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General Motors Embraces Open Source for New Community Site

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the let-em-have-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "GM has introduced a new website called GMnext. The site utilizes Wordpress and launching in spring a Wiki allowing General Motors to get better feedback on topics such as energy, design and technology from the community. The interesting part is the executives at GM are participating in the collaborative website. 'We're starting our second century at a time of fundamental change in the auto industry,' said GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner. 'We'll use GMnext to introduce some of our ideas for addressing critical issues concerning energy, the environment and globalization. In the process, we also hope to spark a broader, global discussion on these important topics.'"

15 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Ugly .NET site with Wordpress knee-jerked in it by filbranden · · Score: 2

    The site is ugly.

    It looks like the marketing guys got into the buzz of Web 2.0 and told their Windows programmers that they wanted that for their site. The result? A .NET site with Wordpress knee-jerked inside. The site (as most of .NET crap) doesn't even validate. Even the blog, based on Wordpress, must have been so messed up that it doesn't validate either.

    And what an awful theme! Where do these guys get their webdesigners from?

    Although I think they still have a lot to learn about using open source, I have to applaud at least their try. Although it's one step back, it's two forward. :-)

    1. Re:Ugly .NET site with Wordpress knee-jerked in it by corsec67 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not even slashdot passes that test
      Looks like some unencoded ampersands and style attributes.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
  2. Orginizational Participation is Key by milsoRgen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I like the idea but I don't see it going very far or very long. GM isn't really going to support any negative few points, maybe if you're really careful with your wording. But I see censorship being the issue short term and actual GM participation being the long term question. That being said, I would love to see something like this from an organization like Consumer Reports.

    --
    I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
  3. Pffffft. by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 3, Informative

    I worked for GM. And when I worked there, the use of FOSS was absolutely, positively forbidden. Good to see them finally getting a clue.

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    My blog
    1. Re:Pffffft. by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 4, Informative

      GM was not an all-Microsoft shop when I worked there. Most of the engineering servers were running some form of UNIX -- either HP-UX or Solaris. They served to a mix of Windows and UNIX clients -- UNIX clients via NFS and Windows clients via CIFS9000 (yeah, yeah, I know. CIFS9000 == Samba. Tell them that.)

      The file and app servers actually used high-availability clustering -- commercial stuff, not open source.

      --
      My blog
    2. Re:Pffffft. by SnatchMan · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hmmmm... When I worked for GM (actually, a subsidiary that made chips, radios, engine controllers, anti-lock brakes, etc...) we heavily used FOSS in our UNIX environment. Ever hear of the Corporate Software Bank? It was a multi-architecture public domain software repository mounted on /usr/std and automatically updated with rdist. That spread throughout the sub into other GM locations. Even did a USENIX LISA presentation in the early 90's on the topic. (Caveat, I haven't been there since the late 90's so things could have radically changed since then.

  4. WTF? by sxeraverx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Saying using Wordpress is embracing open source is like saying using the LAMP stack for a webserver is embracing open source. In that sense, almost ever company out there has embraced open source by now. But we know that to not be the case.

  5. open source? by AdamReyher · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't get me wrong: I think the idea is great. But you're going to tell me that GM is "embracing" Open Source simply by creating a blog and a wiki by using the two most popular software titles in those categories?

    All of a sudden GM is elevated to the Google or Sun status in terms of FOSS on Slashdot. Typical.

    --
    The Computations of AdamR
    http://www.adamreyher.com
  6. I might not be pyschic but.... by ILuvRamen · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So they're making a community interaction site to get people's ideas and suggestions and opinions on their company and the environment. Hmm, well I'm not psychic but I bet they're going to say they want more fuel efficient vehicles or ones that don't run on gasoline and to stop with the pension sinkhole problem.

    --
    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
  7. It Should Be Noted... by longacre · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The timing of this was not random...GM CEO Rick Wagoner is a keynote speaker at CES this weekend, and next weekend is their bread and butter, the Detroit Auto Show. Undoubtedly this was timed to create buzz for them at these events. It is a pretty cool idea, and I hope GM and their customers make the most of it. Bob Lutz seems like the kind of guy who would love this. But I also wouldn't be surprised if we never hear much about it again after the next couple of weeks.

    --
    Airplane Photos, Airline News, Planespotting Guides
  8. Open source Volt! by dusanv · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about open sourcing the Volt? And standardizing its batteries (to spur innovation for replacements down the line)? And delivering it before 2010? That'd be something to get excited about...

    1. Re:Open source Volt! by leoxx · · Score: 3, Interesting
      The only question left is...can it run Linux?


      In my mind that would be a key feature. Historically speaking, cars have been "hackable" in the sense that anyone could open the hood and fix problems or make improvements. With the move to more and more computer technology in modern vehicles, the ability of the garage mechanic to mess around with the guts of the car has been severely limited. With Ford officially adopting Windows for their vehicles, it would make a very strong statement for GM to move to Linux (or BSD or some other open source operating system). Posting a blog using Wordpress is hardly what I would call "embracing open source", but leveraging the benefits of the open source process to improve the state of the art in vehicle control and management systems would be. With the inevitable move to all-electric cars such as the Volt, the software side of things is going to become even more important.

  9. As a GM performance tuner... by pongo000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...who programs GM computers for performance applications, I'll buy into GM "embracing" open source when they release the programming specs and memory layout for their PCMs, ECMs, and TCMs (powertrain, engine, and transmission control modules). Short of that, their use of WordPress really doesn't impress me (pun intended).

  10. How about and open source car? by log1385 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What I really want is an open source car. I'd love to be able to look at or alter the software that runs cruise control and stuff like that.

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    Seek and ye shall find.
  11. Re:open source engine control by thatskinnyguy · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you want an 11 second car, the first thing to do is lose the A/C. It drops about 40 lbs of weight and it's less crap for your crank to have to deal with. My 11 second car has only the alternator hooked to the crank as an accessory.

    Megasquirt was a pain in the ass. But I took my good old time with installing and tuning it and everything turned out fine.

    --
    The game.