open source

Free as in "Hurricanes"

As NPTech community members have heard, a brilliant metaphor was coined the other day by Karen Schneider in her excellent article titled IT and Sympathy: “Free as in kittens” (as opposed to the popular “free as in beer”). It’s not a hard sell to tell the average executive that open source, or donated Salesforce.com licenses, or volunteer labor isn’t exactly free of cost. But “as in kittens” really says it well, implying the commitment and caring that need to be applied to critical IT investments, regardless of the license terms. I think Salesforce.com‘s offer of 10 free licenses to any 501(c)3 is a great example… Read More »Free as in "Hurricanes"

Seven Questions For Peter Campbell On Open APIs

This interview was conducted by Holly Ross and first published on the NTEN Blog in July of 2006. What’s an Application Programming Interface (API)? APIs are the code in any application that allows for the customization and migration of information in and out of the program’s data store.The API allows your application to interface with other systems in the same manner that a door or data line allows your home to interact with the world around it. APIs were originally developed in the telecom industry, as the need to have computer applications that integrated with telephone systems arose.The concept quickly expanded as a method for… Read More »Seven Questions For Peter Campbell On Open APIs