O'Reilly Open Source Convention - August 1-5, 2005

Session
Plugging Holes in the Open Source Stack: How to Create a Hybrid of Your Own
W. Phillip Moore, Open Source Advocate, Open Source Advocate

Track: Open Source Business Review
Date: Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005
Time: 1:45pm - 2:30pm
Location: E146

Open source software develops organically. Now that a couple of decades of development have gone by, some clear patterns are emerging in what sort of problems tend to be solved by open source software and what problems have not yet found a community of developers to work on them. If you look at the entire broad stack of open source from the top to the bottom, from end-user applications through tool kits and application servers down to databases and operating systems, some holes in the stack start to appear. Where is the open source supply chain optimization applications? Where is the open source for vertical industries? Where is open source for advanced accounting?
Every IT department that sets out to use open source software must be able to design a stack that supports a certain set of business needs. To do this means to identify a complete stack that comprises both commercial and open source components. What is the nature of the challenge of creating a hybrid stack? How can the holes in the open source stack be plugged in various ways by commercial software? What are the different approaches one can take to accomplish this? This session will look at all of these issues and report what people are doing to meet the challenge of plugging the holes in the open source stack and to create a high-quality hybrid.