Comments on: What on earth is open source ? http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/ Distilling market noise into market sense. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:28:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: NewsNow: Loading story... http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-18818 NewsNow: Loading story... Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:30:10 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-18818 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] click here if the article does not [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[…] click here if the article does not […]

]]> By: Arthur Gouros http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-17506 Arthur Gouros Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:09:01 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-17506 Many moons ago (mid 80's) I would enhance BSD software for the organisations I worked for and if the new features were considered to be useful I would send them back to the University of California Berkeley. The term ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù didn't exist back then as this type of software development was more in the spirit of supporting academia for the greater cause of science using the well established practice of knowledge sharing. To me ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù is trying to do the same thing but for a much broader community. The spirit of this type of software development has always been positive and the outcomes quite amazing. Nay-sayers like MicroSoft have put fear into using ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù software only because they are protecting their own commercial interests. But having worked in software development for over 20 years I can say that these fears are unfounded as today it is the same type of people who write software for ‚Äúprivate‚Äù and ‚Äúopen‚Äù projects ‚Äì as it has been for the last 20 years that I know of. The rigid structures and processes used for developing critical software for commercial purposes are successful at producing the desired outcomes ‚Äì in most cases ‚Äì but is the source base any better? My experience has been that the variance in quality between the two is quite similar. The electronic world has benefited greatly with the continual growth of ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù as this type of collaborative development lends itself well to creating tools, libraries, frameworks and things people never imagined. The momentum of ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù development will continue to grow and so too will the ‚Äúprivate‚Äù commercial software that makes use of it. So what on earth is ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù? ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù is what the software industry does to improve itself; otherwise nobody would be doing it. Many moons ago (mid 80’s) I would enhance BSD software for the organisations I worked for and if the new features were considered to be useful I would send them back to the University of California Berkeley. The term ‚ÄúOpen Source‚Äù didn’t exist back then as this type of software development was more in the spirit of supporting academia for the greater cause of science using the well established practice of knowledge sharing.

To me “Open Source” is trying to do the same thing but for a much broader community. The spirit of this type of software development has always been positive and the outcomes quite amazing.

Nay-sayers like MicroSoft have put fear into using “Open Source” software only because they are protecting their own commercial interests. But having worked in software development for over 20 years I can say that these fears are unfounded as today it is the same type of people who write software for “private” and “open” projects – as it has been for the last 20 years that I know of.

The rigid structures and processes used for developing critical software for commercial purposes are successful at producing the desired outcomes – in most cases – but is the source base any better? My experience has been that the variance in quality between the two is quite similar.

The electronic world has benefited greatly with the continual growth of “Open Source” as this type of collaborative development lends itself well to creating tools, libraries, frameworks and things people never imagined. The momentum of “Open Source” development will continue to grow and so too will the “private” commercial software that makes use of it.

So what on earth is “Open Source”? “Open Source” is what the software industry does to improve itself; otherwise nobody would be doing it.

]]> By: VisionMobile Forum :: Sun's open source Java policy will mean very little for the mobile industry http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-13958 VisionMobile Forum :: Sun's open source Java policy will mean very little for the mobile industry Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:54:09 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-13958 [...] part of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.] [...] […] part of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.] […]

]]> By: VisionMobile Forum :: How open source is shaking up the mobile browser market http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-12855 VisionMobile Forum :: How open source is shaking up the mobile browser market Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:58:03 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-12855 [...] 4 of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1, part 2 and part [...] […] 4 of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1, part 2 and part […]

]]> By: VisionMobile Forum :: Mobile Linux is not about free software http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-12510 VisionMobile Forum :: Mobile Linux is not about free software Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:18:34 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-12510 [...] 3 of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1 and part [...] […] 3 of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1 and part […]

]]> By: » Carnival of the Mobilists #90 | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-12444 » Carnival of the Mobilists #90 | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:50:50 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-12444 [...] Andreas offers an informative post this week with answers to the question of “What is Open Source software?” [...] […] Andreas offers an informative post this week with answers to the question of “What is Open Source software?” […]

]]> By: VisionMobile Forum :: Turning corporate software development on its head http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-11045 VisionMobile Forum :: Turning corporate software development on its head Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:28:13 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-11045 [...] [part 2 of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1] [...] […] [part 2 of the series on five traits of open source and its impact in the mobile industry. See also part 1] […]

]]> By: What on earth is open source ? - Mobile Tech - MySpace News http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-10604 What on earth is open source ? - Mobile Tech - MySpace News Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:54:27 +0000 http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2007/09/what-on-earth-is-open-source/#comment-10604 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Click here to read more. Click here to return to Mobile Tech Click here to return to MySpace News. [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> Kramer auto Pingback[…] Click here to read more. Click here to return to Mobile Tech Click here to return to MySpace News. […]

]]>