Well, some of you might find it unusual for software to walk on red-carpet but they do. Indeed, they’re being awarded the same Oscar-recognition for their exemplary and outstanding performance in the software landscape and IT computing of today’s world.
The Annual Bossie (short for Best of Open Source Software) Awards 2008 celebrated this year’s best of the best free software. Editors, analysts and reviewers from InfoWorld (formerly published by known open-source critic, Ethernet co-inventor Robert Metcalfe) had a really hard time deciding who to recognize among the millions of open-source software floating in the world of computing today. Among the most easy top picks were OpenOffice.org, Wikimedia, Firefox, Ubuntu and MySQL. All in all, 60 products in eight categories were named as winners.
The complete list of winners for this year’s InfoWorld BOSSIE Awards:
Best of open source in application development
- db4o, Object Database
- Git, Version Control
- HttpClient, Web Client Library
- Intel Threaded Building Blocks, Parallel Programming
- JBoss Drools, Business Rule Management System
- Open Flex, Rich Internet Applications
- Prototype, JavaScript Framework
- soapUI, Web Services Test Tool
Best of open source in productivity applications
- Audacity, Sound Editing
- Blender, 3D Modeling
- Firefox, Web Browser
- GIMP, Image Editing
- OpenOffice.org, Productivity Suite
- PDFCreator, PDF Creation
Best of open source in enterprise applications
- Alfresco Community, Content Management
- Compiere, Enterprise Resource Planning
- dotProject, Project Management
- Hyperic HQ, Application Monitoring
- Intalio BPMS, Business Process Management
- JasperReports, Reporting
- Liferay Portal, Enterprise Portal
- Magento eCommerce, E-Commerce
- Pentaho Open BI Suite, Business Intelligence
- SugarCRM, Customer Relationship Management
Best of open source in collaboration
- Elgg, Social Networking
- MediaWiki, Wiki
- VNC and Chicken of the VNC, Remote Control
- Scalix, Mail and Calendar
- WordPress, Blog Publishing
Best of open source in networking
- Asterisk, IP Telephony
- AWStats, Log File Analyzer
- InSSIDer, Wireless Network Scanner
- Nagios, Server Monitoring
- NDISwrapper, Wireless Network Interface
- Vyatta, Router, Firewall, & VPN
- Wireshark, Network Protocol Analyzer
- Zenoss Core, Network Monitoring
Best of open source in platforms and middleware
- CentOS, Server Operating System
- JBossESB, Enterprise Service Bus
- MySQL, Database
- phpMyAdmin, MySQL Administration
- Puppy Linux, Small-Footprint OS
- Talend Open Studio, Data Integration
- Ubuntu, Desktop Operating System
- VirtualBox, Desktop Virtualization
- Xen, Server Virtualization
Best of open source in security
- AppArmor, Application Security
- Metasploit Framework, Penetration Toolkit
- Ophcrack, Password Cracker
- SmoothWall Express, Network Firewall
- Snort with BASE, Network Intrusion Detection
- Splunk, Security Log Analysis
- TrueCrypt, Disk Encryption
- Untangle Gateway Platform, Gateway Security
Best of open source in storage
- Amanda, Network Backup
- FreeNAS, Storage Server
- WinMerge, File Management
- SMART Monitoring Tools, Disk Monitoring
- StorageIM, Storage Administration
- Free Online Backup, Online Backup
Congratulations to everyone, uhm software…okay, thing? Two thumbs up! 
To read complete story, go to InfoWorld’s report by Doug Dinsley.
Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/08/04/32TC-bossies-2008_1.html
