Ebay and Open Source

eBay recently announced that they are deploying "an open-source content management software as a framework to provide its employes with analytic tools." eBay plans to utilize the open-source software (Joomla) to create their own analysis and programs within eBay to analyze their unique statistics. eBay continues to rule online auctions because of their ability to quickly adapt to change and ability to innovate. Bob Page, eBay analytics platform vice president, said "eBay has always made it a key priority to encourage employees to collaborate and drive business innovation."

It is clear that eBay focuses on it's customers by listening to it's employees. eBay saves money and time by working within the corporation to find solutions, rather than looking for outside support. I shouldn't say "without outside support" because the open-source community is all about helping other and collaboration. Without collaboration with other companies these endeavorers would be "dead in the water".

eBay is yet another example of a large corporation looking for new ways to cut costs and improve efficiency through the utilization of open-source software. Hooray for open-source!

Android's Open Source Bloatware

The Android operating system that Google creates only contains certain programs and processes that come "stock" when shipped to phone manufactures. Companies like HTC, Motorola, LG, and Samsung have decided to add what they like to call "enhancements" and what we like to call bloatware, to their devices before final release. Sometimes this is a helpful add-on, as with HTC. HTC enhances their phones by adding Sense, a slight modification to the way users access and view information on the phone. Other times this can be seen as unnecessary software that takes up valuable space and sometimes runs processes that can effect the speed of the phone. This tends to be the case with cell phone carriers' own proprietary applications and modifications to the open-source platform Google created. The problem with these programs is that they cannot be easily removed without modifying the operating system, which is too complicated for some end-users.

I think that this goes against the original intent of open-source, as the operating system should be modifiable by the end-user. It is clear that companies like Verizon use the new platform to make money where others have already cashed in, like Apple. Apple doesn't license their iOS as open-source and makes decisions on which programs make it to the App Store and which ones don't. Google has been much more "open" about their applications approval process allowing basically anything to be in the "market". The difference is what the users get when they buy the phone, if it's bloatware from one company or many companies. Is the pre-loaded stuff helpful, as in the case with Apple's calendar application, or does it detract from the phone as is the case with Verizon's pre-loaded software. Another question to pose is whether these companies should be able to make these applications a permanent fixture on their devices. What's clear is that all of the smartphone makers load basic software onto all of their devices and that will always be the case. But the bigger problem is when you make it impossible to remove the bloatware without voiding the warranty on the phone. End-users should have the ability to utilize their property as they see fit, and these companies should be able to pre-load whatever they see fit, as long as it can be modified. Give the people what they want, more functionality at a lower price and with less bloatware!

RIM and Open Source

RIM's Blackberry Widgets are standalone web applications that use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They act much like native applications that come built in to the devices, but are much easier and quicker to develop. Almost a year later, RIM announced that the company was changing the name to WebWorks and has transitioned it into an open-source project. This is big news for the open-source community as in the past companies like RIM have opposed such trends. Back in 2008 RIM stated, as for our APIs or other software--that's a pretty big leap".
Seems like RIM has changed their approach to open-source operations since the market has spoken clearly in their acceptance of the Android platform. Companies that have had such a stranglehold on the software that runs on devices that we own and operate are losing their grip.

Open-source has been criticized for having a poorly developed user-interface and confusing features and settings. This is because of the often eccentric programers and developers that spend their time designing these applications themselves. Often times this is because the original intent of the program/application may have been designed to only be used by original developer and then later released to the general public. This has changed as many companies have seen the benefit of creating a "base" mobile software in-house, and then publishing the source for the design and allow other private developers and programers to produce applications and services for use on their devices.

Hence this recent move from proprietary business software to publicly available source code by RIM. They even tout the ability of developers to produce new applications "Within days" and with "No Java skills required." This is a major change from even the past few years as Blackberry applications are notorious for being difficult to develop. Many of the abilities of Blackberry devices are locked down and cannot be utilized within 3rd party applications. Like the camera, in order to use the camera for an application, the application must launch the proprietary camera application. The ability for a 3rd party app to use features and functions of a device is necessary in today's advanced technological state. It's a big step for RIM and possibly will provide them a much needed market share boost in order to stay competitive in this fast-paced development environment.

Open Office

When Oracle released the OpenOffice project in 2000, few knew the success it would have over the past 11 years. OpenOffice has been seen as a premier example of how open source can work on a large scale and still be enterprise worthy. Other notable open source projects like Apache Web server and Linux have been quite successful in their, relatively small, markets. OpenOffice is one desktop application that has had resounding success in the marketplace, even though it is open source.

The problem with many open source applications is that users, especially businesses, feel that a free, open source alternative will provide them with little support in case of issues they encounter. Back in 2000 this may have been the case but, as with the growth of the internet, online forums and wiki's have grown substantially and are now a valid source of information. If you have a question about the program, most likely someone else had/has the same issue and the answer is just a few clicks away, sometimes even faster than a support phone call. The OpenOffice model is a great example of how to implement a successful open source platform. Hopefully businesses will start to see more of the benefits of open source, instead of focusing on the minute drawbacks from using open-source.

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