platforms

Open source has proved to be phenomenally successful, and continues to grow. As open source grows beyond its roots in software infrastructure like operating systems and Web servers, however, it is finding that the types of community it attracts is increasingly corporate.

Even in the geeky application server layer, Marc Fleury notes that JBoss' "community meant users, partners, consultants," not the freedom-loving developers we often associate with open source. This is because our simplistic conception of community has likely always been wrong, as Michael Dehaan suggests.

Open source has long been more about users than developers for the … Read more

There are over 50,000 applications built on Facebook's platform, but the company isn't stopping there. It's continuing to support budding developers with its second annual FBFund app funding competition, with the first 25 of 50 finalists announced Monday. The rest will be announced soon.

The batch of finalists was announced in a post on the Facebook developer blog by Dave McClure of the Founders Fund, the longtime Facebook investor that has provided financial backing for the seed fund. McClure will also be running FBFund's inaugural incubator program this summer.

What's different from when Facebook … Read more

You'd think, based on what the blogosphere is saying about dual sets of numbers in Advertising Age and VentureBeat, that Facebook has a new reason to freak out about revenues. Namely, signs point to the fact that the third-party developer platform that Facebook launched two years ago now collectively makes more money than the social network itself.

Well, of course it does.

From some of the headlines, you'd think that it were some sort of Silicon Valley equivalent of humans creating robots that eventually outstrip them in intelligence. While it's sort of amusing to think about Facebook … Read more

Facebook has announced a revamp of the way it lists and catalogs its directory of third-party developer applications, according to a post on its developer blog, and the most notable update is the debut of the "verified apps" program.

This was first announced in November. Basically, for a $375 fee, Facebook will review developer apps to make sure they fit security and transparency standards, and will award a graphic badge to apps that make the cut.

Security on Facebook has been making headlines in the past few weeks, in the wake of several prominent phishing attacks that have … Read more

CrossLoop is a smooth, free, and lightweight screen- and file-sharing program, formerly available only for Windows users. Earlier this month, a Mac beta version debuted offering the same features. Besides extending the feature set to Macs, the PC and Mac versions can talk to each other and share across platforms.

For those unfamiliar with the program, which uses 128-bit encryption, you're given a unique and random 12-digit access code each time you start the program. You can then share your username and code to allow somebody else to access your computer, or input another user's info to access … Read more

Networking company Cisco has introduced a package of data center tools for carriers wishing to deliver cloud services over next-generation IP networks.

The Unified Service Delivery package, announced on Tuesday, combines Cisco's existing Unified Computing System technology with its Nexus 7000 switch--an updated, data center-optimized version of its CRS-1 router--and the company's next-generation IP products.

The combination will make delivery of video and data services more efficient and lay the groundwork for the delivery of business applications to any place, according to Cisco.

"The unification of the data center and the IP next-generation network is a natural … Read more

Social-network creator Ning is letting those networks get even more customized: it's unveiled Ning Apps, the company's full plunge into the developer platform craze. It goes into private beta on Thursday and will launch in full later in May.

This announcement is a long time coming, as Ning launched a limited application gallery in October--and that was still nearly a year after it was among the original launch partners for the OpenSocial developer application consortium.

There are a couple of things that make Ning Apps different from the social platforms found on the likes of Facebook or … Read more