I’m convinced I went to bed sometime in 1991, woke up in bizarre-o land, and never quite managed to get out of it.  And stories like this don’t help.

How the hell is Open Source software a menace to all mankind?

I don’t get it?  I use open source software everyday.  If I had a business, I’d find an open source solution at every turn I could. If I ran a government agency, I’d be trying to spend as little of the taxpayer’s money as possible and OSS is a pretty good place to start.  And let’s not forget the INSANE predatory pricing that certain software companies inflict on poorer nations at the threat of hauling them into court.

While, yes, some OSS is started by those who naively want to keep the internet pure of that nasty money thing, I don’t think they will start hoisting digital pitchforks and shutting down traffic in online towns and villages.  I know I haven’t seen one of them while playing L4D online.  Oh wait, maybe I have… it’s a game about zombies.  Bad example.

Anyway… For some people (like me) OSS is a way to save money, it’s not a political statement.  It’s a way to have reasonable operability on my home computers and not paying ridiculous business oriented pricing or break the law by using pirated software.

Let’s change the battle field of this argument for a moment.  Let’s say we have two bars.  Both have a Happy Hour from 3 to 6 (why is Happy Hour always more than one hour??).  One serves a loss leader of free chips and salsa and the other serves kettle corn.  Well one day a third bar opens up and serves a loss leader of a full free buffet.  You don’t have to buy anything, the owner just likes the way he cooks and is willing to take a hit.  His business model is so bad that he probably will be out of business by next week.

But a funny thing happens.  Mr. Buffet gets so many people coming in that really love his food and they don’t want it to stop so they buy his beer.  Some even donate.  Some supply the food to be cooked.  Finally others offer him jobs on the side to cook for them for large events.  His food takes off and now Mr. Buffet makes tons of cash.  So, instead of having a loss leader item, he has a loss leader BUSINESS.  The other two bars can whinge about it all they want and petition for laws and such and call it predatory pricing.  But getting laws passed is not the same as the truth being upheld.  For some, that is OSS.  And that, my friends, is good capitalism.

For others, OSS is a passion (the above scenario and this one are NOT mutually exclusive).  For you who don’t understand, a real programmer is an artist.  They will program just as a painter will paint.  You can’t stop them.  Little apps that show up on the Google Market or The App Store for free are a programmer’s doodles, as it were.  Of course, some of these works may even be a grand labor of love between two or more programmers.  Governments and companies that seek to destroy OSS are, basically, trying to destroy an art form.  Good luck with that.

And don’t worry about Microsoft, et al…   they will always make programs that do things that no others can do.  Or make them with an interface or setup that makes those programs accessible to people who don’t want to tweak and troubleshoot.  OSS will not tear down the walls of capitalism; it will just force companies to do business a little smarter.

Investment arm In-Q-Tel is funding Visible Technologies, making its online brand analysis capabilities available to U.S. intelligence agencies.

Businesses are increasingly looking to social media to monitor and manage their brands online. U.S. intelligence agencies now have similar capabilities as part of their technology portfolios.

In-Q-Tel, the investment firm established by the CIA to support U.S. intelligence agencies, has invested in Visible Technologies, a start-up that monitors social media content on the Web.

U.S. intelligence organizations could use Visible Technologies’ service to monitor and analyze public opinion on the Web, much as private sector companies do.

Visible Technologies’ TruCAST engine “casts a net on whatever the client wants to know more about,” said senior VP Blake Cahill. TruCAST pulls information from blogs, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, news sites, and Web forums, though it can’t reach into places like Facebook and MySpace where users have set privacy controls. Using that information, companies can run sentiment and relevancy analysis, look at a commenter or blogger’s level of influence, and search for posts based on defined criteria.

Visible Technologies has been focusing increasingly on the government sector, and it has done some work through the General Services Administration, according to Cahill. Concepts & Strategies, a consultancy that advises the Department of Defense, is one of its partners.

In-Q-Tel has invested in more than 175 companies, including ArcSight (security information management), Lucid Imagination (open source search), Endeca (search), Adapx (smart pens) and Keyhole, the developer of foundational technology used in Google Maps.

Visible Technologies has raised $23.5 million in funding since its inception in 2005, including $8 million since December. Terms of In-Q-Tel’s investment weren’t disclosed.

InformationWeek Analytics has published a report on the 10 steps to effective data classification. Download the report here (registration required).

I finally got one, thanks to Joe Franks, developer genius and all-around good guy. Just to give you a timeframe of what all of this is about–he sent my request two weeks ago. I got it last night.

This morning, after a round of emails about an iPhone app from my bed, and after my first round of too many morning coffees, I finally was able to log in. Here’s what I saw:

At first glance, you will immediately see that I have no one to actually communicate with except Joe. And Joe doesn’t typically wake up until after lunch. Since he’s on CST and I’m in NY, that leaves us about 3 solid hours to Wave at each other during the day. But we won’t because we already chat through AIM. Furthermore, we just don’t chat that much unless we’re collaborating on a project or he’s trying to get me to migrate off of his server.

I tried adding some of my other friends under Contacts, but Google said they didn’t have Wave accounts. Ok, that makes sense. But when I tried adding a few colleagues from work who share the same Google Apps account, success! Wave allowed me to add them. Their photos showed up and everything. But… they never received an email notifying them of anything. Here I am the loneliest Waver. Or, perhaps, everyone on Wave right now feels the way I do.

Here’s another screenshot for your edification, since that’s pretty much all you can do with Wave right now–take screenshots of it:

Interested in making the Sugar 5.5 Release the best ever?  Sign up to volunteer for TestFest!

What is TestFest?

A collection of end-users, developers, and SugarCRM employees who work closely together to validate new features and bug fixes in Sugar components that are important to their business.

When is TestFest?

TestFest is tentatively planned within two (2) weeks after the release of SugarCRM 5.5 Beta 2. Beta 2 should be released in the first week of September 2009. I will be in contact with you (the volunteer) as the dates begin to solidify.

Why TestFest?

Users, developers, and partners like YOU have made it clear to us that you want quality to be paramount. We have stepped up our internal testing, revamped the release process, and now are looking for your help to make SugarCRM 5.5 the best it can possibly be.

How does TestFest work?

I will be will be the main point of contact and coordination. I will ensure that various volunteers are not duplicating work while testing and ensure that objectives to cover various tests cases are executed.

You (the tester) will test various features/bug fixes in a particular component of Sugar. Additionally you will be testing on your platform and testing functionality that is critical to your business. Bugs will be submitted through the common channels. You will be given priority access to SugarCRM engineers if necessary when testing 5.5 Beta.

The best way to help *right now* is to help sign up volunteers by spreading the word and recruiting additional testers.

Please let Matt Heitzenroder know if you are willing to help with TestFest.  You can comment in the blog or in the forums.