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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=592
Bioinformatics.org gets boost
By ron carlson, Insanely Great Mac
July 2nd 2002
Apple burnishes open-source credentials by becoming charter member
Apple has become the first member of a program launched by open-source advocacy-group
Bioinformatics.org. The group''s goal is to link open-source developers with
bioinformatics hardware and software vendors.
�
Apple''s new Co-Lab program hopes to nurture industry involvement either by
co-locating software projects at its SourceForge-based Open Lab project or by hosting
and sharing those projects with developers at vendor sites via the web, according to
Bioinformatics.org president and founder Jeff Bizarro. Bioinformatics.org currently
hosts more than 30 software projects.
�
Apple has agreed to make a dual G4 server available to members of Bioinformatics.org
through the program, Bizarro said. An Apple official confirmed the company''s
involvement in the program but was not immediately able to provide further details.
�
If they join the Co-Lab program, commercial entities will receive immediate access to
more than 3,000 bioinformaticists worldwide who currently work on Open Lab projects.
This set up might benefit software firms looking for researchers to "test drive" their
systems before releasing them commercially, and hardware vendors who want to ensure
that bioinformatics projects hosted at the site will run on their platforms, he said.
�
The program is loosely modeled on the Open Source Development Lab, which has secured
corporate support from 21 companies, including IBM, NEC, Intel, Hitachi, Dell and
Fujitsu. The Co-Lab program differs from the OSDL in that it focuses on bioinformatics
and the goal of executing applications as well as porting them.
�
According to Bizarro, Apple is very interested in having as many bioinformatics
applications as possible ported to its OS X operating system. On the developer side,
he said, access to additional servers and hardware platforms will be invaluable.
Projects hosted at the site so far only run on Unix, so Bizarro hopes to see the
project count grow along with new platforms.
�
Bizarro noted that the organization is "not asking for a donation, but for assistance
in running a resource that would be of great benefit to both the bioinformatics
community and the Co-Lab''s business."
Analysis: I won''t pretend to comprehend what bio-informatics is about. However, that
Apple is supporting what amounts to an open-source standards body that aims to spread
knowledge and distribute resources has to be a good thing.
Post your comments at:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=592
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