DivaBlog

Yesterday my blog on the Open Source observatory yielded the following anonymous comment

Not sure the context of this comment...did it mean to comment that the US is being out-clued? I've seriously not seen this born out in my travels (at least not with respect to original software development, or even Open Source software development). Most of the time, I'm exhorting developers in other countries to start contributing original work to the Open Source movement because most of it is still happening in the US, with Europe following behind.

If the comment meant that the US is behind in Open Source adoption, yes the US is definitely behind and I agree that we need to do better. Bob Stack, CTO of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, seems to have a clue but most branches of US government seem to still be unwilling to make a big change in favor of Open Source. I'd expect that there is plenty of Open Source adoption going on, just not formal policies that we can point to as "wins".

As to the question about Sun getting a clue...indications are that Sun is changing as we speak. Can we fairly correlate the number of Sun employees worldwide to whether or not Sun "has a clue"? From my perspective Apple for instance gained considerably in its cluefulness about the time Steve Jobs came back. This was due in part to the fact that he put policies in place that focused the remaining employees on a few well chosen and realistic goals. Sometimes transformation takes drastic measures. I'd imagine the chrysalis transforming itself into a butterfly feels acutely the drastic nature of the changes it is enduring. Most of what is going on inside of Sun is incredibly positive and I for one am feeling more optimistic than I have in years.

Comments?