As the buzz begins to slow on Apple's iPhone, we're hearing renewed rumors of the long-awaited "gPhone" from Google. While the rumors vary from source to source, there are a few consistencies, one of which is that a mobile device from Google would heavily utilize open source technologies and would most likely run on a version of Linux.

As recently as 2004, business bloggers such as Jeffrey Veen were still skeptical about the viability of open source technologies for enterprise-class business applications. Now, just three years later, it seems nearly everyone, including the Google Guys, is willing to stake their capital on open source.

The August 27, 2007 issue of eWeek, features a cover story relating how another LeapFrog, the toy manufacturer, is increasingly employing open-source solutions in their products.

Last year, when we began looking at developing our own enterprise-class Content Management System, we considered every option, including developing from scratch. We've got a terrific crew of talented programmers, so we knew that we had the capability to build a powerful solution from the ground up. However, we finally decided to build our LeapFrog Editing and Publishing Framework (L.E.A.P. Framework, for short) on the open source Drupal framework. The headstart provided by starting from a robust and stable codebase allowed us to both develop the finished CMS rapidly and cost-effectively, and also resulted in a more polished end product.

Our clients have been extremely pleased with the L.E.A.P. Framework, and it's now been tested in some fairly aggressive use environments, proving capable of scaling well at a global level across multiple languages.

Open source technologies have made an impact on the global business environment. As more and more businesses turn to open source as at least a beginning point for application development, rapid deployment of more new and helpful consumer applications such as the gPhone are sure to follow.