The end of opensource as counterculture

From Forbes.com Technology writer Daniel Lyons, 25 Feb 2008.

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2008/0225/060.html?partner=yahoomag

Sun talks a good game of embracing open source ideals, but the company is acting out of desperation. Having fallen upon hard times, Sun has open sourced its crown jewels, freely sharing the blueprints for its Sparc microprocessors, Solaris operating system and Java programming language.

It's a great publicity stunt, but how will giving away products Sun already owns, and spending $1 billion to acquire another free product, save Sun? Pixie dust would have to be at work here. It reminds me of a sketch from South Park where gnomes steal underpants as part of a three-phase business plan which goes like this:

1. Collect underpants.

2. ?

3. Profit.

In a similarly fantastic vein, MySQL Chief Executive Marten Mickos insists that his outfit can reach $1 billion in sales and that hitching up with Sun will get him there faster. A less captive observer might comment that when it comes to acquisitions Sun is like [Novell and] the Bermuda Triangle-- companies (like Cobalt and Pirus Networks) go in and are never heard from again. This promising little software firm could get sucked into Sun and disappear.

MySQL had to know this. My take? The insiders took the money and ran. The lesson of this deal is that "open source culture"--by this I mean that noisy, shaggy, countercultural, money-hating hacker rebellion--is now on the wane. The hippies have built a weapon that the big guys want, and now the hippies are cashing out. (Emphasis added by blog owner.)

The new era of détente will be a great thing for customers but even better for shareholders in open source companies, who will enjoy a rich payday, thanks to the very companies they used to rail against.

Extended time off

I've got a few days off from work. It's a welcome break. I usually find myself ready to get back to work when I have these lengthy breaks, and I expect the same will happen this time. But for now I'm happy to get out of the mad-house at the office. Work is many things, and right now it is definitely work.

Last week was a bit difficult as every member of the family was sick. We had varying ailments, but at the core were the unpleasantnesses in the bathroom. No one had any desire to do anything for many days. The house was a quarantine zone, both to keep others from catching our illness but also to allow us to simply convalesce for awhile. It was a well needed rest. It kept us from going to Church, though, and that's always a little unfortunate. Church routinely revives us as a family. But we had no intention of inflicting this pestilence on our friends and neighbors at Church.

We're starting to get back to normal, with Mom being the last to fully recover. He affliction has been more of a Cold, with severe ear-ache and sore throat.

Mom's flagging pain was enough, however, to keep her from going to Lagoon with us yesterday. My employer routinely sets one day aside during the year to have all the employees and family members enjoy the day at Lagoon. I took Taige, Ashton and one of Taige's friends, and we had a good time together. Taige was still feeling a little weak, but had no trouble enjoying himself.

And I've got the next few days to do a few projects around the house. The hot weather has made it hard to do any of my planned outdoor projects, though. I've got several things to fixup outside before the Winter returns, but I think I can procrastinate those a little longer, and wait for this oppressive Summer heat to wane. I've got plenty of things to do inside, too. As I said, we've all been sick, and the house has gone to pot. Time to make amends.

Next week is Taige's Scout Camp. We're going down to the BSA camp near Brian Head. I don't remember the name of the place .... Thunder Ridge, perhaps. I've volunteered to go to camp with them. This is Taige's first time, and it will be my first time as an adult. I figure it's my turn to be involved. It's one of those things that *someone's* parent needs to take his turn with the scouts. You can't shuffle off that to other fathers all the time. It's one of those unspoken rules. I'm not the most robust camper, and I confess that I'm not terribly excited about it. But I'll make the best of it and try not to put on a sour face. I must also confess that I've several challenging thoughts about forest fires and bears. I hope not to have to confront either one. (Hmmm, I *do* have this occasional dream about wrestling a bear, although I always thought that would be in the afterlife.)

30% contained

Wildfires are abundant throughout Utah right now. The Milford Flats fire is the largest ever in Utah, and is the #2 priority fire in the U.S. right now. It's only about 30% contained. And it has closed I-15 and I-70 on several occasions over the last week.

But that's not the highest priority fire in the U.S., as I said. The bigger problem is the fire near Helper (near Price). That fire is threatening oild and gas facilities, and if those facilities or the adjoining mines catch on fire....

Hot temperatures and severe drought have really made things difficult.

My problem is that the family is heading to Grand Junction, CO, this weekend. Both potential routes to our destination are threatened by fires.

Taige has a karate tournament in Grand Junction this weekend. We've never been to one of these, so I don't know what to expect. It's supposed to be the sort of thing that the whole family will enjoy, so we're all going. If nothing else, we'll hit the pool to take the edge off the heat. There will be a banquet dinner on Saturday night that doubles as an awards ceremony. And seminars for the non-kickers, although I hven't the faintest idea what the seminars will entail. We're going with no particular expectations, just knowing that we're supporting Taige. He's really enjoying karate. And that's good, since he has rather rejected other sports.

And today is the opening day for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Novell has provided a ticket for each employee, and I've got a second ticket for one of my kids. Looks like it's going to be Taige, since it's PG-13 and I'd like to see it before I take Ashton. The T.V. has been showing mixed reviews from customers. Some like it and others don't. But It think that was the case for both #3 and #4, too. With this being #5, clearly there are going to be detractors of the franchise. I, personally, think they've done a remarkably good job with the films, and I have no reason to think this latest one will fall short. And to followup, I've ordered the 7th Potter book from amazon.com. We should have it in hand at the end of the month.

How to begin?

Having never blogged before -- and being a horrible writer of journals -- I worry about how I can possibly make this work. But I'm somewhat repentant. I have a reasonable desire to keep some sort of record of my thoughts and feelings.

Not having a crystal ball, I don't know what the future holds for this blog. Don't count it out, but don't count on it, either. When it comes to writing technical documentation, I can type and compose with the best of 'em. But when faced with jotting details of a more personal nature I'm quite cautious. (It took my about 15 seconds to come up with the word "cautious" back there, because I wanted to make sure I used the right word.)

From my 20th through my 21st year I served as a full-time missionary in Portugal. During that time I kept a journal of my service. I've occasionally read pages from that journal, and have been horrified and embarrassed at the content of that journal. Some things would cause me significant embarrassment if anyone were to read that tripe. Other things are simply not at all worth remembering. But most of all, that journal shows how truly immature I was at 19. On the one hand I think it's good for people in general to keep track of that kind of stuff, but on the other hand, I don't think anyone needs to know that kind of stuff about me.

Selfish? You bet yer life!

But I'm willing to attempt to overcome that, trusting that I'm a little more mature (at 37 years), and trusting that practice may improve my ability to capture thoughts and feelings that really might be interesting (and not-so embarrassing) for others to read. And trusting that at least a little early effort here may eventually translate into greater desire and better content.

So, here's my latest attempt to record a little something that represents me. My thoughts. My self. A few events in my life (professional and personal) that someone might find enlightening or at least a little amusing.