commentary, mba, syndicate

There is No Open Source Community

  In January, 2006, I published this article on O'Reilly's OnLAMP.com site, which was recently shut down. I've always been proud of this essay, because I think I got a lot right.  I'm republishing it now in the hopes that it will continue to educate others - and perhaps  allow others to critically evaluate where… Continue reading There is No Open Source Community

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“Every evangelist of yesteryear is now a Community Manager ….”

This post first appeared on Medium. It is reprinted here with permission.  OH: “Every evangelist of yesteryear is now a Community Manager … at least on their biz card.” This statement best captures a question that comes up regularly in the open source community world when you have corporations involved. Does your community manager report to… Continue reading “Every evangelist of yesteryear is now a Community Manager ….”

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How Silicon Valley Ruined Open Source Business

Back in the early days of open source software, we were constantly looking for milestones to indicate how far we had progressed. Major vendor support: check (Oracle and IBM in 1998). An open source IPO: check (Red Hat and VA Linux in 1999). Major trade show: check (LinuxWorld in 1999). And then, of course, a… Continue reading How Silicon Valley Ruined Open Source Business

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Ask Not What Your Community Can Do For You

This post first appeared on Medium. It is reprinted here with permission.  During his inaugural speech on Jan. 20, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy uttered the challenge, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” Its simple meaning was to challenge… Continue reading Ask Not What Your Community Can Do For You