Looking Back at Open Source in 2005

bhmit1 writes "BusinessWeek is reporting on the open source progress in 2005. Their conclusion: "in 2005, the software movement finally gained traction in Corporate America and saw a new influx of VC cash." Has the shift in corporate america really occurred or are activities like the profitability of Red Hat signalling that the CEO's are still holding on to the old way of business?"

Comments

Re:Be happy, not excited

[nath_de]

No, it's not. In most countries, a billion is a million millions, not a thousand like in the US.

Re:huh

[sydb]

No one local (and we're in a city of 1,000,000+) has even as much expertise as we do, and it's terribly frustrating to call someone for support and find out that their knowledge ends about the same time yours does.

Knowledge ends? It's open source. You have the code. If you don't know C (or perl or whatever), find someone who does. There is no such thing as knowledge "ending" with open source, you are limited only by your own ability to read and learn. Certainly, if I was paying for support for open source software, I would expect there to be someone with this ability when the first level runs out of "knowledge". I mean, what if you need a new feature? A proprietary software house will accept feature requests and might code them up. You need this same ability with open source, and the bonus is, you are not at the whim of the software house, because you just need to find someone who can read and write code and understand the problem domain.

Computer programming and robotics should be compulsory on school syllabuses, like Maths, English and real domestic science (electrics, plumbing, plastering, finance).