Open Source Projects & Freeware
The Open Source software movement is probably the most popular and contentious idea to come out of the information revolution. While the culture struggles with the concept of free software provided with source code, and how this concept fits within an increasingly commercial world, the fact remains that the majority of the Internet runs on exactly this kind of technology. From mail servers to web servers to client software of all kinds, free and open software provides the building blocks of our technology infrastructure.
Idol Hands has a number of Open Source solutions freely available to the world. These include:
FACETS Framework (Fat AJAX Client / Thin Server)
FACETS is a fully OO, pattern-based, MVC-compliant framework for rich web applications. There are no restrictions or requirements for the server-side implementation of FACETS beyond the exposure of a REST or SOAP interface, and the client-side implementation is fully cross-platform and cross-browser compatible. The framework facilitates rapid prototyping by decoupling the front-end and back-end development of a web solution. FACETS provides built-in solutions for bookmarking, forward/back button behavior, state and session management, and conservation of HTTP requests in an integrated, optimized, and extensible framework. More information is available at the FACETS web site on Google Code.
Projectory, A Real-World Project Management Tool
With hundreds of installations worldwide, Projectory is the premiere platform-independent, web-enabled project management tool, designed to track software projects through all phases of development. Where traditional project management software is primarily useful only for planning and reporting purposes, Projectory lets you track actual development effort expended by teams or individuals across multiple projects and activities. More information is available at the Projectory web site on SourceForge.
WormSign, An Intrusion Detection System for IIS (No Longer Available)
WormSign is a passive intrusion detection system developed for use on the Microsoft IIS web server. The software alerts IT staff when suspicious and potentially malicious activity occurs on the front-end web servers. Information provided by the tool can be used to determine the nature of the activity (e.g. system error or a hack attempt). WormSign was instrumental in identifying Nimda/Code Red attacks on servers it was protecting in 2001, and was the subject of an article in "2600: The Hacker Quarterly" in the summer of 2003. (The SourceForge project for this system has been closed, as it is no longer actively supported.)
Yet Another IP Widget 1.2 (Freeware)
Yet Another IP Widget is a popular Konfabulator widget for Mac OS X. It unobtrusively displays an icon and IP address for each active network interface (ethernet, wireless, dialup, BlueTooth, or VPN.) If you have multiple network interfaces active (e.g. you're on an AirPort network and you're plugged in to a physical ethernet jack) you will see an icon and IP address for each one. You can click on the icon to get details on a given network interface, including DHCP hosts, routers, MAC addresses, and other related information. You can download Yet Another IP Widget here.
We firmly believe in the power of Open Source software in delivering fast, robust, and efficient solutions to technology challenges. The growth of Open Source software is fueled by groups of professionals who are giving back to the community at large by donating their expertise and experience, guiding the evolution of technology as whole and taking us collectively to places that seem out of reach individually.