We're joined on February 26, 2009 for Episode 6 by Neil Erickson, Senior IT Director at a Fortune 500 company. Neil brings some much needed reality to our discussion, reminding us that enterprises are trying to solve problems, not obsess about open versus closed. Neil also calls us the Gwar of open source, bringing back lost memories of my youth.
Recording with Skype remains a pleasure/pain that aches for a better solution. But since Matt is in Utah and I am in my secret lair, we have no choice. And no, I can't explain why sometimes the podcast works in iTunes and sometimes it doesn't. That's just one of many reasons we're moving it to CNet.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
You can also grab the mp3 or Ogg.
The topics of discussion:
- Open Core licensing--how do enterprises feel about mixed-source/hybrid models?
- Contributions are tough to pull off in many cases even if the enterprises want to give code back.
- Who is the likely vendor to get contributions--can Red Hat make something big happen?
- If not open source or SaaS, how do you do a software company?
- Does proprietary still work given the challenges of the economics?
- Should Matt get his faucet fixed by a plumber or just buy a washer?
- Will Microsoft customers ensure that they don't destroy open source?
- What about Yammer and private Twitter? Does it make any sense for the enterprise?
- Matt forgets about OSBC, the conference that he started.
Apologies for the heavy breathing. It's Matt, he's notorious for it--Ashlee Vance would never let that behavior fly. And thanks to Neil for shining some true enterprise light on our discussion. We've got a bunch of guests in queue from our slack time. More soon...
Previous episodes are still available at opensources.com
Follow us on Twitter @daveofdoom and @mjasay.
I spoke with Gavin Clarke over at The Register about his piece "Fresh blood - the new fight for open source" several times over the last few weeks about how there are a great many corporate developers creating additions and such for open source projects but how it's difficult for them to get the code out of the corporate boundaries and back into the project.
The real challenge facing open source is how to bring in fresh contributors and code contributions to sustain projects and meet users' needs. Without fresh blood, projects progress relatively slowly and are likely to stumble towards meeting the requirements of the end user, the consumer of IT.
Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst mentioned this at OSBC as well and Gavin sums the sentiment up very well:
Only by convincing the business managers that it's in their company's best interests to participate will open source attract more individuals from end-user organizations. According to Zorro, user participation in projects and groups such as Eclipse - popular with the industry but woefully lacking in end-user representation - will legitimize open source at last, providing a broader understanding and enabling individuals like him take off the mask and contribute in force.Developers--be like Kiss and unmask yourselves.
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 ModelsThe 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 with the product they have adopted.
Without forming a community and solidifying the community upfront you will have a very hard time getting large scale adoption. Successful companies have hit a critical mass of enterprises being comfortable with the technology.
The traditional model of open source is commoditization. This can be measured on an S-curve of adoption and completeness of solution. How close to parity does a product need to be in order to be viably considered?
Once you hit a critical mass point with the community then you reach the pragmatists. There is a minimum set of needs for sustainability, all of which help to reach this stability which leads to monetization.
That's all I got for now. I am going to get a drink before I pass out.
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. And with greater attention and potential has come a measure of added strife. Questions of selling out and just desserts surface more frequently, yet not to the jeopardy of the endeavor, as the code keeps proliferating, thanks to those who participate.
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.
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.
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