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Open Source Weblog: May 2007 Archives
Max Spevack on the Fedora/Red Hat dynamic
May 31, 2007
Yesterday I had the chance to chat with Fedora project leader, Max Spevack, about the new Fedora 7, which is due out today, as he is in Europe for the LinuxTag event.
It was a very interesting conversation, not least because he explained succinctly how Fedora the Fedora project has changed with the release of version 7 and the unification of the Core and Extras efforts.
“From the perspective of the people who work with Fedora it’s easy to say the big thing is the unification of Core and Extras, but really that’s part of a bigger picture,” he said. “Every tool that goes in to create Fedora is now free and is separate to the tools that Red Hat uses to create RHEL [Red Hat Enterprise Linux].”
CBR is looking for innovative open source deployment projects
The next copy of CBR will be a special issue celebrating the innovative use of IT. As part of this we are looking to highlight the most innovative recent projects in the IT industry, as chosen by CBR's editorial team.
One of the categories is open source, and while we have the details of a number of deployment projects that we have identified in the last year, we are also looking for nominations to make sure nothing has slipped through the net.
Open source – what is it good for?
May 30, 2007
If nothing else Nicholas Carr, he of “Does IT Matter?” fame, is good at starting a debate. His latest article “The Ignorance of Crowds” in strategy+business is no exception.
The article sees Carr celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Eric Raymond’s “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”paper by examining whether it still stands up to scrutiny. The answer is yes, and no.
So what did Novell get via its patent deal with Microsoft?
May 29, 2007
I've recently been investigating the suggestion that “The cross-licensing agreement that Novell signed with Microsoft, was necessary as Novell required sanctioned access to Microsoft’s code in order to develop open source interoperability”.
During the investigation I received confirmation from Novell that their agreement gave Novell's engineers access to Microsoft's code as well as clarification from Novell on a couple of points.*
As I wrote in that last posting, to my mind that clarification seemed to “undermine the suggestion that the patent covenant agreement was somehow necessary for the technical collaboration”.
What I was overlooking was that a legal agreement can be self-fulfilling. That is to say: the patent covenant agreement was necessary before Novell and Microsoft could enter their technical and business collaboration agreements because the technical and business collaboration agreements said it was.
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*** and *** last week published details of their *** with ***. The *** includes *** and ***, as well as ***, but does not include ***, ***, or ***. Subject to the terms of ***, *** and *** may *** but will not not ***, notwithstanding the consideration applied in section *** (***).
What does it all mean? *** if I know.
HP to ramp up open source services
May 25, 2007
I just finally got round to reading an interesting piece about HP’s open source services business written by my colleague Rhonda Ascierto, and interesting reading it makes too.
While open source has expanded rapidly across the breadth of enterprise applications in recent years, services firms have been surprisingly slow to react, leaving gaps for the likes of SpikeSource and OpenLogic.
More recently the likes of Atos Origin and Unisys have woken up to the potential, and given HP’s involvement with Linux, it’s no surprise to see the company catching up.
It’s also good to see the company focusing on legal issues without resulting to scare tactics.
Novell sheds (a little) more light on its patent access deal
May 24, 2007
In early May I noted that a new explanation had emerged as to why Novell entered into the patent agreement with Microsoft. According to an Olliance Group summary of a Q&A with Sam Ramji, director of open source technical strategy at Microsoft, and Justin Steinman, director of marketing for Linux and open platforms at Novell:
“The cross-licensing agreement that Novell signed with Microsoft, according to both Justin and Sam, was necessary as Novell required sanctioned access to Microsoft’s code in order to develop open source interoperability without violating MSFT's IP.”
That didn’t seem to fit with earlier explanations of what the patent covenant was for, so I asked Novell for an explanation. Unfortunately, that just raised more questions.
I just received answers to some of those questions from Novell, which provide a little more information about Novell’s access to Microsoft patents and how that relates to the overall patent covenant deal.
A couple of quick points about this Harvard “Bill of Rights” study
May 23, 2007
The study, written by Harvard associate professor Alan MacCormack and based in part on a study funded by Microsoft, is something of a work of art.
In many ways it would be better to ignore it, but having taken a good look at it here are a couple of points worth making:
Onwards and upwards, open source business as usual
May 22, 2007
So anyway, after a brief pause to take in the fact that Microsoft has lots of patents, but isn’t going to use them its back to business as usual for open source.
That means funding, growth, partnerships, new projects, new initiatives, and new ways to do business.
Attempting to understand Microsoft’s mixed signals
May 18, 2007
Trying to keep up with Microsoft's attitude towards open source software is a full-time job these days. It took in a number of twists and turns in the last week that have the potential to shape the industry towards the end of the decade.
The best patent article I've read so far
With so many different opinions and theories on Microsoft's patent move it's difficult to know what to believe. This article by Andy Updegrove contains an interesting explanation of the reality of the patent situation, as well as theorizing on Microsoft's motives, and I would encourage everyone to take a look at it.
The most prolific open source VCs
May 17, 2007
Larry Augustin recently noted that “once a venture firm has a few open source investments they’re not as likely to do another one lest they risk over-weighting their portfolio too much to one sector.”
If that is the case, then this list of the 13 most prolific venture capital firms over the last two years (May 2005 – April 2007) might equally represent a list of the 13 VC companies to avoid if you’re an open source company trying to raise a bit of cash.
The Microsoft Linux patent FUDwatch - updated
May 16, 2007
It was difficult to know where to start given the events of the last week, but here is the latest update to the Microsoft Linux patent FUDwatch.
Microsoft playing games with patent claims
May 14, 2007
The legitimacy of its patent claims – or the patentability of software – aside, Microsoft’s recent claim that free and open source software infringes 235 of its patents smacks of cowardice.
Does RHX avoid the need for Red Hat acquisitions?
May 11, 2007
There seems to be some excitement being generated at the moment about Red Hat’s potential acquisition strategy following the publication of an analyst note by Credit Suisse’s Justin Maynard.
Maynard thinks that Red Hat’s new Exchange applications marketplace could be a good way for the company to test the market for potential acquisitions. While I am sure that it true, I think the same could be said for avoiding a potentially bad investment.
Open source CRM? Splendid!
May 10, 2007
My applications-expert colleague Anglea Eager has got the low down on SplendidCRM, a SugarCRM fork that is designed for a Microsoft technology stack rather than the LAMP stack.
Novell confirms that patent deal gave it access to Microsoft IP
May 09, 2007
Last week I noted that a new explanation had emerged as to why Novell entered into its patent agreement with Microsoft: because Novell engineers “required sanctioned access to Microsoft’s code in order to develop open source interoperability without violating MSFT's IP.”
I asked Novell to confirm whether this was correct and received an interesting response from Justin Steinman, director of marketing for Linux and open platforms at Novell, in which he confirmed the explanation and stated that it was not new, but had been overlooked the press and community.
Larry Augustin on the state of open source funding
May 08, 2007
The amount of open source funding can go down as well as up.
Serial open source investor and all-round open source guru Larry Augustin has taken a look at the recent state of open source investments, using the data I collected earlier this year. As you can see from this chart (PDF) the general trend is up, with more money flowing into more open source vendors.
However, Augustin expects the number of investments per quarter to stay flat or decline between now and the end of next year.
A new explanation for the Microsoft/Novell patent deal
May 04, 2007
Novell entered into the controversial patent covenant with Microsoft because it needed access to Microsoft’s intellectual property in order to develop interoperability between the two companies’ products, according to an explanation given at the recent Open Source Think Tank.
While the explanation puts some perspective on the patent agreement, it does not explain why it has not previously been mentioned by either vendor.
Putting Dell’s desktop Linux demand in perspective
May 03, 2007
I mentioned earlier this week that demand will be a significant factor in determining the success of Dell’s desktop Linux adventure. But is there enough demand to justify Dell to do more than just test the waters and be seen to be responding to customer requests? The statistics suggest not.
Progeny Linux is no more
May 02, 2007
While one Debian-based Linux distribution is flourishing, another has called it a day.
Progeny Linux, which was founded by Debian creator Ian Murdock and former Debian leader, Bruce Perens, and was funded by Perens’s Linux Capital Group, has called it a day.
Ubuntu on Dell: a matter of demand
May 01, 2007
"All our desktops can run Linux if you want to, we see this as more of a demand issue than a supply issue," Dell's chairman and chief executive, Michael Dell, told CBR in May 2005.
Two years on and the picture is a little different.
Demand, however, continues to dominate the discussion, as these comments from Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth prove.
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