Behlendorf Interview in developerWorks 21
IBM's new developerWorks site has an article on IBM's relationship with the Apache Group, followed by an interview with Brian Behlendorf. The article gives some insight into working with commercial entities, and what the experience has been like for both Apache and IBM.
Re:developerworks at ibm.com/developer (Score:1)
Coming? They're here. (Score:1)
How much did personality matter? (Score:2)
But in many other OSS groups I think that IBM would not have fit in nearly as well.
Another point that Brian makes which gets glossed over by some Rah, rah, OSS is great! types is that OSS works out differently in different types of areas. He made the point that open source works well for certain types of projects but not at all for others. He gave as an extreme example that it fails for software for doing surveys for finding oil.
I have seen points like this made in many ways by many people, but for me the first and best version was one that I saw made by an engineer here. The engineer compared software to engineering and pointed out that in engineering there is a spectrum in terms of secrecy. If you are engaged in designing roads, buildings, or other things that have to do with basic infrastructure, then your exact design will be open, publically reviewed, and verified by outside people. This is because people have learned (the hard way) that this is the only way to reliably get quality. At an opposite extreme the design of the latest consumer device is likely to have a design that is kept secret.
He then drew the same comparison to software, and pointed out that open source software first showed up where it made the most sense, in the infrastructure of the Internet. As it matures it has been developing into smaller and smaller niches. He saw this as a sign that software is maturing just like engineering did before. But, he maintained, there will always remain niches where open source simply does not make sense.
As I say, I have since seen the same point made many times (including in several essays in Open Sources), but the first time was the biggest eye-opener for me.
Regards,
Ben Tilly
developerworks at ibm.com/developer (Score:2)
Servlets coming to apache! (Score:1)
The ASF is going to be a good thing for the advancement of apache. Always nice to have the big names like IBM contributing to the open source projects, too.
Raves? What's a rave? (Score:1)
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Is Brian married? (Score:1)
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Making money off open source is the next problem (Score:2)
So, I just hope IBM and Apache figure it all out for the rest of the planet.
Re:Making money off open source is the next proble (Score:1)
Apache has a culture that is much different than many open source projects. So far it seems as if IBM fits in well.
apache! (Score:1)
I think it's great that IBM's doing this sort of thing. Now if only people like Apple or somebody could start dishing out the $..