OSBC

The price Microsoft pays for its patents

I hate to keep beating this drum, but I read Stephen O'Grady's report on Brad Smith's keynote at the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) and thought it was worth highlighting. Stephen isn't prone to exaggeration or zealotry. So when he writes these words, it's worth considering:

Microsoft has a standing annual legal bill, we're told, of ~$100 million dollars to defend itself from patent related litigation. Unless the licensing revenue stream easily eclipses that amount, why is the current system worth defending? Why does Microsoft insist on speaking out in defense of a mechanism that appears, if anything, to negatively impact its shareholders? It seems like a flawed equation.… Read more

OSBC presentation: My slides online

In case you wanted the slides from my opening remarks at the Open Source Business Conference, you can access them here. I've stored them with Adobe Share, a cool service powered by Alfresco. (It's also cool that Adobe mentioned what they're using, as Dave notes.)

Unfortunately, I don't yet have the two videos from both days available on YouTube. I have to mux the source because it keeps stripping out the video (leaving only the audio track) when I upload it to YouTube or convert it to .mov, .wmv, etc.

There are some good charts on … Read more

OSBC notes: Monetizing open source with Rob Bearden (Benchmark)

I'm trying to liveblog Rob Bearden's talk here at OSBC but the conference room is so hot that I have to bail out. It's like a sauna in here.

Rob Bearden on Open Source Business Models

The ultimate objective of an open source company is to be able to monetize. You want to be the "enterprise standard" in order to assure your place within an organizations infrastructure.

In order to achieve this you need developer awareness and the ability for developers to be able to try the software. Without this developers will not be comfortable … Read more

OSBC Event preview: Open source roundtable interview

With OSBC coming up tomorrow and Wednesday, InfoWorld gathered up several open source folk (including me and Matt Asay included) to lend perspective on the lay of the land.

Since its emergence, open source has embodied this spirit. Part defiant, part self-reliant, and often outspoken and opinionated, those immersed in the community have worked both in tandem and at odds, all with the intention of pushing the movement in as many worthwhile directions at once.

So worthwhile that the drumbeat of business can now be heard in nearly every corner of community, drawing the attention of vendors and capitalists alike. … Read more

Reminder: Open Source Events--OSBC (March 25-26, 2008) and MuleCon (April 1-2, 2008)

The fine folks at InfoWorld Events and MuleSource are offering Negative Approach readers discounts for their upcoming events.

OSBC-March 25-26, 2008, San Francisco Reg code for $200 discount: mulesource Registration https://webreg.events.infoworld.com/osbc

MuleCon-April 1-2, 2008, San Francisco http://www.mulecon.com Mention this blog and get $50 off the MuleCon registration - just email mulecon2008@mulesource.com or call 1-415-229-2065 to register.

Disclosure: I am an employee of MuleSource and speaker at OSBC.

Red Hat's CEO at OSBC: The nature of true open-source innovation

Jim Whitehurst is a quick study. Matthew Szulik delivered the opening keynote at the Open Source Business Conference 2007, while his successor, Jim Whitehurst, will be opening up OSBC 2008 (March 25-26, San Francisco).

Like Matthew before him, Jim's keynote promises to spark some fireworks. Here's the abstract I just received:

Open Source and True Innovation

Open Source is the driving force behind the true innovation that happens daily in the community. True open source innovation is what drives value. Hybrid open source strategies cause confusion and sub-par customer experiences.… Read more

Love open source events? How about OSBC and MuleCon Promotions?

The fine folks at InfoWorld Events and MuleSource are offering Negative Approach readers discounts for their upcoming events.

OSBC-March 25-26, 2008, San Francisco Reg code for $200 discount: mulesource Registration https://webreg.events.infoworld.com/osbc

MuleCon-April 1-2, 2008, San Francisco http://www.mulecon.com Mention this blog and get $50 off the MuleCon registration - just email mulecon2008@mulesource.com or call 1-415-229-2065 to register.

Disclosure: I am an employee of MuleSource and speaker at OSBC.

What do FedEx, Visa, Amazon, France Telecom, and PG&E have in common? OSBC

InfoWorld just sent me an update on attendees for the Open Source Business Conference (March 25-26, San Francisco), and it was gratifying to see five years of effort paying off. IT executives (i.e., those managing IT within enterprises) is up 300 percent over 2007 (which was up considerably over 2006 and previous years). Registered attendees have doubled over 2007, too.

This year you'll see US Bank, Shimano, Boise Cascade, Visa, Amazon, NASA, Bank of America, The Gap, Federal Express, and hundreds more from the IT community in attendance.

It's going to be a killer show.

We have … Read more

OSBC tracking ahead of schedule on IT executive attendance

InfoWorld just sent me the registration numbers for the upcoming Open Source Business Conference, March 25-26 in San Francisco. As expected, we're significantly up on IT executive attendance.

I say "as expected" because attendance from the IT community has been on the upswing since the second show back in 2005. Each time we've increased the number of developers, architects, CIOs, etc. who attend the event. The content has partly been the cause, but it's also important to remember that as open source has gone mainstream, IT executives are increasingly allowed to be publicly interested in … Read more

Enterprise adoption of open source...from the perspective of an enterprise CTO

It's one thing to listen to vendors talk about the rise and importance of open source. It's quite another - and much more interesting - to hear customers talking about it.

I was fortunate to spend some time with Jon Williams, Chief Technology Officer at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions, the multi-billion dollar test preparation company. Jon is keynoting this year's Open Source Business Conference and gave me a sneak preview of what he'll be discussing at OSBC. I've worked with Jon over the past year and find him to be one of the industry'… Read more