John Graham

There’s a great deal of interest in open source software development these days. While the concept of open source (if not the name itself) is hardly new – people have been freely sharing source code since the beginning of the computer industry – the convergence of commercial interest in open source participation along with the maturation of open source development processes and governance models have greatly raised the visibility of open source development during the past several years. Linux, at one time a hardcore developer’s toy box, has gathered support from major corporations. For example, IBM and independent Linux vendors such as Red Hat are growing at a healthy rate. The donation of the Eclipse code line to open source by IBM in late 2001 started a new chapter in commercial open source. These high-profile cases, along with the increasing... (more)

Eclipse.org Data Tools Project DTP Gets Started

Introduction The Eclipse Data Tools Platform (DTP) project is a new top-level project at eclipse.org. Originally proposed by Sybase in February, 2005, DTP has attracted strong community support and is currently managed by a committee comprised of Sybase, IBM and Actuate. Since DTP is in the early milestone phase, this is an opportune time to explain the motivation and current plans of DTP to the Eclipse community at large. Doing so will provide valuable context to interested parties – both potential consumers and contributors – and enable additional community involvem... (more)

The Benefits and Business Value of Open Source

Although organizations are not realizing the full potential benefits of open source due to the way open source projects are currently managed, this does not mean that there are no benefits from developing in open source as we discussed in the first installment of this series (see http://opensource.sys-con.com/read/485127.htm). Once you get past the “free developer” presumption and carefully look at the larger picture, it becomes clear that open source, even in its limited participatory forms today, brings real value. In this installment and the next, I will briefly ... (more)