Simon Philps – keynote

 

The Massively Connected Era – assumption is mostly valid, the infrastructure is something we can take for granted. When you can just connect and not worry about the syntax of XML etc. you are massively connected.

 

Rapid evolution, in just one decade the world has become massively connected. Other major changes with new inventions has changed the world a lot fast than other inventions.

 

Technology Promotes Connection – divice proliferation, growing bandwitch , SOA, many dimensions/layers of relationships

 

Moving towards Fractal Architectures – we are moving to networks of networks. (Grid Computing?) We will need an understanding of fractal dynamics in networks.

 

Massively Connected – every node is connected to everything else. Thankfully the Internet was not build like bulletin boards. Instead it was built with free open source shared, open, royalty-free standards.

 

Exponential Opportunity Growth through blah blah blah, missed what he said…

 

Interpreting Open for the Era:

1)    80’s

a.     hardware-inspired standards processes

b.     committee membership, specification

2)    90’s

a.     business-inspired standards processes

b.     consortium membership, implementation

3)    21st

a.     community-inspired standards processes

b.     community involvement, open source

Open source is more about the consequences of saving a few bucks on your purchase price, it’s a result of our massively connected time.

 

If the network were the computer,

1)    there would be no boundaries to defend, security would be very different. If we had an identity based approach, web services would be different, because we would not have to be pushing everything through port 80. Instead the security would be defined around identity instead of the boundaries.

2)    Software would become a service that would self organize etc. We would not have to know about or care about where it was running. Grid computing again…

3)    Software would be licensed on scale, not on implementation details. We don’t know exactly where/when the surge will show up so you don’t need to know about licenses (or should not need to know).

4)    System stakeholders would be enfranchised in development. The individuals involved in using (i.e. stakeholders) the software should be involved in defining the software.

The network is the computer now. Part of the reason everything is changing so quickly.

 

Open Source:

1)    it is mostly or largely a development methodology

2)    definition – commons-based peer production http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html - 2 modes of production in the past, artisizans work, and manufacturing. Open source is the new type of production, commons-based peer kind of production. Interesting idea.

3)    Structured and controlled development

a.     Reputation-based

b.     Controlled by initiators

c.     Things based on your reputation not your status, your employer etc.

4)    High quality results commonly

5)    Remains loosely-coupled – maintains choice

a.     First and foremost is the right to fork the code, you can always take the code and make your own copy.

6)    Facilitated by commons-creating license

a.     Make the commons possible, not the most important thing, just makes it possible for the community to form and contribute

7)    Many licenses, one objective – make the community possible.

 

Open Source: Agile Development done by a community

 

Open and Proprietary – lots think these are opposite, they are not, standards are open or closed, source is community or proprietary, impl is interoperable or locked

 

Staying Open…

License is for copyright, who owns it and why – LGPL and GPL keeps the power in the hands of the copyright (and threrefore power) holder and not the community.

 

Understanding open source – deployment

The scope of free – free is not the same as zero dollars, free is about freedom not about saving money. Source is for developers, deployers don’t really care about source, they want it to work and be able to fix it if its hosed. The licenses facilitates community.

J we use the same term for our consumers as the drug industry, the first shot is free. J

 

deployment models for open-source;

1)    help your self

2)    package to produce and support

3)    customize per use and support

4)    customize to product and support

5)    aggregate to bundle and support

These are the ways that we will be using open-source in the future.

 

Research suggests that the #1 reason is choice and freedom and quality of the code. Cost is shared, not free, but controlled and shared.

 

www.sunsorce.net for details

 

Lots of other stuff about the open source stuff that Sun, openoffice.org, netbeans.org,

 

Sun Java Desktop System – complete desktop for the average user – initalliy aimed at groups. Looks really cool (it just works, idea ‘stolen’ from the mac J) Open office, mozilla etc.

 

Why sun is doing open source:

1)    shared innovation

2)    customer and partner benefits

3)    increased quality and security

4)    future direction of most software

5)    base for future evolution of best practice and unexpected value

6)    and its still great stuff even after all that

 

Sun’s Expirences – Issues

1)    open source is a big step – its for life not something you drift into

2)    source needs hosting

3)    community needs facilitating

4)    license issues outside education of most IP attorneys

5)    Developers find public exposure a shock

6)    Managers find loss of control challenging

Sun’s Experience – benefits

1)    Good returns

a.     Savings take time to appear

b.     Community is chief asset

2)    Software quality is better

a.     Fewer bugs, more quickly identified

b.     Design tracks market needs

c.     Design improved by extensive review

3)    Lock-in Avoided

a.     No single dominat force

b.     Influence of would-be marked controllers largely avoided

c.     Can always go elsewhere, no IP locks

 

Open Source is the methodology of the massively connected society

Business models of open source are better and the only way to support open source. The community is not set up for deployment, most people choose open source for freedom not because the price tag is low.