Open source usage increases

Over two-thirds of global organisations anticipate increasing their expenditure on open source software this year, according to research by management consulting firm Accenture, says V3.co.uk.

Some 85% of US companies expect investment in open source systems to increase in 2010, compared to 56% of UK companies.

Half of the respondents to a global Accenture survey are fully committed to using open source, while 38% expect to transfer core software to open source within the next 12 months

Although Google Wave will go down as one of its few high-profile failures, the innovative collaboration tool did attract a small group of dedicated followers who hope it will live on as an open source project, reports Network World.

Few people wanted Google Wave to succeed as much as Gina Trapani, a programmer and tech writer who authored 'The complete guide to Google Wave', which, she notes very quickly became little more than a history book or, hopefully, a collector's edition.

Trapani believes Wave was "ahead of its time," and that Google didn't effectively explain the service's true benefits, which is what made the Complete Guide necessary.

Acquia has released Drupal Commons 1.0, an open source social networking tool for enterprises, reveals The H.

Drupal Commons is a complete system for fast deployment of a fully functional social networking site, either as part of a company's internal infrastructure, or as part of an externally facing community site.

Acquia sees Drupal Commons as open source competition with proprietary solutions, which have been offered in the same sector. It offers the typical social network features; signing up as a member and creating profiles, forming, joining and administering groups, forum discussions, wikis and group blogs and scheduling.