Articles on open source

FBA Authored Articles:

2013 Infoworld Bossie awards (author)

2012 Infoworld Bossie awards (author)

Published Article for CA magazine (March/2009 issue)

Interview in latest issue of ME Magazine (may require a google account to view)

Presentation: Why Free-Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS or OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!

This is the home page for the presentation “Why Free-Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS or OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!”. This presentation is a summary of my paper, titled “Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS or FLOSS)? Look at the Numbers!”. Both the paper and presentation provide quantitative data to show that, in many cases, free-libre / open source software (FLOSS) is equal to or superior to their proprietary competition. The goal is not to show they are always superior... just enough to show you that you should consider them when acquiring software. Both the paper and the presentation examine market share, reliability, performance, scalability, scaleability, security, and total cost of ownership; they also both comment on non-quantitative issues and unnecessary fears. If you want the long, detailed, and complete version, see the paper. If you want the short version, in presentation form, you're at the right place!

SAP has lost two more senior executives after chief operating officer Erwin Gunst and board member John Schwarz announced yesterday that they are to step down.

The announcements follow the shock departure of SAP chief executive Leo Apotheker a few days ago.

SAP executive bloodbath continues

The UK government can reduce cost and risk by migrating to open source

MAIDENHEAD, UK - January 28, 2010 - The news announced yesterday by the UK government that it expects to make savings of £3.2 billion annually from 2013/14 on made through transformation in public sector information technology has been broadly welcomed by open source specialist Talend, and more generally by the entire open source community in the UK.

5 Open Source companies that will rule the post-ERP world

According to Thomas Wailgum Editor of CIO.com, "Survey respondents (in a recent CIO survey) said that the inability to easily modify their ERP system deployments is disrupting their businesses by delaying product launches, slowing decision making and delaying acquisitions and other activities that ultimately cost them between $10 million and $500 million in lost opportunities," according to the survey report.”

5 technologies expected to see huge growth in US gov’t

Five technologies, including the trendy cloud computing and old workhorse open-source software, will see huge adoption increases in the U.S. government over the next five years, largely driven by efforts to contain costs, according to an analyst firm.

The New Economics of Open Source in the Enterprise

Like most economic statistics, the rise of open source in the enterprise is a trailing indicator. Right now, we have some pretty compelling anecdotal information, even though hard data is still amorphous. Nevertheless, it seems like everywhere you turn IT executives are getting comfortable with open source software well beyond the operating system level. And the key factors driving that increased level of comfort are:

Enterprises saving $26 million per project with open source

A Black Duck analysis shows the average enterprise software project is 22% open source, saving an average of $26 million on each project.

More small businesses are adopting open source

Open Source ERP Applications: They’re Real and They’re Spectacular

Proprietary vendors lose £30bn to open source

Boom Time for FOSS

Open source software can save India $2 bn

The End of IT 1.0 As We Know It Has Begun

Open-source ERP grows up

U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency teaching the feds to open source

10 Ways Open Source Can Save Your Company

The Business Model of Commercial Open Source Software