VersionOne and IBM/Rational Rose are well known agile project management (APM) tools.  These APM tools are widely used in development environments.  Developers are constantly looking out for a good agile tool to help them plan and track their stories.  A fellow co-worker and blogger recently mentioned to me an open source project management tool called XPlanner.  XPlanner is a Java based Web application.  Interestingly, it has been around since early 2002, but the project has caught some interest in last couple of years.  According to Trail Ridge Consulting survey, it is the fourth most used APM tools right behind VersionOne, Rally, and ScrumWorks.
According to its project manager Jacques Morel, the software is being adopted by some large organizations over VersionOne.  The software was mainly developed to deal with big teams (15+ members) in eXtreme Programming (XP) environments, hence large organizations find it more useful and adopt it.  It uses virtual note card method for planning.  Here are some notable features for the developers to think about:
XPlanner is not as sophisticated as the commercial counterparts, but it is very flexible.  It is a constant evolving and work in progress.  For a free download and test drive go to:  www.xplanner.org 





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tags: Agile Software |  Agile development |  Agile software |  Open Source |  Scrum

Sun’s OpenOffice initiative gets help from an unexpected supporter.  Big Blue has formally joined and decided to donate some Lotus Notes code to OpenOffice project.  OpenOffice is an open source office suite which is compatible with most major office programs such as Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes.  With IBM now backing the project, OpenOffice has a good shot at becoming a major "commercial" player in the office productivity field.

The suite itself has all the major components needed by normal users.  However, from business user’s perspective it lacks one major feature: an integrated e-mail and calendar client.  There are many open-source clients available which rival the MS Outlook, e.g. Evolution, Thunderbird etc.  These can be easily integrated.  In terms of features, GNOME’s Evolution could or should have been included in the OpenOffice.  It is light, has plenty of features, and is bundled as default e-mail client with most Linux distributions.  Thunderbird from Mozilla Foundation is more popular, and it has been targeted towards Windows users.  But, it still has not been able garner the same public support as its browser sibling Firefox. 

OpenOffice 3.0 is due to come out in fall of 2008.  Nevertheless, the current plans do not include an e-mail client in the release.  With IBM pushing the Notes in OpenOffice, the developers might now seriously think to include messaging capability in the suite. Businesses and corporations can now see OpenOffice as a viable productivity solution.

Wish list!

Going forward, the OpenOffice project should also think of including an instant messaging (IM) client.  With Microsoft Communicator and Lotus Notes Sametime available, internal IM is becoming a necessity in the corporate world.  GAIM (now Pidgin) would be an excellent choice; it can interact with almost all the major IM services including Sametime and MSN.  Time has come for OpenOffice project to try to work and consolidate other projects and provide users with an added functionality.

 

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tags: Evolution |  IBM |  Linux |  Linux, Personal desktop / laptop |  MS Office |  OpenOffice |  SUN |  open source

Most modern operating systems support multiple user access and some form of remote access.  The idea of accessing your system remotely is always very intriguing.  It is even more exciting when you access your Windows desktop from Linux or vice versa.  Getting to Linux desktop from Windows has always been tricky, and not for the faint of heart.

Windows has had terminal services since Windows NT 4.0.  It was improvised on Windows 2000, and now it is fully incorporated in Windows 2003.  The end result is user and administrators can now access the Windows systems over the network using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).  RDP has enhanced display and security, making it easier than ever to access your desktop over the Internet.

The famous X Windowing System or X has been around since early 80's.  It allowed users to access the entire graphical desktop from any X client.  Usually, the X client and server are the same system.  But one could access the system from any other X client.  It's a great client-server system, but it comes with its own set of problems.  The biggest problem with X has been that it is a fat protocol.  Network traffic is usually unencrypted, making it susceptible to sniffers.  Another drawback is that X client cannot resume or suspend an X session, like RDP in Windows.  There are some well known software which allowed X server access on Windows are Hummingbird Exceed, Cygwin/X, WiredX etc. 

NX is a new technology developed by Gian Filippo Pinzari at an Italian company called No Machine.  NX provides stable, fast, secure, and full graphical connections to Linux systems from Windows.  The entire NX experience is remarkable from the start to finish.  The installation of server and client is simple.  Users have to install the NX server on Linux, which runs side-by-side with X and SSH services.  Using the NX client on a Windows system, users can connect to Linux desktop over the internet, without the need of VPN. 

Many see NX as a new rival of X.  Instead, NX uses X and delivers it over the SSH tunnel.  It uses very high compression and caching to save bandwidth.  A very important feature of NX is that it can suspend and resume sessions. 

The core technology and libraries of NX are open source and under GPL, but the server is not free and is commercially available.  The NX client is closed source is available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris.  The NX is now the must have tool for Linux users.

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tags: Linux remote |  NX

Hi! I'm Nitin, developer for BMC IT Service Management (ITSM) product line.  I also like to work on systems as an administrator.  In short, I like being sys admin.

This is my first time at a corporate site.  However, I have been running some personal websites, forums, and blogs.  My motivation to run such services on the Internet was to explore the technologies that deliver various pieces of communication to the masses.

I'm very excited for this opportunity to write blogs at BMC.  I hope to present some very thoughtful and useful writings for all.  My main area of focus is Open Source.  For most of us open source simply means Linux and GNU Free Software, but it is much more than that.  I’ll try to explore how open source projects can (and has) enable today’s business.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know.  I am always interested in hearing about how open source projects are adding value to business.