open

Luis Villa is running a great series on what GPLv3 means for developers. Here's a snippet:

Q: I'm a developer, and my current code uses GPL v2 - should I update to the v3?

A: Probably. While the license does not include any huge wins for all developers that would make an upgrade obvious or mandatory, there are small wins here for virtually anyone who seeks to have a functional FLOSS project. In particular, every developer should appreciate the improved (if still imperfect) patent protection, the ability to copy and paste APL-licensed code into your code, and the internationalized legal language, offering them stronger protection outside the US's copyright system.… Read more

Wow. This post from Glyn Moody just resurfaced memories that should never have been forgotten. Glyn reminds us that IBM made a patent pledge that protects OSI-approved open source projects:

IBM today pledged open access to key innovations covered by 500 IBM software patents to individuals and groups working on open source software. IBM believes this is the largest pledge ever of patents of any kind and represents a major shift in the way IBM manages and deploys its intellectual property (IP) portfolio....

The pledge is applicable to any individual, community, or company working on or using software that meets the Open Source Initiative (OSI) definition of open source software now or in the future.… Read more

I had a great lunch with associates from rSmart, Unicon, and MIT today at the JA-SIG Conference, and we talked about a vexing issue that plagues software, open source and proprietary alike (though it hurts the open source vendor more): the high cost of sales. (I credit John Lewis, Chief Software Architect, Unicon, for any intelligence in my musings, and take full blame for the inane shrapnel that is my personal contribution to the thread.)

The proprietary world's P&L operates much like the VC's: high, upfront return (license) to cover the expense that Purchasing puts vendors through to earn its business. (Repeat visits, RFPs, etc.) In other words, the proprietary vendor spends five figures on five deals to hopefully get a "home run" return on one of them to subsidize and exceed the costs.

Open source vendors operate differently, as Larry Augustin pointed out at OSBC. [PDF] Open source vendors are about volume in leads, with the leads finding their way back to the company to purchase. Four figures (or less, often) to close a deal, with the intention being that more deals within the pipe will close.… Read more

Paul Doscher, CEO of JasperSoft, has proved me wrong. Two years ago when I joined as an advisor to JasperSoft, I worried that a company so new to open source (despite the Jasper community on which it was built) would struggle to truly get open source religion.

Paul, however, has adeptly made the shift from CEO to open source CEO, with JasperSoft doing exceptionally well in the market in consequence. In this eighteenth installment of our Open Source CEO Series, I talked with Paul about the transition.

Name, position, and company of executive Paul Doscher, President and CEO, JasperSoft, an open source Business Intelligence company.… Read more

Most of the CEOs profiled run commercial open source ventures that have always been open source (or had a strong open source component to them). In this seventeeth installment of the Open Source CEO Series, I caught up with Bob Walters, CEO of Untangle, a recent convert to an open source business model (though Bob, himself, has been involved with open source before while at Linuxcare). I wanted to find out lessons learned by Bob (and Untangle) on the shift to open source, and was not disappointed....

Name, position, and company of executive Bob Walters, President and CEO, Untangle, which delivers on-demand software to small businesses.… Read more

Michael Tiemann just sent out this link which tracks search query trends on Google. As you can see (red = free software, blue = open source), while the media is reporting "open source," the world apparently wants "free software."

Now, let's be honest. Many of these "free software" searches are almost certainly designed to locate "free as in beer" programs, not "free as in freedom" programs. Still, with cost being such a primary driver for interest in new software, a business model that gives people what they want up-front, with added … Read more

I spent an enjoyable morning with Andy Astor at a Bank of America Private Software Company Day (or something like that - Kirk Materne of BofA organized it and did a great job of moderating a panel on which Andy and I participated). As we talked before and during the panel, I came to understand and appreciate Andy's position on what constitutes an open source company. I'm still not sure I agree, but Andy has a good point....

EnterpriseDB initially dubbed itself an open source software company, and took some heat as a result. Andy's response? Clearly delineate the company's licensing policies.… Read more

It couldn't happen to a better set of people. As BusinessWeek reports, MySQL is well on its way to an IPO. The interesting thing is what it's doing to get there:

...[C]an MySQL keep up the growth without adding hefty sales and marketing costs?and getting squeezed by competitors? The company employs just 30 field sales staff out of a head count of 360 and strives to close deals more quickly than rivals. Most employees work from home. "Managing the cost of sales and marketing in an open-source company is the key to profitability," says Mickos, sitting in a small, spartan office adjacent to a sea of cubes in the company's Silicon Valley digs. "We're not just innovating in software, we're innovating in sales."… Read more

Mikko Puhakka (Open Tuesday) sent me a painfully funny link to Ari Jaaksi's blog posting about the process of open source adoption at Nokia.

Ari's basic premise? You can count on executives or developers to get the open source religion and push for adoption...but don't expect middle management (Ari is a middle manager at Nokia) to push for the change:… Read more