November 18th, 2009

Competition made Microsoft open source embedded .NET

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:34 am

Categories: BSD, Development, Distributions, General, Microsoft, wireless

Tags: Microsoft Corp., .Net, Application Servers, Linux, Middleware, Internet, Open Source, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Enterprise Software

Regular readers here have probably guessed why Microsoft decided to open source .NET Micro under the Apache 2.0 license.

Competition.

Makers of embedded devices have been moving strongly into open source, especially Linux, and Microsoft was at great risk of being left behind. The announcement was made at the company’s Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles.

The news comes against the backdrop of falling market share for Windows Mobile, and increasing market share for Microsoft open source, as revealed in the latest Black Duck figures. They’re not being nice here, they’re being practical.

Here is how Microsoft community development manager Peter Galli put it on his blog:

The result of this is that the .NET Micro Framework has become a seamless development experience, bringing a single programming model and tool chain for the breadth of developer solutions, all the way from small intelligent devices, to servers and the cloud. There are also no more time-limited versions.

Note that Microsoft is not open sourcing the TCP/IP stack that .NET Micro links to. That’s someone else’s. But the news will let developers create Internet-linked device networks using .NET. It gives Microsoft an in to a technology open source, and Linux, were threatening to run away with.

The handwriting was probably on the wall here years ago, when Linux bought Wind River, and when innovative start-up Cavium bought MontaVista resistance became futile.

It must be noted that software is just a small part of any embedded, Internet-linked solution. It doesn’t mean you’re getting something for nothing, because the chips the software is expressed in are sold as part of larger devices.

It’s all part of a vision I covered early this decade of wireless networks acting as application platforms, using Internet standards to create systems for home automation, medicine and entertainment that are always on and live in the air.

Now Microsoft has a viable play in this game, and this is very good news for .NET developers.

November 10th, 2009

Enterprises saving $26 million per project with open source

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:00 am

Categories: Development, Enterprise Policy, General, Implementations, management

Tags: Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

A Black Duck analysis shows the average enterprise software project is 22% open source, saving an average of $26 million on each project.

The estimate was created using the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO), first released in 1981.

Black Duck, which originally developed its database of code to help companies comply with software licenses, is increasingly turning to it as a research tool, a sort of Framingham Heart Study of software.

In the last few months, for instance, it has documented the rising use of Javascript and PHP, the return of the software M&A market, and the increased use of strong encryption in open source, using its data.

“We’re trying to package up the information around open source projects and serve it in a way that’s productive,” acknowledged Peter Vescuso, (above, right) executive director of business marketing.

Increased interest in and use of open source by enterprises has helped drive excellent growth for the company over the last year, said CEO Tim Yeaton (left). “When the recession started, even conservative organizations have moved to open source.” Studies like this one are a way of giving back.

While three of five developers are still .Net centric, Yeaton added. “What we’re seeing is a wave of pragmatism in terms of building solutions. The religion is out of the equation. Once people figure it out it’s going to be a better way to build” they use it.

“Vendors serving customers at the application development level are figuring out how to respond more effectively. Our message seems to resonate. It’s about the pragmatism of taking advantage of what’s out there, and making good choices at the application level.

“Choose what’s right for the job.” It’s not about values, it’s about value.

UPDATE: Mr. Vescuso made some great points in our talkback thread I think should be in the main story.

it may not be clear this analysis is based on a sample of Black Duck customers and does not represent all enterprise or commercial applications. Our description is at:
http://www.blackducksoftware.com/news/releases/2009-11-10

These were all large code bases. The 22% of the application/product code represents over a half million lines of finished code. If you use COCOMO and BLS wage estimates, you get $26 million. This is the same model and approach the Linux Foundation used to estimate what it would cost to develop Linux. Whatever method you use, a half millions lines of finished code — written, tested — is significant.

November 10th, 2009

Open source be not proud

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:53 am

Categories: Database Management, Development, General, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, business models, java, management, mergers & acquisitions, support

Tags: Larry Ellison, Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

Open source is, in part, a release of ego.

When a program is proprietary, it’s yours. You own it. You can feed it or you can kill it.

Not so with open source. When software is made open source it is with the knowledge that its fate is shared among all stakeholders. The contributions that make it valuable may well come from outside, the direction of the software is no longer completely in the hands of its owner or sponsor.

Larry Ellison doesn’t understand this, and I suspect neither does Wall Street. Otherwise, why would the Street be cheering on Ellison’s suggestion that he’ll kill Sun to keep Euro-hands off mySQL?

More than the future of mySQL is now on the line. So are the futures of Java and OpenOffice, and all the other projects Sun Microsystems sponsors. Ellison thinks this fact should make the EC Competition Commissioner, Nellie Kroess, back off. He seems to think the U.S. government can make Kroess relent.

The key to why Ellison is wrong can be found in the paragraph above. It’s one word. I’ll wait…

The word is sponsors.

Open source companies don’t own the code bases that are in their charge. They seek to monetize the code, so the code can be expanded, so it will draw more committers. Acquia doesn’t own Drupal, and Automattic doesn’t own Wordpress. The code bases are, in fact, owned by the community, simply by virtue of being open source.

Ellison seems to think that if he snaps his fingers and brings down the wrath of heaven, then mySQL and Java and OpenOffice will cease to exist. This would be true if they were closed source. In that case they would be orphaned, and if no buyer were found support would disappear.

Open source does not work that way.

Sure it would be tough for these big projects to find new sponsors. But there are plenty of prospects around.

Google would have an interest in Java, as might Microsoft. IBM already has a stake in Open Office. I’m certain we can find another home for mySQL, too. Even Glassfish might well find a new home within the federal government.

Ellison’s threat to kill Sun’s open source projects if he does not get his way is an empty one. Someone would pick up what remaining pieces have value.

Open source, divorced from its sponsor, turns to software water, and would quickly flow through Ellison’s hands.

Go to an open source conference. Listen carefully to the commercial open source businesspeople you see there. They may talk about their kids and their companies, their hobbies and their passions, including a passion for the projects they control.

But they know those projects are more like their kids than their sailboats. They are responsible for the software they control. They do not own it. It’s not “my” software. It’s “our” software.

This is the attitude you must take if you’re to make a success of an open source business. This is why many in the proprietary world, like Larry Ellison, confuse it with communism, or socialism, or some other foreign -ism.

Open source be not proud. Open source code responds to whomever gives it the love of time. The parents aren’t those who gave it the DNA of capital, but those who gave it the love of hard work.

November 6th, 2009

Why Google released Closure Tools

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 8:00 am

Categories: Development, Distributions, General, Google, java

Tags: Google Inc., JavaScript, Tool, Scripting Languages, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Dana Blankenhorn

Javascript.

The release of Closure Tools by Google under an open source license is all about putting more muscle behind Javascript, whose underlying Java language is under a cloud due to the Oracle-Sun merger.

Web developers face a choice between using Javascript and the Microsoft AJAX Library, part of .Net, in developing Web applications. Google would rather you use tools it depends on, its AJAX Library, and its Web Toolkit.

As C}Net’s own Stephen Shankland notes today, Google has pushed Javascript to its limits in GMail and  Google Docs, and developed its Chrome browser in part so Javascript could run faster. Google likes Javascript like Cookie Monster (above, from yesterday’s Google home page) likes cookies.

Anything Google can do to make Javascript more valuable to you is in its best interests, and the tools described on its blog today are pretty marvelous.

• Closure Compiler is a Javascript optimizer that packs code tighter than your best friend’s jeans.
• Closure Library is a Javascript library with low-level utilities and high-level widgets that work on a wide variety of browsers and can be called on as-needed.
• Closure Templates are implemented for both Javascript and Java, so they can be called from clients or servers.

It is indeed, as one wag put it, a Javascript candy store. It wants to be your favorite candy store. It wants to be your only candy store. No Pepsi, Coke.

November 4th, 2009

Sam Ramji has his head in the clouds

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:34 am

Categories: Cloud Computing, Development, General, Software as a Service, Strategy, business models, management

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Sam Ramji, Sonoa, Stacks, Cloud Computing, Blogging, Virtualization, Strategy, Internet, Hardware

Sam Ramji, formerly the face of open source at Microsoft (cue the Star Wars music) is settling into a new life as vice president for strategy at Sonoa Systems, a cloud start-up.

He told me it suits him.

“Instead of pushing boulders up the hill I’m going down the hill. Sonoa has 65 employees. I talk to customers directly, daily, instead of monthly. There’s less operational overhead. So I’m getting out more, talking at events more, talking to journalists and analysts more.

“At Microsoft there is no such thing as a staff job. You have to always be driving strategy, be a subject matter expert, and get into detail as much as necessary. I had a 120 person team in a 90,000 person organization.

“As Vice President for Strategy at Sonoa Systems I’m a one man show.” He also gets more family time — he describes himself on his personal blog as an “avid husband and father of two.”

That blog (now part of the blogroll here) is also now a great place to get Ramji’s honest views on cloud computing, CodePlex, and open source in general, as in this piece “free is not the opposite of commercial.”

Ramji describes Sonoa as being among the many start-ups working to define what will become the LAMP stack of cloud computing. (That’s a close-up of its home page, describing its offerings, to the left.)

This means competitors are often collaborators. “We’re all trying to figure out how our technologies connect” with the primary competition coming from clients’ in-house development.

He described one Sonoa solution, for MTV, involving RightScale, Amazon, Sonoa and Xen, all working together. “It seems like we do the same thing, but when we get deployed you realize that managing the virtual infrastructure is different from managing cloud service traffic. Stacks are just starting to emerge and each component is important.”

So Ramji has gone from a world where everything is defined and the fight is continuous to one where nothing is defined and contention is nebulous. It’s more wide-open and, he says, more fun.

So there is life after Microsoft, in the clouds.

November 4th, 2009

Ramji delivers a CodePlex process

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:23 am

Categories: Development, General, Microsoft, business models, support

Tags: Commons, Microsoft Corp., Ramji, CodePlex, Open Source, Tools & Techniques, Management, Dana Blankenhorn

Successfully pulling code out of a big company can be like pulling the teeth off a lion, without anesthesia.

Sam Ramji (right), the former Microsoft executive who remains President of CodePlex, president of the CodePlex Foundation, which surrounds the Microsoft open source repository, said the key to success is a process.

CodePlex has published a draft of its process, a Project Acceptance Guideline, and is seeking comments from the community on it. The draft describes the advantages of contribution and provides a step-by-step guide for delivering new projects to CodePlex.

Ramji told ZDNet he’s anxious to get community input into the Guideline and will take that input seriously. He wants CodePlex to become a bridge between the open source community and corporate interests.

“How do we solve the problem of corporate contribution to community projects?” he asked. “The barrier is comfort. That comes from a clearly understood process and a well understood mechanism so people see contributing as low risk.”

Ramji said the Codeplex process says “here is how you should contribute in a way that’s sustainable for you and safe for the developer. There should be derivative works with no concerns about patents.”

CodePlex contributions come from software companies and non-industry sources, Ramji said. Software companies learn, through the CodePlex process, which elements of their IP are valuable and which are more valuable in the commons.

Then there are the non-industry contributions.

“Wall Street banks have talked to me over the last few months about contributions they couldn’t get legal clearance on. CodePlex offers a template for how it can get done. We have an organization that can own the copyright, that can accept cash as well as code, and can do the community management.”

In both these cases CodePlex is delivering code to the commons that might not be contributed otherwise, valuable code that can be used to build new applications.

“CodePlex is a lot of my future now,” he said, even though he has left Microsoft to become vice president of strategy at Sonoa Systems, a cloud start-up.

And the work is gratifying. “The Foundation is growing pretty quickly in terms of input from community members and corporate interests.”

November 4th, 2009

With Zapatec Funambol has one stack to rule mobile open source

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 12:01 am

Categories: Applications, Development, General, Strategy, mergers & acquisitions, wireless

Tags: Mobile, Open Source, App, Zapatec Funambol, Advertising & Promotion, AJAX, Marketing, Internet, Software/Web Development, Web Development

Funambol, now billing itself as the leader in mobile sync, has bought Zapatec, which creates Web 2.0 solutions using AJAX.

The result, the company believes, will be a one-stop shop for building mobile applications that run as well as native apps across multiple platforms.

Funambol has its developers in Italy, Zapatec in the Ukraine, but both have operations in Silicon Valley that will be consolidated in Redwood City. Zapatec CEO Dror Matalon will become vice president of emerging technologies for the combined company, said Funambol vice president of worldwide marketing Hal Steger.

The combined company is focused on a tough problem for mobile developers, namely how do you create apps that integrate with native apps, yet don’t have to be completely rewritten for each platform.

Steger said Funambol’s sync technology solves part of the first problem, Zapatec most of the second, and the combination will enable a total solution.

“A lot of people think the future of mobile apps will be like Web apps, like AJAX apps on desktop browsers,” said Steger. “If you can build a Web app that works on a lot of phones you can just build one version.”

Not exactly. “Mobile is different from desktops because two of the most important things you need to do are integrate with the core apps on the phone, like the address book and calendar, because other apps do.” This makes it harder to build a single app for multiple platforms and carriers.

Funambol solves part of the problem since its mobile sync is designed to be cross-platform and cross-carrier. Zapatec solves the coding problem.

You can call this innovation, but then it’s all based on an open source core. Developers will want to do business with Funambol, not just download its stuff, to get the full effect, Steger said, but the effect should be cool.

November 3rd, 2009

Yahoo does right by Traffic Server

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:45 am

Categories: Applications, Cloud Computing, Development, Distributions, Events, General, Infrastructure, Internet

Tags: Yahoo! Inc., Apache Software Foundation, Server, Traffic Server, Cloud Computing, Open Source, Virtualization, Hardware, Dana Blankenhorn

It’s easy to become obsessive over whether a piece of code is open source.

How code becomes open source  can be just as important. Is it being given the resources and sponsorship necessary to grow? Or is it being tossed over the side of a sinking ship?

By those standards, Yahoo has done its Traffic Server, acquired early this decade along with Inktomi, a solid service, placing the code with Apache.

The code is available right now from Apache’s incubator. This brings the number of incubator projects to 36.

Traffic Server is designed to optimize Web sites by caching popular content at the network edge, closer to users. It’s not something Google needs — they have their own solution — but it could be very useful for relatively new, fast-growing sites. It can keep them from going down when everyone “rushes to the rail” for access.

The software is being released in time for ApacheCon, which plans a Meetup on the software at 8 PST tonight. If you’re at the Con go to Room 4. There you can get the lowdown on features, performance and history from people who have actually written code.

Shelton Shugar of Yahoo told CNET’s Stephen Shankland that Yahoo hopes Traffic Server grows like Hadoop, the cloud computing technology that has since spawned the start-up Cloudera.

What do you think it can be?

November 2nd, 2009

Mozilla goes back to the beta with Firefox 3.6

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:43 am

Categories: Development, Distributions, General, Internet, mass market

Tags: Mozilla Firefox, Beta, Mozilla Corp., Web Browsers, Internet, Dana Blankenhorn

Barely four months after launching Firefox 3.5, Firefox has shipped its first beta version of Firefox 3.6.

Mozilla takes release numbers seriously. As our own Stephen Shankland notes, this is not Firefox 4, nor is it Firefox 3.5.x. It’s being pushed as a minor tweak, one with no visible user interface changes.

There are two ways to look at this.

1. Oh goody. Mozilla is increasing the pace at which it delivers updates and upgrades.
2. Oh bother. Does this mean Firefox 3.5 is buggy and insecure?

Among the features in the new release:

• Personas, a set of “skins” for the browser surround of menus.
• Alerts on delivery of new plug-ins.
• Support for full-screen native video.
• Support for WOFF fonts.
• New support for CSS, DOM and HTML5.

If you have ever thought to yourself, “gee, I’m not a programmer, and I can barely afford my daily bread, how can I help an open source project,” here is your answer. Download this buggy code and report on what’s wrong so it can be made right.

No excuses if you’re Basque or Czech or Georgian. This beta has you covered. Yes, even if you’re Telugan, the new Firefox beta understands you. Download it now.

Oh, and feel free to complain below.

October 30th, 2009

Making a foundation a real solution to the mySQL mess

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:09 am

Categories: Database Management, Development, General, Oracle, support

Tags: Oracle Corp., MySQL, Amazon.com Inc., Open Source, Databases, Enterprise Software, Software, Data Management, Dana Blankenhorn

The mySQL mess won’t go away.

It doesn’t want to go away because mySQL is very useful. The latest demonstration? Amazon’s support of the community version of the software at its EC2 cloud.

Two forces are trying to keep the code from forking beyond all recognition.

One force is Oracle itself. You buy a unit worth $1 billion as part of a larger deal and you don’t want it dribbling through your fingers.

The other is mySQL co-founder Monty Widenius, who helped launch a group called the Open Database Alliance in May to support a new “community version” of the software.

So far only three companies have joined the ODA. A general meeting is being organized for Zurich, but it might just be a few guys sitting around a table at a bar. The group’s Twitter feed is dormant.

The problem for the ODA is as simple as do-re-me. They don’t have enough of what makes the world go around. When the check comes for the drinks in Zurich, I have to wonder who’s going to pay it, or whether they’ll make the waitron wait while those around the table hunt the cushions for enough quarter-Euros to split it.

Amazon’s move offers the chance for a reboot.

Oracle has a greater financial stake in the future of mySQL than Monty Widenius does. So does Amazon. So, very likely, do some other large players.

Instead of holding the software as semi-proprietary, which the Europeans won’t accept, or just writing a check to make it go away, which Oracle does not want to do, why not create a new foundation, on the model of Eclipse or Apache?

Those who put in the most would have the biggest say in this new group. The community would be represented, in other words, but they wouldn’t be in control. The major sponsors would be.

The mission of the new mySQL Foundation would simply be to hold the code base together, to provide a central point for updates, QA and bug fixes, to run the “official” version of the code base and plot its future direction. To run the forge, in other words.

Everyone would benefit. Oracle would get Sun, and community support. The community would get a vital development hub, well-funded. Amazon would be assured its support of mySQL, and the investment it has made in it, is not being wasted. Everyone could take the software in their preferred direction and share the results.

I guess this is all too reasonable to go anywhere. But it’s worth a shot.

October 30th, 2009

What should open source do in a car?

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:45 am

Categories: Development, General, Not Linux

Tags: Car, Ford Motor Co., C|NET, Sync, Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

C|NET’s own Antuan Goodwin revealed yesterday Ford is looking to build an open source platform for its Sync services, its in-vehicle informatics interface. (Picture from C|NET.)

According to Ford’s Syncmyride.com Web site, Sync already does things like enable hands-free cell calls, voice-activated playing of your favorite MP3s, and turn-by-turn navigation. On the site Sync is co-branded with Microsoft.

The software can be updated, so when new features emerge, like the ability to create a Vehicle Health Report or call 911 automatically, all Sync users can get an update.  Sync has been available since the 2008 model year on a growing number of cars, which now include mid-priced models like the Taurus and Focus as well as pricier models like the Mustang and the Explorer.

Reading between the lines of Antuan’s story, however,  it seemed Ford is a little nervous about this open source idea. The near-death experience of the last few years makes the unthinkable thinkable, but maybe when it comes to open source Ford executives this morning are saying something like, “What were we thinking?”

To me, this looks like a job for the open source community. You, in other words.

What should open source be doing in a car? What would you do that Sync isn’t doing now? How should an open source community focused on automotive features be managed? And what features should be off-limits to the open source community?

Have a good weekend. Take a drive.

October 29th, 2009

Qualcomm joins open source movement at head of parade

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 7:38 am

Categories: Development, General, Hardware, Linux Handheld, Linux Laptop, mass market, mobile, telecom, wireless

Tags: Open Source Movement, Qualcomm Inc., Matt Asay, Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

Qualcomm, which has long had a major position in mobile chip sets and standards, has joined the open source movement with an eye to leading it. (Picture from Whenpigsfly.info.)

The company formed a new unit called Qualcomm Innovation Center (QuIC), under a senior vice president, and it joined the board of directors of the Symbian Foundation.

The idea behind the QuIC is to push open source, including systems like Chrome, Webkit and Android as well as Symbian, the company said.

Qualcomm is doing this to support its Snapdragon chip set, a CPU and graphics chip package designed for low power and handheld devices, most based on Linux. These include what Qualcomm calls “smartbooks,” netbook-phone hybrids on which Chinese manufacturers like Acer, Asus and HTC are already working.

The move should also be seen in light of recent moves by Intel to support mobile open source. Matt Asay writes that “pigs are beginning to fly” and he’s right.

But where are they heading?

The efforts of Qualcomm surrounding Snapdragon seem to prove that the “waiting for Godot” story of “desktop Linux” may finally get an appearance by its title character appearing on the stage in the form of a telephone-laptop hybrid.

But open source advocates should also take a jaundiced view of this, not just because it has been delayed for years. As Matt notes, combining open source and proprietary technology in the way Qualcomm wants to do, while legitimate, does threaten to maintain the vendor lock-in that open source is meant to fight.

Just because you draw a picture does not mean the pig is really flying.

October 28th, 2009

What the DoD now says about open source

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:33 am

Categories: Development, Distributions, Enterprise Policy, General, Government

Tags: U.S. Department Of Defense, Wennergren Memo, Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

Open source can be compared directly with commercial software and it offers unique advantages for rapid prototyping and sharing across the military.

Those are the key takeaways in a new memorandum now circulating the Pentagon from deputy CIO David Wennergren (right).

While it’s not a complete endorsement of open source, it does give people a green light to go get some.

The Wennergren Memo says that open source should be included in any market research on department needs, and also debunks some common myths that have been spread by commercial vendors:

1. Open source places no restrictions on who can use it.
2. Instructions against use of public domain code should not be interpreted to apply to open source, as government employees can fix bugs.
3. It is not true that any improvements to open source must be distributed to “the community” (including potential enemies). They can be legally shared throughout the DoD under any open source license and kept there.
4. Release of open source code can be controlled, and should be done when in the government’s interest, when the government receives “unlimited rights” on upgrades, and where there is no law, like an export control, that might stand in the way.

The memo says additional information will be posted at the Defense Department Web site and encourages use of the official military software forge at http://software.forge.mil.

Cut through the bureaucratese and you do have a remarkable turnaround in attitudes. Under the previous Administration contracting was the only way to go. Now officers are being allowed to try do it yourself solutions.

That’s a very big deal.

October 27th, 2009

Black Duck finds its business makes sense

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:24 am

Categories: Development, General, Security, business models, support

Tags: Encryption, Security, Dana Blankenhorn

I am of two minds concerning the Black Duck release on encryption in open source.

On the one hand it’s interesting to know that 4,000 out of 220,000 tested (less than 2% if you’re scoring at home) contain strong encryption, the kind the U.S. still thinks of as “munitions grade.”

On the other hand there is no reason to panic, as Dr. Dobbs did. And a close look reveals this release is basically a product launch for Black Duck Export, a new feature in its “watch out, look out, over there” suite of offerings that includes warnings on copyrights and other important issues.

The image that often comes to mind when I think of Black Duck is of Daffy and his friends flying across the sky when Elmer Fudd & Co. start blasting from down below. On the other hand lawyers and spies can also use Black Duck software, so security through obscurity may be a bad move.

For the government this is an opportunity to choose its attitude regarding encryption, which has been an issue for software developers going on 20 years now. Pretending that the U.S. is the only home of this stuff is just plain silly and rules should be uniform. The encryption wars should have ended a decade ago.

October 26th, 2009

Open source scores small victory at White House

Posted by Paula Rooney @ 8:31 am

Categories: Development, FOSS, GPL, General, Government

Tags: White House, Government, Open Source, Paula Rooney

Open source scored a victory at the White House this week with the government’s choice to switch to Drupal for whitehouse.gov.

The U.S. government’s technology team announced that it had selected the open source content management system to make http://www.whitehouse.gov more transparent to consumers and developers.

This will allow programmers to view, inspect and fix the web site’s code, government officials said. The news was reported over the weekend by the Associated Press.

Open Source for America has been pushing Obama’s government to embrace more open choice software as a way to reduce costs and drive open standards for more transparency.  Last week, ConsortiumInfo’s Andy Updegrove wrote a blog urging Obama to choose more FOSS.

October 26th, 2009

The chief value of open source

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 6:20 am

Categories: Development, Enterprise Policy, General, Infrastructure, business models, values

Tags: Code, Open Source, Dana Blankenhorn

One thing I agree with Matt Asay about. The key to open source is not that it’s free.

Open source doesn’t even cut costs, because code licenses represent only a tiny portion of a major product’s cost.

The chief value of open source is visibility. (These highly visible sneakers cost $120 from Xander. Picture from Hypebeast.)

You can see the code, you can test the code, you can improve the code, but mostly you can see the code.

When you see the code vendors, of necessity, change their business models. Their costs move to the back-end. They look for subscription revenue, for services revenue. They look for ways to help a project work.

When you can see the code you have a different relationship with it. You’re no longer asking what it can do. You’re asking how you can adapt it to your needs.

With code visibility, you and your vendors become partners in trying to make something work. The vendor can’t over-promise, but you can’t over-assume either. This may be one of main hidden reasons for IT failure, the two sides of the transaction not being on the same page.

You can also get around a vendor with open source. If the vendor doesn’t have time to fix your issue, you pay someone else to fix it. Maybe you hire someone, maybe you just go to the community or its commercial arm. There are no more excuses, well no more you have to tolerate, with open source.

When code is visible, and you’re a member of the code community, you’re going to be up-to-date on improvements, enhancements, and bug fixes. It’s not just that the code becomes visible, but you become visible as a user of the code.

It’s true that in the enterprise space there is no such thing as free code. There is only visible code and invisible code. When you have open source you have the visible kind, and this makes all the difference.

October 25th, 2009

Drupal challenged as White House goes blog

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:59 am

Categories: Database Management, Development, General, Government, Internet, content, mass market, politics

Tags: Drupal, White House, Blog, Whitehouse.gov, Blogging, Government, Internet, Dana Blankenhorn

Whitehouse.gov has been relaunched as a Drupal site.

The switch was designed to be transparent, but even a casual observer will note the site now features five separate blogs, and that officials’ names are now listed on announcements that read more like stories, often with personal details.

So it’s one small step for Washington, one giant leap for open source. Sites like Whitehouse.gov are the ultimate honeypots for hackers and script kiddies around the world. This is true regardless of the party in power.

What that means is that government programmers, the Drupal team, and the folks at its commercial arm, Acquia, are going to be very busy with real and imagined bug reports. It’s going to test their systems as well as the software.

Officials indicated that if the Whitehouse site works well Drupal could be in line for other government work.

October 22nd, 2009

Metasploit finds another way to go commercial

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 5:17 am

Categories: Development, General, Security, mergers & acquisitions

Tags: Community, Founder, Metasploit, Metasploit Project, Rapid7, Keyboards, Hardware, Peripherals, Dana Blankenhorn

The Metasploit Project has found a way to go commercial without turning its design team into suits, as it was acquired by Rapid7.

Details on the deal were not released, but Rapid7 did go through a $7 million venture financing round last year with Bain Capital.

Metasploit, which is a penetration testing project, will become part of Rapid7’s NexPose security suite.

In reaction to this deal the usual suspects made the usual noises, worried that Metasploit may go closed source or take its eye off the ball, but to founder HD Moore it’s all good.

He revealed in a blog post called Metasploit Rising that he’s been working on the project as a hobby for six years, but he will now have a full-time job as Chief Security Officer for Rapid7. The Metasploit developer who goes by the nom de keyboard Egypt will also go on salary at Rapid7. (Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it.)

Projects get commercial arms all the time, with lead developers often becoming executives like Dries Buytaert at Drupal or Matt Mullenweg at WordPress. This is generally received with much rejoicing among community members. It means software will get regular updates and they can obtain professional help when their questions go beyond what the community can answer.

This deal seems like just another way of doing the same thing, only the founders get to stay at their keyboards, in development, without having to become salesmen or magazine cover boys. The concern is whether the commercial sponsor/owner has the same love of the code and the community that the founders did.

I can’t answer that for certain, but that’s the way toward profit. If a community has value, and that of Metasploit certainly does, then Rapid7 would be foolish to do anything but support it.

October 21st, 2009

Revolution gets $9 million and Nie

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 7:09 am

Categories: Development, GPL, General, venture capital

Tags: Analytics, SPSS Inc., Norman Nie, R, Venture Capital, Financial Planning, Investment, Open Source, Finance, Financing Startups

REvolution Computing, which is commercializing the open source R language, got a $9 million venture capital infusion and a new CEO, Norman Nie.

Nie, a political science specializing in polling, previously founded SPSS in 1968, and managed to have an outstanding academic career while running the company for nearly 40 years. SPSS was acquired by IBM for $1.2 billion this fall. North Bridge and Intel Capital would doubtless settle for that kind of performance.

Nie replaces Richard Schultz, who becomes an adviser to the company. R is the statistical programming language and part of the GNU project.

Given its nature as an academic project under the GPL, Nie said all the right things on taking his new job.

“I am keenly aware of R’s roots in the academy, just like SPSS before it. We will continue our close relationship with the academic community, even as we meet the needs of commercial users, and we will expand our commitment to the R community in terms of products, services and resources.

Nie said his goal is to make R the “dominant analytics platform.” Accomplishing that will mean doing a delicate dance between the needs of the market and the needs of academics devoted to open source. He has the right experience to do that job.

October 15th, 2009

Should Google spin Android into a foundation?

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 7:29 am

Categories: Development, General, Google, Hardware, Linux Handheld, Standards, management, support, telecom, wireless

Tags: Google Inc., Fork, Foundation, Eclipse, Linux Foundation, Forks, Linux, Java Development Tools, Open Source, Operating Systems

Google faces a conundrum.

How does it maintain control of Android and at the same time build a community of interests in which developers can seek profit?

The easy answer is to turn the Open Handset Alliance into the Android Foundation. (Fans of the late Isaac Asimov will recognize this fellow even in French.)

Critics love to claim that Eclipse is just an IBM front, but that’s a cheap shot, based on the fact that IBM gains huge benefits from Eclipse without having to pay all the bills there.

Foundations can be a great way to organize vendors who have a common purpose but divergent business plans. The Linux Foundation is a good example of this.

But there are risks in an Android Foundation, as Symbian’s David Wood said when they were going open source a year ago.

Forks are one.

Foundations lead naturally to forks. Every vendor who sells an “enhanced” version of Eclipse tools is pushing a proprietary fork. There are dozens of Linux distros, each of which forks the code in some way to provide added value.

How much Android forking can Google stand before the value starts dribbling through its fingers? Like to see some stuck-up Microsoft search engine sitting on an Android phone? (Make your blood boil? Well I should say.)

There is, of course, another risk in going the Foundation route. It doesn’t always work. Witness LiMo, which Motorola recently abandoned for Android. Witness Moblin, which Intel gave to the Linux Foundation. Witness Symbian itself for that matter.

The difference between the OHA and a conventional software foundation is that for Android to move forward it must first be expressed in phones, in hardware. The chicken-and-egg question here yields an easy answer. It’s the chicken. An egg, the software, is pretty meaningless if it’s just sitting on a server.

This fact reduces the threat of a fork. The value of any Android handset lies in its compatibility. Without that it might as well be a Windows Mobile set.

So long as Google is the biggest investor in Android, then, it’s probably doing the right thing by avoiding the foundation model. But at some point the rest of the ecosystem needs to grow up for Google to get its investment back.

So if Google does set up an Android Foundation some time down the road, know that it’s a sign of success, and that it no longer has to push this rock up the hill all by itself.