During Obama’s campaign, he led a charge for the expansion of open source technology. There have been some mentions of it from some officials, but nothing substantial. However, over in the UK there looks to be a huge push for open source technology. Here’s the surprise, from the Tom Watson , the minister for digital engagement.

I love Watson’s common sense explanation of the open source initiative, “when it delivers best value for money”

There are other reasons mentioned for going open source, beyond the obvious financial savings an open source infrastructure could bring. First, open source isn’t bound by proprietary software, or hardware. It’s fully customizable, and can be made to fit the tech needs of the government instead of the other way around.

It seems to me that all of this is pretty common sense. Open source should definitely be the wave of the future for governments, in terms of software and networking. There’s no telling how many billions of dollars are spent by our government trying to keep up with advances in computing technology. With open source, so much money could be saved. Along with letting experts inside the government customize, and code the software to better fit the infrastructure.

Hopefully, we’ll learn a lesson from the UK, if the plan goes through.

[via: BBC]

I’m still debating whether this advertisement is clever, or just in bad taste. I think it’s a mix of both, as I support the idea of providing the less fortunate with ways to connect with the world. Although the needs of food, and water will super cede a laptop, it’s still a way to help us all stay connected.

Here’s the ad for the One Laptop Per Child charity that digitally altered a video of John Lennon. Or they found a great look-a-like. Either way they did a great job, even if it’s a bit creepy.

As I was reading various video game articles today, I came across one that really stood out to me. On Gamepolitics.com, there’s an interview with PC Gaming Alliance President, Randy Stude. The entire interview is very interesting, and is a very insightful look into the future of PC gaming. I want to talk about one major point that Randy brings up in the interview.

Interviewer - “Could the outrageous development cost of new consoles bring PC gaming back to the mainstream?”

Randy Stude - “The guts of every console should tell you that the capability is there for the PC to act as the central point for all the consoles.

Well, why not? Why shouldn’t that be the case? [Sony is] certainly not making any money on the hardware. I mean, can’t they create a stable enough environment to specify that if Dell’s going to sell that notebook and say that it’s PlayStation 4 [compatible] that it must have certain ingredients and it must meet certain criteria? Absolutely they could that. Are they going to do it? I don’t know. I predict that they will. I predict that all of the console makers over time will recognize that it’s too expensive to develop the proprietary solution and recognize the value of collapsing back on the PC as a ubiquitous platform.”

That’s quite a bold statement to make, but with the perception of PC gaming that most people have it’s smart. Dare I say he has me somewhat convinced that it could happen.

Microsoft, and Sony lose money on every gaming console that they sell. The money they make is through markup on software, and accessory sales. So, is it such a crazy idea to put hardware on PC’s?

First, it would save the need of building an entire console and therefore saving production dollars. Second, it’s another option to give consumers who want to enjoy your products. Also, you could still sell accessories for the PC, which could still help you generate your profit.

Although it’s an idea that’s quite a ways from happening, I agree with the point Stude has made. If Sony, or Microsoft are looking to up their profits, they might want to start looking into it themselves. Nintendo need not apply, because of the juggernaut they are, profits are sitting pretty. Considering they actually make money on their console sales, integrating with PC’s is a moot point.

For all of you blondes out there, a keyboard has finally been made for your needs. Instead of a boring ol’ ‘Enter’ button, you will have the ‘Yes I Want It’ button. I know it might be for blondes, but it would be pretty sweet to have a Yes I Want It button.

Well it’s official now. Microsoft doesn’t have the complete iron grip on the computing world anymore. It still has a firm grasp, but it is weakening. This could be good or bad, depending on how much you like Apple. Or just hate Microsoft.

According to ComputerWorld, Microsoft has dipped below 90% market share for the first time ever. Net Applications Inc is a monitoring company, who reported that Microsoft had reached 89.6% market share. The company is able to gather these statistics by seeing what type of computers are being used to visit various websites.

Microsoft also saw their largest share drop in two years, 0.84%. Previous down months, May 2008 and December 2007 had been 0.51% and 0.63%.

From a personal standpoint, I don’t understand it really. Most of the market share drop is from people flocking to Mac OS X. As someone who uses both I really don’t see a massive enough difference to make a switch. To me the only thing that Mac OS X is better at is in terms of graphic/web design work. For just about any other application, or usage Windows Vista or XP has worked just fine. The Windows Vista problems to me are way overblown.

I’ve had my new computer for a couple of months, with Windows Vista on it. I haven’t had one problem with performance, or compatibility issues. I’m not saying that Mac OS X is awful, but Vista is a fine OS and shouldn’t be dismissed by former Windows owners.

I’m not sure what practical applications of this prototype from Microsoft would be? Perhaps you use the surface images for a cool presentation.

Of course, just because there might not be any real world use for Microsoft Secondlight doesn’t mean it isn’t amazing to watch.