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March 07, 2006
Is Open Source just a name now?
Gianugo launches into a rant about commercial Open Source companies and Matt Asay swings one back.
I'm tempted to take sides (difficult as I consider both guys my friends). I fully understand what both are saying and only a year or so ago I would have been fully on Gianugo's side. In fact I was very surprised (or rather - shocked) at what I saw at last year's OSBC when it came to the state of Open Source commercialism. The US was years ahead (if that's the right word) of how we saw "commercial" Open Source here in Europe back then. This year - the same picture - although now US Open Source companies are moving vertical. Hence companies like Pentaho or Splunk.
There is no doubt that Open Source is changing/has changed the software landscape over the past years and will continue to do so for years to come. However, just what that "Open Source" means is changing too.
A bit like quantum physics (if you'll pardon the glossing over) - the more people look at Open Source (with their varied backgrounds and goals), the more Open Source itself will change to become - well, who knows. Being successful in this marketplace will also mean being able to adapt quickly to the changes within Open Source and within the software business as a whole.
In the end, commercial Open Source is about selling to the customer. And it's the customer who will, in the end, define what commercial Open Source turns out to be.
On a side-note - this discussion would make for an interesting panel session or face-off podcast.
Posted by Matthew at March 7, 2006 06:18 PM