Raising the Bar

Posted on 2008-05-08 11:55:56.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

There was a time when when the main selling point of (Free) Open Source was cost and consumers of the technology we’re willing to make compromises in other areas. I think that’s changed and Enterprise adoption is one of the causes. If your are responsible for maintaining your organization’s business crtitcal infrastructure - you’re not going to cut anyone any slack - not Free; not Open Source.

Some news from Gartner and Forrester today pushed the bar for OSS a little higher. First the report from Forrester ($$) - based on a pretty exhaustive survey of application server users - it’s the first report I’ve ever seen that is essentially based on Quality - not the usual speeds and feeds and feature comparison. It very clearly busts any remaining myths that OSS is a riskier proposition than conventional, proprietary software - in fact it the report’s findings are pretty clear - JBoss App Server 4.x is likely of superior quality, is able to handle demanding workloads and our ability to resolve issues is better than our competitors. Note - I also think this demonstrates the difference between the old and new models of Software - ie. where the value is about the services you provide beyond the bits; not the bits themselves.

That said - the bits have to be good as well - again nobody is giving OSS an easy passage in the enterprise and according to the latest Gartner MQ on Enterprise App Servers ($$) - our bits are damned good (or I guess technically - our vision and execution of that vision is damned good).

Hopefuly we’ll get reprint rights for the Forrester report - not only is it good for JBoss and Red Hat but I think it’s good for the whole OSS ecosystem.

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JBoss at JavaOne 2008

Posted on 2008-05-03 08:22:34.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

For me, the main attraction of JavaOne is the opportunity to connect email addresses to faces - ie. it’s a great social and netorking opportunity - nearly everyone in Java-land (and beyond) will be there. This year, it looks like JBoss will have a pretty decent attendance. As well as the usual developer, enterprise Java, SOA tooling and run-times we’ll be showing off JON 2.0 (as mentioned previously ) - if you spend any time managing large, complex JBoss clouds - you should swing by the JBoss pod (#734) and take a look.

On the developer tooling side - go listen to Burr Sutter and Max Katz (Exadel) talking about tools (TS-7479) - I hear it’s sold out but another session has been scheduled. Then swing by the JBoss pod (#734) to see a demo of JBDS and see what we’re giving out for free

For detais of other talks and BOFs from Gavin King, Emmanuel Bernard, Mark Little and registration details for the JBoss party - go here.

See you next week !

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Crazy Great Software

Posted on 2008-05-02 12:44:37.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

As I’ve said before , success in the new ‘adoption led’ era of software is about maintaining a great experience - like this example. I don’t care whether Rob is a paying customer or not today - what I do care about is his future potential to influence - multiply that by 20 million . Let’s hope we can keep Rob and millions of others like him happy.

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Spring & GPL v3

Posted on 2008-04-30 22:52:55.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

Talking of Spring - SpringSource’s choice of license for their new ‘platform’ seems to have sparked some discussion over on TSS.

In a way - it’s sad that a perfectly decent product launch is over-shadowed by their choice of license - we (the OpenSource community) still clearly have work to do.

I haven’t decided whether their choice to dual license is smart or dumb and I also wonder if it was done with BEAOralces blessing - presumably they we’re a good partner at one point. Clearly SpringSource think they’re in a dominant enough position to make such a change - I guess their consumers will decide.

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JON 2.0 - not just sexy

Posted on 2008-04-24 12:22:03.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

JON 2.0 sounds like a cheesey-made-for-cable film you’d find on SciFi channel during the afternoon (not that I would know).

But it’s not - JON stands for JBoss Operations Network . There’s a myth that open source ‘products’ tend to be a bit rough around the edges, not easy to use, no flashy consoles, etc. Well, JON 2.0 busts that myth.

I just had a preview of JON 2.0 and was suitably impressed - and I’ve seen a lot of similar attempts in the past so I had some pretty high expectations going in.

The background to JON is pretty interesting too - Red Hat and Hyperic joined forces to develop the core technology for  building management solutions - the open source RHQ project . JON 2.0 is JBoss’ offering based on that core technology. I really think the RHQ project could raise the bar for OSS.

If you’re going to Java One - you’ll no doubt see a lot more of JON 2.0; if you’re not, there are some flash demos here.

btw. I just heard the JON team are hiring - they’re looking for a Product Marketing Manager (GTM, sales training, sales support, collateral, etc.) - I’m not sure the opening is posted yet but if think you’re worthy of marketing such a cool product and think you have the gonads for the fast-paced Open Source environment - drop me a note : rich dot sharples at redhat dot com.

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Free vs Fee - your choice

Posted on 2008-04-21 18:14:02.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

Andy Miller lays down the differences between the Jboss.org ‘products’ and technologies and Red Hat’s supported platforms . Of course you have a choice - if Red Hat’s products don’t provide sufficient value for your business today - you have an alternative. Choice is good.

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Goodbye Sun, hello Red Hat

Posted on 2008-04-09 11:23:03.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

After 8.5 exciting years - I recently left Sun to join the JBoss division of Red Hat. I’m honoured to be invited to join a company I’ve admired (as a competitor) for many years; and that’s as true for JBoss as it is for Red Hat.

Red Hat has much to offer - a legendary record of disruption through innovation in technology and business models, strong growth and the opportunity to work with some real pioneers. I’m joining at a very exciting time in the company’s development and at a very interesting period in the software industry as a whole.

Hopefully the next 8.5 years will be every bit as fulfilling as the last.

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Rise and Fall

Posted on 2008-03-05 10:45:25.0 by sharps [ View original post ]

If you work in the IT / software industry and unless you’ve been shipwrecked on a deserted island for the last 5 years you have probably followed the rise of JBoss . I have tracked them very closely as a competitor. Founded in 2001; JBoss proved the commercial Open Source model, disrupted the incumbents in an aggressively contested market and provided great entertainment.

When Red Hat acquired JBos s in 2006 - it seemed like a good fit. Red Hat we’re similarly successful in proving that Commercial and Open Source can be used in the same sentence; did its bit (along with the rest of the Linux community) to disrupt incumbents. But what happened next was unexpected to some but rather predictable; JBoss lost it’s Mojo.

Why was this predictable ? Well JBoss (like any other successful startups) worked it’s exit strategy really well - they raised the volume on their marketing efforts; leveraged the personality cult that built up around some of it’s key staffers (Marc Fleury , Bill Burke , Gavin King , to mention a few). Basically - they sold when they we’re at the top of their game (and I’m talking about perception here). Post acquisition - integration takes it’s toll; people leave, productivity takes a hit and most importantly - things go deathly quiet - the buzz that made JBoss such an attractive acquisition to it’s suitors died off. Maintaining the kind of pre-acquisition momentum just isn’t a priority post acquisition - certainly compared to the hard work of integrating one organization into another.

If you’ve been in this industry for any amount of time - I’m sure you’ve seen this scenario play out before - it’s very common - too many examples to point to. Bucking the trend and maintaining momentum post acquisition is tough and there are too few examples to point to; more’s the pity.

So, did all the good people leave JBoss ? Nope - probably not (though some did); did the technology suddenly become uncompetitive ? Nope. Did the competition seize the moment ? Maybe - GlassFish has certainly done it’s best to fill the vacuum. But fundamentally, I agree with Matt Assay - I’m sure JBoss is still healthy and active; with the caveat that they really need to pick up the momentum this year. For another perspective (and one I don’t necessarily agree with) - ZDNet’s Dana Blankenhorn & Paula Rooney have written the acquisition off as a failure - though they do make an interesting, cautionary point about acquiring Open Source companies in general.

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