By Mathias Huber
Linux New Media invited an international jury of some 200 members to acclaim outstanding contributions to free software. Besides developers, authors, and industry experts, the 2005 jury also included representatives from public administration, an area in which Open Source software is steadily gaining momentum.
The award categories reflect current trends. The free PBX application, Asterisk (http://www.asterisk.org), attracted a majority in the new "Best Voice over IP software" category, followed by Skype, http://www.skype.com, for many the first program to bring Internet Protocol-based communication to the home.
Groupware tools that integrate email, address management, and calendar functions are an essential part of the modern workplace. Open Source groupware solutions are ousting MS Exchange in many companies. Kolab, http://kolab.org, came up on top in the "Best Groupware server" category, followed closely by Open-Xchange, http://www.openexchange.com.
Corporate environments have very specific requirements for Linux operating systems. More than half the jury agreed that Novell's Suse products offer the best Enterprise Linux solution. The classic Enterprise contender, Red Hat, attracted about one third of the votes.
Although industry giant IBM has sold its PC business, it still consistently uses Linux for servers such as the OpenPower series. The jurors awarded first prize for the "Most Linux-friendly hardware vendor" to IBM.
A retrospective of the 2004 Awards clearly shows another trend. Last year, Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntulinux.org) was a promising newcomer that took second place in the "Best Newcomer Distribution" category behind Skole Linux, which is also Debian-based. The trust the jury put in Ubuntu was not misplaced: Ubuntu, the self-acclaimed "Linux for human beings," kept to the promised release cycles in 2005, was well-represented at community events such as Linuxtag, and built up a considerable following in the course of the year. All of this led to Ubuntu taking the category of Best Debian Derivative with 43.5 percent of the votes. A KDE variant of Ubuntu called Kubuntu came in third. 25 percent of the votes went to the popular Live distro Knoppix.
Against the backdrop of the Ubuntu success, it comes as no surprise that Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth will take home a personal trophy in acknowledgment of his entrepreneurial spirit. Mark takes the Special Award for "Outstanding Contribution to Linux and Free Software," not only for his work with Ubuntu, but also for the commitment he has shown to many other Open Source projects in his home country, South Africa, as well as in other parts of the world.
Mark will be sharing the "Outstanding Contribution" award with someone without whom neither Linux nor any free software would exist: "the anonymous developer."
This year's jury was really excited about the idea of acknowledging the contributions of all software developers who have played a part in the Open Source movement. As a result, a Linux New Media Award for 2005 goes to everyone who contributes to free software, whether as a volunteer, a full-time employee, or a part-time contract worker: "the anonymous developer" is truly the heart and soul of the Open Source community.