Comments on: Open source in '08: Break-outs and consolidation

What will 2008 bring? Pleasure and pain in the open-source world.

[dbjack]

Following a new business model is easily the scariest type of fund raising there is no questions asked. There aren't many willing to look there as classically trained investors are scared off pretty quickly. As scarce as funding is right now...

Trump had it right in the early 90s when he said survive to '95 and in the open source community should be fine by '09. Should be money and some clear examples of good 'new' business models to choose from.

[Bill Quintrell]

Its never OK for a business to use this language "we are out to kill you". I know a financial or insurance industry CIO would not hear such a comment from one of their primary IT partners so that would immediately cause pause when considering if Mulesource would be a good partner. An interview or quote would be different but you had time to select your words and their accuracy.

[royrusso]

Bill is right. In the LoopFuse blogs, we prefer, 'We're out to Taze you, bro" and sometimes, "We're out to WaterBoard you."

You're free to use either, Dave.

[daverosenberg]

@Bill-While I respect your suggestion I disagree. Proprietary vendors has stated any number of times that open source is "communism" and "socialism" and that it "should be wiped off the face of the earth" and those are just the easy ones. We have no reason to play nice with companies that want nothing more than for us to go away. The words may be harsh but you should take that as a commitment to the fact that open source is serious.

Add to that the fact that you can read more than 4 year of my thoughts via various blogs, publications and podcasts on open source and the software industry and I am confident that CIOs realize that what MuleSource offers goes beyond my hyperbole.

I guess I could have said "we're here to get along with you while you do everything in your power to crush us" but that doesn't really capture the feelings of the OSS vendors I know.

[rvelez]

n comparison to Web 2.0 or SaaS, open source is infinitely more valuable, simply because there is code that is accessible to the masses. When the bubbles all burst, at least open source lives on.

Why not combine open source and SaaS? Companies don't need all their software brought in house, they just need the services that software provides. Everything else takes them away from their core business. Sure there's the argument that software is a differentiator, but there's not reason why that differentiator couldn't be provided as a service as opposed to having to deal with everything from the infrastructure on down.

[Savio.Rodrigues]

>And here's a reminder to proprietary software vendors: we are out to kill you.

And a reminder to OSS vendors: we are out to buy you up and use you to grow our business.

:-)

Happy new year Dave!

Savio