I wrote last Thursday that I was following the blogging and reporting out of the OSCON open source software (OSS) conference waiting for some red meat in terms of Microhate or intra-movement warfare between the OSS left and right wings or something to get over my summer doldrums. It came in the form of the OSS left wing, represented by GPL V3 author Eben Moglen, attacking the right wing, represented according to Moglen by OSCON founder, Tim O'Reilly. It did not disappoint. You can read about it here and even here right from the source (or at least from a blogger on one of the participants' web sites).
The blogosphere is filling up with comments on the session's implications to OSS. I am more interested in its implications for open choice.
Not that it needs my help but I usually stick up for Microsoft when I see political hacks out of the EU piling on or just plain good propagandists out of IBM or Red Hat or Oracle subtly twisting the facts. No question Microsoft needs a needle here and there but they have never forced me to buy or use their products. In fact, I first started using their products thanks to Apple, whose 1990ish PC came with Word (or my employer put it there, not sure which).
But it works the other way too. If you believe in open choice, you need to stick up for OSS as well. The Free Software Foundation (FSF), seeing its influence waning apparently because of lack of acceptance of the GPL V3, has decided to attack its allies in OSS. With 60 million copies of Vista sold (I sent mine back because my grandkids wanted Pinball) clearly the FSF attack on Microsoft was a failure. This FSF attack on O'Reilly and OSS should be beaten back as well.
If it is not, enterprises will desert all types of OSS because no one running a business wants the hassle of dealing with such pettiness. Most small and midsize businesses already get all of their software as a service or will soon migrate to that delivery method. They could care less about this debate. But the big companies wanted to see the debate end (they wanted open choice) and they forced Microsoft to the table. Microsoft, with new leaders gradually assuming control, did the right thing and ended the feuding (which was really just a game to Ballmer and the earlier generation of Microsoft leaders anyways, a diversion to the pressure of putting out lots of complex software on an accelerated schedule). OSS companies such as Novell, Linspire and others did their part.
Now the rest of the OSS movement, the part that wants to be taken seriously (and deserves to be taken seriously) in the real world where the IT budgets are created needs to sign up as well. And believe me, I can tell you based on my work at Research 2.0 (see button to right), investors will back away from the OSS movement faster than you can say dot.com. if they don't.
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