ironically, the site is using ruby on rails

Yep, and its open source: http://github.com/jcnetdev/opensourcerails

Interesting choice to group together open-source projects by language. . .

I guess I can see how it would be useful from a developer standpoint; developers who are hardcore on PHP now have a place to network, showcase, share ideas, explore the range of functionality of PHP, etc.

It's actually quite similar to the idea I had, originally, for my site. Originally zentu was going to be a "developer network" of sorts. . .

But in the end, I thought there's more use to be had by classifying according to end-use functionality rather than languages; however, I made sure to devote nice, hefty sections to development frameworks, CMSes, etc:

http://www.zentu.net/

Not to steal thread thunder or anything. ;)

P.S. and my site certainly isn't as pretty. . .

I like how the sites are presented visually, as though a pretty visual design would imply a good application.

That's how Rails got so popular.

The nice thing about a good ui is its universal. Whether the codebase sucks or not, you cant deny when an app looks and feels right on the ui side.

It tends to make sense to put most of the effort on frontend usability, especially for web apps.

Pretty and functional do have significant correlation. At this point looking pretty (or at least clean like HN) is a basic qualification to get me as a user.

Developers who think through clear UI are more likely to get the back end right.

Citation needed.

I don't really care about design; that's someone else's job. But I bet I can code the backend fine.

It would be nice to see all the open source php projects out there once this site picks up. Nothing like good ol' free software to stick it to the man!

"Nothing like good ol' free software to stick it to the man!"

Err, that's not really the point of free software. The free software movement is more about freedom than not paying money (libre vs gratis).

You really want to stick it to the man? Pirate proprietary pay-for software. But you wouldn't want to do anything illegal now, would you?

> Pirate proprietary pay-for software.

Beware that in some cases, that's still a net gain for the proprietary vendor: if you weren't able to pay much for, say, Photoshop, better to have you as a Photoshop user who will buy it at some later date, recommend it to your friends, and otherwise participate in the Photoshop using community, rather than, say, learn Gimp on Linux.

This is true, but there are many people who will always pirate no matter what. I know people who pirate everything from Photoshop and Windows to music and movies, not because they /can't/ pay, but because they simply don't want to.

What would they do if pirating was impossible?

Use Gimp or buy Photoshop?

Hypothetically speaking, both. Those that could afford it would buy it and grumble, those that can't would use Gimp.

But this is reality, and the reality is that pirating is easy to do even with all the DRM/anti-piracy stuff that is in place.

For those that would buy, piracy is a net loss for the company.

For those that would use open source, it's a net a loss.

It's like the old saying: "Only thing worse then being talked about.."

Only thing worse then being pirated is not being pirated.

I agree that it's not just about free software. Open source is a great movement for expression and challenges you to grow. But at the same time, aren't you sick of big companies making us pay for crappy software...uh um windows vista?

Last I checked, you're free to _not_ buy Vista. Buy a Mac. Buy a pre-installed Linux box. Buy your roommate's cousins used Pentium 4 w/o an OS and have your way with it.

What is exactly is 'your way?'

I prefer: http://opensourcecms.com/

Stole the PCLinuxOS logo.

Well it appears that they didn't copy it, so if they stole it, they did it well, as I only recognize the similarity of a blue circle, which is pretty generic.

I'd say the logo looks more like the Nissan Motor Company logo.

If anything I'd say it's a rip off of The Germs logo.

The Germs logo and PCLinuxOS logo are closer than the srcphp logo and The Germs logo. But given that they are all variations of blue circles, there have to be thousands of companies/organizations (At least) with a variation of the blue circle, chopped or whole.

[Edit] I did a quick search. They are all stolen from Blue Circle Industries. See for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Circle_Industries

But really, probably not. Someone else must have had it before.

Really, the logo should've been implemented in Logo.