"It" Changes

Its a mark of our continued sexism that Kim Polese, who busted the glass ceiling in the 1990s with Marimba, is still described as the Web's "it girl."

This despite the fact shes now a veteran executive, a serial entrepreneur, and her new outfit, SpikeSource, is a very interesting open source idea.

The problem SpikeSource aims to solve is that even successful corporate open source systems tend to be one-offs. There are no easy packages to buy, no quick roadmaps to success. SpikeSource aims to build that infrastructure.

As Polese said in an interview posted on ZDNet recently "there is no sort of product management for open source." That's what we call a deliverable.

SpikeSource will sell its service by subscription, Polese added, hinting through a quote from Doc Searls that she aims to build a Home Depot for corporate software Do It Yourselfers.

Polese will probably stay with SpikeSource until it fails or succeeds on its own, then shell be off to do it again. Thats how it is with serial entrepreneurs. Theyre tough, and like the tough assignments.

I'll end with one more point I hope she doesnt consider sexist. I hope my daughter, and yours, can grow up to be like Kim Polese.