Open Source

It's now about 2 months after the previous post. I've been very very busy, and then, last week I finally had a great holiday.


Today I had to clean up some directories, and came across an 'interview'. Magazines send questions and you answer in write, and they distill something from that. Unrecognizable, usually. This wasn't even an interview with me, but I did quite a bit of the answering. The idea was to get a picture of how we coped with Open Source and the business model we chose (it's called freemium). The fun thing is, after just half a year my perspective has changed. Not a lot, but still. Even life itself is an Agile journey.

An excerpt:

"What’s the concept behind open-based platforms?"

Openness in the past has meant one of a few different things. Firstly, there are the almost government-like standardization bodies. They deliver big loads of documents on how things should be done. The problem is that their specifications are hugely complex and there is hardly any help for actual implementation. Next to those there were commercial initiatives that are only open in name only (call them OINO if you like). Commercial interests are huge. And, of course, as soon as any real work needs to be done you have to pay – a lot.

Real openness means you have to open up almost every part of your business. Sharing your products but also your knowledge, data, processes. You share them for a return. The return is manifold, ranging from participation in software development to sharing of data and work flows.

"What is the future of oil & gas software?"

Open Source in the middle, closed-source around that. The Open Source part grows outward, the closed-source parts move further and further into the special-purpose area. Just like in the rest of the software world.

Hmm. Not that sure anymore. In the oil&gas world, Open Source is largely  seen as 'research only'. I went to the EAGE conference in a hopeful, optimistic mode about the workshop on OS. There were actually quite a few people there. But ... well ... the big message we tried to bring was: it also makes business sense. Charles Jones from British Gas gave good evidence for this, too. Actually, he showed that it was even more Agileness that they are after. That made me happy.

But I fear not a lot of other people there were so interested. I mean other than the people there to keep track of sales opportunities. I expected a big positive reaction on Charles' talk - a large oil company interested and really spending money to forward Open Source ...

The crowd just seemed not very interested. My guess is because they were 90% academics. Is Open Source not interesting for the Oil&Gas industry? Hopefully, this is just a big mistake and the closed-source people simply don't see what's coming their way. I sincerely hope so.