Before I jump into my topic, here is some background for those new to open source licenses.

In my last two posts, I discussed the evolution of open source knowledge: where we came from, where are we now, and how did we get here. I provided some examples of common misunderstandings and knowledge gaps and suggested that such gaps may be due to the need to take action without taking as much time to prepare and plan as is optimal.  The sum total is that misconceptions and misunderstandings about open source persist both within and outside the software industry.

In my last post, I discussed where we came from and where we are now in regards to knowledge and understanding of open source software and licenses. I talked about how, not too long ago, there seemed to be a fair amount of denial when it came to the use of open source software in the enterprise.  Today, open source software has garnered enough attention that the term "open source" is found far outside the software world. Yet, misconceptions and misunderstandings prevail. Why? How did we get here? And how do we get to the point where there is accurate and consistent knowledge around FOSS? More specifically, how do we get to a point where FOSS use in the enterprise incorporates a thorough and appropriate understanding that backs a FOSS policy that is tailored to the realities and practicalities of that particular business?

At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit in San Francisco in mid-April, I gave a talk titled, "FOSS Knowledge: A little does NOT always go a long way." The title was supposed to be a bit eye-catching; the subject-matter, hopefully thought-provoking. I've attended my share of open source software-related events and often the topics covered in the legal or business tracks relate to trends, information, tools, and best practices for the use of open source software, particularly in regards to license compliance - basically what one needs to do. But I'm finding that it is ever-more critical to look at knowledge: the understanding, awareness, and education around open source software and licenses.

Our mission here at OpenLogic is to promote healthy open source growth and adoption in enterprises, and it is very important to us for these endeavors to respect the open source communities. It has been about a year since we started collaborating with Microsoft to provide the CentOS image for Windows Azure. During that time, there have been the expected conversations concerning Microsoft and its relationship with open source. In a previous article, Microsoft Embracing Openness with Windows Azure, I shared my thoughts about how the Windows Azure teams were embracing open source.  Now, let's look at how things stand since Windows Azure has reached General Availability.¹

Bopping around the web the other day, I stumbled across a nifty article by the inestimable Martin Fowler titled PolyglotPersistence¹ written in 2011. In it, he discusses software development projects moving away from using a single data store to persist their data, a la the venerable LAMP for web apps, into a multiple data store model. In essence, he says, development teams should no longer force their data into whatever model their chosen data store uses, but instead pick data stores that match their data. Tracking relationships? Use a graph database. Need to store vast quantities of information for data mining? Try a big data key value store with Map Reduce. Need to store highly structured related information? Maybe a relational database is the way to go.

Open Source is all about choice, especially when it comes to innovative data stores.  Gone are days of attacking every problem with your trusty relational database from a commercial vendor, unless all your data actually looks like rows and columns (but not too many of them).

To coincide with Microsoft’s recent announcement of the general availability of Windows Azure Infrastructure Services ¹, OpenLogic provides certified and supported CentOS Images on the Windows Azure Platform through an ecosystem of partners.  

Your organization is probably collecting, hoarding, and coveting lots of data. (Log files anyone?) Departments from marketing/sales to IT, along with all other branches of enterprises, are involved in the data game.  We collect data, many times without even knowing why. Bombarded with Twitter feeds, marketing analytics, sales data, and all the other heterogeneous and disintegrated data vectors, enterprises are tracking quintillions of bytes of it, virtually too numerous to expound upon.  So great, you are collecting data, now what? How do you process it all, make it actionable, and get the ROI from all your hosting costs?

Red Hat and the JBoss Community recently announced that they will be releasing a single compiled binary under the EAP.Alpha terminology, rather than posting a community release on the community site and a separate EAP early release on the Red Hat site. This naming change has confused some members of the community, but rest assured the EAP.Alpha release is still under the LGPL as per previous JBoss Community releases.