Open source news this week:
November 4 - 8, 2013
What other open source-related news stories did you read about this week? Share them with us in the comments section. Follow us on Twitter where we share these stories in real time.
- Facebook introduces Presto. Facebook announced in a blog post Wednesday that it is open sourcing Presto, a now-open source distributed SQL-query engine for running interactive analytic queries against data sources of all sizes, ranging from gigabytes to petabytes. Facebook started working on Presto in fall 2012, and rolled it out to the entire company in the spring. Currently, it's being used by more than 1,000 employees daily, who run more than 30,000 queries processing one petabyte daily, according to the Facebook announcement. Now that Presto’s source code is available on GitHub, Facebook is seeking other data-driven organizations to use and refine Presto, reports GigaOM, saying its already being tested by AirBNB and Dropbox.
- A visit to Valve. Gamers are eagerly awaiting the release of Valve’s Linux-based Steam Machine. This week some gaming journalists got to glimpse behind the curtain and see how the Steam Machine is coming along. Washington Post technology reporter Andrea Peterson visited Valve’s HQ in Bellevue, Washington saying it felt like "stepping into the lair of a mad scientist. That's especially true in the Steam Machine project areas, where there is a graveyard of cast-off designs strewn between 3D printers and designer stations." In this article, Peterson goes into detail describing the latest plans for the Steam Machine, including more details on why Valve decided to create it in the first place. Learn more about the controller, Valve’s unique approach to hardware, and the role Linux will have in Peterson’s descriptive article. Other reporters got to test out the Steam Machine too. Here's what The Verge had to say about it, and here's what Seattle Times reporter Brier Dudley had to say.
- Happy 10th Birthday, Fedora. Ten years ago this week Fedora Core 1 General Availability (Yarrow) was released, and since it's tough to point to the exact birthday of Fedora, the anniversary of this milestone is one the Fedora community is celebrating. Opensource.com writer and Fedora marketing team leader Ruth Suehle wrote this post to raise a glass and toast the Fedora community, saying: "You’ve innovated. You’ve created. You’ve built. For ten years, you’ve released a new version of Fedora every six months, working with people thousands of miles apart, many of whom you’ve likely never seen. You are open source success. Thank you to each of you who has contributed, whether for ten years or for ten minutes. You are Fedora."
- Open source in 2014. The VAR Guy has a list of five open source platforms that will define 2014. I don't want to steal his thunder by listing out his picks, so head over there to see if you agree. (Hat tip to our community evangelist Robin Muilwijk for pointing this one out to me).
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