I am back from the OSBC 2008 event in San Francisco and wanted to share my notes from the sessions I attended as well as some thoughts on the overall event. Feel free to add any comments on the material and I will answer your questions.
Notes from Day 1 and Day 2: infoworld-open-source-business-conference.pdf
Overall thoughts:
- Dress – Wow, when did an open source event look like a meeting for lawyers and bankers with everyone in suits? This was the most “dressed-up” event I have been to since an event in Germany I was at a few years back. I guess open source must be real if everyone wears suits?
- Is Open Source Business Model any different than Proprietary Software Business Model? More thoughts on this in another blog entry but I am beginning to think that there is less difference b/w the models than most people think
- Microsoft – Brad Smith the SVP and General Counsel at MSFT came to talk about licensing issues b/w MSFT and the Open Source Community (See Notes) and I was impressed that he was willing to spend 90 minutes and take open questions on a variety of topics. It seems to me that MSFT has decided to only have discussions with “Cathedrals” and not “Bazaars” and that this decision is creating the fundamental problem with trying to solve a variety of legal and licensing issues.
- Open Source Projects – the new companies in Open Source are doing an amazing job of building solutions by taking a variety of open source projects and bundling them into a solution for the enterprise; I do wonder if the emphasis on building solutions for CRM, databases, and other common technology areas is limiting. Open Source should be looking for new areas to innovate such as social networking products for the enterprise (see notes) rather than established computing areas.
Comments on Matt Asay’s blog posting (http://www.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9904446-16.html) about the event. He was the event chair.
Comments on the Microsoft presentation (http://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/2008/03/26/osbc-footnote-with-brad-smith/)
Amusing blog link (go back in time via arrows to read history) – did like the comment on the expensive breakfast but the direct link is on the MSFT pitch (http://blog.generationjava.com/roller/bayard/entry/ms-keynotepanel)
Great blog link to people who wonder why Microsoft sponsors open source events and if it has an impact: http://boycottnovell.com/2008/02/25/ms-open-source-business-conference/.