Is the commercialization of open source malignant, benign, or beneficial? My day at OSBC West (the Open Source Business Conference) included this important exploration of how customers are incorporating open source products into their typically closed-source systems:
The expert panel was moderated by Bob Lisbonne, General Partner from Matrix Partners. Panelists included:
- Ken Rudin, CEO of LucidEra
- Andy Astor, CEO of EnterpriseDB
- Dave Dargo, SVP of Strategy/CTO of Ingres
- Curtis Edge, CIO of the Christian Science Monitor
- Ken Jacobs from Oracle
One of the recurring themes that emerged in this panel was transparency. Several speakers touched upon the issue. Edge hopes that commercialization doesn't turn into bureaucracy, and that open source is able to continue its spirit of innovation as it becomes more commercial. Dargo worried less about open source becoming less transparent, since this is a core characteristic. Instead, he worries about how the transparency of open source will be introduced into the other software solutions being used. How companies implement, manage, and become successful using open source needs to be addressed.
Another dominant theme was responsibility. Commercial software has one benefit that buyers demand - a single 'throat to choke' when something is not working as it should. Having a support organization, policies, and the like will be important to resolve. At the same time, Jacobs noted that open source vendors need to learn how to listen to customers so that they can develop to those customers' requirements. (Just because someone doesn't know how to code doesn't mean that their ideas and requirements are less important to the evolution of the system.)
Rudin picked up on the theme of 'on-demand' systems that was presented in a morning keynote. A big need for open source moving forward will be the introduction of open source services, not just open source software.
One of the good questions that Lisbonne posed was around the opportunity for open source. Where does it provide the best benefit? What projects lend themselves well to commercialization? etc. Rudin stepped up with his belief that open source works best at the lower levels of the stack. Open source is notoriously hard to manage when there is a front end involved; it's practically impossible to maintain a unified look and feel or user experience when there isn't a consistent vision driving design.
Astor brought up that commercial installs aren't always appreciative of frequent iteration; they need stability and maturity in deployed systems. Releases twice a year are plenty. And, as Dargo notes, open source shines when simplicity is preferred. One of the problems of Windows is that is has to be too many things to too many people. Jacobs had a nice insight around mentality - open source needs to move away from the hobbyist mindset, and remember that most users need components to be integrated, and they need one resource to go to for help.
Jacobs took a refreshing large-company approach to open source - "Oracle has a lot to learn." Their goal is to learn, incorporate, and participate. Rudin applauds Oracle, but believes that smaller companies have more to gain in this environment. Larger companies must struggle with internal politics and established business modes.
Speaking of evolution: open source projects have hundreds or thousands of developers in their communities. Where are the hundreds or thousands of support people? Projects need to start attracting a more diverse set of constituents - it will be a critical success factor in the brave new commercial world. Note that this diversity should also include users who can bring their requirements to the community.
One final thought that struck me: open source takes competition to an entirely different level. Developers rise up through a meritocracy - it's the quality of their work, not the quality of their interview, that earns them a place in open source development. Differentiation emerges from everything BUT the product functionality, since other open source competitors can use your development resources as their own.
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