My fiscal responcibility to my company ver. Open Source - advice please

[Madison Kelly]

Lloyd Budd wrote:
> 
> On 21-May-04, at 23:21, Madison Kelly wrote:
> 
>>
>>   Well, on the IBM/Novell being open-source question, I do. IBM is 
>> standing up against the first legal challenge to OSS
> 
> Did / does IBM have any choice ?
> 
>>   I am learning fast that supporting OSS on a professional level 
>> requires a delicate balance of covering your bottom line and providing 
>> your share to the community whom you are benefiting from. Novell and 
>> IBM (and Redhat, etc.) are doing that balancing act nicely.
> 
> Considering IBM is by far the most active patenting company [1] ,
> I find it interesting that you consider IBM's approach balanced .
> Do you not consider patents a danger to OSS ?  Do you not
> desire significant patent reform ?
> 
> Further , I do not consider IBM an open source company , because
> only an insignificant amount of their software is open source .  IBM
> does not feel morally driven to OSS , it is strictly a profitability
> equation .
> 
> IBM is a fantastic contributer to OSS and our society , but I do *not*
> call IBM an OSS Company .
> 
> -
> [1] Eleven years as the world's top patenter , and by a huge divide .

I do think that patents need reform in a bad way but so far as I can 
tell IBM isn't one of those companies that bait 'n switches like so many 
others. As far as I can tell they have so many patents so that they can 
cover their ass not litigate to profit (again, like so many others).

I also don't think that IBM contributes so much raw code as I would like 
but their contribution is still very tangible. They are contributing by 
making OSS a legitamite option for big business and thus giving OSS 
credit everywhere. Remember the old (and still true) expression "No one 
gets fired for choosing IBM."? There you go.

No, they didn't have so much of a choice in the law suit but they 
certainly did have a choice on how they handled it. They could very 
easily have bought SCO with a hostile take over for less hassle and cost 
then the court case is probably costing them but they chose instead to 
make a stand and end the question of whether OSS is legally sound.

So again, I think IBM is an open source company.

Madison

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