Open source a "sign of management failure"
Wouldn't it be fair to call "management failure" whenever people do <i>not</i> spend time writing open-source software, given their own dependence on it?
After a decade of open source maturing day by day, it's surprising to read things like this comment from an Alan Cooper keynote:
In the keynote where Alan Cooper proclaimed that Agile processes are bad for developing quality software, he made another provoking statement: that Open-Source is ultimately a symptom of management failure. His point is that with the right enthusiasm and commitment to your products, why would anyone go and work in an Open-Source project on their spare time?
What Alan apparently forgets is that the point where "my" products and "your products" begin and end has steadily blurred. Alfresco incorporates Lucene, Spring, etc. They're third-party open-source projects: Should we leave their development to someone else?
Very few proprietary products today don't incorporate open-source software. Over time, that number will dwindle further.
So, to turn Alan's point around, wouldn't it be fair to call "management failure" whenever people do not spend time writing open-source software, given their own dependence on it?