Open at Adobe

There are frillions of ways to get past obstacles in embracing open source inside of companies. Unfortunately, as the comic shows, most often, the choices lead us back to where we were in the first place.

(And Thanks to Jay Dyke for letting me use this image! Go visit him and Indy and Tigey now! )

It still amazes me how many people on both sides of the open source fence end up back in the same place.  Within companies, "We can't use open source because our needs are too hard" or  "We can't open source that because we'll lose our customers". means business as usual. Within open source ranks: "Use or just don't bother" or " You're evil because you won't give me exactly what I want" means labeling as an evil company.

In short, frillions of ways, but only one path.

Open source is a lot more flexible than that, though.  It's not one size, or one way. It's bespoke tailoring, in spite of the noise. And fortunately, we can choose our  own paths.

As I've stated in an earlier blog, I think that freedom can mean multiple things. At Adobe, we don't necessarily follow the one true open source way. While open source is a great way to develop code, there is not just one way to open source. We tend to be a community ourselves, with our own cliches, personalities and opinions. We often try to make our own way. We look at open source as to what's the drive and reason. And we pick our approaches to open source with a unique review each time.

In the platform and developer unit, we're believers in open source, but even then, we're approaching it cautiously. We need to learn how the interfaces at the boundaries will work, and whether it's in everyones best interests.

You'll note that we use a number of licenses, from MPL to BSD, and even some hanger-on of the Adobe source license. Again, we'll pick the right tool for the right job, not assume  that every item requires a hammer. (yes, bad humor there, please don't hit me ).

Anyway, keep in mind that any company, and every individual should consider that there are frillions of ways around the blockage. Find your own way, and respect the way other pick.

Posted by Dave McAllister at 01:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, Linuxworld San Francisco has come and gone.  I have to admit it wasn't the most exciting LWCE I've ever been to, but it is always nice seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

I also have to admit the coolness factor was several degrees off the  record.  While he was there, I'm told, I never managed to see Maddog. I did get to catch up with Russ Pavlicek (Cassatt), Robin (Roblimo) Miller (sourceforge) , and Adam Goodman (Linux Magazine).  I had a chance to talk James Gray and Jill Franklin of Linux Journal and express my wants to see some part of the culture of open source return to the "new, cool stuff". I had a chance to laugh with Patrick McConaughy (Avocent) and his oddball sense of humor.

I even got to teach a bit of Flex.

Yeah, me. (and wipe that smirk off your face!)

Adobe was part of a desktop Linux focus on the show floor.  Thanks to Dell, who provided the laptops (running Ubuntu, definitely drool-worthy), we had the open source components of Flex loaded up, and Flash as well. James Ward, Flex Evangelist, who built our quickie tutorial taught day 1. David Zuckerman, one of Adobe's Computer Scientists in Flex Engineering taught day 2.  And I taught day 3.

The concepts of Flex are easily gotten. The language is elegant. And the capabilities on Linux were amazing. But here, go see for yourself. The course materials are here.

Anyway, logistical difficulties aside, the course went fine.  People are always amazed at how easy, and powerful Flex is, and just how quick you can become proficient in it.

So, give it a try. Go get the bits you need from Flex.org or fire up one from here. And let me know what you think!

Let's see you at Max 2007:

Posted by Dave McAllister at 03:01 PM | Permalink