Open Source at Home: Making Utah a center for open-source innovation

Matt AsayGeneral Manager, Americas

www.alfresco.com

Agenda

● Open source rising...but is Utah?● The market is exploding● Open source is becoming more developer friendly● Why now is the time

● What we need to do● Individuals, not Inc's● Scratch your own itch

05/22/08

Unstoppable

● “Open source software solutions will directly compete with closed-source products in all …markets.”

● By 2008, 95% of Global 2000 organizations will have formal open source acquisition and management strategies

● Today, 81% have deployed or are considering deploying open source applications

● 72% plan to expand its use

● Why? ● 65% say open source has

sparked innovation inside their companies

● 67% … for lowered costs● 81% … for better quality software

Sources: Gartner (2005), CIO Insight (2006), IDC (2006)

“Open source produces better software.”

Beyond the cave

You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.

Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?...

And if they were able to converse with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?...

To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.

5

The world is discovering an alternative

● IP protection first, customers second (?)

● Achieve ubiquity through● Expensive sales and marketing● Focus on sales, not product● High conversion rate of limited prospects

● Customers first, product follows customer needs

● Achieve ubiquity through● Exceptional software● Focus on product to drive self-selected sales● Low (but growing) conversion rate of hundreds

of thousands of leads● Superior service

20th Century

21st Century

IT buyers are voting

Freedom sells...

Developer-friendly business modelsare maturing and succeeding

The opportunity is ripe

● ~10 open source vendors will do over $10M in sales in FY 2007

● “Free” as in price no longer the driver – open source = value

● Geographical differences● US: Corporates | EMEA:

Governments | APAC: No one ● More free use in EMEA; more paid

use in the US● Partner-driven in EMEA; more direct

in the US

Open Source Everywhere

Operating SystemCommunity Members - Operating Systems

1.3%

3.8%

34.6%

60.3%

UnixMacLinuxWindows

Operating SystemEvaluation vs. Deployment

Evaluation Deployment

Breakdown of Linux Variants

Breakdown of Linux Variants

14%

16%

13%

21%

14%

22%

Linux - DebianLinux - Fedora CoreLinux - OtherLinux - RHELLinux - SUSELinux - Ubuntu

Application ServerEvaluation vs. Deployment

Evaluation Deployment

DatabaseEvaluation vs. Deployment

Evaluation Deployment

So how do we bring this to Utah?

Answer?

We don't.

Building the ecosystem

● The ecosystem starts with you● Open source doesn't start with Inc. -

it starts with your itch● The ecosystem ends with Inc. - that's

how you know you've won

● Economic Development Corporation of Utah focused on wrong targets

● Individuals, not Inc.● Tax incentives are not enough

Who knew?

● That Sweden was such a hotbed of database expertise? (MySQL)

● That Atlanta would prove to be the home of the world's greatest application server? (JBoss)

● That the leading community web content management project would start (and end) in a Belgian student's bedroom? (Drupal)

● That the market leading open-source ESB would travel with one man and his Maltese girlfriend around the world? (Mule)

● That the center of the VOIP revolution would be sweet home Alabama? (Asterisk)

● That virtually no significant open source projects (commercial or otherwise) would emerge from Silicon Valley?

What do these have in common?

Among the most significant open source projects.

Not a single one of which was born in Silicon Valley

Work happens online; Home happens anywhere

● You don't need to move. You just need to write exceptional code

● Developers are everywhere...including Utah

● Get the downloads, and VCs, employers, or a self-sustaining support/services business will follow

● MySQL requirement: employees live within an hour of an international airport

What should you contribute?

● Contribute what matters to you● Bryan Sparks -> Novell - > embedded operating system -> Caldera/Lineo● Brad Nicholes -> Novell -> Apache to NetWare -> Apache committer● Tristan Rhodes -> USU -> Ubuntu● Tim Riker -> Lineo -> Needed an anti-depressant -> BZFlag

● Why Utah should thrive...● Multi-lingual (Yes, English is the lingua franca, but Utahns should have an edge in

accessing global developer talent + markets)● Different interests (Genealogy, family)● Highly educated populace● Everyone goes home at 5:00 (to code, of course! :-)

Getting started

● Market timing● Well-understood market is easiest

● Prepare for participation● Documentation, modularity,

accessibility of language, etc.)

● Great initial code base

● Solve a real problem● Easier if you solve a big problem

● License to fit the need

Concluding Remarks

The open source manifesto(Burn the boats)