FLOSS Weekly
Encyclopedia
FLOSS Weekly is a free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

 / open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 (FLOSS
Alternative terms for free software
Alternative terms for free software have been a controversial issue among free software users from the late 1990s onwards. Coined in 1983 by Richard Stallman, "free software" is used to describe software which can be used, modified, and redistributed with little or no restriction...

) themed podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

 from the TWiT Network
TWiT.tv (network)
The TWiT Netcast Network, which is the operating trade name of TWiT LLC, is a podcast network run by technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte. The network began operation in April 2005 with the launch of This Week in Tech. Security Now was the second podcast on the network, debuting in...

. The show premiered on April 7, 2006, and features prominent guests from the free software/open source community. It was originally hosted by Leo Laporte
Leo Laporte
Léo Gordon Laporte is an Emmy Award winning, American technology broadcaster, author, and entrepreneur. A former resident of Providence, Rhode Island, he now lives in Petaluma, California with his wife Jennifer and two children, Abby and Henry....

; his cohost for the first seventeen episodes was Chris DiBona
Chris DiBona
Chris DiBona is the open source and public sector engineering manager at Google. His team oversees license compliance and supports the open source developer community through programs such as the Google Summer of Code and through the release of open source software projects and patches on Google...

 and subsequently Randal Schwartz. In May of 2010, Randal Schwartz took over the lead host position, freeing up Leo Laporte for other opportunities.

Many influential people from the free and open source community have appeared on the show, including Kent Beck
Kent Beck
Kent Beck is an American software engineer and the creator of the Extreme Programming and Test Driven Development software development methodologies. Beck was one of the 17 original signatories of the Agile Manifesto in 2001....

, Ward Cunningham
Ward Cunningham
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham is an American computer programmer who developed the first wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham , on...

, Miguel de Icaza
Miguel de Icaza
Miguel de Icaza is a Mexican free software programmer, best known for starting the GNOME and Mono projects.-Early years:Miguel de Icaza was born in Mexico City and studied at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México but never received a degree. He came from a family of scientists in which his...

, Rasmus Lerdorf
Rasmus Lerdorf
Rasmus Lerdorf is a Danish programmer with Canadian citizenship and is most notable as the creator of the PHP scripting language. He authored the first two versions...

, Tim O'Reilly
Tim O'Reilly
Tim O'Reilly is the founder of O'Reilly Media and a supporter of the free software and open source movements.-Life and career:...

, Guido van Rossum
Guido van Rossum
Guido van Rossum is a Dutch computer programmer who is best known as the author of the Python programming language. In the Python community, Van Rossum is known as a "Benevolent Dictator For Life" , meaning that he continues to oversee the Python development process, making decisions where necessary...

, Linus Torvalds
Linus Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the open source Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator...

, and Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....

. Show topics are wide in variety, and have for example included ZFS
ZFS
In computing, ZFS is a combined file system and logical volume manager designed by Sun Microsystems. The features of ZFS include data integrity verification against data corruption modes , support for high storage capacities, integration of the concepts of filesystem and volume management,...

, Mifos, Asterisk, and the OSU
OSU
OSU can stand for:* Institutions of higher education:** Ohio State University** Oregon State University** Oklahoma State University** Oswego State University * The Order of St...

 Open Source Lab.

History

FLOSS Weekly was started by Leo Laporte
Leo Laporte
Léo Gordon Laporte is an Emmy Award winning, American technology broadcaster, author, and entrepreneur. A former resident of Providence, Rhode Island, he now lives in Petaluma, California with his wife Jennifer and two children, Abby and Henry....

, who runs the TWiT
TWiT.tv (network)
The TWiT Netcast Network, which is the operating trade name of TWiT LLC, is a podcast network run by technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte. The network began operation in April 2005 with the launch of This Week in Tech. Security Now was the second podcast on the network, debuting in...

 podcast network, and Chris DiBona
Chris DiBona
Chris DiBona is the open source and public sector engineering manager at Google. His team oversees license compliance and supports the open source developer community through programs such as the Google Summer of Code and through the release of open source software projects and patches on Google...

, now the open source program manager at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

. FLOSS
Floss
Floss may refer to:* Dental floss, used to clean teeth* Embroidery thread, machine or hand-spun yarn for embroidery* Fairy floss or candyfloss, alternative names for cotton candy* Rousong, i.e. meat floss-Computing:...

 is an acronym for Free/Libre Open Source Software
Free and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...

. The show was intended to be a weekly interview with the biggest names and influences in open source software. Episode one of FLOSS Weekly appeared on April 7, 2006.

Towards the end of 2006, episodes began to appear less frequently, dropping to a monthly basis. DiBona's newborn baby and commitments at Google were cited as reasons for the show's stagnation, and on the seventeenth episode, Laporte appealed for other co-hosts to share the burden. This was DiBona's final appearance on the show as the host. He returned as a guest for the show's 100th episode

The show went on an unannounced three-month hiatus, re-appearing on July 21, 2007, with a new co-host, Randal Schwartz
Randal L. Schwartz
Randal L. Schwartz , also known as merlyn, is an American author, system administrator and programming consultant.-Career:...

, who had previously appeared on the show as a guest. Schwartz has since taken over organizing guests for the show, and has restored the show to a predominantly weekly schedule (with occasional gaps from scheduling conflicts or last minute cancellations). Starting with episode 69, Jono Bacon
Jono Bacon
Jono Bacon is a community manager, writer, musician and software developer, originally from the United Kingdom, but now based in California...

 has been a somewhat regular co-host, even filling in for Randal when Randal wasn't available.

The show was nominated for the 2009 Podcast Awards
Podcast Awards
The People's Choice Podcast Awards, better known as the Podcast Awards, are an annual set of awards given to the best podcasts as voted by the people...

 in the Technology/Science category.

In May 2010, the show began publishing a video feed (along with many of the rest of the TWiT network shows), and moved to an earlier recording time. As a result of the new recording time, Leo Laporte stepped down as the lead host, and Jono Bacon could no longer regularly co-host. Randal Schwartz is now the lead host, and is currently using a rotating panel of co-hosts, selected on the basis of availability and appropriateness for the guest.

Format

Most episodes feature the primary developer or developers of a particular open source software project. The show is an open discussion, with Laporte and Schwartz asking questions about the nature of the project. Typically, the interviewers will ask the guests about the history of the project, and its development model (such as which language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....

 it is written in, which version control system
Revision control
Revision control, also known as version control and source control , is the management of changes to documents, programs, and other information stored as computer files. It is most commonly used in software development, where a team of people may change the same files...

 is used, and what development environment the author uses). Some shows, such as the interviews with Jon "maddog" Hall and Simon Phipps
Simon Phipps (programmer)
Simon Phipps is a computer scientist and web and open source advocate.Phipps was instrumental in IBM's involvement in the Java programming language, founding IBM's Java Technology Center. He left IBM for Sun Microsystems in 2000, taking leadership of Sun's open source programme from Danese Cooper...

, are not specific to an open source project, and feature more general topics, such as the philosophy of free and open source software. Shows begin and end with a brief discussion between Schwartz and his co-host, before and after calling the guest. Often the guests are interviewed via Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...

, with Laporte's staff at TWiT being responsible for the audio recording and production. FLOSS Weekly has been supported by advertising and donations. In October 2006, FLOSS Weekly had 31,661 downloads of episode 14.

Shows

The following lists all the shows that have been produced. There is a public list of potential future guests, although the show is only scheduled two months out.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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