Open Source at Home: Making Utah a center for open-source innovation Matt Asay General Manager, Americas www.alfresco.com
Jun 20, 2015
Open Source at Home: Making Utah a center for open-source innovation
Matt AsayGeneral Manager, Americas
www.alfresco.com
Agenda
● Open source rising...but is Utah?● The market is exploding● Open source is becoming more developer friendly● Why now is the time
● What we need to do● Individuals, not Inc's● Scratch your own itch
05/22/08
Unstoppable
● “Open source software solutions will directly compete with closed-source products in all …markets.”
● By 2008, 95% of Global 2000 organizations will have formal open source acquisition and management strategies
● Today, 81% have deployed or are considering deploying open source applications
● 72% plan to expand its use
● Why? ● 65% say open source has
sparked innovation inside their companies
● 67% … for lowered costs● 81% … for better quality software
Sources: Gartner (2005), CIO Insight (2006), IDC (2006)
“Open source produces better software.”
Beyond the cave
You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?...
And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?...
To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.
5
The world is discovering an alternative
● IP protection first, customers second (?)
● Achieve ubiquity through● Expensive sales and marketing● Focus on sales, not product● High conversion rate of limited prospects
● Customers first, product follows customer needs
● Achieve ubiquity through● Exceptional software● Focus on product to drive self-selected sales● Low (but growing) conversion rate of hundreds
of thousands of leads● Superior service
20th Century
21st Century
IT buyers are voting
Freedom sells...
Developer-friendly business modelsare maturing and succeeding
The opportunity is ripe
● ~10 open source vendors will do over $10M in sales in FY 2007
● “Free” as in price no longer the driver – open source = value
● Geographical differences● US: Corporates | EMEA:
Governments | APAC: No one ● More free use in EMEA; more paid
use in the US● Partner-driven in EMEA; more direct
in the US
Open Source Everywhere
Operating SystemCommunity Members - Operating Systems
1.3%
3.8%
34.6%
60.3%
UnixMacLinuxWindows
Operating SystemEvaluation vs. Deployment
Evaluation Deployment
Breakdown of Linux Variants
Breakdown of Linux Variants
14%
16%
13%
21%
14%
22%
Linux - DebianLinux - Fedora CoreLinux - OtherLinux - RHELLinux - SUSELinux - Ubuntu
Application ServerEvaluation vs. Deployment
Evaluation Deployment
DatabaseEvaluation vs. Deployment
Evaluation Deployment
So how do we bring this to Utah?
Answer?
We don't.
Building the ecosystem
● The ecosystem starts with you● Open source doesn't start with Inc. -
it starts with your itch● The ecosystem ends with Inc. - that's
how you know you've won
● Economic Development Corporation of Utah focused on wrong targets
● Individuals, not Inc.● Tax incentives are not enough
Who knew?
● That Sweden was such a hotbed of database expertise? (MySQL)
● That Atlanta would prove to be the home of the world's greatest application server? (JBoss)
● That the leading community web content management project would start (and end) in a Belgian student's bedroom? (Drupal)
● That the market leading open-source ESB would travel with one man and his Maltese girlfriend around the world? (Mule)
● That the center of the VOIP revolution would be sweet home Alabama? (Asterisk)
● That virtually no significant open source projects (commercial or otherwise) would emerge from Silicon Valley?
What do these have in common?
Among the most significant open source projects.
Not a single one of which was born in Silicon Valley
Work happens online; Home happens anywhere
● You don't need to move. You just need to write exceptional code
● Developers are everywhere...including Utah
● Get the downloads, and VCs, employers, or a self-sustaining support/services business will follow
● MySQL requirement: employees live within an hour of an international airport
What should you contribute?
● Contribute what matters to you● Bryan Sparks -> Novell - > embedded operating system -> Caldera/Lineo● Brad Nicholes -> Novell -> Apache to NetWare -> Apache committer● Tristan Rhodes -> USU -> Ubuntu● Tim Riker -> Lineo -> Needed an anti-depressant -> BZFlag
● Why Utah should thrive...● Multi-lingual (Yes, English is the lingua franca, but Utahns should have an edge in
accessing global developer talent + markets)● Different interests (Genealogy, family)● Highly educated populace● Everyone goes home at 5:00 (to code, of course! :-)
Getting started
● Market timing● Well-understood market is easiest
● Prepare for participation● Documentation, modularity,
accessibility of language, etc.)
● Great initial code base
● Solve a real problem● Easier if you solve a big problem
● License to fit the need
Concluding Remarks
The open source manifesto(Burn the boats)