Comments on: Open Source in the Enterprise http://enterprise2blog.com/2008/09/open-source-in-the-enterprise/ Enterprise 2.0 Blog Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:51:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Paige Finkelman http://enterprise2blog.com/2008/09/open-source-in-the-enterprise/comment-page-1/#comment-1407 Paige Finkelman Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:44:22 +0000 http://www.enterprise2blog.com/?p=856#comment-1407 You both make good points Amin & Rob. Thank you for clarifying the SourceForge project statistic. I agree with you - open source is a sound development platform. The premise of my reference to open source's interference with a free market economy was more surrounding the issues of licensing and liability when something goes wrong. The enterprise wants accountability and support In your experience Rob, the overall cost was significant and you are correct - open source is not always cheaper. But now more than ever each penny counts, and I think we will begin to see the issue of sustainability creeping more into the IT foreground. Take a peek at this article: http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/community_posts/creating_wealth_free_software You both make good points Amin & Rob. Thank you for clarifying the SourceForge project statistic.

I agree with you - open source is a sound development platform. The premise of my reference to open source’s interference with a free market economy was more surrounding the issues of licensing and liability when something goes wrong. The enterprise wants accountability and support

In your experience Rob, the overall cost was significant and you are correct - open source is not always cheaper. But now more than ever each penny counts, and I think we will begin to see the issue of sustainability creeping more into the IT foreground. Take a peek at this article: http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/community_posts/creating_wealth_free_software

]]> By: robgray http://enterprise2blog.com/2008/09/open-source-in-the-enterprise/comment-page-1/#comment-1269 robgray Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:12:36 +0000 http://www.enterprise2blog.com/?p=856#comment-1269 I'm not sure that open source means cheaper. We run an open source platform (Drupal) for our web site, but the majority of costs are in admin, web design, maintenance, hosting, bandwidth and people. I don't think the overall cost has been lower than if we had paid $15K for a CMS? I’m not sure that open source means cheaper. We run an open source platform (Drupal) for our web site, but the majority of costs are in admin, web design, maintenance, hosting, bandwidth and people. I don’t think the overall cost has been lower than if we had paid $15K for a CMS?

]]> By: amarts http://enterprise2blog.com/2008/09/open-source-in-the-enterprise/comment-page-1/#comment-1261 amarts Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:22:24 +0000 http://www.enterprise2blog.com/?p=856#comment-1261 There are some fundamental issues with some your assertions. On the number of active projects on SourceForge. There might well be 301k open projects however little over 20k are active. Additionally, the premise that open source is poised to displace or undermine the free market is simply wrong. The idea of Open source as a development model is sound. That said open source by itself or without corporate support simply doesn't work. The reasons are fairly simple. At a high level an enterprise will not trust its core technology footprint to an application or set of applications without predictable support or predictable roadmaps. This doesn't mean open source applications won't find a home at the edge of the data center. Simply, in order to move to the computing core 'corporate sponsorship' is a must have. There are some fundamental issues with some your assertions.

On the number of active projects on SourceForge. There might well be 301k open projects however little over 20k are active.

Additionally, the premise that open source is poised to displace or undermine the free market is simply wrong.

The idea of Open source as a development model is sound. That said open source by itself or without corporate support simply doesn’t work. The reasons are fairly simple. At a high level an enterprise will not trust its core technology footprint to an application or set of applications without predictable support or predictable roadmaps. This doesn’t mean open source applications won’t find a home at the edge of the data center. Simply, in order to move to the computing core ‘corporate sponsorship’ is a must have.

]]>