This is the one thousandth post to have been published on the 451 CAOS Theory blog, three years and six days since Raven wrote the first post, describing the blog’s raison d’être.

It’s interesting to look back at Raven’s first post as a reminder as to why the CAOS Theory blog was launched and how it continues to add value to what we do and – we hope – the open source ecosystem at large:

“This blog is being launched as a way to create a more interactive dialogue between 451 analysts and the enterprise open source community. It is, therefore, intended to be a forum for sharing information, pointing to interesting news stories/opinions and generally wringing out key issues that are important to the community. As a free offering, 451 analysts hope that their investment of time and energy to share their thoughts with community members will result in intellectual payback as blog members bring up ideas, arguments and points of view that the 451 team has not otherwise considered.

This blog is also a jumping-off point for – and a complement to – the more in-depth analysis in the 451 Commercial Adoption of Open Source (CAOS) Research Service, which will be launched in the near future. This paid-for client service analyzes the challenges and opportunities as commercial enterprise ‘early adopters’ introduce open source software into their core IT operations, and it will examine the effectiveness of the strategies, business models and support/development programs of vendor companies that are deploying an open source approach in delivering software to their enterprise customers.”

Looking back I think it is undoubtedly true that the investment in the blog has produced value for the The 451 Group in engaging in open debate and discourse, and I believe that not only has our CAOS Research Service benefited from that but we have also contributed back to the community, through open discussion of our research findings on this blog, at industry events, and in person.

Indeed we continue to look at new ways in which we can engage with the open source ecosystem, and have more recently introduced the CAOS Theory podcast and CAOS Theory Links live Twitter stream.

Raven’s post is also worth reading considering the recent debate about open source business strategies and definitions:

“Debates on open source versus proprietary business models often degenerate into religious warfare. The approach of The 451 Group is that of pragmatic, intelligent analysis on a case-by-case basis. The fundamental starting point is that open source methodologies present a potentially disruptive, and also valuable, asset that complements the way both vendors and enterprise IT organizations conduct their businesses. Open source software is a development trend that neither side can afford to ignore, but that doesn’t mean that it is always applicable or that it can’t involve considerable pain.”

1,102 days later not a lot has changed. Debates on business models still often degenerate into religious warfare and The 451 Group still attempts to take the approach of providing pragmatic, intelligent analysis on a case-by-case basis.

Oh yes, and you can still apply for free trial access to 451 services, via our trial application page.

Here’s to the next 1,000 posts.