Difference between revisions of "Student Projects:Commercial Software Open Source"
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Commercial software should it go open source? | Commercial software should it go open source? | ||
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| − | + | * Issues involved in going the open source route | |
| − | + | * Benefits v/s non-benefits(consumers and companies) | |
| − | + | * Examples of sucess v/s failures on Commercial software going open source | |
| − | + | * Alternatives to Open source (code sharing) | |
| − | + | * Security(trustworthy computing) | |
== '''Project Links''' == | == '''Project Links''' == | ||
Revision as of 22:45, 25 October 2004
How Should Commercial Software Companies React to Open Source
Project Members
James Welle
Rodrick Megraw
Song Xue
Bipin Karunakaran
Project Goals
Commercial software should it go open source? We will be discussing
- Issues involved in going the open source route
- Benefits v/s non-benefits(consumers and companies)
- Examples of sucess v/s failures on Commercial software going open source
- Alternatives to Open source (code sharing)
- Security(trustworthy computing)
Project Links
Choosing our Project
bip: I kinda tried to highlight our project goals including what you already said if you think it is not appropriate or we are not there yet we can go further into discussion on what we need to write on subtopics. I think i highlited 4 subtopics which could be important from the project perspective. Feel free to update post if i missed something. Song:
The topic is fine with me. A survey on the current landscape of commercial companies vs. open source is great. Open source Windows would be a great example of illustration, though we probably concentrate on issues in general. Regarding the viability of commercial software in the future, can 4 of us agree on an answer?:)
Anyway, the following are a few other bullet points I can think of. Some are probably worthy of a subtopic. Others are relatively minor by worth pointing out.
- Trustworthy computing. This has been one of the main arguments of open source community. Commercial company needs to respond to this in a convincing fashion (both to enterprise & to consumer) to order to compete effectively with open source.
- “Share source” as an answer to “Open source”? A comparison of various licenses. How can commercial companies compete by amending the licensing agreement targeted at different audience, corporate, developer and consumer.
Total cost of ownership. Hidden cost, upfront fee vs. service contract.
The quality and responsiveness of product support. Customer community.
bipk:
Paste the discussion we had on the email and continue with that discussion and go further
Original Message-----
From: James Welle Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 6:29 PM To: 'Rodrick Megraw'; Song Xue; Bipin Karunakaran Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
I created the main page for our project:
http://cubist.cs.washington.edu/CSEP590TU-wiki/index.php/Project_Teams
Can you guys enter your user information under the heading for our project?
jw
Original Message-----
From: James Welle Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 6:29 PM To: 'Rodrick Megraw'; Song Xue; Bipin Karunakaran Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
OK, I like Rod's idea of generalizing it to not just focus on Microsoft. Here are some possible subtopics. What are some other subtopics that fall under that major topic that you guys would like to explore?
Major Topic:
How should a commercial software company react to the open source phenomenon?
Subtopics:
1. How have commercial software companies utilized open source? What has been successful and unsuccessful? I think this would be a survey of existing software companies and how they are using or not using the open source model.
2. Should Microsoft open source Windows?
3. An analysis of current business trends and predictions for the future. We could try to predict whether or not a commercial company will be able to survive in the future without using open source.
jw
Original Message-----
From: Rodrick Megraw [1] Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2004 4:48 PM To: Song Xue Cc: Bipin Karunakaran; James Welle Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
I'm not personally interested in doing something specifically about Windows, but I can understand if you guys are. I'd be more in favor of answering "How should a proprietary software company react to the open source phenomanon?" or similar.
Rod
_____________________________________ Explore, enjoy and protect the planet http://sierraclub.org
On Sat, 23 Oct 2004, Song Xue wrote:
Sorry I didn't chime in earlier. Our team had a ZBB push. I would list "open source" as my first choice and "outsourcing" my second. I agree we should write at a more granular level than the topic itself. Regarding business vs. technology, I think all topics contain, at some levels, both ingredients and it is very difficult to use it to qualify the scope of topics. I like the Windows open source topic that James listed earlier. We can even expand it a bit. Say "What should be the Microsoft strategy on open source" with additional subtopics like: Open source Windows? Public attitude towards open source What to do about Linux? How to adjust business/pricing model in view of open source? Developing linux software? ... The topics are reasonably independent. At the same time, there is a central theme that runs through all of them. I like this format because it maintains the overall coherency yet allow people to work on different sections.
Original Message-----
From: Rodrick Megraw [2] Sent: Fri 10/22/2004 4:15 PM To: Bipin Karunakaran Cc: James Welle; Song Xue Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
I think the more cohesion the better, but this shouldn't come at the expense of everyone ending up with topics that they are happy with.
At the top level, open source issues seem to fall into one of two areas: business or technical. Business being stuff like licensing, workforce issues, strategy, etc. Technical being quality, innovation, security, etc. Does anyone else agree that we should break the topic down into at least one of these halves for our papers?
I'm not sure this is a perfect idea, since there can be a lot of interesting crossover between the two. Just a stab at getting closer to a topic that will have the level focus we'd like.
Rod
_____________________________________ Explore, enjoy and protect the planet http://sierraclub.org
On Fri, 22 Oct 2004, Bipin Karunakaran wrote:
Sorry, I missed that, I thought the idea was to pick a broad topic discuss pros and cons and kinda follow it on. Like open source and Microsoft could be a last part of open source discussion. I agree that there could be some disconnects between each topic, I am not sure if it is acceptable or not, will let Rod and song also chime in. Bipin
Original Message-----
From: James Welle Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 3:39 PM To: Bipin Karunakaran; Rodrick Megraw; Song Xue Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
I don't think we should even choose a topic as broad as "open source" as our subject. We need to start with something much smaller and go from there. If we choose such a broad topic, our paper is going to be very disjointed.
If you look at the open source page on the Wiki, the instructors listed some possible topics on the subject.
What Motivates OS Workers (Interviews).
How Good is Apache? (Source Code Review)
Domesticating Open Source (MS Shared Source Code Initiative).
where do we draw the line(How much should be open and how much
closed e.g security code open or closed?)
Can open source create good user interfaces?
I think each one of these is the type of granularity to choose for our entire paper. Once we have chosen a topic like that, we can break it down even further and assign work.
What do you guys think, Song and Rodrick?
jw
Original Message-----
From: Bipin Karunakaran Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 3:32 PM To: James Welle; Rodrick Megraw; Song Xue Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
What I was meaning to say is, lets settle on a topic and delve deeper into it so that each guy picks up his part and does research on it and gets back on what subtopic is more interesting to him. By not making that choice we will each be thinking about different topics and wont converge into one main topic(like whether outsourcing or weblogs o open source). But you bring an important discussion about Microsoft, which possibly is a good subtopic of discussion under the main open source umbrella. So if everyone agrees we need to choose the wide topic of open source, each person can investigate some subtopic(s) and bring it back to the thread so that everything fits and reads like chapters of a book that was intention in making that comment.
Original Message-----
From: James Welle Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 3:25 PM To: Bipin Karunakaran; Rodrick Megraw; Song Xue Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
Bipin, if we do open source, what specific top on open source would you like to cover? I think that just choosing open source is way too broad. Also, how do you feel open source could affect outsourcing?
What do you guys think of the Microsoft open source idea? To me, it is not clear what all the advantages and disadvantages of Microsoft open sourcing Windows are. Would it really increase piracy? I would say no since the vast majority of personal users get Windows from an OEM and the OEM is not going to pirate Windows. Businesses would most likely not pirate Windows as well. Also, open source doesn't necessarily have to be free, does it? Are there currently any licenses where the source code is open, but in order to compile it or run the software you are required to pay? Could Microsoft create such a license? (I guess they must be able to, because some governments and universities have the source code and I'm sure they aren't getting Windows for free.) I know people talk about free as in freedom and free as in beer with respect to open source, but I don't know if open source software HAS to be free as in beer.
jw
Original Message-----
From: Bipin Karunakaran Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 3:10 PM To: James Welle; Rodrick Megraw; Song Xue Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
To add a spin to open source Would open source encourage outsourcing or not(now that everyone knows how the good guys think) And to outsourcing Does outsourcing help US employees You want someone offshore to work on a program using .NET yeah he needs to buy Visual studio .net adding to the network and pushing improvements and research which possibly is done here in the US.
Now what is the consensus on the topic of interest I am open to any one. I would prefer Open source that makes it 1 vote for open source. Whichever one wins is the topic and I think at least we should agree on that today or by tomorrow. What do you guys say?
Original Message-----
From: James Welle Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 2:45 PM To: Bipin Karunakaran; Rodrick Megraw; Song Xue Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
I agree with Bipin that we should first decide what question we are going to try to answer or what problem we are going to try to solve. Here some ideas I have come up with so far:
*************************************** Open Source ***************************************
Should Microsoft open source Windows? How would this affect piracy, security, and the perception of the company?
Would an open source e-voting system be a viable replacement for the current proprietary systems?
*************************************** Outsourcing ***************************************
How is IT outsourcing similar to or different from the movement of auto industry jobs overseas?
Is it possible and is it a good idea for the US government to try to stop or slow outsourcing?
Can individuals in the IT industry do anything about outsourcing? How do unions relate to this?
What can we expect the overall effect of outsourcing to be on the industry in 5, 10, 20 years?
**************************************** Weblogs ****************************************
Can and/or will weblogs have an effect on the way political candidates run campaigns?
Could a candidate use a weblog as an effective communication device?
Will weblogs change the way media covers politics?
Are weblogs a viable replacement for more traditional news sources on political subjects?
jw
Original Message-----
From: Bipin Karunakaran Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 2:29 PM To: Rodrick Megraw; Song Xue Cc: James Welle Subject: RE: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
First all let me go to the core of the topic does everyone agree that our project is a paper on open source?
Original Message-----
From: Rodrick Megraw [3] Sent: Friday, October 22, 2004 1:33 PM To: Song Xue Cc: James Welle; Bipin Karunakaran Subject: Re: [CSE P 590TU] Project topics
Some potential sub-topics:
-Comparison of various licensing models -Innovation in open source software -Comparison of various collaberation models -Motivations for developers
Rod
_____________________________________ Explore, enjoy and protect the planet http://sierraclub.org
On Thu, 21 Oct 2004, Song Xue wrote:
Hi all,
My name is Song Xue. I work for Microsoft. It great to have the opportunity to work with you. Let's start the thread to discuss the potential topics for our project.
