After work I was lucky enough to meet one of my heroes, Eben Moglen.
I talked to him for about 10 minutes. It was a thrilling experience.
I am very predictable when I meet famous people. I typically say something odd. There was no exception today with Eben. I said, "You are one of my heroes!" not once, but 3 times. And then I shouted "Keep up the good work." when I left.
Oh well, I don't care - I hope he does keep up the good work.
It is nice to see Compiere getting back on track.
I noticed last October that they got forked.
I also read this essay by their new CEO (from Oracle).
I found it interesting. It will be interesting to see if an old dog can turn it around. He seems like he has done his homework.
This is by no means a statistically significant sample, but I know a lot of these guys (mostly from college) and many of them either just got out or are trying to get out of this business. At least the traditional commercial proprietary business.
They all want to get into either SaaS companies or commercial open source companies.
I think this is pretty significant.
I am on the software buying side these days. I know how hard the commercial proprietary business was, is, and how much harder it is going to become in the coming years.
If the guys who know where the money are at understand this and are shifting to companies outside of commercial proprietary what does that say?
I have stated my license preferences before.
They remain the same. I am not opposed to commercial proprietary software if it brings tremendous value to the table and simply can't be done without a more flexible & innovation friendly licensing alternative.
But in terms of middleware, I have come to a recent conclusion. I sort based on license type. I no longer look at commercial proprietary middleware. I have had too much angst in the past due to it and the commercial oss middleware today is fantastic.
For next generation middleware, I see no reason to perpetuate the inferior commercial proprietary model.
All FOSS projects are not alike of course. You have to be very diligent in accessing the accessing the health of the community etc.
Eben Moglen Video Goodness I love listening to him speak.
Jonathan Schwartz: That's not a genie any litigator I know can put back in a bottle.
I have to say, that Fortune magazine article was some pretty bad PR.
Viva FOSS! Viva Freedom! Viva Transparency! Viva free thinking clever people that do stuff!
GridGain Systems announced today availability of the first public release of GridGain project, an enterprise open source grid computing platform for Java. This release culminates 18 months of development and presents a software product with unique set of grid computing features, open source LGPL licensing and clear focus on high-performance Java-based development.
"Almost two years ago we set out to develop a technology that would change the enterprise Java grid computing landscape in much the same way Spring and JBoss have changed the J2EE market through simplification and focusing on a developer. Today we are releasing our project that is based on proven professional open source model, business and community friendly LGPL licensing, and the host of unique grid computing features", said Nikita Ivanov, founder of GridGain project.
Tangosol (now owned by Oracle) and others gave us the Java "Data Grid". Perhaps GridGain can give us the "Compute Grid" part. This is what we struggled with in looking at data grid/caching technologies - you still needed the compute part somewhere. Tools like Tangosol excelled in bridging the gap between J2EE performance problems due to data latency issues. But that is only 1/2 of the problem in terms of application grids. You still need to be able to easily add compute nodes to be able to scale.
Without a compute grid, you need to rely on things like JMS or other bits of J2EE. This is of course fine in an evolution approach - just doesn't seem to fit right in a new large system (at least for me).
Could this be an application grid without the Jini/JavaSpaces baggage? Don't know - certainly borrows some Jini features (code mobility). They know how to document things and have a roadmap and bits so that is a start ;) Message to Apache River: see I'm not kidding, the clock is going tick, tick, tick - the future is coming.
This should be interesting to watch.
I read about it for 30 minutes and didn't run away screaming. Looks like a pretty young product. I'm also a bit afraid of AOP, but I'm a simpleton. They also use Spring - see it is everywhere. But they are FOSS and run on JBoss so hey - maybe it isn't bad.
Anyways, thoughtful people that seem to know some stuff and know how to try to start a community by documenting things fairly well. They also seem to be disatisfied with highfalutin grids that talk big, but don't deliver. We can all relate to that.
Anybody know anything about it?
There are some OSS projects and a number of commercial vendors. Done properly, you can use many different languages and platforms (as opposed to just Java with JavaSpaces).
Perhaps it is better? Simpler or more complicated? Not as good, but good enough? What about associative memory? Grid + REST + XMPP + Atom? Something else? More locked in or less?
I do love the promise of the tuple space. I hope some day it makes it into the mainstream. I no longer think it will any time soon, sadly. There are forces out there that I do not understand that will continue to relegate it to the niche category of "high performance computing". Until there is a thriving community around it, few will embrace it. I hope this changes. I certainly will be watching.
5/13/2007 9:45 PST Updated some links.
I'm looking forward to hearing more details on "Microsoft is expected to show a new friendliness to the open-source community by unveiling plans to release the source code to a part of its Silverlight technology at MIX 07 next week, according to sources familiar with the company's plans."
Will this be shared source or open source - like with non-MSFT committers and what not?
Update: So I read through a bunch of stuff and I still don't quite "get it". Multi-platform means Winders and OS X? Em, I thought MSFT sold Linux now? No Linux? But Flex runs on Winders, Linux, Solaris, and OS X? Also, didn't find any details on the OSS details - anyone see any?
For once, I knew about this and even the name! for 2 months and kept my promise and kept my mouth shut. Of course I have been so busy the past two weeks that I went completely dark and am just seeing it now.
Good luck Stuart! I'd love to see this take off. Can't help but think I played a role in inspiring it :)
Update 22-APR-2007 I wrote this when I was totally fried from a busy week and travel. Now that I read it with a rested mind, I'm even more excited.
Here are some excerpts from the press release:
Former Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) CEO Stuart Cohen today launched a new company that will solve shared enterprise IT problems by bringing together companies to develop software at half the cost of outsourcing. The company, Collaborative Software Initiative (CSI), is pioneering a market-changing process that applies open source methodologies to business communities facing similar IT challenges.
CSI is initially working with industry leaders HP, IBM and Novell to help vertical industries identify and scope projects where collaboration among industry peers can meet requirements quicker and with less expense.
Government and industry standards are driving much of today's software development, prompting IT managers to outsource fundamental projects that require too much time and money. CSI offers a better way, based on more than 10 years of proven methodologies in open source development. This approach, called Collaborative Software, is software developed or acquired by a variety of like-minded companies at a fraction of internal development or outsourcing costs. For applications that don't enable competitive advantage or are associated with non-value added activities such as compliance, Collaborative Software allows business managers to maintain individual control and direction over a project while accelerating compliance, reducing costs and consolidating project timelines.
"Free and open source software principles are carrying the software market forward and putting older, largely proprietary, ways of doing business to the test," said Eben Moglen, chair of the Software Freedom Law Center and pioneer in the FOSS movement. "By adapting these principles to collaborative computing among industries, the CSI is formalizing an important step in the FOSS evolution."
Looks like my 2007 predictions are trending well :)
Specifically, point #9: Community Source Software will slowly start to take off in industry verticals as more executives grok the possibilities and come to terms with the fact that they are already sharing industry vertical software with their competitors; they just don't have access or any control of the source code. Look for a success or two in 2007 which will set the stage for a pandemic by 2009.
This was discussed a while back on this TheServerSide thread.
I sure hope Oracle invests in the product and doesn't slow bleed it or margainalize it. Of course that never happens.
I stand by my comment from February (link above) on why commercial proprietary software is at the bottom of my preference list.
. . . Back to GigaSpaces and Tangosol. They both have compelling technology, but both are small vendors. Where will this technology go? Will someone buy it to kill it? Will they buy it to grow it? Will they remain independent? Who knows. If it were open, well it doesn't quite matter. I can happily pay them now and perhaps someone else later - or no one if I can support it myself.
Must meet requirements of the OSI OSS Definition. Just has a commercial entity behind it that offers support etc.
Must meet requirements of the OSI OSS Definition. May have a commercial entity behind it, may not, key is that it is free or can be free
Examples include Sakai and Kuali. I am convinced/hopeful that this will be the next big thing for vertical industries as I predicted.
This DOES NOT meet the OSI OSS Definition. But it sure beats the heck out of commercial proprietary. Examples of this model are Caucho, Some Jive Software products - including their new Clearspace (some of their products are FOSS), and Atlassian. Although I'd prefer FOSS, these are typically very innovative and open companies (e.g., publicly accessible enhancement requests/defects/forums) who take their customers very seriously. Typically customers of these companies are fanatical about using these products. I think that the fact that getting access to the source upon purchase sans escrow account is a big statement - it says that the company is proud of their code and has no problem with you seeing it and extending it as you wish.
This is a MSFT thing - better than nothing I suppose. I want to be able to see the source.
If it's proprietary it might as well be free.
If it is proprietary, I might as well have the source in escrow so if you go out of business I am not completely screwed. I hope you included a build script and instructions . . .
This is of course my least favorite. As Matt Asay says:
Let us be clear. Whatever the merits of proprietary software, they are purely vendor-favoring. There is no customer reason to make software proprietary. None. There is no customer benefit that attaches to proprietary software. There is only a vendor's ability to temporarily monopolize a piece of software and thereby profit from it.
I would refer these software engineers to IEEE-CS/ACM Joint Task Force on Software Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices.
Perhaps a more prominent website of names, links to prior art, claimed patent is a good idea?
Depending where the OSS patent fight goes, this may be a necessary tactic.
Update 29-JAN-2007 Via Simon Phipps look like this has been fixed. Yay. Also, looks like there is an EFF Patent Busting project. Haven't looked very closely at it, but looks like what I was blathering about. This + blogs is probably plenty.
Yet another example of why blogs are great IMHO. When every body has a printing press the walls start falling down. Yay.
Here goes . . .
I have gotten to know a number of these fine people. They have been very good to me. I wish them luck. There are some good people left - Mike Temple and Tom Hanrahan certainly know stuff.
I also wish Stuart Cohen luck in his new venture. I certainly share his enthusiasm for it . . . its just a tough nut to crack (speaking from experience).
Not nearly as complicated as sharing code amongst your peers via some predatory vendor (and only having access to the binaries - not the source), but large companies have a hard time groking this. And there are forces that don't want this to happen.
We just need some more success stories . . .
Linux has won - some people just don't get that yet, but it won. Open Source still needs defenders and custodians like OSDL. Patents are obviously the next battle. Diane M. Peters knows a lot about that.
So I don't know if this is bad news or just a blip. My gut says its a blip. Times are changing . . . Linux won - old structures require change.
OSS is crawling up the stack . . . if Stewart has his way, the last big $$ maker will fall next. And then everyone will have to compete on business value rather then intellectual property lock in.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Something tells me that getting this clause adopted to GPL won't be as hard as GPL v3. I dislike FUD based business models. Around and round we go ...
That is what I'm talking about!
Good bye document paradigm! Good bye!!!!!
Herro collaborative editing!!!!
Far and away the best desktop Linux experience I have ever had.
It isn't MAC OS X, but its pretty good. Especially since its free.
Very impressive.
I do not know their founder personally (Jorg Janke), but I have met him a number of times in the past. I'm sure he doesn't remember me. I remember talking to him 1.5 years ago when he moved to Portland about VCs. He was moving into the same incubator as my previous employer here in Portland (an OSS ESB company that failed). He said something like, "they will take your left arm". Well, I don't know about that, but either he was too worried about losing his "left arm" (and neglected the most crucial part of OSS - community), OR they did take his left arm and he can no longer code like the dickens (they probably started talking to VCs six months ago and got very distracted by that and moving to SF - silly idea when you have a thriving international community and you are already in one of the most OSS friendly cities in the world!?).
Now I have no idea what the truth is here.
Just yesterday, however, I was on a 6:30 AM ccall extolling the virtues of the "freedom to fork". This crucial aspect of OSS gives the community incredible power over the software it invests in. This is software the way God intended it to be. It is separation of powers just like (we think/hope) our democracies work.
I hope that Compiere Inc. turns this around - it isn't too late. But it better shell out some of that $6M to make amends with its #1 asset - the community that is invested in it. Hey Larry Augustin is on the Compiere board! I just listened to a fantastic talk of his last week at GOSCON. Here is the summary:
One of the hardest parts of utilizing Open Source is building true community involvement. The benefits of Open Source only accrue when an outside third party community participates. This talk will describe various ways to help engage a community around your Open Source project.
Larry, give Jorg the presentation quick!
