Is open source about giving software to users for nothing or creative freedom for software developers? My question is rooted in the observation that most people I know who are "users" - that is people who are not able to program computers, but use computers, have little appreciation of open source, except as it gives them some nifty free - as in cost - software.

The Government has decided to introduce a ninety day trial period for new employees. Once again we see a complex issue being divided between left and right, employers vs employees. As someone who has been on both sides of this fence I think this is a good move.

Christopher Hitchens has cancer. The sad fact is that the probability of his survival for more than five years is in the region of five percent, assuming reports are correct. Many Christians have as a result pulled out and dusted off Pascal's Wager or asked if Atheism will sustain him. Well no. Not believing in a god won't help him. Either will not believing in unicorns or fairies.

Ten years ago I was promoting a mechanism of transmitting standard invoices. I had realized that having a standard for invoices would enable more efficient business transactions much like SMTP has enabled global communication. Despite there being various attempts at such standards we have not seen widespread adoption in the banking and supplier community. The failure of standardization is exemplified in the following video which ironically shows how open source can mitigate the issue through products like Mule.