I've talked before about how OpenSolaris impacted security at Connectathon in Connectathon 2006 - Changes in Security. One of the other impacts on me is the ability to reuse my own code.

When I left NetApp, I left 6 years of my coding example behind me. I had taken stuff into NetApp, written as a student, and used it in the product or in testing of the product. But I had to leave it all behind when I decided my time with the company was over. At one point when I was at NetApp, an ex-coworker came up to ask if it was okay if they used some of my scripts at their new company. I told him to talk to NetApp's legal department. I knew he was already using the scripts, he used my code to do his course work as well.

I've pulled out USB thumbdrives or HDs and found stuff I squirreled away - either on a plane or during an intense period. I had a friend who had 3 online copies of his dissertation and 5 on different floppies. A power outage took out all 3 online copies and something like 3 of the 5 floppies were corrupt.

When I come across this NetApp material, I sigh, and I delete it.

I know Sun Microsystems still has proprietary information that I can't share. But I also know I can always find a copy of the code I work on. I'll be able to reuse it - just like I did at NetApp with some of my student work.