Commercial software firms are increasingly using and contributing to open source software. Thus, they need to understand and work with open source software development processes. This paper investigates whether the practice of continuous integration of agile software development methods has had an impact on open source software projects. Using fine-granular data from more than 5000 active open source software projects we analyze the size of code contributions over a project’s life-span. Code contribution size has stayed flat. We interpret this to mean that open source software development has not changed its code integration practices. In particular, within the limits of this study, we claim that the practice of continuous integration has not yet significantly influenced the behavior of open source software developers.
First Look IE 8
IE 8 comes with many other features for web developers and web designers. The ‘Activities’ allow you to map an address on webpage directly to Yahoo or MSN (not Google) maps. The map opens up in small interactive window without forcing the user to leave the current window. Other useful Activities currently supported include eBay product search, Facebook and StumbleUpon. The Webslices, developer tools and
Yahoo mail is still not compatible with IE8. I had to switch back to mail Classic to access my email. Also my iGoogle personal homepage also gave some error with IE 8. However this should be temporary and resolved shortly. Anyway I will better use Firefox for time being but will certainly keep an 'open' eye on IE8 development.
Former President of India To Visit Lexington, Kentucky
For information about Dr. Kalam’s Technology Vision 2020 for India please click here.
One Lakh ($2500) Car: Curse or a Boon ?
Tata Motor’s Nano for 1 lakh INR ($2500) is targeted towards the growing middle class population which cannot afford a four wheeler at the current prices. Maruti-Suzuki has also announced their plan for developing small cars at the comparable prices. I was wondering in case this disruptive technology is successful in India. Will this really be a boon (uplift the standard of living) or a curse?
1. The current road conditions in India are really bad. There are no ring roads to travel around the city at faster pace bypassing the city traffic. It is difficult to drive a two wheeler in a booming city like Pune and in such scenario a sudden influx of thousands of cars will worsen the situation. The commercial success of these low cost cars will pressurize the existing infrastructure.
2. The second problem is of pollution due to the emission from these cars. Strict pollution norms must be imposed to tackle the emission problem.
3. And what about the ever soaring gas prices? Consumer may think more about the gas price than the actual price of the car.
4. Central parts (similar to a downtown) of the cities like Pune do not have adequate parking facilities. The influx of thousands of cars will add to the existing parking nuisance.
The industry should concentrate their efforts on research and development of low cost ‘hybrid’ cars instead of just low-cost cars. In the long term it will be better and profitable strategy. The Government should work towards building better mass transport systems like Delhi metro. Such projects should be implemented in other booming cities like Pune and Bangalore.
On the other hand, commercial success of the Indian cars in the foreign markets can prove a boon to the economy. India Inc will be more diversified and stable than dependent upon services and the software sector.