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There’s a bit of a buzz on the web the week of June 2 about a group of open source software (OSS) marketing and management executives (the "experts") conducting a blogathon at cio.com. I have a little problem with the inherent biases of the panel but don't think you should ignore the possibiliites.

Here is a notice I received from one of executives PR agents (or perhaps it’s from cio.com’s agent):

“The CIO.com Open Source Blogathon is a week long executive event that addresses key questions in the adoption of open source software. Each day executives will blog in response to one key topic area and your participation is welcomed. Here is a chance to twist the ear of some of your favorite open source executives ...

There will be a different topic each day. It seems to work like this: a cio.com editor posts on the day’s subject and the experts comment on it. And so can you.

It’s really an amalgamation/syndication service since I believe all of the participants blog at their own sites individually. Some of the companies represented include WaveMaker, SpringSource, IBM, SugarCRM, Funambol, MySQL/Sun, Enterprise DB, JasperSoft, Novell, Navica, SourceFire, and Nessus. Other participants will include Dominic Sartorio, President, Open Solutions Alliance, John Ferriolo, Chair, OpenAjax Alliance, Matt Aslett, OpenSource Analyst & Blogger, 451 Group, and Michael Cote, OpenSource Analyst, Redmonk.

FYI: Dominic will be a panelist at the ebizQ Open Source Software roundtable on August 20.

My caveat to readers about this promotion is that you need to know each expert’s corporate biases. With the exception of Michael Cote, Matt Aslett and to a lesser degree Dominic and John Ferriolo, all have fiduciary corporate responsibilities that may very well conflict with what you need to know on the day’s subject.

In my opinion, given its magazine title, cio.com should have had CIOs doing the blogging. I find the quote by Aaron Groves—a CIO type at Citigroup—speaking at April’s Linux/OSS on Wall St. Conference most revealing. He said his group doesn't use software that is not commercially supported. Whether it is open source or not is not even a question Citigroup asks. Hearing more about such dynamics of the open source movement from the demand side rather than the supply side would be more useful.

Posted by dennisb in OSS Business Issue |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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