OStatic

As the InfoWorld Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco gets underway this week, the tech publication is posting a series of interesting transcripts from roundtable discussions on open source topics. The roundtables include a number of well-known pundits, including CNet writer Matt Asay, Bruce Perens (credited by many as coining the term open source), Sam Ramji (senior director of platform technology at Microsoft), Zack Urlocker (vice president of products at MySQL) and many others. Much of the talk surrounds the trend toward commercialization of open source products.

InfoWorld's discussion with Bruce Perens, creator of the Open Source Definition, concentrates on open source opportunities over the next several years. "The biggest problem facing open source, and software in general, is software patenting," says Perens.

In a discussion with Matt Asay, content chair of OSBC, he says "we have demonstrated that it's possible to kick-start successful open source projects with venture capital." Also see Wired's coverage on gold in them thar hills for open source developers.

InfoWorld's coverage also includes a far-ranging discussion with Robert Sutor, vice president of open source and standards at IBM, who sees much of the short-term future of open source hinging on "broad adoption of Linux on the desktop."

In his chat with InfoWorld, Sam Ramji, senior director of platform technology at Microsoft, warns of defects in constantly growing open source products: "If you look at the trajectory of the Linux kernel, as the amount of code increases, so does the complexity. With the added complexity comes more defects."

Zack Urlocker, vice president of products at MySQL, says about open source: "As with most systems software, it needs to continue to get easier to use." He points to the popularity of MySQL, Apache, PHP, Linux, and JBoss as depending on ease of use.

If you're looking for an interesting book on open source, check out Eric Raymond's tome The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Raymond weighs in with InfoWorld in conjunction with OSBC, saying "the utter failure of Vista to gain traction even among Microsoft's most loyal users, and Apple's decision to morph into a cellphone and consumer-electronics company" represent large opportunities for open sourcers.

Check into OStatic for more news from OSBC and the SD Forum's Global Open Source Conference this week.

• mysql
• Microsoft
• Apple
• linux
• Apache