Open Sources Episode 6: Open source in the enterprise
Just when you thought it was safe to turn off your speakers, we're back with Episode 6 of the Open Sources podcast series.
We're joined on February 26, 2009 for Episode 6 by Neil Erickson, Senior IT Director at a Fortune 500 company. Neil brings some much needed reality to our discussion, reminding us that enterprises are trying to solve problems, not obsess about open versus closed. Neil also calls us the Gwar of open source, bringing back lost memories of my youth.
Recording with Skype remains a pleasure/pain that aches for a better solution. But since Matt is in Utah and I am in my secret lair, we have no choice. And no, I can't explain why sometimes the podcast works in iTunes and sometimes it doesn't. That's just one of many reasons we're moving it to CNet.
Podcast
You can also grab the mp3 or Ogg.
The topics of discussion:
- Open Core licensing--how do enterprises feel about mixed-source/hybrid models?
- Contributions are tough to pull off in many cases even if the enterprises want to give code back.
- Who is the likely vendor to get contributions--can Red Hat make something big happen?
- If not open source or SaaS, how do you do a software company?
- Does proprietary still work given the challenges of the economics?
- Should Matt get his faucet fixed by a plumber or just buy a washer?
- Will Microsoft customers ensure that they don't destroy open source?
- What about Yammer and private Twitter? Does it make any sense for the enterprise?
- Matt forgets about OSBC, the conference that he started.
Apologies for the heavy breathing. It's Matt, he's notorious for it--Ashlee Vance would never let that behavior fly. And thanks to Neil for shining some true enterprise light on our discussion. We've got a bunch of guests in queue from our slack time. More soon...
Previous episodes are still available at opensources.com
Follow us on Twitter @daveofdoom and @mjasay.