Sun Should Pursue OpenSource Full Blast

Last year when Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) took over MySQL, I asked if it would get into open source applications.

Deal Radar 2009: Collaborative Software Initiative

I continue coverage of commercial open source with Collaborative Software Initiative (CSI). Founded in April 2007 by Stuart Cohen, the company applies open source methodologies to software development and business communities.

Deal Radar 2009: Plain Black

There can be little doubt that this earnings season is one of the bleakest in living memory for companies of all sizes and in all sectors. But as I have pointed out, open source continues to be a bright spot of hope. This blog has featured a diverse group of companies that all use open

Read Full Article »

Deal Radar 2009: Service-now.com

San Diego-based Service-now.com was founded in 2003 out of the ashes of Peregrine Systems, which was purchased by Hewlett-Packard (and is now that company’s competitor) in a fire sale. Fred Luddy, who was the CTO of Peregrine Systems, believed that legacy enterprise IT software is akin to “customer abuse” and set out to build a

Read Full Article »

Deal Radar 2009: OrecX

In this installment of Deal Radar, we follow a company that is working in line with a theme I addressed in a recent Forbes Column, commercializing open source. Chicago-based OrecX helps businesses record phone conversations using open source software. Founded by Bruce Kaskey and Bruno Haas in 2005, the company is focused on making call

Read Full Article »

Deal Radar 2009: Talend

Talend provides open source data integration software with data quality solutions that complement the data integration. Through the open source model, the company aims to make data integration available to all types of organizations regardless their size, level of expertise or budget, using the company’s flagship product, Talend Open Studio.

From Dyslexia to SugarCRM: John Roberts (Part 7)

SM: On a personal level, how has dyslexia impacted your growth and success? JR: When we got our first patent at Sugar my name was typed wrong. It was Johri. I was a bit upset about that, although they corrected it. Then I thought about it longer. If you look at it, the ri looks

Read Full Article »

From Dyslexia to SugarCRM: John Roberts (Part 6)

SM: What else has come out in your genre the last four years? JR: If you look at commercial open source, which is the category we put ourselves into, there are about 20 companies . Zembra had the same model as ours and was founded at the same time. It was sold to Yahoo for

Read Full Article »