Linux and Open Source have made an impact in mass media and anyone working with information technology these days will have heard these terms. Few, however, understand why or how to properly leverage them during design and implementation. During many projects, the budget is smaller then one wants, but the project must get going. How? Using open source solutions of course. There are four main reasons why open source solutions lead to higher quality products and projects.

This presentation discusses the processes to put in place at the software engineering management level to increase the level of quality and ensure security in developed software. The software processes can be added to any organization but this presentation focuses on small startup corporations that use the internet as a primary tool in their business plan, in this case Neolytica and eGateMatrix. [ed: Neolytica was subsequently purchased by The Dow Chemical Company.] (Spring/Summer 2002)

The presentation was for students in class on Information Engineering at the University of Michigan. It helped introduce them to XML and explain how XML can be used in the business world. (2001)

The Document and Hypertext Processing website gives one an overview. The Demo then allows one to see the system in action. (2001)
see also http://www.engin.umd.umich.edu/~ECE576/projects/hypertext/

The paper discusses some of the issues involved with designing and implementing a linux based network for a small startup company called CoatingsMart Inc. based on the experience learned at eChemicals. CoatingsMart was purchased by Morton Powder Coatings. (2000-2001)

The presentation discusses scope creep and how to manage it in small and medium size consulting projects. Included are discussions of what is scope, how to set scope, what is risk, imprudent vs. prudent risk, balancing scope and risk, and assignment of risk. The link points to a summary article. (Summer 2001)

Within software projects, the risk of scope creep can dramatically affect the outcome of the project. Dealing with this risk in a professional manner allows consultants and clients to succeed in every project.

Scope and Scope Creep

This paper and presentation was given to a masters class in computer security at the University of Michigan. Topics and examples were given in the presentation to include both technical issues and management issues. (Fall 2001)

Maintaining network and computer security in a small company environment is harder than in a large corporation. The staff members in small companies have more control over the equipment and people involved (since there are fewer of them) so before implementing security, everyone must be convinced that it is a good idea.

Computer Security Goals

Proceedings of SPIE -- Volume 4189, by Shridhar, Waltz, Miller, Houle, Bijnagte, Dibble. Recognition of license plate images is the topic of this paper. The major issue in this problem is the accurate extraction of the license plate character string from varying backgrounds using processing techniques that are reasonably fast. The images are also characterized by non-uniform illumination. Recognition of the string is relatively straightforward, if the extraction process has been correctly designed.

The research paper and presentation discusses the process of creating a license plate recognition system. The process begins with an image capture stage and progresses through plate extraction and finally character recognition. (2000)

Quick Book Review - Mastering Algorithms with Perl

Authors: Jon Orwant, Jarkko Hietaniemi & John Macdonald
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 1-56592-398-7

Pages: 704 (648 of real hard core stuff)
Rating: 9
Reviewer: Ryan Dibble (rdibble at dibble dot net)