Open Source Blog

I've met Fleury a couple of times and have to say the profile certainly seems excessive. Fleury himself doesn't seem to mind but for anyone inclined to take the BusinessWeek article and accompanying profile at face value, I thought I'd add a counter-viewpoint.

"Meanwhile, some open-source companies are put off by what they say is Fleury's money-grubbing, controlling style. It's out of keeping, they say, with the cooperative, do-it-for-the-greater-good ethos of the open-source movement," states BusinessWeek.

I have to say I'm confused by the suggestion that JBoss is universally disliked for its commercial success. While there are some free software purists out there that may disagree with the company's commercial open source positioning - and it has been known for questionable tactics in the past - when it comes to other open source start-ups JBoss is almost universally held up as an example of what can be achieved by next generation open source.

As for Fleury himself, he is certainly an individual character, and somewhat aggressive in his enthusiasm for what he and his company have achieved, but no more so than many American executives I have met, some of whom seem to think that they can bully a reporter into seeing their point of view and agreeing that their business is the next big thing.

The difference with Fleury - and this is important - is that you don't get the impression he has been *trained* to act this way. I might be wrong, but the impression I have got from meeting the man is that above all else he is being himself.

"Sitting in an unkempt office in a flashy Atlanta building, he downs a giant cup of coffee before dribbling Visine into red-rimmed eyes. He spits sunflower seeds in a cup as he talks about why people hate him," adds BusinessWeek of Fleury himself.

It's not the sort of behaviour one might expect from a technology company CEO, but as far as I'm concerned that's a breath of fresh air.

The first time we met Fleury spent most of the interview chugging back coffee and complaining that the PR people wouldn't let him smoke during the interview. Most recently it was complimentary Hilton hotel mints that kept Fleury going between cigarettes as he excitedly talked up the impact of the company's interoperability deal with Microsoft.

In person Fleury is animated, intense and sometimes aggressive, but he can also be charming, and is keen to engage in debate and discussion about JBoss, open source, and wider issues, rather than simply reeling of the latest marketing spiel.

Fleury is also the only chief executive I have met who has delayed an interview because he needed to go and say hello to his mum. Does this sound like the second most hated man in open source?

*As pleased as I am with the headline to this posting, I promise it came to me after I had written the blog…