Commercial Open Source Software

Red Hat keeps working hard to create the first Open Source powerhouse: after JBoss purchasing Red Hat last week announced its Red Hat Exchange program, somehow redefining its long-term strategy.

RHEL gdm login page by kOoLiNuS

Some excerpts from the Red Hat press release:

Red Hat Partner FederationRed Hat customers are demanding the benefits of open source beyond the infrastructure level, but have been impeded by the complexity of deploying open source business solutions. In response, Red Hat has worked with customers and partners to develop Red Hat Exchange (RHX), which provides pre-integrated business application software stacks including infrastructure software from Red Hat and business application software from Red Hat partners.[..] Through RHX, Red Hat seeks to reduce the complexity of deploying business applications and support the development of an active ecosystem of commercial open source business application partners. RHX will be available later this year.

Probably JBoss acquisition can’t be considered a step toward building a (large) multi-unit enterprise, or at least this is not the only strategy Red Hat put in place at this stage.

Customers are demanding services beyond the infrastructure level, but offering them technical integration, broad support, legal indemnification, in one one-stop shop solution could be tough. Red Hat is getting its chance to become the leader of the pack through RHX, some firms already joined and welcomed the initiative.

I totally agree that it is an important signal on the importance of the open source enterprise stack, let’s see at which extent Red Hat will be able to keep federating partners.RHX may help open source vertical applications uptake, as asserted by Paul Doscher, Chief Executive of JasperSoft:

Rhx is the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for applications, I think it will knock down the last barrier delaying companies from adopting open-source applications.

Neither Gartner nor IDC are betting on Open Source applications’ rise yet, but Red Hat has good chance to run an important role in the open source ecosystem.

RHX approach is definitely less risky than keep acquiring, especially considering that getting advantage of increasing returns with non-rivarly goods is not easy.

Technorati Tags: Commercial Open Source, Red Hat, RHX, non rivarly, increasing returns

If you are a student interested in participating to Google Summer of Code 2007 - no longer accepting applications from open source organizations - you have to submit your applications by the March 24th deadline. Thomas Cort succesfully participated last year and he is sharing through his blog some suggestion for your applications.

Summer of Code Brazilian poster by omaciel

explain what the project is and what will be accomplished, explain why you are perfect for the project, convince them that you won’t drop out half way through, show some previous Free software or school work you’ve done so that they know you aren’t full of crap, popular projects ideas may get many good applications so choose your desired project carefully, become familiar with the organization that you wish to participate in, and know what you are getting yourself into. The best way to do the last two is to actually read through the project’s website and browse some of the code.

By the way no student has applied to the province of Rome contest yet. If you live here please take your chance!

Technorati Tags: Google Summer of Code, Open Source, Rome

European Community is now financing 6 different projects within the 6th Framework program related to FLOSS metrics and quality. As a matter of fact CALIBRE(mentioned) EDOS (mentioned), FLOSSMetrics (mentioned few times), FLOSSWorld, QualiPSo, QUALOS and SQO-OSS are somehow overlapping:

Complete waste of energy by rooreynolds

CALIBRE aims to coordinate te study of the characteristics of open source software projets, products and processes, distributed development, and agile methods.

EDOS - The project aims to study and solve problems associated with the production, management and distribution of open source software packages.

FLOSSWorld - It is expected that FLOSSWorld will enhance Europe’s leading role in research in the area of FLOSS and strongly embed Europe in a global network of researchers and policy makers, and the business, higher education and developer communities. FLOSSWorld will enhance the level of global awareness related to FLOSS development and industry, human capacity building, standards and interoperability and e-government issues in the geographical regions covered by the consortium.
QUALOSS objectives:

• Build the QUALOSS methode, an objective method to assess the robusteness and evolvability of open source software
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• Develop the QUALOSS platform, a tool to automate most activities when applying the QUALOSS methos
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• Validate the QUALOSS empirically on at least 50 open source projects

SQO-OSS - The project is developing a comprehensive suite of software quality assessment tools. These tools will enable the objective analysis and benchmarking of Open Source software. SQO-OSS aims to assist European software developers in improving the quality of their code, and to remove one of the key barriers to entry for Open Source software by providing scientific proof of its quality.

Many of these projects are collecting data from public open source repositories, some are working with thousands projects while others are focused on a tiny fraction of. Though all of them are supposed to collaborate with other projects investigating the same area, apparently they have no specific funds dedicated to coordination of tasks.

On the other hand collection, aggregation and correlation of data fetched by public repository is getting everyday more important both for Public Administrations and firms. The analysis is more and more complex and it is really a waste of resources to let projects overlap.

By the way looking for posts about European financed projects I happened to read the following posts. The first is from the Open Source Weblog (Matthew Aslett):

While it is not altogether clear what QualiPSo will deliver that the various existing open source promotion activities and consortia are not, it will be interesting to see the results of the CMM-related project for assessing software quality.

Other areas, such as the plan to “define a coherent family of open source software licenses” would appear to step on the toes of the OSI just a little bit.

The second, still talking about Qualipso, is from Glyn Moody:

Developing a new Capability Maturity Model-like approach to assessing the quality of OSS. This model will be discussed with CMM’s originators, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), with a view to formalising it as an official extension of CMMI.

What? Maturity? What’s this got to do with getting people to use the ruddy stuff?
QualiPSo is launched in synergy with Europe’s technology initiatives such as NESSI and Artemis, and will leverage Europe’s existing OSS initiatives such as EDOS, FLOSSWorld (http://flossworld.org/), tOSSad (http://www.tossad.org/) and others. The project will also leverage large OSS communities such as OW2 and Morfeo.

Oh, now I see: all this is just an excuse for more acronym madness. So it’s basically just a waste of money, and a missed opportunity to do something practical.

But wait:

QualiPSo is the ever largest Open Source initiative funded by the EC.

OK, make that the biggest waste of money, and biggest missed opportunity yet.

I’m definitely not a fan of the Public funded “business” model, but as Italian and European citizen I can’t be happy I am not alone. I really want to make a wish now: no more random public funded projects, please.

Technorati Tags: commercial open source, research, public funded, qualipso, flossmetrics, edos

Don Klaiss, who recently joined Compiere as its new CEO, just wrote his very first post “Will Compiere remain an open source product?“, and it starts this way:

Shortly after joining Compiere as the new CEO, people began asking me about my plans for Compiere and whether we would be evolving from an open source business model to become a proprietary product. The answer is absolutely not!

Sometimes people make really weird questions..

Kinder Surprise Egg by knowwonnose

With more than 1.1 million downloads of our software, we have become by far the most popular open source ERP project. I look forward to working with our customers and partners to create an even more active, vibrant community around our technology.

As I already wrote I’m looking forward to see Compiere fostering its own community through its new partner program, and I really wish Don all the best.

Technorati Tags: Commercial Open Source, Compiere, ERP

Reading Open Enterprise Trend I happened to know about Eugene Ciurana, Director of Platform Technology and Enterprise Architect at Walmart.com, and his view on how Open Source empowers what is called “Enterprise Mashups“.

From Eugene Gallery

‘Enterprise Mashups’ Leverage Open Source
OET: Your tone of “enterprise mashups” appears to take into account the “blending” of open Source and commercial apps/tools throughout the whole enterprise framework, and not simply for client apps? Is that true?

Yes, it’s true. If we define a “mashup” as an aggregation of disparate technologies to achieve a goal, then an “enterprise mashup” is a way of combining legacy, in-house, commercial, and open-source software to create new products and services for the enterprise.

Clients are only one part of the mashup. Software as a service, and applications that act as services, consumers, or both, can be integrated together to provide more value than any individual component can by itself. On the commercial side, for example, Oracle acquired a number of companies in the last few years and had to get the products from all of them to inter-operate. They market their products mashup today as Oracle Fusion. Oracle’s experience is no different from the challenges and opportunities that enterprise architects face every day.

A better example would be rhx, Red Hat effort to create a multi-vendor (interoperable) ecosystem.

Is Open Source Ready for ‘Enterprise Mashups’

Evaluating projects and products is a similar exercise regardless of whether they are commercial or open-source. The key is to identify risk factors and weigh them against the benefits of using the Open Source.

Here are a few questions that must be answered:

• What is the definition of maturity for the product in relation to the company’s SLA?
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• Is the product mature enough? Does it meet all functional requirements and features?
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• Does it have a rich, thriving community around it? Is the community growing? Is it easy to join and participate in that community?
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• Do the licenses for the product and its sub-components conflict with business goals in any way? Is there an alternate license if this is the case?
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• Are there one or more commercial entities providing support, training, custom development, etc. for the project?
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• Is there a commercial or other entity that provides indemnification for the product’s users?
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• Will the company’s engineering participate in contributing to the project? Is there a policy for releasing code back to the open-source community?

And, for good measure, here is a question to ask yourself from the gut:Assume that the licensing cost for competing commercial and open-source products is zero. Are the open-source product’s features compelling enough to overcome the feature set of the commercial offering in relation to your business goals and SLAs?

I was recently involved in one of those selection exercises between OpenLaszlo and an industry standard commercial Flash product. My team followed the selection criteria outlined earlier, including “if the cost is zero, would you chose X?”. Having an understanding of all the issues, business goals, licensing, support, etc. eased the decision to go with OpenLaszlo because the risks and benefits were known prior to committing to this product.

Here in Europe, we have no software patent yet, and I can’t buy his suggestions about indemnification but I found his final question fundamental.

Technorati Tags: Open Source, mashup, Walmart

Graeme by Zed & 2 Naughts

HSBC Taps Microsoft-Novell Agreement to Reduce Linux Cost and Complexity

Global bank selects SUSE Linux Enterprise as its standard Linux distribution, citing interoperability with Windows Active Directory and integrated Windows and Linux platform support.

REDMOND, Wash., and WALTHAM, Mass.—13 Mar 2007—Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. today announced that HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations, has joined the growing number of global firms taking advantage of the recent collaboration between Microsoft and Novell. Under the agreement, Microsoft will deliver to HSBC certificates for three-year priority support subscriptions to SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server from Novell®, as HSBC moves to standardize its Linux* deployments on one distribution. By reducing the diversity of its Linux environment, HSBC will be able to reduce its total cost of ownership (TCO) for Linux, and improve interoperability with its existing Microsoft® Windows® infrastructure.

“The Microsoft-Novell agreement is a great catalyst to helping us reduce the complexity of our Linux environment as we standardize our Linux infrastructure with SUSE Linux Enterprise and continue to extend the use of Microsoft Active Directory®,” said Matthew O’Neill, group head of Distributed Systems for HSBC Global IT Operations. “Some will be surprised to learn that our Windows environment has a lower total cost of ownership than our current Linux environment. Our decision to simplify our mixed-source environment with Microsoft and Novell will allow us to reduce the cost and complexity. That’s why we have selected Novell as our preferred Linux partner to support our Linux infrastructure going forward.”

Headquartered in London, HSBC’s international network includes more than 9,500 offices with 284,000 employees in 76 countries. HSBC has 125 million customers, 25 million of whom are registered for Internet banking. HSBC provides a comprehensive range of financial services including personal financial services; commercial banking; corporate, investment banking and markets; private banking; and other activities.

Roger Levy, vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions for Novell, is joining HSBC’s Open Source Software Committee as a nonvoting advisor. “The ability of HSBC to reduce complexity, simplify support and increase its IT agility is a testament to the mission of Novell’s agreement with Microsoft — to help customers win,” Levy said. “Novell is pleased to become HSBC’s trusted Linux partner, and standardizing Linux on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server will give the company a rock-solid foundation that will seamlessly interact with its Windows environment.”

“Our customers tell us that they want technology vendors to work better together — that’s what our agreement with Novell is all about,” said Susan Hauser, general manager of strategic partnerships and licensing at Microsoft. “Founded on intellectual property assurance, our interoperability efforts are helping HSBC apply best practices from its Windows infrastructure to lower TCO for its Linux environment.”

sources: Microsoft, Novell.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Novell, Commercial Open Source

Stephen Walli reported on Slashdot a presentation titled “Open Source Business Models: A Wall Street Look at a Wild 2006 and the Prospects for Even More Fun in 2007” by Brent C. Williams, an independent Equity Research Analyst.

It is really worth reading, read also Brian Berliner’s post about it.

Money by grana

Technorati Tags: Open Source Strategy, Commercial Open Source

Just few days later IDC survey yesterday at Gartner Business Intelligence Summit Bill Hostmann, opening keynote, was quite dismissive of open-source BI .

Investigating the chicken coop.. by Meffi

[the term is becoming] kind of like the word ‘organic’ in the grocery business. It’s starting to lose its meaning, with some ‘open-source’ vendors demanding licensing fees. Open source is promising, but the business models and products haven’t kept up with the commercial products.

Seth Grimes, analyst and columnist consulting for Pentaho, points out that there is no trace of open-source BI in Gartner’s 2007 BI magic quadrant - that is no news - as results also from Nigel Pendse impressions:

the proprietary BI software vendors seem to be genuinely unconcerned by OSBI [Open Source Business Intelligence]. They never mention it to me, and they seem quite surprised if I ask them about it. A few have looked at products like Pentaho and seem totally unimpressed/unconcerned. I guess they don’t sell into [the open-source world] anyway, and therefore aren’t losing any business to OSBI that they are aware of.

Is Open Source Business Intelligence the next disruptive innovation case?
Less demanding and more price-sensitive customers might help OSBI products to grow, but low-cost disruptive innovation needs low-cost/high volume business models.

Technorati Tags: Business Intelligence, Commercial Open Source, disruptive innovation

BMC on friday announced that known Open Source “veteran” William Hurley - a.k.a. “Whurley” - joined the company as Chief Architect of Open Source Strategy.

Recruitment advertisment by soumit

Hurley, formerly at Qlusters, has been hired for:

creating BMC’s open source agenda and overseeing the company’s participation in various free and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions.

I agree with Alex Fletcher, commenting that:

The challenge for BMC lies in identifying the correct strategy which is most closely aligned with an appropriate participation model, all within the context of their business needs. [..] Though it remains sufficiently difficult to monitor the effectiveness of internal corporate strategies from the outside, BMC’s activity in the open source domain over the remaining three quarters of this year, should show some signs of increase.

Let’s see how BMC will move toward open source, while waiting listen to Hurley’s podcast.

Technorati Tags: Open Source Strategy, Business Service Management, Hurley

Collaborative Drug Discovery enables scientists to collaborate to more effectively develop new drug candidates for commercial and humanitarian markets using a customizable, web-based database tool (not Open Source).They held the first annual meeting on the 5th of March.

Image excerpt from CDD web site

An open-source approach to disease and drug research.

CDD’s goal is to help scientists optimally select and advance novel drug discovery candidates.

This is accomplished via:

• A highly-networked virtual drug discovery and development community
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• Scientists can securely collaborate with their drug discovery data, information, knowledge and intellectual property
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• Build deep technical collaborations to help researchers advance the most promising drug discovery assets

Technorati Tags: Open knowledge, Collaborative drugs