CONTRARY to the common perception that open source software is competition, the Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, “inter-operates” with free software developers.
This was what George Parilla, Microsoft marketing manager, said during a meeting among Cebuano E-commerce and E-business owners Tuesday night at Formo.
The event was organized by the Digital Filipino.com Club headed by Janette Toral. Microsoft sponsored the activity.
In an interview, Parilla said that open source software functions side by side with Microsoft applications while Microsoft also offers applications that can be beneficial to the web community.
He also mentioned, as an example, that the 2008 version of the Windows Server can run multiple operating systems —like Linux—on top of the Windows operating system.
Microsoft is also a sponsor of the first Cebu Open Source Summit slated next month.
Ideas
Microsoft acknowledges the importance of the web blogging community since it has become a venue for web developers to create applications that people can use.
Parilla said Microsoft also gets ideas from open sources.
He also observed that the Cebu blogging community has become a growing hub for Internet-based businesses. “With web-based businesses, you don’t (have to) spend a lot,” he added.
Although it is hard to quantify the number of Cebuano bloggers, Parilla said there are already a number of Cebu-based websites that can be considered successful.
Philboxing.com, developed by Dong Secuya, is one of the “successful” websites cited by Parilla. Through the website, Secuya has become a “personality” in boxing. He was also invited to cover international boxing matches, which are featured in his website.
Istorya.net, a forum developed by Cebuanos, was also ranked as the number one regional-based website in the country, according to Alexa.com—a ranking website.
Job search
Mynimo.com, the first Cebu-based job search site, has been doing “very well” after it was launched in February 2007.
Wesley Chiongbian, the developer of Mynimo.com, said the website now receives 30,000 page views daily. “We also got 40 percent of the online market share,” he added.
Aside from Cebu, Mynimo.com also gets viewed by jobseekers from other parts of the country who are interested to work in Cebu.
Microsoft also promoted the use of Microsoft blogging applications to Cebuano bloggers. Parilla cited that the Live Writer application will enable a blogger to create and edit blog entries online and easily upload them to the blog site.
The Live Photo Gallery, on the other hand, allows one to easily post pictures to a blog site since it self-edits the picture to the size allowed for posting.
Both Live Writer and Live Photo Gallery applications function with a number of blogsites like Blogspot and Wordpress.
The Cebu meeting was attended by 60 E-commerce and E-business enthusiasts, all based in Cebu.
Toral said it is important to convene the community since there is a need for it to be organized. She added that the event will also help promote the blogging community of Cebu. (DME)
