On Fri, 20 Feb 2004, denny adelman wrote:
...
> I found myself wondering what alchemy would bring the open source
> community into legitimate competition for such large projects.
Denny,
This is a great question that actually has already been answered. The
answer is contained in the history of GNU/Linux, Apache, Mozilla, and
other well-described open-source projects.
> And if such a thing could happen, what reassurances could we give that
> there would not be announcements like "the apparent failure of a new
> $450m Open Source application at a XYZ Hospital."?
The "reassurances" are the following:
1) it will not fail: it will succeed incrementally
2) it will not be a "$450m open source application at a XYZ hospital":
it will be a free application at increasing number of hospitals
> Oracle, Peoplesoft, Fujitsu know how to deal with that. Do we?
Of course we do. Who do you think works at Oracle, Peoplesoft, and
Fujutsu?
What makes you think that "open source" means we should exclude Oracle,
Peoplesoft, Fujitsu from participating? For example, both IBM and
Microsoft are already open-source software providers.
There is no permanent division between "they" and "us". We are all trying
to solve real world problems. Alliances and relationships will change over
time. If Oracle employees know better how to deal with certain tasks, then
they should do that part of the project.
Best regards,
Andrew
---
Andrew P. Ho, M.D.
OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes
www.TxOutcome.Org
