.KEYWORD ppcoolsite1201
.FLYINGHEAD PALMPOWER SITE OF THE MONTH
.TITLE PalmOpenSource.com takes software development to the people
.DEPT
.SUMMARY If you’re a Palm OS software programmer, you’re going to be very interested in December’s PalmPower Site of the Month. Contributing Editor Steve Niles reviews PalmOpenSource.com, a site dedicated to the improvement of Palm OS applications through open source development.
.AUTHOR Steve Niles
I enjoyed the heck out of the movie AntiTrust starring Tim Robbins and Ryan Phillippe. It’s the story of a brave band of open source programmers standing their ground against the evil machinations of Gary Winston (Robbins), a thinly veiled stand-in for Bill Gates. The only difference is, in this universe, Winston achieves dominance in the software field not only through fierce competition and occasionally questionable business strategy, but also by murdering his competition. Literally.
If you saw this movie and cheered for the open source underdogs, or if you’re an open source programmer yourself, then you’re going to be interested in December’s PalmPower Site of the Month. It’s called PalmOpenSource.com, and you can find it at http://www.palmopensource.com. It’s pictured in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A PalmOpenSource.com makes Palm OS software open to the public.
In this issue of PalmPower, we’re talking a lot about how to improve yourself for the new year. Well the mission of open source is very similar, only it’s goal is the improvement of software. The site’s homepage has a fascinating quote from the Open Source Initiative (at http://www.opensource.org). It says the following:
.QUOTE The basic idea behind open source is very simple. When programmers on the Internet can read, redistribute, and modify the source for a piece of software, it evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional software development, seems astonishing.
PalmOpensSource.com is a directory of free open source software for the Palm OS. There’s a ton of great software there, and you’re free to take it, tinker with it, and make it into something new. If you’re a programmer looking for new ideas, this could be a great resource. You may even learn some new techniques by opening up some of this software and tinkering around with it.
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So go check out PalmOpenSource.com. But if you do, be sure to keep watch over you’re shoulder. Those big companies just might have thugs lurking in the shadows ready to take out the competition.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on PalmOpenSource.com, visit http://www.palmopensource.com.
For more information on the Open Source Initiative, visit http://www.opensource.org.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Your site can earn this special banner
Do you run a special site, one that provides a great resource for Palm device users? If so, your site may be eligible for consideration as the PalmPower Site of the Month. If chosen, you’ll even be entitled to display the snazzy banner shown in Figure C.
.FIG B Is your site cool enough to be the PalmPower Site of the Month?
If you’d like your site to be considered for the PalmPower Site of the Month, send email to sniles@palmpower.com. Please specify "PALMPOWER COOLSITE" in the subject field of your email, and include a paragraph or two about what makes your site special.
.H1 Easy, flexible article reprints
ZATZ now offers a quick, easy, flexible and inexpensive way to use article reprints in your marketing and promotion efforts. You can now get article reprints for a one-time fee of only $200. For details, visit http://mediakit.zatz.com/reprints.
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.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6fb6c
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