent.
  • 55% said open source delivers better security
  • 89% said open source greatly impacts the speed of innovation
  • 78% said open source improves margins

What Needs Improvements

  • 55% have no policies or procedures for open source compliance.
  • 27% have a formal policy for employee contributions to OSS.
  • 16% have an automated code approval process.

Read More from North Bridge

Samsung Launches ARTIK, a New Platform for IoT

Samsung has announced the release of ARTIK, an open source platform designed for building IoT devices. The goal of ARTIK is to reduce the fragmentation of the IoT market by providing an end-to-end solution for making interconnected applications for everything from low-powered wearables to high-end smart homes. The group behind the product worked with the team from Arduino to fully integrated the Arduino IDE into ARTIK, making it easier for developers to get started. Samsung is currently taking applications until May 31st to receive an alpha developer kit, so if you are interested in building IoT devices, be sure to check this out.
Read More at the Artik Blog.

The Open Source Initiative Elects a New President

Simon Phipps was elected as the President of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) in 2012, and his term ends in April 2016. He recently decided not to pursue a new terms as president of the board, and the board has elected Allison Randal to replace him starting next year. Allison has a long history of working for open source foundations including the Perl Foundation, Parrot Foundation, and Python Software Foundation. She appears to be an ideal candidate to run the organization.

Read more at the OSI blog.

=====News from OpenSource.com=====

Snappy Ubuntu + Robots

Snappy Ubuntu Core is a minimal server image, for clouds and devices. eWeek tells of it's growing use, and how it's coming to network swtiches and refrigerators. Ars Technica has an article about the Erle-Copter, a drone that runs Ubuntu Snappy, making it the first drone with apps. "The combination of Snappy Ubuntu and the Robot Operating System is a good example of the power of open systems to work together."

The Vatican uses FITTS format

The Vatican wants to preserve human history, and it thinks the best way to do so is with open source. The Vatican Library CIO Luciano Ammenti argued his case at the EMC World conference, saying open source will help history be more easily accessible and usable 50 years from now. The Vatican Library digitized 82,000 manuscripts as images instead of text, using the FITTS format—an open source, 64-bit, 3D-ready format.

Get your Open Data Handbook

Open Knowledge has announced that the Open Data Handbook has been updated. The new version has over 80 new terms and concepts with easy to understand definitions. Written by expert members of the open data community, and available in over 18 languages, this handbook targets an audience of civil servants, journalists, activists, developers, and more.

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