« March 18, 2003 | Main | March 20, 2003 »
March 19, 2003
Open Source Dominant?
This timely story on open source from CIO magazine says that 54% of the 375 CIO's they surveyed said that open source software would be their dominant server platform. Saying it doesn't make it so, but it does indicate an expectation and a level of awareness that I think is unprecedented. The article says:
...for years open source has been dismissed as pie-in-the-sky, a toy for geeks. But today open source is undergoing a business revolution.
The article's conclusion?
CIOs who don't come to terms with this revolution in 2003 will be paying too much for IT in 2004. To avoid getting stung, CIOs should pursue as least some components of this 2003 open-source agenda.
Their recommendations include getting your feet wet with Internet pilot projects.
10:41 PM | Recommend This | Print This
eGovOS Conference Wrap-Up
I had to bug out of the conference early to catch my flight. I was afraid that security at Reagan would be a nightmare, but it was a breeze. My closing thoughts on the conference:
- There were quite a few people there. Tony said 700 registered. There were still some unclaimed badges at the end, but I'd bet that 500 people were there at one time or another.
- There were five parallel tracks going all three days. I found something interesting each hour and sometimes more than that. Tony and I were talking yesterday: there's not as much energy in multiple break-out sessions, but you do get more content. I'd like to see a hybrid with some general sessions in the morning followed by break-out sessions in the afternoon.
- One important reason for introducing open source ideas to Government is the power that OS has to change the culture. You can't start working on a LAMP platform engaging in open source projects without grabbing just a little of what modern IT is about.
- Finally, Tony Stanco (that Tony talking to Whit Diffie in the picture) did a great job along with his entire team. There were three full days of excellent content. There was lots of heated discussion in the sessions I attended and some folks were getting educated.
There are two conferences that State CIOs ought to take notice of: this one and Digital ID World (coming up in Oct). I wish there was a way for NASCIO to do some cross sponsorships with these conferences or something to increase participation by the states. They're always reluctant to do anything, however, that might weaken their nearly exclusive relationship with State CIOs. Its their stock-in-trade and they guard it jealously. Still, State CIOs are busy and trust NASCIO to bring them the content and contact they need. NASCIO should not ignore these two good sources of material for the members they serve.
04:33 PM | Recommend This | Print This
Matt Asay on Open Source
Our own Matt Asay is speaking on on "The Open Source Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism." For those of you not up on the Utah high tech scene, Matt is a Stanford Law school grad who once worked for Lineo as the GM of their residential gateway business and now works for Novell. Matt is the host and force behind a series of monthly VC breakfasts that have been happening in Salt Lake City. Matt's talking about open source and his slides are clearly marked with a familiar "red N" logo in the corner. This is generating a little interest among some members of the press who are here.
Matt's is promoting a concept of "both-source" or a middle ground between open-source and close-source community. He points to his experience at Lineo where he saw a constant wave of open-source software moving up the software stack, forcing Lineo to move their value-added innovation further up the chain as well. This is an interesting look at open-source as a driver of innovation, even in companies deriving benefit from closed source code.
Matt's recommendation for public policy toward using open source in government is to avoid legislative solutions and work to develop purchasing models that support open source. There audience was quick to point out that there are some problems here, most notably that open-source doesn't have salespeople and it can't pay a percentage of sale to consultants. I don't see these as insurmountable. If the ROI is truly there, someone ought to be able to win contracts using open source that they can't win using closed source. The economics ought to be able to drive this if public employees can be educated to the fact that open source solutions are acceptable and even preferable.