Michael Tiemann's blog

Copied from osi@opensource.org (the inbound channel to the OSI board):

On 9/28/07, Luis Ibanez wrote:

OSI Board:

As developers of Open Source software, at Kitware we are very excited to see that is more and more common for federal funding agencies to require or encourage the creation and use of open source software when they announce funding programs.

We see with concern however that funding agencies don't seem to have a defined standard on what "Open Source" means, and as a consequence they and the public not always receive what they are expecting in return for the investment of public funds.

According to an article published in Enterprise Open Source Magazine, CIOs interviewed by Forrester Research rank freedom more important than price or cost when considering open source software.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -- Albert Einstein

Last week I flew to Las Vegas to talk on stage with The Gartner Group's lead open source analyst Mark Driver at their 2007 Open Source Summit. The subject of the discussion was a paper I presented last year in Kyoto at the STS Forum entitled Software Industry vs. Software Society: Who Wins in 2020?". In that paper I cited a reference that the global IT spend is USD $1T (one trillion dollars!), and of that $1T, $180B is pure write-off of failed applications, and that another $206B (my estimate) is also lost due to late, broken, or late-and-broken applications. Such a dismal result has not only plunged the software industry into crisis, but has put industries using IT at risk.

In 2005 I visited India for the first time. It was a whirlwind tour and one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. The purpose of my visit was to promote open source based on my own experiences, and to get a first-hand understanding of the challenges and opportunities for open source in the world's most populous democracy.

Mark Webbink has launched a new blog called Walking With Elephants. If Mark had been a developer working on glibc he might have gotten away with "Dances With Wolves", but as a lawyer who has spent many years working with some of the largest software companies in the world, his title is certainly apt. As is his tag line: The Guy With The Shovel.

Earlier this summer I attended an event featuring Diane Rehm, host of The Diane Rehm Show. At a time when the radio talk show format seems to have reached a point where the only way to be heard is to yell, and where the outrageous behavior of the host becomes news far more important than the subjects they cover, Diane Rehm steadfastly refuses to be drawn into the fray. Her show is a forum of respect for ideas and the people who choose to express those ideas. The most aggressive thing I've ever heard her say in response to a guest is "I'm sorry Mr. So-and-so, but that's just not true." And of course, she's right: when Mr. So-and-so tries to jam the air with counter-factual information, she and her line of producers are vigilant, but not disrespectful. The result has been a remarkable opportunity to hear ideas discussed and developed rather than packaged, ram-rodded, or pilloried.

The Impact of Design on Stock Market Performance dates back to 2004, but the kernel of truth it reveals could be even more stunning for the world of open source. Here is the teaser from the Dexiner (pronounced Designer) website:

Design is a critical component of business performance. We’ve heard designers, commentators and companies say it. But, to date, the evidence for the link between shareholder return and investment in design has been scarce and anecdotal.

[...]

I first met Pierre Fricke in late 1998 or early 1999 when he was working for IBM. He was one of four people charged by IBM to research and evaluate the strategic implications of open source software for IBM's business. Because I was a founder of the world's first open source company, he was keen to understand what I saw back in 1989, what I saw looking to 1999 and beyond, and whether our experience (which earned upwards of $24M of revenue in 1999) could possibly inform the strategy for a company more than 1000x our size.

Innovation requires imagination. Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." Making innovative leaps requires design thinking and a culture that looks beyond what exists today.

In the past two years, Nussbaum has written and blogged almost daily about the ways in which D-school (Design school), not B-school (Business school), is reshaping the way companies compete and businesses operate. Consider this observation: