business - Page number 4

If we look at the differences between closed and open source software development processes, we can identify aspects that can be generalized and applied to other industries and domains.

Open source development—that combination of transparency, iterative development with early-and-often releases, and open participation—leads to higher quality products. When we're talking about software, people tend to think of quality in terms of bugs. But this is only part of the story of open development. » Read more

In his keynote speech at the Red Hat Summit in Boston, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst made the case that of the $1.3 trillion USD spent in 2009 on Enterprise IT globally, $500 billion was essentially wasted (due to new project mortality and Version 2.0-itis). Moreover, because the purpose of IT spending is to create value (typically $6-$8 for each $1 of IT spend), the $500 billion waste in enterprise IT spending translates to $3.5 trillion of lost economic value. He goes on to explain that with the right innovations—in software business models, software architectures, software technologies, and applications—we can get full value from the money that's being wasted today, reinforcing the thesis that innovation trumps cost savings.

But then along comes Accenture's Chief Technology Architect Paul Daugherty, and in his keynote he presents a list of the top five reasons that customers choose open source software (which is now up to 78% among their customers):

#1 (76%): better quality than proprietary software.

#5 (54%): lower total cost of ownership.

So which is it? Does innovation trump cost savings? Or does quality trump cost savings?

» Read more

Next month, business schools around the world will graduate another crop of freshly minted MBAs, ready and eager to enter the business world and shape the future of management. In this rapidly changing business world, one has to wonder... has traditional business education been able to keep up? And have today's MBA graduates been prepared to lead in tomorrow's open world? » Read more

In the discussions around some of my previous articles, I've noticed a trend: we seem to be focusing on cultural changes that need to be made for the open source way to be effective in contexts beyond technology. » Read more

It's amazing, the opportunities a disruptive technology can offer to those who take the time to learn it.  If you know your Moodle, there are more than 100 jobs available, right now, today -- and for some of them, you don't even need to change out of your pajamas. » Read more

A few folks from Red Hat's video team had the opportunity last summer to attend the first Open Video Conference in New York. We met some inspiring, open minded, and highly motived people and even got the chance to talk to a few of them on camera. (You know, just doing our job.)

One person that we absolutely had to talk to was Bre Pettis: video blogger, open source advocate, entrepreneur, and all around great guy. Bre is one of the founders of MakerBot Industries, a company that makes "robots that make things." Awesome robots. Awesome things. » Read more