Links: OSI Finds Its Spine, 'Open' Core Called Out
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2010-07-21 16:38:08 UTC
- Modified: 2010-07-21 16:38:08 UTC
Summary: With people like Simon Phipps in its house, the OSI regains credibility
Open core, Open core, more Open core… the debate goes on and on, with Monty the latest to weigh in.
When you get down to it this is a fight over branding – which is why the issue is so important to the OSI folks (who are all about the brand). I don’t actually care that much how SugarCRM, Jahia, Alfresco et al make the software they sell to their customers. As a customer I’m asking a whole different set of questions to “is this product open source?” I want to know how good the service and support is, how good the product is, and above all, does it solve the problem I have at a price point I’m comfortable with. The license doesn’t enter into consideration.
So if that’s the case (and I believe it is), why the fighting? Because of the Open Source brand, and all the warm-and-fuzzies that procures. “Open solutions” are the flavour of the decade, and as a small ISV building a global brand, being known as Open Source is a positive marketing attribute. The only problem is that the warm-and-fuzzies implied by Open source – freedom to change supplier or improve the software, freedom to try the software before purchasing, the existence of a diverse community of people with knowledge, skills and willingness to help a user in difficulty – don’s exist in the Open Core world. The problem is that for the most part, the Open Core which you can obtain under the OSI-approved license is not that useful.
Yesterday on Twitter, I said “Open Core is annoying because the “open core” bit is pretty much useless. It doesn’t do exactly what it says on the tin.”
Recently, there has been debate in the press about "Open Core". I don't care to debate the minor points but make a simple declaration:
* "Open Core" has NOTHING to do with "Open Source". Nearly all proprietary software, at this point, has various degrees of open source-licensed source code in its core.
* "Open Core" has none of the advantages of open source to the user and is merely a proprietary software company.
* "Open Core" puts the software user at a disadvantage in the same way that all proprietary software puts the user at a disadvantage.
While their marketing guy may claim “that overall, Sugar 6 is an open source product from an open source company”, it’s hard to see how they are anything other than a proprietary software company who share some code with a related open source project. Claiming to be “an open source company” seems an unacceptable use of the open source brand to me.
Once more there is a lot of heated discussion about what constitutes a “real” open source business model – that is, one that remains true to the spirit of open source, and doesn't just use it as a trendy badge to attract customers. But such business models address only a tiny part of running a company – how it generates money. What about the many other aspects of a firm?
Imagine a world where code used by the biggest clouds is freely available to any developer, anywhere. A world where that code was a standard used to build private clouds as well as a variety of new service offers. In this world, workloads could be moved around these clouds easily – you could fire your cloud provider for bad service or lack of features, but not have to rewrite the software to do it. Imagine an open source cloud operating system that lifts IT to the next level of innovation, just as Linux drove the web to new heights.
Free whitepaper – 10 top tips for getting IT into your CMO’s good books
NASA is dropping Eucalyptus from its Nebula infrastructure cloud not only because its engineers believe the open source platform can't achieve the sort of scale they require, but also because it isn't entirely open source.
NASA chief technology officer Chris Kemp tells The Reg that as his engineers attempted to contribute additional Eucalyptus code to improve its ability to scale, they were unable to do so because some of the platform's code is open and some isn't. Their attempted contributions conflicted with code that was only available in a partially closed version of platform maintained by Eucalyptus Systems Inc., the commercial outfit run by the project's founders.
I was surprised to see that Larry Augustin had posted to his blog, since he does that pretty infrequently, so I assume all of the questioning about whether or not SugarCRM is open source is hitting close to home. Not as bad as a flawed cell phone antenna design, but I guess bad enough.
While his post is very heartfelt, it is full of misdirection about the meaning of the term “open source”. He refers to the word “open” a lot, but “open” and “open source” are two different things. Heck, one of the most popular network management product suites of all time was called OpenView, but the “open” in the name had nothing to do with open source software.
I’ve been staying out of the recent resurgence in the “open core” debate (check out the 451 Group for a summary). If these fauxpen source vendors would simply call their product “open core” versus “open source” there wouldn’t be anything to talk about, but they need to market themselves as “open source” as opposed to “just another commercial software company with a great API” to get any traction.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Microsoft Media Operatives and Bill Epsteingate-Funded Sites Said Microsoft Lays Off 9,000, But Other Sites Say More (Including 2,300 in Redmond Alone)
- We might never know the real number/s (Microsoft will keep the cards close to its chest) until there are leakers or unless there are whistleblowers with hard proof
- GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High in the United States of America
- Windows is trending down
- Why the Microsoft People Who Started SLAPPs Against Techrights Could Very Well be Sent Back to Prison
- White-collar crime is also a crime
-
- Links 02/07/2025: Deep Microsoft Cuts, Macron Speaks to Putin
- Links for the day
- Confirmed: Microsoft Shutdowns Today, Not Only Mass Layoffs
- "The Initiative is the only studio closure planned today, although some other teams have seen cuts of varying degrees."
- GNU/Linux is Replacing Microsoft Windows. But We Need to Eradicate Microsoft, It's a Hub of Crime.
- I have been writing about Microsoft since the 1990s when I was in school
- Microsoft Windows Nosedives in Switzerland While GNU/Linux Leaps Above 6%
- sooner or later they might have to make the move anyway
- Anxiety at Microsoft: Many Workers (Maybe Over 10,000) Still Don't Know They're Being Laid Off Just Before US Independence Day
- "Has anyone gotten the notification yet?"
- Microsoft "Declined to Say How Many People Would be Laid Off," According to Associated Press
- Some other prominent publications said they reached out for comment from Microsoft and received none
- The X War is Over and the "Wayland People" Lost
- People will gravitate towards what works for them
- 20 Years Since My Thesis
- It's still online
- GNU/Linux is Replacing Windows in Laptops/Desktops
- The world will move on while Windows and Microsoft shrink
- Now Comes the Expected Webspam, Framing Microsoft Layoffs as "Hey Hi" Success Story (False Marketing That's Piggybacking the Layoffs)
- falsely marketed as "intelligence"
- Hungary: Microsoft Windows Sinks to 17% "Market Share"
- In many nations in Europe it seems like the era of Windows is coming to an end
- Microsoft Layoffs in Spain, Portugal Record for GNU/Linux
- in Portugal we see GNU/Linux at record levels
- Yes, Microsoft is Again Using Its Favourite Liars (Stenographers) to Seed Fake Layoff Numbers, Much Lower Than What's Really Happening
- It is Jordan Novet again, just as we predicted
- Will Microsoft Once Again Choose Its Favourite Liar to Spread Lies About Today's Layoffs, Quickly to be Replicated and Spread by Slopfarms?
- What lies is Microsoft briefing its media moles to tell today?
- "OSS Fetishism" Wins After Ferenc Zsolt Szabó Ousted (Microsoft Mole From Capgemini)
- Many people said 2025 would be the "year of Linux on the desktop"
- There is Nothing That LLMs Can Offer Honest People
- LLMs are a passing fad; they're expensive and offer poor "value" for energy; they usually offer no value at all unless you are a cheater, spammer, and liar
- What statCounter Shows Today Helps Explain Microsoft's Helplessness, Mass Layoffs
- Since many US journalists are already away on holiday almost nobody will dare ask the difficult questions or give a voice to whistleblowers
- Microsoft Gets the Chop in South America
- The notion of digital sovereignty gained a lot of popularity
- Europe Has an 'Exit'
- Let's see what happens the rest of this year
- El Presidente Talks, Canada Walks (Away From Windows)
- GNU/Linux rising
- Cities in France and Germany Move to GNU/Linux and statCounter Detects Big Differences
- Will governments lead by example?
- Microsoft Lost Its Foothold in Africa
- How many of these are "old" Windows machines converted to GNU/Linux? Probably a lot.
- Led by Europe, GNU/Linux Makes Big Gains This Month
- statCounter started showing new/fresh stats
- Links 02/07/2025: Massive Microsoft Layoffs About to Commence, "Tesla's Robotaxi Program Is Failing"
- Links for the day
- The Company Run by Former (and Last Proper) Red Hat CEO, Promoting Microsoft Mono, Faces Shock as Senior Partner Jailed for 33 Sexual Offenses Including Pedophilia
- "As reported by The Oxford Mail in April 2025, the offenses include rape, sexual assault, engaging in non-penetrative activity with a child, and more."
- Microsoft Lost 29% of Windows Users, Based on Microsoft, Now Come Massive Layoffs
- Microsoft collapse is today
- Slopwatch: Google Serves to People Linux Slop and Linux FUD (Made by Bots)
- "Slopwatch" finds it difficult to ignore Google's role in encouraging LLM slop
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 01, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, July 01, 2025
- "Wayland People" Behave Like the Googles and Microsofts of This World
- Published yesterday by Igor Ljubuncic
- Gemini Links 02/07/2025: Arch Linux and Fulfillment in Gemini
- Links for the day
- Links 01/07/2025: "Independence Day in Taiwan", Bounties on Software Patents
- Links for the day
- What Happens When Your Law Firm is Preoccupied With Harassing and Trying to Extort a Humble Couple in Manchester, Even on Behalf of Violent Microsoft Staff From Another Continent
- It's good to see that law firms which operate in bad faith are perishing
- Lawyer X, Law Firm X and Elon Musk's X: scandals linked by Old Xaverian
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Distraction-Free Writing and Hytale Mismanagement
- Links for the day
- Links 01/07/2025: "Beauty of Blogging" and "Etiquette of Collapse"
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Uses LLM Slop to Defraud (or Rob) Shareholders
- Microsoft is basically defrauding its shareholders by LLM slop
- The Web is a Dead End
- We need to adopt alternatives
- When Words Lose Their Intended Meaning
- examples of words that, at least in the technical spheres, don't mean what they sound like
- People Who Disagree With You on Technical Matters May or May Not Agree With You on Political Things (But Usually They Do)
- What bothers me a great deal is seeing left-leaning people accusing other left-leaning people of being "nazis"
- "Too Much Choice" and "Too Many Programming Languages"
- What IBM and its apologists aim for was attempted in the 1930s and it failed
- Microsoft Lost 400,000,000 Windows Users, According to Microsoft
- more people adopt smaller computers and many people replace Windows with GNU/Linux, as they don't really need a new computer
- The "Davos Effect": Tarnishing the Reputation of Places Not by Overtourism But by Oligarch Infestation
- The last Venice needs is an affiliation with Venetian oligarchs
- Half a Year Gone, What's to Come Next
- In the second half of 2025 we expect to be done with the Microsoft SLAPPs
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 30, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, June 30, 2025
- People at the Very Top of Microsoft Know How Bad Things Really Are
- There's no product that can replace the former profitability of Windows licensing and stuff that went on top of Windows
- Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Mid Year and a Tour of Old Languages
- Links for the day
- EPO Presentation Bemoans Misuse of Slop in Decision-Making on Patents and in Classification (Which is Likely Illegal Too)
- We habitually mention failed use cases of LLMs on the Web
- Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Confirmed, "XBox Hardware Is Dead"
- It's possible that over 20% of the staff will be laid off
- Links 30/06/2025: Kyrgyzstan vs Media Freedom, Dalai Lama Succession
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 30/06/2025: Backend Programs in Gemini and Dynamic Content Without The Scripting
- Links for the day
- Links 30/06/2025: Zuckerberg’s Tax-Evading Scheme Harms Kids, US Copyright Office Lacks Leadership
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Isn't Laying Off Tens of Thousands to 'Invest' in Slop ('Hey Hi'), It's Laying Off Tens of Thousands Because It's Running Out of Money (and Willing Lenders)
- the layoffs are a sign of the business failing, not "hey hi" (whatever that is) replacing staff
- Intel Lays Off 20% of Its Workforce, Microsoft is Doing the Same This Year
- Like a yoyo, whatever goes up will come back down
- Microsoft XBox Layoffs: Almost 2,000 Layoffs Became "Over 2,000"? (Over 20% of the Staff)
- over 20% of staff will be let go, not counting staff that leaves voluntarily
- GNU/Linux Rises to New Highs in Angola, Africa in General is Abandoning Windows
- Western media barely covers Microsoft layoffs in Africa, but in recent years Microsoft culled the workforce and even shut down entire operations
- Summer Plans in Techrights and Elsewhere
- massive layoffs at Microsoft
- Destination Geminispace (in the Age of LLM Slop and Slop Images That Infest the Web and Social Control Media)
- Geminispace isn't vast, but at least it is - on average - a lot "cleaner"
- GNU/Linux Growing in Sierra Leone This Year
- Based on what statCounter is seeing, this year there are more and more people there who adopt GNU/Linux
- Serial Sloppers Gonna Slop
- More sites out there ought to call out the cheaters
- Quartz (qz.com) is Spam and a Slopfarm
- It used to be OK. Then they fired the staff.
- Links 30/06/2025: US Economic Woes, Extreme Heat
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 29, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, June 29, 2025
- Gemini Links 30/06/2025: "The AI Hype" and New AuraGem Ask
- Links for the day