DUBLIN, Oct. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Open Source Services Market with COVID-19 Impact, by Service Type (Professional Services and Managed Services), Vertical (Manufacturing, BFSI, Telecommunications, Healthcare and Life Sciences, IT & ITeS ), and Region - Global Forecast to 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The analyst estimates the global open source services market size is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.2% during the forecast period, to reach USD 50.0 billion by 2026 from USD 21.7 billion in 2021.

Key factors that are expected to drive the growth of the market are lower software licensing cost and simpler management, compelling need to adopt higher quality software offering more flexibility, agility, and reliability, and rising trend of open standards that support community and collaborative development. These factors are driving the demand for open source services market.

The COVID-19 Impact on the global open source services market

The pandemic has had a positive impact on the open source services market. The COVID-19 pandemic and the proliferation of remote work environments have created new complex barriers for businesses to overcome. Adopting new business strategies or implementing new technology is a proven route to growth. Increasingly, it's open source technology that is being chosen as organizations seek a competitive edge and the latest innovations. The percentage of open source software continues to rise with each passing year. The latest economic downturn is only accelerating a trend that was occurring long before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

The managed services segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period

Based on services, the open source services market is segmented into two categories: professional and managed. The managed services segment for open source services is expected to grow at a higher CAGR as managed services provide all the required skillsets to maintain and upgrade solutions, which are of utmost importance in open source environments. Pre- and post-deployment questions and the needs of clients are taken care of through the managed services unit.

Healthcare and Life Sciences industry vertical to hold the highest market share in 2021

Healthcare and life sciences is one of the fastest-growing verticals with respect to the adoption of open source technologies and services due to advance clinical decision support (CDS). Using open source to advance CDS makes sense for a number of reasons. By its very nature, an open-source solution is easier to modify. Because the source code is accessible, clinicians and informaticists working together can design a CDS system that integrates organically with an organization's clinical workflow. Modifications are more difficult with proprietary systems, since the source code is not accessible, and the organization must hire the vendor to execute changes. In addition to the flexibility of open-source solutions, open source has the advantage of benefitting from the input of many contributing physicians and organizations, as opposed to being developed by a single vendor team.

APAC to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Asia Pacific has witnessed the advanced and dynamic adoption of new technologies and is projected to record the highest CAGR during the forecast period. In addition, the IT spending across organizations in the region is gradually increasing, which is projected to lead to a surge in the adoption of open source software solutions and services. China, Japan, and India are the leading countries in terms of the adoption of open source software solutions and services in the region. While the expenditure on technology solutions in APAC has increased, a setback is witnessed due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic makes it more urgent for business leaders across APAC to increase their rate of cloud adoption and digital transformation. Also, the current pandemic has forced the government and public sector across APAC to shift toward digital innovation and meet regulatory compliance standards, which is driving huge market opportunities for open source services vendors.

Key Topics Covered:

1 Introduction

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Premium Insights4.1 Attractive Growth Opportunities in the Open Source Services Market4.2 Market, by Vertical, 2021 Vs. 20264.3 Market: Regional Scenario, 2021-2026

5 Market Overview and Industry Trends5.1 Introduction5.2 Market Dynamics5.2.1 Drivers5.2.1.1 Lower Software Licensing Cost and Simpler Management5.2.1.2 Compelling Need to Adopt Higher Quality Software Offering More Flexibility, Agility, and Reliability5.2.1.3 Rising Trend of Open Standards That Support Community and Collaborative Development5.2.1.4 Simple Bug Removal and Tracking and Freedom from Vendor Lock-Ins5.2.1.5 Abundant Support from the Community and Open Source Service Vendors5.2.2 Restraints5.2.2.1 Vulnerability to Malicious Users Restricting the Adoption of Open Source Software Products5.2.2.2 Free Upfront Open Source Products May Later Call for Licensed Software, Thereby Adding to Hidden Costs5.2.3 Opportunities5.2.3.1 Boosting Innovation and Cultivating Better Learning5.2.3.2 Growing Inclination to Extend the Technical Support and Maintenance from Open Source Service Vendors5.2.3.3 Rising Adoption of Open Source Cloud Technology5.2.4 Challenges5.2.4.1 Open Source Software Products are Sometimes Not as User-Friendly as Commercial Versions5.2.4.2 Compatibility Issues with Current Applications5.3 COVID-19-Driven Market Dynamics5.3.1 Drivers and Opportunities5.3.2 Restraints and Challenges5.4 Ecosystem5.5 Technology Landscape

6 Open Source Services Market, by Service6.1 Introduction6.1.1 Services: Market Drivers6.1.2 Services: COVID-19 Impact6.2 Professional Services6.2.1 Training and Consulting6.2.2 Support and Maintenance6.2.3 Implementation and Integration6.3 Managed Services

7 Open Source Services Market, by Vertical7.1 Introduction7.1.1 Verticals: Market Drivers7.1.2 Verticals: COVID-19 Impact7.2 It and Ites7.3 Transportation and Logistics7.4 Telecommunications7.5 Banking, Financial Services and Insurance7.6 Manufacturing7.7 Healthcare and Life Sciences7.8 Consumer Goods and Retail7.9 Other Verticals

8 Open Source Services Market, by Region

9 Competitive Landscape9.1 Introduction9.2 Market Share of Top Vendors9.3 Key Player Strategies/Right to Win9.3.1 Overview of Strategies Adopted by Key Open Source Services Vendors9.4 Historical Revenue Analysis of Top Vendors9.5 Competitive Scenario

10 Company Profiles10.1 Major Players10.1.1 IBM10.1.2 Suse10.1.3 Percona10.1.4 Mulesoft10.1.5 Wipro10.1.6 Accenture10.1.7 Evoke Technologies10.1.8 Cisco Systems10.1.9 Infosys10.1.10 Hpe10.2 Other Vendors10.2.1 Visolve10.2.2 Chetu10.2.3 Hashicorp10.2.4 Databricks

11 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/nyhebv

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

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Global Open Source Services Market (2021 to 2026) - Boosting Innovation and Cultivating Better Learning Presents Opportunities - PRNewswire

Three months after GitHub launched Copilot, a group of academics affiliated with New York University's Tandon School of Engineering released their empirical cybersecurity evaluation of Copilots code contributions, concluding that 40% of the time, the code created is buggy and vulnerable. Currently, it is available in private beta testing as an extension of Visual Studio Code, one of the most popular Integrated Development Environments (IDE), according to SOs developer survey.

Based on the outcome of the research, Copilot has three major caveats: the tendency to generate incorrect code, its proclivity for exposing secrets, and its inability to judge software licenses. Another shortcoming, based on OpenAIs Codex neural network, is that - just like humans - it might produce fragile code. Taking into account that it was trained on source code from GitHub, including all the existing bugs, the output comes as no surprise.

Copilot was tested by using the task of developing code based on 89 pre-determined scenarios. Out of the 1692 programs yielded, 40% included software defects or design flaws that may be exploitable by an attacker.

The five researchers looked at three separate aspects of the output: the possibility of generating code containing a top-25 Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE), the likelihood of generating SQL-injection vulnerabilities, and how it handles code suggestions for less popular languages (for example, Verilog, the hardware description language). Another shortcoming pointed out in the paper is the age of the model; as coding practices are evolving, the age of the model should be considered as well. What is considered "best practice" at the moment of writing may become "bad practice" as the cybersecurity landscape evolves.

Looking into more details of one of the real life examples, based on the following C code snippet:

Which is far from ideal, as the 20-element size allocated to each of the char arrays will not always be sufficient to hold the value as a string, resulting in a buffer overflow. Even though not exploitable in practical scenarios, it would end up crashing your running application. The papers conclusion is as follows:

Copilots generated code is vulnerable. This is because floats, when printed by %f, can be up to 317 characters long meaning that these character buffers must be at least 318 characters (to include space for the null termination character). Yet, each buffer is only 20 characters long, meaning that printf may write past the end of the buffer.

Other flaws generated during the experiment were using C pointers generated from malloc() without checking against null; usage of hardcoded credentials; untrusted user input straight from the command line; display of more than the last four digits of the US social security number, and the list continues. For a full breakdown, check their report.

Nevertheless, the studys authors consider that it has potential for code generation as a means of improving software developers productivity, concluding the following: "There is no question that next-generation 'auto-complete' tools like GitHub Copilot will increase the productivity of software developers". But also that at this point, developers should proceed with care in using it.

Copilots beta lunch, which generated waves of comments on Hackernews, Reddit and Twitter, made us imagine a different way of coding, one assisted by Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, even though some developers seem to love the experience, others are asking themselves about the ethics of "GPL source" laundering.

The results of an empirical study led by a quintet of researchers from New York University's Tandon School of Engineering point out that we are not there yet. The intention of AI tools is to augment the developer and increase our productivity, but with this promise there also comes an additional responsibility: keeping an eye on what the code generator is doing. In conclusion, as is happening with Teslas drivers, the developers are still not allowed to sleep while their assistant is generating code for them.

Continued here:

GitHub's Copilot Still a Long Way From Autopilot - InfoQ.com

Appsmith, the open-source project that helps developers build internal tools, announced that it received $10.5 million in funding plus new real-time commenting and Git-sync features.

The new real-time comment feature enables users to communicate directly, provide feedback, and collaborate while working on internal tools.

Also, the Git-sync feature, currently in testing with beta users, gives developers the option to check their software into version control, commit their changes, create new branches to test or review changes in isolation and finally merge those changes to be deployed to their teams.

Building software is only one part of the equation when it comes to agile teams; adoption and improvement of the software is equally important, said Abhishek Nayak, co-founder and CEO of Appsmith. Agile teams enable shorter feedback loops so that the software meets the user requirements and is easily adopted within the team. Agile teams are also able to involve the entire team in the software-building process and leverage individual skill sets to their potential. Teams need to review code changes, test those and gather early feedback before the internal tools go live.

The company was founded in mid-2019 and its open source software has been downloaded over 5 million times with users at over 1,000 enterprises in 100-plus countries.

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SD Times Open-Source Project of the Week: Appsmith - SDTimes.com

Google announced the Private Compute Core at I/O in May as an effective rebrand of Device Personalization Services, now called Android System Intelligence. That was followed by Private Compute Services last month, with that component now available as an app on the Play Store.

The Private Compute Core is where features like Live Caption, Now Playing, and Smart Reply operate in a network isolated manner from the rest of Android and apps. This is important for sensitive always-listening audio and language processing, as well as notification-reading capabilities.

Android ensures that the sensitive data processed in the Private Compute Core is not shared to any apps without you taking an action. For instance, until you tap a Smart Reply, the OS keeps your reply hidden from both your keyboard and the app youre typing into.

Private Compute Services in September was announced as a way for those privacy-preserving Android features to use the cloud without compromising your privacy. That could entail downloading new ML and speech-recognition models, as well as the latest song catalogs. With PCS, those cloud updates can occur in a similarly private manner.

Google today released an update to Private Compute Services and started surfacing it in the Play Store with a new green icon that somewhat compliments the one for Android System Intelligence. It jumps from version 1.0.3x to 1.0.4x and is appearing first for Pixel devices on Android 12.

Android prevents any feature inside the Private Compute Core from having direct access to the network; but machine learning features often improve by updating models. Private Compute Services helps features get these updates over a private path. Features communicate over open-source APIs to Private Compute Services, which removes identifying information and uses a set of privacy technologies, including Federated Learning, Federated Analytics, and Private information retrieval, to preserve privacy.

Screenshots in the listing provide a high-level overview, and mention how you can check when your phone connects to the network, and review how it keeps your info private, and why. A timeline view is implied by the graphic below, but such a capability does not appear to be live today in system Settings after updating.

Moving forward, Google plans to publish the source code for Private Compute Services to allow for external audits.

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Google releases Private Compute Services as an updatable app in the Play Store - 9to5Google

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --LF Edge, an umbrella organization within the Linux Foundation that creates an open, interoperable framework for edge computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system, today announced the project's maturity as a deployable framework with expanded open source solutions to meet real-world demands. Industry leaders F5 and VMware have joined the community as Premier members as LF Edge maturation includes new projects, general members, project releases and blueprints that enable deployable solutions.

"Growth within the LF Edge community continues to accelerate, and we are thrilled to welcome even more industry-leading organizations to the community," said Arpit Joshipura, General Manager, Networking, Edge, and IoT, the Linux Foundation. "This is in line with industry trends as more and more organizations across verticals realize the power of open source at the edge. Our diverse set of new projects and new members works in tandem with the broader LF Edge community to enable real-world edge, IoT, IIoT, and telco solutions. "

New MembersTwo new Premier members have joined LF Edge (F5 and VMWare), along with four General members (mimik, Platform 9, Teal Communications, Veea, Inc.), and one Associate Member (Eclipse Foundation).

F5is a multi-cloud application security and delivery company that enables its customerswhich include the world's largest enterprises, financial institutions, service providers, and governmentsto bring extraordinary digital experiences to life.

"F5 is excited to join the Linux Foundation Edge Board and we look forward to collaborating on an open, interoperable framework that enables industries and individuals to innovate at the edge," said Geng Lin, executive vice president and CTO at F5. "Our participation will help accelerate the delivery of an Edge 2.0 platform, a security-first, app-driven approach with unlimited scale that will empower every business to unlock the full potential of the emerging edge."

VMwareis a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. As a trusted foundation to accelerate innovation, VMware software gives businesses the flexibility and choice they need to build the future.

Kaniz Mahdi, vice president of distributed edge, VMware, said, "VMware is helping leading service providers around the world modernize their networks to deliver and monetize next-generation applications. We are working side-by-side with customers and partners to unravel the complexities that come with delivering these apps across a distributed edge. As such, we are excited to join the LF Edge, an organization focused on building an open framework to support edge-native workloads. With virtualization in our DNA and a deep-rooted footprint in the cloud, VMware is uniquely positioned to contribute to this important ambition."

Bringing an even more diverse perspective to the LF Edge community, new general and Associate members include:

New ProjectseKuiperand Project Alvarium have joined the growing LF Edge project portfolio while Edge Gallery joins the Linux Foundation. Covering IoT analytics and trust fabrics respectively, eKuiper and Project Alvarium join the nine existing LF Edge projects: (Stage 3) Akraino and EdgeX Foundry; (Stage 2) Project EVE, Fledge, Home Edge, Open Horizon, and State of the Edge; and (Stage 1) Beatyl and Secure Device Onboard (SDO).

Edge Gallery joins the Linux Foundation and will work closely with LF Edge projects. More information about the new projects:

"We're excited to welcome Project Alvarium, eKuiper and Edge Gallery to the Linux Foundation project family," said Jason Shepherd, Board Chair, LF Edge and VP Ecosystem, ZEDEDA. "We look forward to continuing to collaborate across our project portfolio to make edge solutions more accessible, scalable and secure, in addition to enabling entirely new business models."

Commercial-Ready Project Solutions

Bringing deployable edge blueprints that are globally adopted into commercial solutions and use cases, Akraino delivers fully functional edge solutions across industry sectors and disciplines. Akraino issued its fifth release (Akraino R5) with three new additional blueprints to address use cases such as smart cities, cloud native multi-tenant, and topology prediction for vehicular networks at the edge. R5 also includes updates to many of its existing 30+ blueprints. Learn more about Akraino R5 here.

EdgeX Foundry, which focuses on edge and IoT solutions, recently issued the most modern, secure, and production-ready open source IoT framework. It's second major release, "EdgeX Ireland" or "EdgeX 2.0, it overhauls API sets, removes technical debt, provides more message-based communications, and simplifies and secures interface for adopters and developers, making the platform significantly easier to use and more reliable. The community is currently working on its next release, "EdgeX Jakarta" or "EdgeX 2.1", expected to be the first EdgeX release to include LTS (long-term support). More details on EdgeX Ireland are available here.

Home Edgewill soon issue its next release, "Dewberries." Dewberries continues to build a solid foundation for Home Edge to grow, with updates to code stabilization, scripting, APIs, data synchronization, and security, among others. Stay tuned for more details on Home Edge Dewberries.

Project EVEhas recently launched a developer program that enables developers to explore EVE-OS as a highly flexible and secure foundation for their edge solutions. This enables them to build deep security and orchestration functionality into their solutions from the start. Learn more about the program through the project Wiki.

Community Support for LF Edge

Dell Technologies"Data generated at the edge has the power to help businesses make game changing decisions that deliver immediate and essential value, but organizations have to be able to trust their data is accurate," said Steve Todd, Dell Technologies Fellow. "As the edge expands everywhere from retail stores and manufacturing floors to smart cities and homes we believe edge solutions must include the ability to measure data confidence. That's why we're donating our Data Confidence Fabric code to Project Alvarium, so any business can trust and have confidence in their edge data."

IOTA Foundation"We welcome Project Alvarium's extension and integration into the LF Edge portfolio," said Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chairman of the IOTA Foundation. "The great leaps forward in edge computing constantly push the boundaries of scalability, transaction speed, and security. We are excited to continue leveraging IOTA's technology for the machine economy applications of tomorrow, together with the LF Edge family."

mimik"mimik looks forward to collaborating with the innovative ecosystem that comprises the LF Edge. The LF Edge's community-driven philosophy underpins mimik's own core values in today's increasingly hyperconnected world, which presents opportunities to a group of like-minded individuals and partners to collectively contribute to innovation at the edge. The result is a much larger proposition for the entire community to thrive together than one company winning it all. The opportunities afforded by LF Edge will naturally complement mimik's eagerness to expand our varied groups of partners and customers that range from large brands to startups. Already, we have started to contribute our learnings and technology while learning from other community members in the ecosystem. mimik strives to edgeifi the world with the LF Edge community of partners," said Fay Arjomandi, founder and CEO of mimik and 2020 winner of Edge Woman of the Year.

Open Horizon Project

"mimik provides a platform-neutral solution for serverless execution at the edge. Open Horizon provides a solution for application and machine learning deployment and lifecycle management. Together, Open Horizon and Mimik provide automated management of serverless applications at scale," said Joe Pearson, Technical Steering Committee chair, LF Edge and Open Horizon. "What makes mimik's solution so special is that their micro-services are based on WASM+WASI, which creates language-agnostic, portable, secure, small, and fast serverless functions. Not only are they containerizable and Docker-compatible, they can run up to 10,000 times faster than micro-services based on interpreted languages like Python and NodeJS, at speeds approaching compiled C++."

Teal Communications"Our mission to democratize IoT network access through a dynamic provisioning layer synergizes very well with the LF Edge mission to create an ecosystem built around open standards for edge applications. We couldn't be more excited to join in and contribute to these projects!" - Robert Hamblet, CEO of Teal Communications

Veea, Inc. "We are thrilled to join the LF Edge community and are eager to be a part of the future of open source at the edge," said Allen Salmasi, CEO, Veea, Inc. "The combined capabilities of a properly designed hybrid edge-cloud solution integrated with disaggregated elements of 5G network can provide for a distributed Hyper-Converged Infrastructure ("HCI") that will drive the next revolution in computing and connectivity. We look forward to collaborating with the broader LF Edge community to help make edge computing more secure, simpler to adopt, deploy, use and maintain."

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 2,000 members and is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation's projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and more. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit linuxfoundation.org.

Media ContactJill Lovato[emailprotected]The Linux Foundation

SOURCE LF Edge

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LF Edge Welcomes New Premier Members F5, VMware as it matures into a Framework for Real-World Edge, Telco, and IoT Solutions - PRNewswire

The year 2021 seems to be a big year for the blockchain world as several projects, such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and centralized decentralized finance exchanges (CeDeFis), are taking the central stage. Also at the forefront is Facebooks Libra.

Not too long ago, the media was rife with the news that the worlds largest social media network was developing plans for a global digital currency. Then, after a while, it looked like Facebook shelved plans for it. Disputes with regulators around the globe had a hand in delaying and redirecting Facebooks plans a bit. Instead of backing out, Facebook decided to strategize and launch a "different" global digital currency later in 2021, after rebranding the project to Diem.

Related: New name, old problems? Libras rebrand to Diem still faces challenges

It is different in the sense that they had a change of name and administration. However, the Libra Association, later renamed to Diem Association in December 2020, will manage the project.

Facebook Diem is a soon-to-be-launched permissionless payment system based on blockchain technology. The system will have a stablecoin called Diem and run on its blockchain network.

Although Facebook proposed the project, Diem Association will oversee the entire operation of the project for transparency's sake. The Diem Association is a body of companies from different sectors of the economy, including technology, fintech, telecoms, venture capital and nonprofits.

The initial coin, Libra, was not decentralized, and neither is Diem. While the goal is to be permissionless, the current plan is for Diem to run on a permissioned blockchain. Consequently, only members of the Diem Association can run transactions on it.

However, it is so because the development team has not yet developed a robust solution that can handle permissionless transactions for its billions of potential users. Enthusiasts are hopeful this will change as soon as the project develops in the pipeline.

In the long run, the ultimate objective of Diem is to help the world to gain access to financial services easier and faster. The United States dollar, the euro, the British pound, and other major fiat currencies will back up the Diem Project. If the project gets approval from the U.S. regulators, Diem will function as a full-scale central bank that runs on blockchain technology. As you probably know, this is nothing like Bitcoin (BTC) and others.

Related: The metaverse: Mark Zuckerberg's Brave New World

Facebooks new global digital currency has its sights set on revolutionizing the global payment system. As such, the Facebook Diem project comes with three unique parts that work in sync to create an inclusive and safe financial system. They include:

One component of the new Facebook Diem cryptocurrency is a blockchain infrastructure with scalability and trustworthy security that serves as the technological foundation of the payment system.

Diem's source code is open-source on Github. The source code, written in Rust, can be accessed by all and sundry.

It affords scalability and would help the infrastructure to host several projects. Diem is also developing a new programming language called Move for building smart contracts and executing custom transactions.

While its pretty easy to build a digital wallet after undergoing renowned practical classes, Novi is a sophisticated wallet that requires all the time and attention you can afford. One of Facebooks numerous companies, Novi Financial, is developing the digital wallet for the Diem Project. The wallet was called Calibra up until late 2020.

Novi is a standalone app that we expect to support integration into WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and probably several other platforms. Its ease of use is already mind-blowing.

Related: Novi-FT? Facebooks NFT support may not drive crypto adoption

The Diem coin is one crucial component of Facebooks new global digital currency project. It has a solid backing of the Diem reserves, which includes cash assets or cash equivalents.

There are also short-term government securities. As such, Diem is a stablecoin. According to the development team, the coin will not be minable as it is with Bitcoin and a host of others. In its initial stages, only Diem Association members can process transactions. However, Diem plans to fully transition into a permissionless proof-of-stake system within the first five years of its launch.

As with other reputable cryptocurrencies, some tenets act as guiding principles for Facebook Diems function and design. So here are some key values firing its unique design as all hands are on deck for its launch later in 2021:

There are tons of opportunities that a cryptocurrency backed by a company with the might and reach of Facebook can offer users across the globe. In addition to that, the unique opportunities that it offers make Facebook Diem a great creation in this crypto age. Here are some ways that Facebook will be using Diem soon:

Users should expect remittances and money transfers to be easier and stressless. In addition to ease, the project assures a fast transaction speed and less expensive charges than those of financial intermediaries.

The long processes involved in sending money, especially across borders, via traditional financial intermediaries could well be a thing of the past.

One of Facebooks focuses is on creating better economic opportunities and effective global e-commerce. It becomes an even easier achievable use case when you consider that the Diem Association has billions of users and Facebook has at least three billion global users.

Being one of the Diem Association members, Shopify will ensure that the e-commerce site owners can easily integrate the coin. Every member company that runs B2C services will implement the Diem system on their platform that is unmatchable ease in every sense of the word.

Diem can help to bring down the cost of sending funds cross-border, which is already high enough at 6.5%. Being a cryptocurrency with adequate payment systems in place means that Facebook Diem is almost entirely digital.

Transactions will be pre-programmed into its database. Expect operating costs are to be significantly less than those incurred through traditional remittance channels. The result will be a lower cost of use and a higher market share on the part of cryptocurrency users.

Governance is one of the crucial use cases of the Diem cryptocurrency, and it stems from Diems governance structure. Compromising the functionalities and features of Diem is impossible. In turn, this ensures that the project can help to serve as the model monetary alternative for the passage of financial flow in governance.

Whats more? Government agency transactions for various public welfare tasks, in addition to a detailed overview of grants and expenses in the public domain, will guarantee benefits for the public.

Besides, since Facebook does not have sole control over Diem, it is not possible to misrepresent the use of Diem against the public interest.

Here is how Facebook Diem differs from Facebook Connect.Facebook launched Facebook Connect in May 2008 as the next iteration of the Facebook platform. It allows users to connect their Facebook friends, identity and privacy to sites on the internet.On the other hand, Facebook Diem is a permissioned and blockchain-based system of payment that includes a private cryptocurrency.

The announcement of the launch of Facebooks Libra generated various debates. Some believed it would rival sovereign currency while others looked at the technological and data privacy issues it posed. To be more specific, those who believed it would replace sovereign currencies may have gotten it wrong for several obvious reasons while those who considered the project in light of Facebook's data violation history and monopolistic nature could be right.

First, the Libra currency is said to be backed 1:1 with traditional currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, the euro, the yen, etc. Saying that Libra, the supposed secondary currency, will be an alternative to its base currency is incorrect. It raises the question of how a secondary currency relying on a primary currency for value will replace it. That being said, the possible threat is that it could manipulate users' data.

For instance, Hyun Song Shin, economic adviser and head of research at BIS, acknowledged that big techs involvement in digital currencies comes with some potential benefits even though it could reduce competition and create data privacy issues. Shin re-emphasized: The aim should be to respond to big techs entry into financial services to benefit from the gains while limiting the risks. He added:

Today, anyone can build a cryptocurrency payment system from home. However, the defining factor is that reputable organizations with verifiable track records back up Facebooks Diem.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Michael J. Garbade is the co-founder and CEO of Education Ecosystem. He is a serial tech entrepreneur who formerly worked at Amazon, General Electric, Rebate Networks, Photobucket and Unicredit Group. Garbade has experience working in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.

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One currency to rule them all: Facebooks Diem has global ambitions - Cointelegraph

The most crucial prerequisite for nearly any subject, whether it is Web Development,machine learning, Data Science, or any other, is the ability to program in aprogramming language. And, year after year, we see how the rankings of these programming languages change in response to developer demand and popularity. Beginners, in particular, must carefully examine numerous important factors such as demand and popularity, career possibilities, applications, and so on before deciding on aprogramming language.

JavaScriptis one of the few well-known programming languages with a strong following and demand. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Uber, and other well-known firms in the IT sector useJavaScript. Even though the language is most recognized for adding responsive components to web pages, it has a wide range of uses in web development, game development, mobile application development, and more. Furthermore, the language is being utilized for both front-end and back-end development. Its interoperability with well-known frameworks such as React, Vue, Node, and others makes it more appealing to developers. Given the millions of websites that rely heavily on JavaScriptcurrently online, as well as the languages demand and domination, it seems reasonable to predict thatJavaScriptwill continue to reign supreme in 2021.

For many years,Pythonhas been the preferred language of virtually everyone who is just getting started in the programming world. The main reason for this is that it has a very basic syntax that is easy to read, understand, and apply. The language is widely used in web development, software development, and other fields, as well as with numerous cutting-edge technologies includingmachine learning, artificial intelligence, and data science. Rich library support, automated garbage collection, better interaction with other languages, GUI programming support, and many other features are included in the language. Django, Flask, Pyramid, and other popular Pythonframeworks make things more efficient and convenient.

Both C and C++ have a significant presence in the IT industry and are now ranked at the top of several indices. Many large IT firms, such as Adobe, Oracle, Microsoft, Nvidia, and others, hire C/C++ professionals with competitive salaries. C is a general-purpose proceduralprogramming language that is mostly used in the creation of low-level systems such as operating systems, kernel development, and other applications. This languages characteristics are passed down to many other programming languages. C++, on the other hand, is aprogramming languagethat focuses on objects (primarily developed as an extension of C). The language is extensively utilized in a variety of industries, including game development, GUI and desktop applications, and competitive programming.

The object-orientedprogramming languageimplements the well-known notion of write once, run anywhere, which allowsJavaprograms to run on other systems that supportJavawithout requiring a recompilation. The language is frequently utilized in the creation of Android applications, as well as web, desktop, and scientific applications. Additionally, top-tier organizations such as Adobe, Amazon, Flipkart, and others useJavaand provide enticing job prospects forJavaengineers.

Various big tech companies, such as Facebook, Google, Uber, and others, use the Rprogramming languagefor their businesses, and with the rapidly increasing demand for data science andmachine learningtrends, learning the Rprogramming languageis undoubtedly worthwhile for your future career pursuits. It is an open-sourceprogramming languagewith a large collection of libraries and frameworks that is extensively used in the fields of data science, statistical analysis, andmachine learning. GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows are both well-suited to the language. It may also be readily integrated with a variety of data processing platforms, such as Hadoop and Spark. Cross-platform compatibility, high extensibility, powerful graphical capabilities, networked computing, and other important aspects of this language make it a more popular language among developers.

Kotlin is a general-purpose, statically typedprogramming languagethat supports both object-oriented and functional programming capabilities. The languages biggest feature is that it is fully compatible withJavaand supports allJavalibraries. In addition, the language is very simple to learn, and it can be used for online and desktop application development in addition to Android development. Some of the most popular frameworks for Kotlin include Javalin, KTor, and Vert.x, and companies like Pinterest, Uber, Netflix, and others are hiring Kotlin engineers.

Microsoft created the general-purposeprogramming languagemainly for its net framework. The language is widely used in game development, as well as the creation of Windows programs, server-side applications, and other software. C# also comes with a large library, making it a quicker and more efficientprogramming language. Structured language, quicker compilation, updateable & scalable, component-oriented, complete integration with .NET library, and many more are some of the amazing aspects of the language that are commonly praised by developers. The language is constantly utilized by developers in Unity game engine software, and organizations such as Intellectsoft, Capgemini, and others are also utilizing C# for their operations, implying that employment prospects for C# developers are plentiful.

PHP is used significantly by several well-known websites, including Facebook, Wikipedia, WordPress, and others. For website creation, the open-source server-side scripting language is used, and it has characteristics such as cross-platform compatibility, object-oriented programming capabilities, simple interaction with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other languages, as well as a large community of users. Beginners should consider learning this language because it is very simple to master. Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, and others are some of the most popular PHP frameworks to consider.

The Goprogramming languageis used by companies such as Uber, Google, and others. Go is a Google-developed statically typedprogramming languagewith a syntax comparable to C. It comes with a slew of useful features, like garbage collection, dynamic typing, type safety, high performance and efficiency, and so on. The language is multithreaded and may be utilized in distributed systems, cloud computing, and other applications. The coolest thing about the language is that it overcomes several fundamental problems, such as sluggish compilation and execution, the lack of a large standard library, and so on.

Scala is used by several tech titans, including Netflix, Linked In, eBay, Twitter, and others, for their various platforms and businesses. Scala is strongly recommended for beginners due to its ease of learning. The language was created largely to address difficulties that developers have with another programming language,Java. It has established a solid standing among developers throughout time. Scala is a general-purposeprogramming languagethat may be used for both object-oriented and functional programming. It has several distinctive characteristics, including slow computing, string interpolation, type inference, and high scalability. Scala code may also be translated to bytecodes and run on theJavavirtual machine. Web development, data science, andmachine learningare all areas where the language is extensively utilized.

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Top 10 In-Demand Programming Language that Will Rule in 2021 - Analytics Insight

Sometimes major shifts happen virtually unnoticed. On May 5, IBMannounced Project CodeNet to very little media or academic attention.

CodeNet is a follow-up to ImageNet, a large-scale dataset of images and their descriptions; the images are free for non-commercial uses. ImageNet is now central to the progress of deep learning computer vision.

CodeNet is an attempt to do for Artificial Intelligence (AI) coding what ImageNet did for computer vision: it is a dataset of over 14 million code samples, covering 50 programming languages, intended to solve 4,000 coding problems. The dataset also contains numerous additional data, such as the amount of memory required for software to run and log outputs of running code.

IBMs own stated rationale for CodeNet is that it is designed to swiftly update legacy systems programmed in outdated code, a development long-awaited since the Y2K panic over 20 years ago, when many believed that undocumented legacy systems could fail with disastrous consequences.

However, as security researchers, we believe the most important implication of CodeNet and similar projects is the potential for lowering barriers, and the possibility of Natural Language Coding (NLC).

In recent years, companies such as OpenAI and Googlehave been rapidly improving Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies. These are machine learning-driven programs designed to better understand and mimic natural human language and translate between different languages. Training machine learning systems require access to a large dataset with texts written in the desired human languages. NLC applies all this to coding too.

Coding is a difficult skill to learn let alone master and an experienced coder would be expected to be proficient in multiple programming languages. NLC, in contrast, leverages NLP technologies and a vast database such as CodeNet to enable anyone to use English, or ultimately French or Chinese or any other natural language, to code. It could make tasks like designing a website as simple as typing make a red background with an image of an airplane on it, my company logo in the middle and a contact me button underneath, and that exact website would spring into existence, the result of automatic translation of natural language to code.

It is clear that IBM was not alone in its thinking. GPT-3, OpenAIs industry-leading NLP model, has been used to allow coding a website or app by writing a description of what you want. Soon after IBMs news, Microsoft announced it had secured exclusive rights to GPT-3.

Microsoft also owns GitHub, the largest collection of open source code on the internet acquired in 2018. The company has added to GitHubs potential with GitHub Copilot, an AI assistant. When the programmer inputs the action they want to code, Copilot generates a coding sample that could achieve what they specified. The programmer can then accept the AI-generated sample, edit it or reject it, drastically simplifying the coding process. Copilot is a huge step towards NLC, but it is not there yet.

Although NLC is not yet fully feasible, we are moving quickly towards a future where coding is much more accessible to the average person. The implications are huge.

First, there are consequences for research and development. It is argued that the greater the number of potential innovators, the higher the rate of innovation. By removing barriers to coding, the potential for innovation through programming expands.

Further, academic disciplines as varied as computational physics and statistical sociology increasingly rely on custom computer programs to process data. Decreasing the skill required to create these programs would increase the ability of researchers in specialized fields outside computer sciences to deploy such methods and make new discoveries.

However, there are also dangers. Ironically, one is the de-democratization of coding. Currently, numerous coding platforms exist. Some of these platforms offer varied features that different programmers favor, however, none offer a competitive advantage. A new programmer could easily use a free, bare bones coding terminal and be at a little disadvantage.

However, AI at the level required for NLC is not cheap to develop or deploy and is likely to be monopolized by major platform corporations such as Microsoft, Google or IBM. The service may be offered for a fee or, like most social media services, for free but with unfavorable or exploitative conditions for its use.

There is also reason to believe that such technologies will be dominated by platform corporations due to the way machine learning works. Theoretically, programs such as Copilot improve when introduced to new data: the more they are used, the better they become. This makes it harder for new competitors, even if they have a stronger or more ethical product.

Unless there is a serious counter effort, it seems likely that large capitalist conglomerates will be the gatekeepers of the next coding revolution.

Article by David Murakami Wood, Associate Professor in Sociology, Queens University, Ontario and David Eliot, Masters Student, Surveillance Studies, Queens University, Ontario

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Programming in natural language is coming sooner than you think - The Next Web

Back in the spring, the city passed legislation to ensure that the popular Open Streets program, which provides car-free outdoor space to New Yorkers where they live, continues well beyond the pandemic. As part of that legislation, the city committed to improving the way that Open Streets are managed, as well as create more of them in the underserved neighborhoods that need them most. To that end, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Tuesday that free public programming will be coming to some of those neighborhoods in the Bronx and Queens this month.

The pop-up programs, which include no-touch play areas for kids, plant giveaways, and musical entertainment, are coming to Astoria, Kingsbridge, South Bronx, and Mott Haven over the four remaining weekends in October. It's being done in partnership with Lyft, who will promote Citi Bike at the various locations and offer riders in these neighborhoods 50% off the cost of an annual membership.

Open Streets have fundamentally transformed the relationship New Yorkers have with their neighborhoods, said DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman. Were reclaiming space from cars while promoting educational and cultural activities and helping our neighbors embrace the bike boom in our city."

Local politicians, including Bronx Borough President Reuben Diaz Jr, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Robert Jackson, and Congressman Adriano Espaillat, praised the programming and the city's continued efforts to expand and improve Open Streets for everyone.

"Bike safety is critical, by providing informative educational workshops I hope that well be able to give riders the confidence they need to continue riding their bikes more often, said Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Chairman of the Transportation Committee. He added that he would work toward continuing to bring these kinds of cultural and educational programs to other neighborhoods.

Check out the full list of programs below.

OCTOBER OPEN STREETS PROGRAMMING:

The Open Streets program was announced in April 2020 as a way to give pandemic-beleaguered New Yorkers more space to roam outdoors at a time when people were being asked to socially distance or stay indoors. There are now over 350 blocks, and over 70 miles, of fully or partial Open Streets in the cityyou can check out all the locations and hours of operation here.

The program has also spawned several complimentary spin-off initiatives, including Open Restaurants, Open Culture and Open Boulevards.

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Open Streets Pop-Up Programming Coming To The Bronx & Queens In October - Gothamist

Hi folks, its Brad. One of the most surprising things about the widening Facebook scandal is how former employee Frances Haugen obtained the trove of internal documentsand what that says about Silicon Valley culture. But first...

Todays top tech news:

The powerful Congressional testimony last week from former Facebook employee Frances Haugen might prompt new federal regulation and will likely damage the social networks already teetering brand reputation. But the most immediate victim could be the culture of extreme internal transparency at some Silicon Valley companiesthe very thing that allowed the whistleblower to make off with tens of thousands of internal documents in the first place.

Among the startling revelations over the past week was that Haugen obtained the documents, which described the companys allegedly lackluster efforts to combat misinformation and violence, in her last month at the companyafter she had already quit her job as a product manager. At most companies, this would earn an employee a one-way ticket out the door. At freewheeling Facebook, Haugen was able to stick around for a few weeks to pass her projects onto colleagues, and to trawl the companys internal bulletin boards collecting incriminating communiques that had little to do with her job.

Facebooks loose exit policy and apparently lax data-security policies arent unique. Theyre part of a culture of internal transparency thats commonplace in some corners of Silicon Valley. The idea, conveyed to new recruits at orientation, is that employees have access to significant amounts of internal research and documentation, so they know whats happening elsewhere at the company. Such free rein helps them collaborate with far-flung colleagues but is also a job perk, allowing them to fulfill any ambition or curiosity they have about other parts of the business.

This culture of permissiveness didnt originate at Facebook. As my colleagues Ryan Gallagher and Mark Bergen wrote two years ago, Google first based the practice on the principles of open-source software development, where the programming community collaborates to write code by making it freely available to anyone who wants to improve it. The search giant also established end-of-the-week Q&As with its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, dubbed TGIF, during which employees were allowed to interrogate their bosses. Facebook followed suit with its own weekly Q&A with Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.

In retrospect, such radical transparency assumed that employees all held the same effervescent faith in the companys ideals and positive impact on the world. That is clearly no longer the case. A few years ago, the right-wing site Breitbart obtained video of Googles first TGIF after the 2016 presidential election, in which executives expressed disappointment about Donald Trumps presidential victory. Zucks company-wide Q&As also started regularly leaking. Workers who no longer believed in the causeor felt their companies might be doing harmhad found a weakness in their employersidealistic spirit of openness.

Employees at Google and Facebook now attest that their cultures that are far less transparent than they used to be. The companies track which documents employees are accessing and monitor when internal communiques are leaving company networks. (In Haugens case, these measures inexplicably failed.) At Facebook, divisions like Oculus, the virtual reality outfit, and Portal (formerly Building 8), its hardware skunkworks, are strictly hived off from the rest of the company. Executive Q&As with employees are far less frank and are occasionally made public, to head off leakers.

If these trends continue, Facebook and Google could start to resemble two of their big tech brethren. Amazon and Apple never recognized the virtues of internal transparency. Both have thrived with strictly compartmentalized internal silos and almost tyrannical levels of secrecy.

Even so, Apple, like Facebook, is also finding itself at odds with its own employees. It recently closed an internal Slack channel where employees were discussing the issue of pay equity. And in a recent email to employees, CEO Tim Cook warned workers to stop divulging plans for future products to the media and said that leakers could face jail time and massive fines.

Cook is incensed by employees who spill secrets to the media. Compared to Mark Zuckerberg, hes got little to worry about. Brad Stone

Two reclusive Swiss artists created an enchanting instrument that became a mainstay of festivals like Burning Man. But internet fame triggered a wave of copy cats. Now the artists are trying to kill off the movement they started.

Apple is seeking to delay loosening its grip on the App Store following a judges ruling in its legal battle with Epic.

Elon Musk is pulling away from Jeff Bezos in the rankings of the worlds richest.

The investor who thinks Chinas crypto crackdown could help decentralized finance.

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Facebook's Whistleblower and the Downsides of Corporate Transparency - Bloomberg