Archive for the 'English' Category

Now, about that Gulfstream waiting list…

Published
by
Gianugo
on February 16, 2008
in English and Work stuff
. 1 Comment

Good news from Matt. IDC reports:

"IDC believes that if open source software is to continue its penetration into mainstream and enterprise environments, the ecosystem must evolve to include many service providers that are knowledgeable about open source software and can handle the integration, implementation, and training needs of end users in particular."

Gee, just slightly change the wording and that could well be Sourcesense's elevator pitch. Matt comments:

"Would the industry be better off with more and better-qualified consultants? Absolutely. Actually, a better way to ask this might be, would the industry be better off with more consulting companies actually owning up to how much open source they're already implementing? The answer to this is a resounding "Yes!" Accenture, SAIC, Cap Gemini, etc. are all using a tremendous amount of open-source software, but generally aren't working with the project leads/maintainers to do so (and I suspect aren't telling their clients about it, either)."

Given the sheer number of projects we participate and give back to (among which a whole bunch of Apache stuff, Spring, Ruby, Terracotta), not to mention the ever growing list of partners we help  in their market penetration exercise, that fits my bill as well. Still not convinced? Read what Marc Fleury has to say:

"Those who build the 'Mc Kinsey' of Open Source software, with the legitimacy of the heads of projects, will control the internet's infrastructure."

 Or, more specifically:

"[...] there is a viable niche in the future of OSS software in services. Note the 2 qualifiers to Matt's blanket statement. 1/ niche 2/OSS not 1/all 2/of software. The services models will scale. I always find myself amused when people broadly claim that 'Services don't scale, everyone knows that'. Because you know, IBM GS, McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, Atos Origin, CapGemini, you name it, these are all 2 bit little shitty companies, right?"

If you do the math, it's easy to understand why I'm having a great time. Ours is the place to be: our sustainable services-based business model fits hand in glove with the Open Source paradigm and ecosystem, we are growing our international presence, we met or (more often) exceeded our targets so far, we are expanding our partner network and we are constantly getting new customers and upselling existing ones. Our team is growing at an impressive scale, and I'm thrilled to see so many bright minds  sitting in our offices, with a long queue of people alike willing to join us.

As we finalize plans for our next fiscal year, the numbers in front of me are just mind boggling and make me wonder about how far we went since two years ago, when Sourcesense was me, a desk and a small cheque from a few savvy investors. Add lots of fun (and FF miles!) on top of this, and you will easily understand why I have this big smile on my face: I just love my job.

Time for a change

Published
by
Gianugo
on February 14, 2008
in English and Work stuff
. 14 Comments

Exactly ten years ago, on Valentine's Day 1998, I moved to Milan from a small town on the Ligurian seaside. I was busy setting up my own house, struggling with a new stove and generally scared at the idea of having just turned a milestone in my career and my lifetime. While having my first dinner in Milan with my soon to be wife, I couldn't help but thinking about what I left behind on one hand, and the vast opportunity and thrill on what was ahead of me.

Ten years have passed: I enjoyed every minute of them. If I look back, it has been a bumpy yet fantastic ride: I met (and married) the best person ever, I had lots of fun at various places of work, I co-founded my own company, I did my share of Open Source software, I traveled the world speaking about IT, Open Source and business, I hanged out with old and new friends. It's been a blast, but all the good things have to come to an end.

In a few weeks we will be moving to London, where I will be heading Sourcesense operations from the other side of the Channel, while boosting our UK presence to cater for the impressive business demand we are getting from there. As I'm writing this, I'm pestering my UK connections for housing hints and frantically browsing the web to get myself organized: I'm also overly excited by this opportunity, and I have my share of shivers when I think that I will be once again leaving a lot behind while opening up new and powerful scenarios.

If you live in London, I would love to hear from you. Drop me a mail, catch me on your choice of IM, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, or just drop me a call. I'm eager to join the London scene, meet with old friends and make new ones, and of course build business connections. As you might expect, I have lots of questions (and beers to share). Also, consider yourself invited for the house crash party, whenever it will be: I promise my best performance ever in Italian food.

Scarlet 1.0 RC1 is out

Published
by
Gianugo
on February 13, 2008
in English and Open Source
. 1 Comment

While I was happily missing flights and losing bags, something major was happening in Sourcesense-land, as Sergio was busy releasing the 1.0RC1 version of Scarlet. Link-hovering people with a good memory might have noticed that the home page has changed, as our Open Source Jira clustering solution is now hosted on Sourceforge. A full bag of goodies is included in this release, among which you will find an upgrade to the latest and greatest Jira and Terracotta versions, as well as major performance enhancements and the usual bug fixes.

With 1.0 just down the road, this is your latest chance to try and test Scarlet, provide feedback and ask for new stuff before feature-freeze, so don't miss the opportunity and head for the download page! 

I hate airlines. With a passion.

Published
by
Gianugo
on February 12, 2008
in English
. 6 Comments

The Open Source Think Tank has been a blast. I was planning to write a few comments but then I was stuck in one of my most horrifying travel nightmares. As much as nothing beats Alitalia, I have to say it's now a close call after British Airways tried their best to lose a customer. Long story short:

  • Boarded what seemed to be a great flight out of SFO, with lots of free seats and a plane pulling from the gate 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Awesome.
  • Too bad an engine failed to start, so we were back to the gate and sitting idle for the next two hours while engineers tried to understand what to do. How on earth they were expecting we would fly even if they managed to start a clearly defective engine kinda beats me but anyway…
  • Eventually, the flight was canceled and we went through the rebooking circus on a later flight: add one more our of standing in line only to find that my assistant didn't know how to rebook connecting flights.
  • Managed to board the next flight to LHR, which was obviously completely full. This meant another two hours on the tarmac waiting for BA to squeeze every possible passenger into the plane, and an overall three hours delay.
  • Uneventful flight to LHR, but delay obviously meant missing my connection. Rebooked on the latest flight, with three hours to kill in the lounge (thank God for Silver cards…).
  • Flight to MXP was of course delayed as per the majority of evening flights in Heathrow these days, so two more hours to go.
  • The taxi runway was a parking lot, so it took forever to take off.
  • Insult to injury, though it was to be expected, my bag is MIA despite repeated assurances that it got as far as LHR and it was about to be loaded on the Milan flight. I'm not sure that's actually a good thing.

I'll leave to readers imagination figuring out how frustrated, tired and pissed off I am. Especially when I consider that in six hours from now I will have to scavenge some clothes and head to the office, while trying to figure out where my luggage is. Time to give Lufthansa a shot?

Google: evil or not?

Published
by
Gianugo
on February 4, 2008
in English and Open Source
. 0 Comments

Apparently, Google wants to help Yahoo! in their fight against the hostile Microsoft takeover. Is Google playing the white knight, or is it just a wolf in sheep's clothing? I'm not quite sure that a strategic alliance of any sort between Google and Yahoo!, which actually means Yahoo! becoming a Google subsidiary is good news for the Internet as a whole. While I understand the trouble with Microsoft being at the helm of Jerry Yang's baby, I tend to think that we need more pressure on Google and more competition overall. If Google lays their hands on Yahoo!, that's no good news for all of us. Especially if that happens in a sneaky and indirect way that manages to run below the Antitrust radar. 

All this reminds me of Microsoft helping Apple back in 1997. Is history repeating itself? 

MS/Yahoo, pink glasses on

Published
by
Gianugo
on February 3, 2008
in English and Open Source
. 2 Comments

The web is full of pessimistic comments about Open Source at the soon to be Microsoft-owned Yahoo!. If you belong to the crowd of those looking for shelter, let me try to show why I believe there is a very slim chance that www.yahoo.com will 301 to default.aspx anytime soon. I'll start by stating loud and clear that if you even suspect the Yahoo! Open Source stance plays a role in this deal, a few more brain cycles might be in order. Consider how Microsoft is going to empty their pockets in buying Yahoo, as the 44B$ deal will make more than a significant dent in Redmond's bank account: going this far just to replace Yahoo!'s FreeBSD gear with Windows is something even Ballmer can't pull off in his sweatiest dreams.

What this deal does is marking a 180° turn in Redmond strategy: Microsoft is clearly struggling to find a spot in today's industry where software as such is getting less and less relevant. They know how late they are to the party, and they're desperate to find a clue on how to catch up and be a major player again. Whether they will succeed, that's an entirely different matter, but I'm sure they all realize they can't just stomp their feet and pretend they can make it without Open Source. Definitely not in the short term, most likely not even in a few years from now: their failed Hotmail Linux FreeBSD (thanks Christian!) migrations must have thought a lesson and left a few scars. Hadoop contributors on the Yahoo! payroll have little to worry.

It might actually be worth noticing how the acquisition of Yahoo! could be the greatest opportunity for Microsoft to become a significant player in Open Source. Nevermind Steve Ballmer, I really don't believe there is anyone in Redmond who hates Open Source with a passion: the Open Source strategy of Microsoft has been insofar guided by obvious business considerations. If you're the biggest provider of shrink-wrapped proprietary software, you have be defensive about the competitive and disruptive Open Source proposition. If your strategy shifts to the online advertising business, then Open Source can be your best friend. In any case, and as the ultimate bottom line, it would be downright silly for Microsoft to command Yahoo! into steering their technology and turn their .so's in .dll's: I don't think there's many silly people in Redmond. We will probably see much more embrace, and much less extend.

Zimbra vs. Exchange is possibly the one and only issue on the table, as it might be a nice side effect for Microsoft to control (one of) their Exchange competitor(s). Having said that, (a) I don't see anything happening at a fast pace  and (b) if Microsoft ever tries to crush Zimbra, that would be a fantastic opportunity for a new or existing player to come up with yet another Exchange alternative. To be honest, though, I believe that in the next few years most of the e-mail business will move online, so all that won't be much of an issue anymore. Not to mention that the Zimbra guys are probably perfectly happy already with the Yahoo! cheque, and there is little doubt their excellent staff will find a new and better venture anyways.

I'm not exactly throwing parties at the idea of Microsoft owning Yahoo, even though I think a serious alternative to Google might be worth a few struggles, but I don't think the sky is falling for Open Source if Microsoft even gets to raise their flag over Yahoo!'s HQ. Vigilant? Sure. Worried? Not from a big picture point of view. Pessimistic? Nope.

Microsoft to swallow Yahoo?

Published
by
Gianugo
on February 1, 2008
in English, Open Source and Work stuff
. 1 Comment

Fabrizio just sent me the news. Apparently, Microsoft is on the hunt for big Y!. Initial numbers suggest that Redmond wants to drain their bank account with a planned expenditure of 44B$. I'm sure Antitrust will want to have more than a word about it.

More as the story unfolds. 

Covalent and SpringSource: here we go again

Published
by
Gianugo
on January 31, 2008
in Apache, English, Open Source and Work stuff
. 1 Comment

Gee… commenting Open Source acquisitions is turning into a full time job. I didn't have a chance to dump my thoughts when the SpringSource/Covalent merger hit the news as I was dashing through London like an headless chicken: a lot has been said already, which means I'll be the latecomer to the party and just add a few random notes for my memoirs.

First of all, let me extend my kudos to Mark Brewer and the Covalent crew: this is a very good opportunity to strengthen the Open Source support business model, and SpringSource looks like an excellent partner. I consider Covalent one of the best Open Source companies around, so it's really good to see them moving forward at a faster pace. It's no news I'm not exactly a fan of Rod Johnson's obsession for separation of IP creation and monetization (read: "no one outside of SpringSource is able to support the Spring framework", AKA "I want my cake, and eat it too"): I believe that there is more to Open Source than gating access to committership as a way to defend a business, but I guess that's just me and a bunch of others. As Covalent is bringing some great folks to SpringSource, there might be a good chance for them to bite Rod and friends with the Apache and Open Development bug, so we might end up with a closer bound between Apache and Spring, which is most definitely a Good Thing.

Having said that, I have to note I feel awkward when describing this deal as an acquisition: while the actual details of the transaction are private, we know about the 10M$ upper limit, that is what Rod Johnson milked from his round A from the deep pockets guys. The money changing hands has got to be much less: SpringSource got the funds last May, so it's safe to say most of it should be gone by now. On top of this, an undisclosed amount of shares went the Covalent shareholders' way. 

We have to remember Covalent was privately held, so all in all the deal is not that bad, despite landing at least couple of zeros behind what seems to be the standard nowadays. However, given the minimal amount of money and the potential role of shares, I can't stop wondering why SpringSource and Covalent decided to hit the press with an acquisition news, when the actual description of the deal looks so much more like a merger to me. Petty naming discussions aside, I believe that from a PR standpoint announcing the deal as a merger would have resulted in a much better perception of two leading companies in their respective spaces joining forces to hit the market as a bigger and better endeavor.

Marketing the transaction as an acquisition might strengthen the perception of SpringSource being tall and strong, but this comes at the price of somewhat diluting the value of Covalent which looks like the weak part of the deal, especially when you look at the numbers involved. As I have a passion for Mark and friends, there is a good chance I'm biased: most likely the Covalent folks are still recovering from hangover and are perfectly happy with the deal. Still, I believe the net effect of a  communication along the lines of a merger would have been easier to understand and a stronger proposition altogether. Nevermind this small gripe, I won't pass on any champagne left from the celebration, so here comes my virtual toast to SpringSource and Covalent for getting together and making Open Source a better place!

Proprietary to Open Source: resistance is futile…

Published
by
Gianugo
on January 28, 2008
in English, Open Source and Work stuff
. 4 Comments

… you will be assimilated.

So, 150M$ went to fill a few more boots as Nokia acquires Trolltech. Matt is already on the ball, asking  who's going to change the world for the better as the old guys continue their shopping spree, swallowing Open Source companies in a seemingly endless binge.

I'm not that worried. I think this is yet another step toward the much anticipated hybrid model that everyone is expecting. Also, I'll stick to what my ancestor Horace said about Greece being conquered by Romans:

Graecia capta, ferum victorem coepit (Horace, Ep. 2.1)

which would translate to "once Greece had been captured, it captured its wild conqueror", meaning that since the Roman Empire won Greece, the Greeks were able to influence the Roman culture so much that it just looked the other way around. Are we going to see the Open Source culture permeating proprietary companies and changing them from the inside? I guess this is yet another way of considering Open Source as a means to an end. 

The marketing ploy of Open Source

Published
by
Gianugo
on January 25, 2008
in English, Open Source and Work stuff
. 3 Comments

This just in from Matthew Aslett. A true must read if your business has anything to do with Open Source, as it clearly show how Open Source strategies can be a powerful marketing tool. Case in point: a unnamed company switching to an Open Source distribution model, with mind-boggling numbers about their first year of operations (emphasis mine):

In its first year using an open source distribution model the company saw:

  • A 12X increase in ‘awareness’ (web hits, community engagement, media mentions, conference visits etc).
  • A 13X increase in web site visits.
  • A 17X increase in software trials.
  • A 40X increase in qualified leads.
  • An 8X increase in engagements.

[...]

  • The company’s executives estimate that it would have cost in the region of $2m in marketing to get those leads if the company was not open source.

What's not to love? With Open Source being the ultimate marketing WonderBra, it's no surprise that everyone and his dog are dropping stuff on Sourceforge and friends. Numbers are strange beasts, though, and Matthew doesn't fail to recognize how a 40X increase in qualified leads brings to an 8X increase in engagements. Just read the numbers backwards to find the culprit: even assuming that the mean deal size was constant over the year (which in itself can be quite a leap of faith considering how Open Source is typically cheaper), the outcome is lead conversion being 80% worse with Open Source. While the term "qualified lead" would deserve a fair bit of discussion, performance of Open Source seems poor when it comes to what is actually paying the golf membership for the VP of Marketing. 

It looks like an happy problem, actually: any VP of Sales will at least consider trading her daughter for an eight-fold increase in engagements, yet there are at least a couple of issues to consider:

  • sales aren't free. There is a considerable cost associated with closing a deal: phone calls, paperwork, travel, proofs of concept, prototypes and the like. Sales staff isn't cheap, and conversion rate getting 80% worse is a sure way to make costs skyrocket and margins nosedive at the same time.
  • am I the only one seeing a problem with value here? I'm missing a few key figures here, but it seems that open sourcing is a great recipe to have 40X more people interested enough in buying something from you to get in touch and ask questions (that is my reading of "qualified lead", for the record). It seems, though, that a lot of these guys don't quite find what they're looking for, as the conversion rate isn't stellar. In a nutshell, even when you manage to get in touch with a customer in a direct way, there doesn't seem to be enough perceived value to move the conversation to the purchase department. Why is it so?

Having said that, I have a few takeaways from these numbers:

  • tactically speaking, there is a clear need for streamlining the sales cycle. It's not a surprise that Matthew is using those numbers to prove that LoopFuse, a tool to monitor and increase lead conversion, can be a tremendous help in separating the wheat from the chaff and bring those sales costs down.
  • a tool, no matter how nice, is still a tool and there is only this much it can do. Better sales conversion needs a comprehensive approach, working through general and market-specific issues. Such as being close enough to the customer in a global market, which is a big challenge for the average Valley-based Open Source shop: in the enterprise world, telemarketing and phone calls just don't cut it, yet a global sales force is difficult to attain. If you were wondering why Sourcesense has being forging so many partnerships, here is your answer: we hit the road day in day out, making customers and vendors meet. Open Source  is great at marketing, but still needs the channel to shine.
  • we can't sweep the real issue under the rug for much longer: Commercial Open Source needs a solid value proposition. It doesn't take much to convince a user that freebies are a good thing: the difficult bit comes when trying to make customers pay for the very same free lunch. Or (even worse), pay for the whole meal just because they might be like some ketchup on top.

Last but not least, these numbers are great news for those who consider Open Source as a part of a bigger marketing strategy: if all you need is (co)marketing, Open Source can be the ultimate silver bullet. It doesn't really come as a surprise to me, but it's good to see some figures in print.