Open Sources | Rodrigues & Urlocker » The virtues of open source (InfoWorld special feature)

April 03, 2006 | Comments: (0)

The virtues of open source (InfoWorld special feature)

TAGS: Open Source

InfoWorld has a great collection of stories on open source, and how it benefits enterprises.

One article that I found particularly interesting is the case study on The Christian Science Monitor. I know Curtis Edge (CIO) and Terry Barbounis (CTO) pretty well, as they use my employer's software. But I didn't realize just how much open source was having an effect on how the organization hires:

"?I need to hire inventors, and I want to be partnered with groups that want to do the same thing. We need a culture that does that,"? Edge says. That'?s why Edge has pushed the use of open source technology at the church, including adopting the Alfresco content management system for the Monitor. He's also made changes in his IT staff to ensure that the church's in-house IT culture fits the open source culture. In the past 18 months, he'?s had 60 percent turnover in his IT staff as he changes the culture to a more flexible, entrepreneurial -- even creative -- approach to technology development.

If I'm an IT administrator or an architect at an enterprise, this is revelatory (pun intended). Instead of hiring people to be mindless drones that point-and-click Microsoft technology, Curtis is looking for bright, creative people to actually mold IT to his organization's advantage.

Maybe IT does matter, after all....

Further in the article, Curtis provides more insight into their reasons for using open source:

Although Edge is happy to use commercial software for established business practices, such as Oracle Financials for accounting, he does not want to be tied to a specific vendor's approach for an emerging, core technology like content management. "?When it comes to the Web, we're still sorting out best practices,"? he says.

Instead, Edge wants the broader collaboration fostered in an open source community. He feels that the open source methodology allows problems and opportunities alike to be identified quickly by people who can do something about them.

"?I like the open source community because anyone at any level can talk,"? Edge says. "I want my developers to talk with other developers, rather than with a help desk or a support organization. There'?s a lot of benefit from a grassroots community figuring out what's good for everyone."?

So, reading between the lines somewhat, for the technology that is well-understood and mainstream (meaning, it's a common need that isn't going to be much improved by dramatically tailoring it to one's organization), go with proprietary software. But for those areas where IT really does matter, use open source, because you can tailor it to your advantage.

In short, for IT that doesn't matter, use Microsoft. For that which does, use open source. :-)

Another way to say this? Open source software is as much about people as it is about software. With proprietary software, you get bits. With open source, you get people and bits. I'll take the latter any day over the former.

Posted by Matt Asay on April 3, 2006 12:41 PM

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