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International Space Station to boldly go with Linux over Windows

Computers aboard the International Space Station are to be switched from Windows XP to the Linux operating system in an attempt to improve stability and reliability. Dozens of laptops on the ISS's 'opsLAN' network - which provides the ship's crew with vital capabilities for day-to-day operations, from telling the astronauts where they are to interfacing with onboard cameras - will be switched, removing Windows entirely from the ISS.

Linus Torvalds: Linux succeed thanks to selfishness and trust

I actually think the real idea of open source is for it to allow everybody to be "selfish", not about trying to get everybody to contribute to some common good. In other words, I do not see open source as some big goody-goody "let's all sing kumbaya around the campfire and make the world a better place". No, open source only really works if everybody is contributing for their own selfish reasons. Big universities with computer science departments had people who were interested in the same kinds of things. And the copyright protected those kinds of people. If you're a person who is interested in operating systems, and you see this project that does this, you don't want to get involved if you feel like your contributions would be somehow "taken advantage of", but with the GPLv2 [licence], that simply was never an issue... I'm relieved that Microsoft seems to have at least to some degree stopped seeing Linux as the enemy. The whole "cancer" and "un-American" thing was really pretty embarrassing.

ELNs mean many things to many people

What is an Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN)? What function does it serve? Where does it fit within my laboratory informatics strategy? Do we need an ELN, and if so what would be best for my company’s needs? When should I use an ELN, or a LIMS or both? These are all large questions, and unfortunately, they are being asked with increasing frequency due to a lack of clarity in the market. In its simplest form, an Electronic Laboratory Notebook can be thought of as for an electronic embodiment of what is currently being done in a paper laboratory notebook. It is a tool that facilitates the workflows that play out in a particular laboratory. Having said that, Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN) and Lab Execution Systems (LES) all fulfil this basic requirement, to a greater or lesser extent, as they exist within various laboratory environments. So what’s the difference between these applications?

Open source's ardent admirers take but don't give

Open...and Shut. Free riders' self-defeating logic. Open source went mainstream long ago. It's a pity, then, that it's still so poorly understood by many of its most ardent admirers. There are benefits to be had from free-riding on open-source communities, to be sure. But the benefits are multiplied when an enterprise actually participates in an open-source community, rather than simply borrowing from it.

Good Manufacturing Practice for Pharmaceutical Products

Good manufacturing practice (GMP) comprises that part of qualityassurance aimed at ensuring that a product is consistently manufactured to aquality appropriated to its intended use. GMP requires that the manufacturingprocess is fully defined before it is initiated and that all necessaryfacilities are provided. In practice, this means that personnel must beadequately trained, suitable premises and equipment used, correct materialsused, approved procedures adopted, suitable and transport facilities availableand appropriate records made.

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