Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself...

by John Mark Walker - Sep. 29, 2009Comments (14)

Greetings, OStatic community! I'm pleased as punch to have the privilege of blogging here. So, by way of introducing myself, here's a bit about me and the sorts of things you'll read in my blog posts.

A long time ago, I was employee #70 at this venture-funded startup called VA Linux Systems. You may have heard of us - had an IPO in December, 1999 with the largest 1-day gain in NASDAQ history. Equally historic was the long demise of VA as it scuttled its hardware business to focus on SourceForge Enterprise, which it eventually scuttled to focus on its web sites: SourceForge.net, Slashdot, et al. By that time, I had long been kicked off the VA train, which incidentally is no longer called VA but SourceForge, Inc.

Since then I've remained in the Open Source arena as a writer, agitprop, Monday morning economist and general community guy. I've spoken at OSCON, OSBC, LinuxWorld, OpenSource World, LISA, SCALE and a few user groups in between. I've had the privilege of working with some great people and companies as well as.... well, some not-so-great people and companies.

Defining Open Source and Free Software paved the way for the current regulated market that is the Open Source ecosystem, and I worry about how we are going to create a similar phenomenon to accomplish the same with web-based products and services. What does it mean to protect developers' and users' rights within the context of business and commerce in a Cloud-y, SaaS-y world?

I love the term Free Software, but not GNU. I haven't forgiven Google for undermining the GPL v3 process, and I wish more people would demand that companies make use of the Affero GPL. But don't accuse me of being anti-business - on the contrary. I believe creating self-regulated markets is a great way to promote business, creating a lasting, healthy ecosystem in which to conduct business.

In this blog, I'll give my $.02 on what's going on in the commercial Open Source space, and add my thoughts on clouds and other technologies as appropriate.

Full disclosure: I provide community consulting services for a number of clients, including at the moment Microsoft and Groundwork. You will see me comment on my work from time to time, and I will always disclose who's paying me.

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by Lisa Hoover on Sep. 29, 2009

Welcome aboard, it's great to have you here!

:-)

Lisa

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by Ted Cook on Sep. 29, 2009

John Mark,

I always appreciate your opinions and insights. This looks to be a great forum for you.

-Ted

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by Jack G on Sep. 29, 2009

Welcome, John! Looking forward to posts!

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by Sam Dean on Sep. 29, 2009

Welcome John! I am really glad we have you here blogging.

Sam

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by Subal Gupta on Sep. 29, 2009

"... I'm a man of wealth and taste

I've been around a long long year

Stole many a man's soul and faith"

Looking forward to some war stories from the trenches of the FOSS revolution!

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by an anonymous user on Sep. 30, 2009

Welcome here, you will find great things over here :)

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by John Mark Walker on Sep. 30, 2009

I have to admit that when I saw there were 6 comments on my initial post, I was expecting pitchforks and torches. I was relieved to see the positive response :)

Onward and upward...

-JM

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by Kristin Shoemaker on Sep. 30, 2009

Hey John Mark! Nice to have you along for the ride. Looking forward to reading more of your thoughts and insights on open source from the commercial cloud down to grassroots community efforts.

OStatic readers are the best -- they're masters at keeping the pitchforks polished and torches dry for on-location film crews needing "angry mob" extras -- and keeping minds and keyboards sharp and open when talking open source.

Kristin

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by Jesse Casman on Sep. 30, 2009

John,

Very much looking forward to reading your posts. I like in this intro how you look back over time. Hope you continue to bring a similar long term perspective to your coverage. Understanding the context, I think, is key to understanding the news.

Jesse Casman

San Francisco, CA

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by Rickard on Oct. 01, 2009

So, you're just another MS troll then ...

Well, good luck with it, or not when I think about it some more ...

But good that you are reasonably open to it anyway.

/ Rickard

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by John Mark Walker on Oct. 01, 2009

Rickard,

You should look at my history before throwing around that term. Specifically, see the web site I co-founded with Ilan Rabinovitch (SCALE co-founder) - http://www.geek-pac.org/

I'm not so easy to categorize, and I don't have to apologize for any of my clients.

-JM

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by twitter on Oct. 01, 2009

I provide community consulting services for a number of clients, including at the moment Microsoft and Groundwork.

You provide consulting and analysis for M$? Thanks for the disclosure. How does it feel to work for a company that once trained it's to believe these things about you?

Analysts: Analysts sell out – that’s their business model But they are very concerned that they never look like they are selling out, so that makes them very prickly to work with.

Consultants: These guys are your best bets as moderators. Get a well-known consultant on your side early, but don’t let him publish anything blatantly pro-Microsoft. Then, get him to propose himself to the conference organizers as a moderator, whenever a panel opportunity comes up. Since he’s well-known, but apparently independent, he’ll be accepted – one less thing for the constantly-overworked conference organizer to worry about, right?

Love open, hate free. That's the current M$ talking point. Good luck with all that.

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by Rickard on Oct. 02, 2009

Hello John!

I never said you were easy to categorize ... It is not in your, or rather your employer's interest.

Could write more but my English is bad, but I totally agree with "twitter" statement in the post above!

/ Rickard from Sweden

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by John Mark Walker on Oct. 06, 2009

"twitter" - Please name any company of MSFT's size that embraces "free." I embrace free as well - but I believe in working with and not against, as a general principle.

Rickard - My company and employer is Community Root, LLC - a community consulting and events outfit. It's in my interest to develop that brand.

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