Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation leader soaks in stinging critique

After a stinging critique from a noted expert in establishing consortia, the leader of Microsoft's new CodePlex Foundation says such frank evaluation is welcome because the open source group's structure is a work in progress. The CodePlex Foundation's aim is to get open source and proprietary software companies working together. Sam Ramji, who is interim president of the CodePlex Foundation, was responding to last week's blog by Andy Updegrove, who said the group has a poorly crafted governance structure and looks like a sort of "alternative universe" of open source development. Updegrove, a lawyer, noted expert on standards, and founder of ConsortiumInfo.org, laid out in a blog post five things Microsoft must change if it wants CodePlex to succeed: create a board with no fewer than 11 members; allow companies to have no more than one representative on the Board of Directors or Board of Advisors; organize board seats by category; establish membership classes with rights to nominate and elect directors; and commit to an open membership policy.

He added, however, "There are some best practices [for running the boards of non-profits] that we are not as familiar with as we would want to be." Slideshow: Top 10 open source apps for Windows  Stephanie Davies Boesch, the foundation's secretary and treasurer, is the only board member with experience sitting on a non-profit's board. Despite the stinging tone in Updegrove's assessment, Ramji says he is thankful for the feedback. "Andy's been incredibly generous with his expertise and recommendations," Ramji says. "It is the kind of input and participation we were hoping to get by doing what is probably non-traditional for Microsoft but not necessarily non-traditional for non-profit foundations, which is to basically launch as a beta." For instance, Ramji says that the decision to go with only five people on the board came from Microsoft's experience that larger groups often have difficulty with decision making. Ramji says Updegrove's suggestion to have academic representation on the board was "outstanding. And basically it is re-writable. We did not think of that." And to Updegrove's point on becoming an open membership organization, Ramji says, "our goal is to become a membership organization and Andy has some excellent recommendations for that."He says the fact that Updegrove took the time to respond "in the format that he did is more proof that there is something worth doing here." Ramji, compares the Foundation's formation to the early days of a software development project. "We have said in these first 100 days we are looking at everything as a beta.

Obviously, there are some areas like contributions and licensing agreements we put a lot of time into but even those can be modified." Microsoft announced the foundation Sept. 10 with a stated goal "to enable the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities." The company seeded the group with $1 million and Microsoft employees dominated the interim board of directors and board of advisors. One is a call for a broad independent organization that can bridge cultural and licensing gaps in order to help commercial developers participate in open source. Ramji says the foundation has spent the past couple of weeks listening to feedback in "Twitter messages, email, and phone calls in order to understand what people hope this can be." Within that feedback two patterns have emerged, Ramji says. The other focuses on creating a place where open source .Net developers can gain strong backing. "Look at projects related to Mono, you also can look at NUnit, NHibernate, we really feel optimistic that the Foundation could help them gain a higher level of credibility in the open source community. Miguel de Icaza, the founder of the Mono project and the creator of the Gnome desktop, is a member of the Foundation's interim board of directors. They feel they have been lacking that strong moral support," Ramji says.

From a high level, Ramji says the Foundation stands as a sort of enabler that helps independent developers, companies and developers working for those companies navigate the nuances and practices of open source development so they can either contribute source code to projects or open source their own technologies. "One suggestion has been that the Foundation should house all the best practices we have seen software companies and open source communities use," said Ramji. "We want to have a place where everyone interested in how to participate can come and read and if they choose they can use our license agreements or can use the legal structure of the Foundation to grant patent licenses and copyrights for developers and derivative works." Those licensing agreements have a distinct focus, Ramji said, on the rights that are related to code that is being contributed and on how to contribute the patent rights on that code. Ramji says the goal is to service multiple projects, multiple technologies and multiple platforms rather than having one specific technology base, which is how most current open source foundations are structured. "It's early days and we have received a lot of good ideas from experts in a variety of fields from law to code to policy that is what we had hoped for," says Ramji. "Someone wrote it is nice to see Microsoft engaging early on without all the answers and to have the community solve what they would like to see. Once those issues are settled, code would be submitted using existing open source licenses. That is satisfying for me and refreshing to others. This is the right way to proceed." Follow John on Twitter

Lotus simplifies client licensing; makes Designer free

IBM/Lotus Tuesday whittled its client licensing options from 11 to two and said its Domino Designer development tool would now be offered free of charge in hopes of increasing application development on the platform. The Messaging license, which allows access to Domino e-mail from any client, is $99 per user. The news came as Lotus unveiled Notes/Domino 8.5.1, a point release that includes support for real-time synchronization with Apple's iPhone (see related story here). As part of the 8.5.1 unveiling, IBM revealed two client options that will replace the laundry list of previous options.

The Enterprise license is $159 per user and adds Mobile Connect VPN software and Domino Designer tools that give users access to any existing Notes applications and any homegrown programs. The tool was originally built into the Notes client in its very earliest releases. IBM officials say giving away Designer was a major step toward expanding development on the Domino platform. The tool eventually became a separate offering that carried a price tag of $864. "When we started to sell to IT more, when Lotus was bought by IBM, we put the Designer into a separate product and it took it out of the hands of the power users, the people who are in the line-of-business and really sort of isolated Notes application development to this specialized universe," says Ed Brill, director of product management for Lotus Software. "What we are really trying to do by giving it away free is democratizing it again and getting it out into the hands of everybody." Users can download Domino Designer, which is based on the Eclipse platform, free at IBM deverloperWorks. Other features of the 8.5.1 release include updates to Domino Designer, which adds support for Lotus XPages application model running on a Notes or mobile client. Users who want to link the software with a Domino server will have to buy a $150 license.

Web browser support was added in 8.5. XPages lets users develop Web applications with little or no coding. Follow John Fontana on Twitter: twitter.com/johnfontana XPages also can be used to convert existing Notes applications to Web applications.

Gartner: Turn server heat up to 75

Data center managers should turn server temperatures up to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and adopt more aggressive policies for IT energy measurement, Gartner says in a new report.  Five tools to prevent energy waste in the data center After conducting a Web-based survey of 130 infrastructure and operations managers, Gartner concluded that measurement and monitoring of data center energy use will remain immature through 2011. Only 7% of respondents said their top priorities include procurement of green products and pushing vendors to create more energy efficient technology. In a troubling sign, 48% of respondents have not yet considered metrics for energy management. In general, data center managers are not paying enough attention to measuring, monitoring and modeling of energy use. "Although the green IT and data center energy issue has been on the agenda for some time now, many managers feel that they have to deal with more immediate concerns before focusing attention on their suppliers' products," Rakesh Kumar, research vice president at Gartner, said in a news release. "In other words, even if more energy efficient servers or energy management tools were available, data center and IT managers are far more interested in internal projects like consolidation, rationalization and virtualization." About 63% of survey respondents expect to face data center capacity constraints in the next 18 months, and 15% said they are already using all available capacity and will have to build new data centers or refurbish existing ones within the next year.

Gartner issued four recommendations for improving energy management: • Raise the temperature at the server inlet point up to 71 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius), but use sensors to monitor potential hotspots. • Develop a dashboard of data center energy-efficient metrics that provides appropriate data to different levels of IT and financial management. • Use the SPECpower benchmark to evaluate the relative energy efficiency of servers. • Improve the use of the existing infrastructure through consolidation and virtualization before building out or buying new/additional data center floor space. CDW surveyed 752 IT pros in U.S. organizations for its 2009 Energy Efficient IT Report, finding that 59% are training employees to shut down equipment when they leave the office, and 46% have implemented or are implementing server virtualization. In addition to Gartner's report, a recent survey by CDW illustrates trends related to data center efficiency. The recession has helped convince IT organizations of the financial value of power-saving measures, with greater numbers implementing storage virtualization, and managing cable placement to keep under-floor cooling chambers open and thus reduce demand on cooling systems. Data center managers are finding it easier to identify energy efficient equipment because of the Environmental Protection Agency's new Energy Star program for servers.

CDW found that 43% of IT shops have implemented remote monitoring and management of their data centers, up from 29% the year before. But data centers are still missing many opportunities to save money on energy costs. "Energy reduction efforts are yielding significant results … Still, most are spending millions more on energy than necessary," CDW writes. "If the average organization surveyed were to take full advantage of energy-savings measures, IT professionals estimate they could save $1.5M annually." Follow Jon Brodkin on Twitter 

Microsoft changes 'ballot screen' to close antitrust case

Microsoft has changed its proposed browser "ballot screen" to wrap up a nine-month antitrust case in the European Union, but rivals remained noncommittal today about whether the modifications are enough. Today, the commission said Microsoft had altered some provisions of the ballot screen, and that it would take comments on those changes from consumers, software makers and computer manufacturers until Nov. 9. The comment period is required by EU law. "We agreed to make a significant number of changes to improve our proposals, and we believe that we've been able to do that," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's chief counsel, in a telephone press conference today. Three months ago, Microsoft told Brussels-based antitrust officials that it would give users a chance to download rivals' browsers with a "ballot screen," just one of the moves Microsoft has made since January in an effort to ward off fines or even more drastic measures by the European Commission.

Opera Software and Google said they were studying the changes. "Opera Software supports the concept of a ballot screen to give users easy access to better browsers," said Hakon Wium Lie, Opera's chief technology officer in an e-mail today. "The important question is how this ballot screen is implemented. Opera, Google and Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, have been allowed to see the charges against Microsoft, study the July ballot screen proposal, and suggest changes. We are still studying the announcement ... and will have further comments at a later stage." Opera's December 2007 complaint sparked the antitrust action, which the EC filed last January, accusing Microsoft of illegally bundling Internet Explorer (IE) with Windows and therefore shielding it from real competition . "The proposal to increase consumer choice in browsers has just been made public and we, like many others, will be reviewing it with interest," a Google spokesman added from Brussels today. "The test will be whether people can easily choose the browser they want to use." Google's interest comes from its Chrome browser, one of the 12 that will be offered users. Mozilla criticized Microsoft's July idea, with top executives claiming that it favored IE and failed to install other browsers. Microsoft's revised ballot screen proposal addresses several concerns of those rivals. Opera, meanwhile, called on Microsoft to offer the ballot screen to all customers, even though Microsoft is legally obligated to offer it only to EU Windows users.

According to the documentation ( download PDF ) released by the commission today, the "Install" link offered for the choices will not only download the selected browser - which is what Microsoft had proposed before - but will also install the application on the user's machine. "An 'install' link will connect to a vendor-managed distribution server, which, upon the user's confirmation, can directly download the installation package of the selected web browser for local execution & the resulting situation will therefore equal a scenario in which the user himself had downloaded and executed the installation package without being aided by the Ballot Screen," said Microsoft's new proposal. Other changes include a new screen that will provide some basic information about browsers, and remind users that they should be connected to the Internet before they proceed. The ballot screen will also display the choices - Apple's Safari, Chrome, IE, Firefox and Opera on the first screen, an additional seven on a second - in alphabetical order by the name of the browser maker - a change from before, when Microsoft had placed IE in the first spot on the far left based on its market share. Microsoft also modified the timing of the ballot screen, which will be delivered to Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 users via Windows Update. Instead, Microsoft has agreed to start offering the ballot screen to all Windows users eight weeks after EU antitrust officials sign off on the proposal. Previously, Microsoft said it would push the ballot screen to Windows 7 owners on Oct. 22, or within two weeks of approval of the deal, then follow that three to six months later for Windows XP and Vista users.

For its part, the EU seems satisfied with the revised ballot screen. "We believe this is an answer," said commission chief Neelie Kroes in a press conference today in Brussels. Even so, Kroes acknowledged that the revamped proposal may not make everyone happy. "A number of people are never 100 percent satisfied," she said. She also indicated that it was likely the commission would accept Microsoft's ballot screen revisions. "At the end of the day that's what we are looking for," she added. Microsoft was "very pleased" with the EU's decision to move into the last month of the case, Smith said in his press conference. "We welcome the announcement by the European Commission to move forward with formal market testing of Microsoft's proposal relating to Web browser choice," he said.

Obama bars fed workers from texting and driving

A two-day Distracted Driving Summit in Washington concluded Thursday after experts raised multiple thorny questions on how to reduce cell phone and texting while driving, with a big emphasis placed on driver and employer responsibility. LaHood also announced that his department would ban text messaging altogether and restrict cell phone use by truck and interstate bus drivers, and disqualify school bus drivers from receiving commercial driver's licenses if they have been convicted of texting while driving. After mentioning that President Obama had just signed an executive order that tells all federal employees not to engage in texting while driving government vehicles, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood urged private sector employers to avoid calling workers on their cell phones as they drive home from work.

His department also plans to make permanent some restrictions placed on the use of cell phones in rail operations, he added without offering further details. "Employers need to change their mindset, too, and if you know your staff has left for the day, do not expect them to instantly return a phone call or IM when they'e driving home," LaHood said in a concluding address. The executive order "shows the federal government is leading by example" and "sends a signal that distracted driving dangerous," he added. Obama's executive order, signed Wednesday night, also bars federal workers from texting with any government-owned electronic equipment while they are driving, and bars any texting while driving their own privately owned vehicles while on official government business, LaHood said. But LaHood was noncommittal about proposed laws, including a U.S. Senate bill that would require states to ban texting while driving or face partial loss of federal highway funding. But LaHood seemed to focus on drivers' personal responsibility as his key message. "Driving while distracted should feel wrong, just like driving without a seat belt or drinking," LaHood said. "We are not going to break all bad habits, but will raise awareness." LaHood said driving while distracted from using a cell phone or texting is "personally irresponsible and socially unacceptable behavior, but in the end we won't make the problem go away by just passing laws ... We cannot legislate behavior to get results to improve road safety." "People need to use common sense and show common decency to other drivers," he said.

LaHood showed a willingness to work on legislation, saying, "We will worth with Congress and state and local governments to ensure than the issue of distracted driving is appropriately addressed." He also said "high visibility enforcement" of drunk driving and seat belt laws had been effective and could work with distracted driving and related laws. He concluded with unprepared remarks, calling distracted driving "an epidemic" and referring to the summit as a "tremendous start ... that will lead all of us to save lives and save injuries." At the start of the conference, LaHood released new information that said nearly 6,000 people died in the U.S. in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, about one-sixth of the total number of deaths, or about 37,000. LaHood and several of the panelists who spoke urged parents to restrict their teenage children from using cell phones while driving. Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, cast a blunt criticism of such efforts, citing years of research. "It would be wonderful to have training programs for teens to recognize the risks they take [by texting while driving], and change their driving dramatically.," he said. "But our experience with education programs for teens or even ticketed drivers who take remedial training ... is that essentially the programs have no effect," Lund said. "What they learn is to avoid tickets, but not typically to avoid crashes." Lund mimicked calls by several experts at the summit to find new methods that can reduce crashes from distracted driving. "We need to find out what works ... All this education doesn't do much good," he said. But the value of specialized training programs to teach the dangers of distracted driving came under question by some of the assembled experts.