Enterprises grow more savvy over open source

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ITgirl: So, is it safe to say that the whole Microsoft threats thing has turned into nothing ... do you think enterprises are at all concerned about that anymore? Do you think that Microsoft might still really take legal action against any Linux or open-source companies?

Stormy_Peters: First off, I'm not an attorney and I can't say whether the threat is real or imagined. However, I think Microsoft is adopting the open source software model more and more. I've definitely been hearing less concern around the whole Novell/Microsoft agreement.

I think the patent and open source issue is still a very real concern. It's very hard for open source software developers to know if they've violated someone's patent (out of the tens of thousands out there) and very easy for someone to see if an open source software developer has violated their particular patent.

GoldNugget: As a woman involved in IT, and Open Source in particular, have you had any problems being taken seriously by others in this industry?

Stormy_Peters: I've found the open source software community to be a very open and welcoming community. My first introduction was through the GNOME community - and they are a bunch of great guys - and gals! I often get approached at conferences and asked how to encourage more women in open source or asked to meet with a particular woman. I've talked about women in open source at conferences. In general, I've found the women in open source to be extremely supportive of each other.

All that said, I've seen some pretty anti-women comments in places like Slashdot. As I said before, pick your communities carefully. Apache, GNOME, and many others are welcoming of women.

ITgirl: As a woman, I have to say that the entire IT industry is a great place to be if you are a woman with brains. It is much, much more about what you know than what you look like than many other industries. That said, there are jerky people that make jerky comments, sexist or racist or whatnot, no matter where you go.

Stormy_Peters: I agree. I also find the open source community is very willing to publicly step in and denounce the jerks.

ITgirl: Do you think the open source model creates more secure software?

Stormy_Peters: I do. I'm a big fan of security by transparency as opposed to security by obscurity. There's a lot more eyes on the code and a lot more people able to fix any issues that come up. It's a bit of a reach but I like to compare it to what I'd do if someone was pursuing me. I've always thought about it in terms of personal safety. If someone is attacking me, I can run to a house in the woods and hope they don't find me or I can surround myself with all my friends and a couple of police officers. They can all help check out my surroundings to make sure there aren't any security holes. (Can you tell I'm a city girl?) That said, there's a lot of open source software projects out there. The most widely used and examined ones are more likely to be secure than the one man project you download from an obscure web site with 0 users.

ITgirl: Is open source software creating new things that have never been done by software before? Have you got any examples of that?

Stormy_Peters: Yes. Some of it is putting existing things together in new ways and some of it is new technology. Look at Twitter with Ruby on Rails as an example. Most of the Web 2.0 world is that way. Any others?

@rohanpinto: Twitter is not open source... or is it?

Stormy_Peters: Sorry - Ruby on Rails is. Right?

GoldNugget: Google Earth is an example of open source doing something software has never done before -- maps, even space. Taking info that has been there for a long time, using open tools and platforms and making these available to everyone...for free.

Stormy_Peters: Good example. I think we are starting to see "open information" and "open data" play a very similar in social applications that open source software does in software applications.

JamesRoth: You mentioned Web 2.0 stuff -- that seems like its getting more attention than open-source did (which seemed cooler in the late '90s, early '00s). How can open-source remain hip and trendy?

Stormy_Peters: Open source needs to do a bit of marketing and make sure people know those Web 2.0 apps are built on open source and that's important because it enabled them to be what they are, grow and expand.

@rohanpinto: What future do you see in store for LAMP?

Stormy_Peters: Did you know that I predicted Linux on the desktop five years ago? :) I think LAMP will continue to be a commonly used stack but there will also be others - you are already seeing other acronyms trying to copy LAMP. [Editor's note: LAMP traditionally refers to a stack of software consisting of Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP.)