Topics for this podcast: *-DoD memo and official use and consideration of open source *EnterpriseDB updates its Postgres Plus Server, gets Red Hat investment *Latest in Linux from Canonical’s Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Deltacloud *Roundup of Oracle-Sun-MySQL developments and perspectives iTunes or direct download (25:30, 5.8 MB)

Government adoption. Financial results. New funding. And more.

Wednesday saw the launch of The 451 Group’s CAOS Open Source Adoption survey, covering end user attitudes to the potential financial benefits of open source. Given current economic conditions there is considerable interest in open source software with many people wondering whether open source licensing can help users lower the cost of enterprise computing compared [...]

The long-awaited and anticipated U.S. Department of Defense memo on open source has arrived, and it’s good for open source. The DoD memo wisely lays out the idea that open source software should be considered not alongside traditional, commercial offerings, but basically as traditional, commercial software offerings, so that the evaluation process is truly fair. [...]

In our recent report on the data warehousing market we speculated that there would soon be a change in the number of vendors operating in what is a crowded market. We were anticipating that the number of vendors would go down, rather than up, but – in the short term at least – we have [...]

Red Hat invests in EnterpriseDB. The White House goes open source. And more.

Since the European Commission announced it was opening an in-depth investigation into the proposed takeover of Sun Microsystems by Oracle with a focus on MySQL there has been no shortage of opinion written about Oracle’s impending ownership of MySQL and its impact on MySQL users and commercial partners, as well as MySQL’s business model, dual [...]

At last month’s LinuxCon event, I enjoyed talks on desktop Linux from the likes of Dirk Hohndel and IBM’s Bob Sutor, but to completely honest, I wasn’t quite sure I understood their thinking when they implored desktop Linux creators and supporters to look beyond Windows replacement and emulation. I get the idea of being different [...]

The future of MySQL. The SCO Group terminates Darl McBride. And more.

A controversial issue in the UK this week is the BBC’s decision to invite the British National Party – the far-right, whites-only political party – to appear on Question Time, the BBC’s flagship political debate programme. Critics fear that the move will legitimise the BNP’s far-right views, while the BBC has defended the invitation on [...]

There was some rapid reaction to my post arguing why open core vendors should consider opening up their core code, either under a more permissive license than the GPL, or (and perhaps and) to an independent foundation. The most interesting response, for me, came from Savio Rodrigues since he questioned whether the theory would work [...]

The complaints and concerns over Oracle’s pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems and open source MySQL database grew this week to calls for the acquisition, or at least the relatively small MySQL part of it, to be blocked. The Open Rights Group calling for such blockage was joined by none other than the father of the [...]

Topics for this podcast: *Our take on Q3 and current funding for open source *OSI part of renewed definition discussion, status suspended *Our latest special report – Warehouse Optimization *Get ready for The 451 Group’s 4th Annual Client Conference iTunes or direct download (23:21, 5.3 MB)

JetBrains goes open source. Jeremy Allison on Mono, Samba and Microsoft. And more.

I recently suggested that open core vendors should consider releasing the source code for their core open source project under a more permissive license, or better still via an existing community/foundation. The idea has been the subject of some interesting conversation on Twitter this week, not least since Sun’s Simpn Phipps asked the very pertinent [...]

Jay recently speculated, and I agreed, that we may be starting to see a return to support and other services, rather than commercial code and licensing, as the preferred mode to monetize open source. The shift is related to, although not dependent upon, a predicted move away from vendor-dominated open source projects towards vendor-dominated open [...]

Dana Blankenhorn has speculated that open source remains stuck in a niche based on the fact that GroundWork Open Source has raised only $5m in series D funding. I haven’t spoken to GroundWork in a while (although Jay has) so I don’t have any particular insight into its financial performance, but I would make the [...]

Larry Ellison promises funds for MySQL, commits to community. The “open source vendor” debate ina nutshell. And more.

There was not a whole lot of fanfare over the recent merger of the West Coast-based Open Solutions Alliance and the European-based OW2, but the move may also reflect a greater, global market crossover among different geographies and vendors using open source software. We’re seeing signs and hearing that previously NA-centric vendors, such as Red [...]

Funding for Engine Yard and DataSync. Red Hat and Microsoft joint support. And more.