The team at dotCloud has been working on a semi-stealth project called Docker which is a container based approach to automating infrastructure. With Docker, you can deploy a fully functioning system that can run on your laptop, your AWS environment, your bare metal server, or anywhere you choose and it will run the same way because it is isolated at the process level. Here is a quote from the Docker web site that says it best: Docker is a... Read More
OSBR April edition on Cloud Computing
I had the privilege of being the guest editor for the April edition of the Open Source Business Resource. The topic for April is cloud computing. In my opinion, a big part of the success of cloud computing is the extensive use of open source software, especially the LAMP stack, which lowers the overall costs of the cloud services. With cloud computing, the operating system, the application server, and the underlying hardware has become a... Read More
How to give back to an Open Source community
Dru Lavigne, editor of Open Source Business Resource (OBSR) asked my opinion on “How can an individual or small business give back to an open source community? “. As some of you may know, I am a big advocate of open source and contribute to the Open Office community in a marketing capacity. There are many things one can do to contribute beyond coding. Please read the Q&A section of the February issue of OBSR or click here to... Read More
Why an Open Source SOA stack makes sense
Dave Linthicum wrote a post today called Open Source SOA provides some major advantages. In his post Dave stated: When it comes to SOA, I think open source provides two major advantages: First, it’s typically much less expensive than the tools and the technology that are proprietary. Second, they are typically much more simplistic and easier to understand and use. To the second point, simplicity. The open source SOA vendors seem... Read More
Open Source SOA
Many companies are investing heavily in SOA these days. At the same time, IT is being challenged to reduce its costs. But to provide the technologies to reduce costs, we first must spend tons of money, right? Wrong! Read my post on CIO.com this week called Tight Budgets? Try Open Source... Read More
Microsoft Free – One year later
In May of 2007 I wrote a post called Open Source and Microsoft Free. Little did I know that this post would show up on Digg, Slashdot, Craigslist, and several other popular web sites and become a platform for both the Linux and Microsoft camps to wage yet another flame war. This whole “Microsoft free” experiment started when a colleague of mine challenged me to eat my own dog food after reading many of my posts about my dabbling... Read More
Open Source – Debunking Myths – Part 3
In part 1 I debunked the “OSS is bad for the economy myth”. In part2 I showed six different models for OSS support. In this third and final post on debunking OSS myths, I will address these two statements: OSS products are second rate (“created in the garage” mentality) OSS can’t be good because it is free There are many OSS products that are highly reliable and run the systems of very successful companies and... Read More
Open Source – Debunking Myths – Part 2
In part 1, I highlighted four myths (FUD) that I felt needed to be addressed: OSS is bad for the economy and defies the values of capitalism OSS support is bad, slow, and/or non-existent OSS products are second rate (“created in the garage” mentality) OSS can’t be good because it is free In this post I will discuss the myths about open source support. I have heard every quote from “You can’t get support for open... Read More
Open Source – Debunking Myths – Part 1
On the ITToolbox community, we have some very passionate bloggers both for and against open source software (OSS). I am a proponent of both OSS and proprietary software. As an architect, I view both of these as tools in my toolbox. The trick is to know when to use the right tool for the right job. It is unfortunate that some people think there is no place for OSS. Here are a few of the myths (FUD) that I continue to hear from people who... Read More
Is IT its own worse enemy?
I read this post from Stewart Mader’s blog on wiki patterns today and it talks about a challenge to the adoption of wiki is the fact that the new tools are too inexpensive or even free (open source). Here is a key quote: Sandy Kemsley’s fourth challenge to social media/enterprise 2.0 in organizations: The fact that these technologies are inexpensive (or even free) and quick to implement causes them to be discounted by executives who... Read More
