RE: open sourcing discontinued offerings -- MIDRANGE-NONTECH

~~~get some feedback on from all of you. The reader wanted to
~~~know why IBM doesn't open source it's OV/400 product, since it's not
~~~making money on it

~~~are there other products/applications that are no longer supported, and
~~~therefore no longer producing profit, that could feasibly be
~~~open sourced for the benefit of the open source community and/or users of

~~~Jill R. Aitoro

I too have thought about this. I think would make a great debate article and
you'll start fires.

My conclusion beforehand was that IBM would never do it on any platform
product that has made money in the past, unless there was another unrelated
motive.
because:

1) they can't change their mind later
2) You never know what the future holds.
3) the same business function is being done elsewhere for sure, and
generating revenue.

When I thought with a "packrat" mentality I could see why they would not
bite.
I like open source as much as the next guy, but really, it's anti-for profit
organization, so their is a congressional debate to be had there. It's two
worlds coexisting for different reasons.
There was a time when an application could be installed and then the
technician went back to the business of making widgets.
Open source to me is a different paradigm that is anti-make my widgets in a
more profitable manner.
One could argue, 100% savings up front but it's downhill from there.
One could argue, not strapped to a vendor, but then the only sole on the
planet that could explain it held me hostage and was fired.

About betting the company on open source; the only way it makes sense to me
is in a large shop with folks in from the beginning, and is treated as "in
house" code. Otherwise, it is flying blind.
Open OV might be "the" mission critical application at the Big City Daily
News but there is no 1-800-callforhelp?

IBM would have to expend some effort to do Open Source in a bigger way and
that could be justified? How? Was that the laid off persons job?

You bring up a point I had not considered, obsolete options could still
reveal undesirable proprietary information, especially if such a poor state
of repair, to the point of embarrassment. 3rd party considerations?

The imagination could easily forecast industry events that would drive IBM
to muster resources to re-generate OV/400 into something new and flashy. Who
could have dreamed THAT would happen?

I don't know that much about OV. I used it on the original AS/400's and
disliked the editor. At that time I think WordPerfect was in favor. I
suspect that "save it for a rainy day" is the overriding mentality, and I
tend to agree, and would more so if I had more stock or a stake to loose.

With all that said, thinking forward, considering WebSphere vs. the freebie
cancels all logic. Of course, the application  life cycle on anything these
days is 90% shorter it seems. Where is the value?

If I had to pick something to Open Source at IBM (other than Linux of
course) it would be AIX or some of it's AIX only applications. Perhaps
anything AIX or Linux related on the iSeries.
But my iSeries pick is not really iSeries, but PC based development tools
and client access.
IBM would be smart to open source that stuff.
No one is saying they would not need a license to connect...

Huge topic!

Just my opinion and I really have no idea what all IBM is Open Sourcing
Mark Villa in Charleston SC