One of the issues that came up after Oracle acquired Sun was what would happen to its programming languages and free software systems. MySQL, Open Solaris, Open Office, etc. all belong to Sun, who was pretty proactive about the open source movement. Now that they've been bought out, it's interesting to wonder what Oracle does with these systems. Many people agree that the move was made so that Oracle could have more control/power over the direction Java takes, the programming language that runs the server Oracle makes a killing on. For both parties, the move makes sense.
However, there's no guarantee that Oracle won't pull the plug on any of the open source solutions and products Sun offers to "trim the excess fat," or "stop the hemorrhaging." If that happens to Open Office, for example, then what? It's easy to say look else where to find a comparable application but there isn't one that's as proven or reliable. More importantly, though, what happens when that application takes off and someone buys them out? There's a perception that anything free and popular in the technology world can make oodles of money if tweaked the right way (Facebook, Craigslist); or it needs to be bought out at a higher-than-valued rate to quash any competition (Google with YouTube). It's kind of like the old expression, "Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive." Open source wants to be free, but it also wants to be bought, manipulated, and repackaged into something you have to pay money for.
This is a trend that is likely to continue. After all, if someone wanted to throw a billion dollars at me for something I created for free, there's no way I could say no. Still, I wonder if it's possible for a company or organization to not sell out and try to build an empire on open source software. The idealist in me says that yes, someone is going to make sure it's free. But the cynic in me says there's no way, the next big thing will always be bought out for vast sums of money.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
We Don't Like Yer Kind
I talked in one of my earlier posts about switching to Linux for my operating system, just to see how easy it is to install and use for an "average" user. For years the OS has been seen as something that only the more technically oriented computer user has, and many people (myself included) are daunted and confused when confronted with a command line interface (CLI). Over the past years, though, many Linux operating systems have converted to a graphical user interface (GUI) which makes things a lot simpler and easy to use.
While this is a great step, there's still one hurdle to overcome: having applications that can actually run on Linux. For example, my music player, Rhapsody, doesn't run on Linux. Neither do any of the Microsoft Office programs or Photoshop. While there are other (mainly open source) options available, they pale in comparison. It's much easier working with PowerPoint than it is with Open Office. And no other product even comes close to Photoshop.
A lot of this boils down to familiarity. Most people grew up using products created by Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Sun, and other proprietary software companies. And while it's easy to say "you'll get the hang of it," not many people want to change if they don't have to. iTunes works fine and has a great GUI; why switch to mplayer? Not just at the personal level, but a lot of the corporate level developmental tools don't run on Linux either. If you're a company like Fast Enterprises that does all their work in Visual Basic, you can't find a program other than Visual Studio to do your coding. To be fair, many Asian countries, and most recently the UK are making the switch because of the money that can be saved. But in the corporate world it's going to take much longer, unless software companies start making their products Linux compatible, or open source developers make programs that offer the depth, ease of use, and quality of their proprietary counterparts.
While this is a great step, there's still one hurdle to overcome: having applications that can actually run on Linux. For example, my music player, Rhapsody, doesn't run on Linux. Neither do any of the Microsoft Office programs or Photoshop. While there are other (mainly open source) options available, they pale in comparison. It's much easier working with PowerPoint than it is with Open Office. And no other product even comes close to Photoshop.
A lot of this boils down to familiarity. Most people grew up using products created by Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Sun, and other proprietary software companies. And while it's easy to say "you'll get the hang of it," not many people want to change if they don't have to. iTunes works fine and has a great GUI; why switch to mplayer? Not just at the personal level, but a lot of the corporate level developmental tools don't run on Linux either. If you're a company like Fast Enterprises that does all their work in Visual Basic, you can't find a program other than Visual Studio to do your coding. To be fair, many Asian countries, and most recently the UK are making the switch because of the money that can be saved. But in the corporate world it's going to take much longer, unless software companies start making their products Linux compatible, or open source developers make programs that offer the depth, ease of use, and quality of their proprietary counterparts.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Think, think, think...
After some careful consideration the topic I've decided to blog on is open source software; both its increasing prevalence and industry news/issues. Why open source? There are several reasons:
1. With a downturn in the economy, saving money and cutting costs is an issue that's on everyone's mind. By and large, open source software is free. Free as in beer, and free as in speech.
2. It isn't just for programming geeks anymore. Take Linux; what used to be a daunting task in mastering command line protocol is now made much easier and simpler with a graphic user interface. Most applications are now quite similar to what Microsoft and Apple offer.
3. Its prevalence is on the rise, mainly because of the previous point. Also, you can customize a lot of the things open source software (henceforth OSS) can do, and its damn near bulletproof as far as viruses and worms go, a popular selling point for many.
4. A lot of people are getting fed up with Microsoft and Apple, or they're finally realizing there's a third option out there. Some are finding that being locked into one of the two and whatever they decide to offer is a raw deal. It's the equivalent of a third political party in the U.S. finally being relevant; having other options is nice.
5. People are also realizing that open-source code can be a good thing, as bugs and glitches can be spotted and ironed out in no time, as opposed to waiting for the next update to come out that will fix things (but create some new problems as well). It's like publishing the Death Star's plans online: people would have spotted the problem with having a thermal exhaust port the size of a womp rat leading directly to the reactor. And they would have suggested ways of fixing it before some farm boy came along and blew the space station up.
Of course, there are issues with OSS like Linux. Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst made a good point that he doesn't know how to make money on it (though I disagree with the rest of his comments about how the desktop will soon become irrelevant, but that's a whole 'nother post). There isn't "the one" company that's the leader in open source that can go head-to-head with the big two, either. The open source movement is mainly a hodge-podge of smaller companies without a united front to make some real headway. And converting from one program to another can be a huge hassle.
To explore that last point, I'm going to try installing Ubuntu on my laptop over the break (or at least run it from a DVD) to see how it works, if there are any issues, how easy/hard it is, etc. I've been talking about it for a while and it's time I actually follow through. Which will make for an interesting next blog entry...
1. With a downturn in the economy, saving money and cutting costs is an issue that's on everyone's mind. By and large, open source software is free. Free as in beer, and free as in speech.
2. It isn't just for programming geeks anymore. Take Linux; what used to be a daunting task in mastering command line protocol is now made much easier and simpler with a graphic user interface. Most applications are now quite similar to what Microsoft and Apple offer.
3. Its prevalence is on the rise, mainly because of the previous point. Also, you can customize a lot of the things open source software (henceforth OSS) can do, and its damn near bulletproof as far as viruses and worms go, a popular selling point for many.
4. A lot of people are getting fed up with Microsoft and Apple, or they're finally realizing there's a third option out there. Some are finding that being locked into one of the two and whatever they decide to offer is a raw deal. It's the equivalent of a third political party in the U.S. finally being relevant; having other options is nice.
5. People are also realizing that open-source code can be a good thing, as bugs and glitches can be spotted and ironed out in no time, as opposed to waiting for the next update to come out that will fix things (but create some new problems as well). It's like publishing the Death Star's plans online: people would have spotted the problem with having a thermal exhaust port the size of a womp rat leading directly to the reactor. And they would have suggested ways of fixing it before some farm boy came along and blew the space station up.
Of course, there are issues with OSS like Linux. Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst made a good point that he doesn't know how to make money on it (though I disagree with the rest of his comments about how the desktop will soon become irrelevant, but that's a whole 'nother post). There isn't "the one" company that's the leader in open source that can go head-to-head with the big two, either. The open source movement is mainly a hodge-podge of smaller companies without a united front to make some real headway. And converting from one program to another can be a huge hassle.
To explore that last point, I'm going to try installing Ubuntu on my laptop over the break (or at least run it from a DVD) to see how it works, if there are any issues, how easy/hard it is, etc. I've been talking about it for a while and it's time I actually follow through. Which will make for an interesting next blog entry...
Monday, February 9, 2009
All About Me
Since the "About Me" section is pretty small I thought I'd start out by making my first post about me. My name is Mark Balcerak and I'm an Information Systems major at the University of Montana in Missoula. (A lot of people I know think it's in Bozeman so this warrants mentioning). I grew up in a suburb of Seattle called Kent for my entire life, living in the exact same house. Despite this, I went to schools that required a bit of driving; high school, for example, was 15 miles each way. I was part of a bowling league from fifth grade up through middle school and I still enjoy making it out to the lanes when I can. I played football in high school and I credit it for shaping me into the person I am today. It taught me a good work ethic, and that if I really wanted something and applied myself, I could succeed beyond my expectations. Sounds corny, I know. But I can't imagine what my life would be like otherwise. I'm also a huge fan of sci-fi. I grew up on Star Wars, Star Trek, and The X-Files, and have recently discovered (thanks to my insomnia) the completely awesome, tragically cancelled show Firefly. I'm also a comic book fan, my favorites being Watchmen (hugely excited for the upcoming movie) and Y: The Last Man. If you thought comic books were just for kids and geeks living in their own filth, you're dead wrong. Check out either one of these; I personally guarantee you will find them very well written and will enjoy every page you read.
I decided to go to Montana because I needed a change of scenery. It was also the only place I could see myself going to school. I looked at a lot of universities in Washington but I wasn't too excited about any of them. The summer before my senior year of high school I was coming back from a road trip to Colorado, and my cousin told me to stop in Missoula and take a tour of the town and campus, just to see whether I like it or not. About ten minutes into an informal tour of the campus I knew in my heart it was the place I wanted to go to school. And just like that, after a fifteen minute online application and a couple weeks of waiting, I got accepted.
I was a journalism major when I entered college, but after a couple years I found out it wasn't right for me. I couldn't see myself working as a journalist for a career so I decided to pick up some business classes. I've always been interested in the legal system (Jack McCoy was my favorite TV character growing up) and thought that business law might be right for me. But, yet again, the career path couldn't sustain my interest. One of the classes I took during this time was an introduction to information systems and I enjoyed the material that was being taught. I looked into it a bit more and found out that it was something I was extremely interested in. So I took the plunge and officially changed my major to Information Systems last summer. After one semester and a couple weeks through the second one I can say with confidence I made the right choice. I love working with technology. It makes sense to me, how it works and operates. It's hard to put into words but I find the entire concept of the world running on computers fascinating. Playing around with software that can change people's lives, or the way things are done, is exciting to me. I love team work and working on on things much larger than myself. The field is a natural fit for me.
As for what I want to do with my major, I can't say for certain what exactly it is I want to do. Considering that I'm graduating in December, I might want to work on this. What I do know is that I want to help people and work on diverse, interesting projects and problems. Consulting seems like a natural fit for this and I think that's the direction I'll end up going. I like making an impact on something much larger than myself, and I can see myself really enjoying consulting work.
I think I've rambled on far too long so I'll end here. Look for more, shorter blog posts in the future. Until then, live every week like it's shark week.
I decided to go to Montana because I needed a change of scenery. It was also the only place I could see myself going to school. I looked at a lot of universities in Washington but I wasn't too excited about any of them. The summer before my senior year of high school I was coming back from a road trip to Colorado, and my cousin told me to stop in Missoula and take a tour of the town and campus, just to see whether I like it or not. About ten minutes into an informal tour of the campus I knew in my heart it was the place I wanted to go to school. And just like that, after a fifteen minute online application and a couple weeks of waiting, I got accepted.
I was a journalism major when I entered college, but after a couple years I found out it wasn't right for me. I couldn't see myself working as a journalist for a career so I decided to pick up some business classes. I've always been interested in the legal system (Jack McCoy was my favorite TV character growing up) and thought that business law might be right for me. But, yet again, the career path couldn't sustain my interest. One of the classes I took during this time was an introduction to information systems and I enjoyed the material that was being taught. I looked into it a bit more and found out that it was something I was extremely interested in. So I took the plunge and officially changed my major to Information Systems last summer. After one semester and a couple weeks through the second one I can say with confidence I made the right choice. I love working with technology. It makes sense to me, how it works and operates. It's hard to put into words but I find the entire concept of the world running on computers fascinating. Playing around with software that can change people's lives, or the way things are done, is exciting to me. I love team work and working on on things much larger than myself. The field is a natural fit for me.
As for what I want to do with my major, I can't say for certain what exactly it is I want to do. Considering that I'm graduating in December, I might want to work on this. What I do know is that I want to help people and work on diverse, interesting projects and problems. Consulting seems like a natural fit for this and I think that's the direction I'll end up going. I like making an impact on something much larger than myself, and I can see myself really enjoying consulting work.
I think I've rambled on far too long so I'll end here. Look for more, shorter blog posts in the future. Until then, live every week like it's shark week.
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