moody's

Microsoft to avoid transparency with Windows 7

Glyn Moody hits the nail on the head with his critique of Microsoft's proposed approach to Windows 7: Say little so that the market expects little.

It's not an unreasonable approach, and Microsoft did get burned for actually warning the market about what it would be providing, only to have to endure the consequences of not living up to the expectations it set, but I'm not sure it can afford to go back. Stating that it will be "more careful" with Windows 7, Microsoft's representative noted:

"We know that when we talk about … Read more

The high price of ignoring open source in the UK

Of many ways to get what you want, I use the best. I use the rest. I use the enemy. I use anarchy.

Ah, the Sex Pistols. Who knew that they would sing of open source so many years before it became a commercial powerhouse? And who knew that open source would go so neglected in the Sex Pistols' homeland, the United Kingdom?

As The Guardian points out, this neglect costs the UK dearly:… Read more

An interview with...myself

OK. This feels a bit odd, referencing an interview with myself. (Actually, Glyn Moody did the interview the last time I was in London.) I only include it because, reading back through it, I can't help but be grateful for the serendipity that led me to where I am right now. Glyn noted before that I've "had what amounts to the perfect career in open source."

But I had nothing to do with it. i never consciously set out to do anything with open source. It just happened to me. Despite my best efforts, at times.

Talking through my last 10 years, it all flows with a unifying trend toward an appreciation for freedom in code at its heart. But I didn't start there (I was a mixed source zealot of sorts), and I never intended to land where I am today. It felt chaotic living through it. Only hindsight reveals the theme.

Anyway, in this interview I comment on the Microsoft/Novell patent deal, the dilution of the meaning of "open source," Alfresco's shift from MPL+Attribution to 100% GPL, the founding of the Open Source Business Conference, my departure from Novell, and my law studies under Larry Lessig.

On this last/first point, here's a snippet from the interview:… Read more

Open source's integration problem (?)

Glyn Moody has an excellent article in Redmond Magazine on open source and interoperability. As it turns out, sometimes it takes Microsoft to notify the open-source community that for all the great things we've done, we sometimes fall short. One area that open source had traditionally failed in was in stitching together an end-to-end solution, as Nick McGrath (a friend and a wonderful person) suggests:

Of all the accusations Microsoft has leveled over the years against open source, perhaps the least contentious is that it lacks the tight integration offered by Microsoft's own products. As Nick McGrath, director of platform strategy for Microsoft in the United Kingdom, puts it: "One of the problems I've seen with open-source software is it doesn't take on board some of the issues that customers have around interoperability and integration. Open-source projects tend to offer a very specific point solution."

This statement has become less true over time, though it's still the case that there is no one open-source vendor providing seamless interoperability between disparate pieces of enterprise software (in the way that Oracle and Microsoft do or attempt to do). My bet is on Red Hat to become that company over time, but in the meantime, we're not there yet.… Read more

Welcome to the next phase of open source (Glyn Moody)

Glyn Moody has quickly moved to the top of my RSS reader. He consistently writes thoughtful pieces, and this one is no different. As Glyn explains, none but the most determined persist in believing that open source is a fad that will soon die out. On the contrary, open source has taken over infrastructure software and is gathering steam in the application space.

Oddly enough, this is where the problem starts.

The manifest advantages of being open source - to say nothing of the trendiness of the label - has led to many startups adopting the term uncritically. From being an alternative way of branding free software, open source has now become a way of branding any software where the code is available - irrespective of what other restrictions are imposed. This is bad news, because it dilutes the value of the term "open source." That, in turn, could stymie corporate adoption, as companies find themselves increasingly confused about what open source really means, and what the real value is.

More is at stake than semantics. I believe, with Glyn, that the health of the movement depends on proper nomenclature.… Read more