Who doesn't like free stuff? Not many people, but there are various definitions of free. Free as in beer, free as in speech, and so on. The open source software movement combines these two ideas, and many more, by making software freely available to anyone who wants to use it, and also affording them the right to tinker with the code and change it in whatever way they want. It's one of the foundations of Linux, and it's a philosophy that -- in increasingly cash-strapped times -- is gaining momentum.

The Document Foundation, creator of the LibreOffice variant of the free OpenOffice suite, today announces that it is joining the Open Source Business Alliance. The aim is to help with the deployment of the free office suite on larger scales within companies and organizations.

There is a reason that Microsoft Office has become an industry standard tool. As well as having the backing of the Microsoft behemoth, there is a great deal of reassurance taken by companies who know that it will "just work". Files that are sent between employees, contractors, and external parties can be opened without problems. Part of the aim of the Open Source Business Alliance is to help ensure compatibility and interoperability so alternatives such as LibreOffice become viable for larger organizations.

The involvement of theOpen Source Business Alliance in the LibreOffice ecosystem has already helped to improve compatibility with Microsoft OOXML -- an important factor for any organization considering making the shift from Microsoft. The Alliance's Peter Ganten said:

Open Source Office Software like LibreOffice has always been very important to most of our members, and there is a long and successful history of cooperation between the OSB Alliance and the respective projects. For this reason we are very happy to have The Document Foundation in our organization and are looking forward for a great continuation of our cooperation.

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The Document Foundation aims to push LibreOffice adoption in the workplace

Summary: Red Hat, the world's open source leader, is a billion dollar company, but it began in a sewing closet. Co-founder Bob Young talks about the company's humble beginnings.

Raleigh, NC:At the All Things Open conference,Red Hat co-founder Bob Young shared tales of the early days of Red Hat.The first billion dollar pure play open source companyhad a humble beginning.

Bob Young, who've I've known for 20 years, is not a technology guy. The "Linux" part of Red Hat Linux came from Marc Ewing. Still, if it hadn't been for Young, Red Hat (named after Ewing's grandfather's Cornell University lacrosse cap), might have just been another long forgotten Linux company.

Young's rise to success was an unlikely one. He admitted that "I became an entrepreneur because no one would hire me. So I went to Kinkos and printed business cards saying Bob Young, President. It made my mom proud."

Why did such a clearly bright man have so much trouble? He explained, "I had ADD before it was fashionable."

Before he came to Linux, Young had started a retail typewriter business. This was followed by a computer-leasing business. He then became interested in Linux and in 1993 he founded ACC Corporation, a catalog business that sold Slackware Linux CDs and related open source software. (Remember, in 1993, a V.32bis modem with a top speed of 14.4-bits per second was a fast modem, so there was a real market for mail-order Linux CDs.)

Even then, however, Young didn't really "get" Linux. It was only when he visited Goddard Space Flight Center and Don Becker invited him to see a neat project he was working on that he got it. Becker's project, was, of course, Beowulf, the first Linux supercomputer.

It wasn't much to look at. The first Beowulf was made of 16 already obsolete 486 DX4 computers connected by channel-bonded Ethernet. But Becker and his partner, Tom Sterling, had shown that with Linux you could make a powerful computer using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and free software. That night, Young realized that Linux was more than just a neat product.

In talking with other Linux users, Young was told time and time again that sure, "Solaris was much better than Linux, but it was only by using Linux that he could tweak the operating systems to meet their needs."

So Young got together with Ewing, and, from Young's wife sewing closet, they launched Red Hat Linux. It wasn't easy.

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Bob Young talks about the origins of Red Hat