Recently, we have seen lot of open source acquisitions by players like IBM, Oracle, Sun etc. These acquisitions has raised questions about the future of open source industry.
Here is my take on it: Any acquisition happens with motive of either reward or out of fear. Reward, when acquiring company thinks that the product can gel well with their existing suit and will bring them long term benefits. And fear, that the product is open source and doing pretty well in market which hinders their own sales and adds insecurity to company.
Archive for March, 2006
Are open source acquisitions good in long run?
Tuesday, March 14th, 2006Is Google’s Writely Acquisition a Challenge to Microsoft’s Office?
Sunday, March 12th, 2006Google recently acquired Writely, a collaborative web based word processor. Writely is a hosted word processing package that allows users to edit and publish documents online. This is in line with the recent Google Analyst Day presentation where one of the 2006 focus talks about “Building new products and services for publishers of information”. This acquisition again added fuel to rivalry between Google and Microsoft which started when Google joined hands with Sun over StarOffice. (more…)
Open Source: Need to analyze their Biggest Asset
Monday, March 6th, 2006There is lot of revolution in Open Source Area and every other day we hear a new open source product in market or an open source acquired/taken over by commercial companies. Whatever be the case, everyone want that its product be listed among the best, whether it is a commercial product or an open source product. Community is one of the biggest asset for any product and it gains more importance in open source terms since they don’t have enough funds to market the product.
Software Buying Shift towards Open Source
Friday, March 3rd, 2006The trend of moving to open source products is picking up and recently reports have proved it. Let’s look at what is the driving force that is behind this shift. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages associated with an open source product:
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Innovative Large developers community Open Code Roadmap influenced by community No Vendor lock-in |
Stability and performance Scalability Risk Support Security Issues Integration Issues |
So now if we can overcome disadvantages of open source product (or some % of them), then open source product becomes obvious choice.