The better a project’s commercial arm the faster that project can progress.
Drupal offers a great example.
I first came across Drupal almost five years ago. I recommended it for a project on politics, since abandoned. My experience was a nightmare. We were a commercial operation that needed professional programming.
The launch of Acquia as Drupal’s commercial arm last year changed that. It turned out to change a lot more.
Within months, Microsoft was distributing Drupal. Acquia is acquiring a host of new platinum partners. Commercial organizations have begun adopting it. So has the government.
One result is a more competitive code base. There are add-ons and other benefits. There are people you can turn to for help, both paid and unpaid, when you need it. This gives me more confidence in recommending Drupal for your commercial project.
There are many aspects to a successful commercial open source operation. Sales are one metric, alliances a second, community a third. A lot remains to be discovered about building a commercial and community package in tandem, but one thing is clear.
When I openly worried about Acquia ruining Drupal, a year ago, I was wrong. It is possible for a commercial operator to ruin a project, through greed, stupidity or incompetence. But the best open source projects in the future will all have scaled, competent commercial arms. The benefits of it are too obvious.
This lesson is an example of something on my own Wikipedia entry, Pay attention to the section, “They are not all going to be gold.” I did not write it. The writer is objecting to this piece from December, questioning whether Symbian had an open source future.
I mention this to illustrate the difference between a news story and a blog post, which is relevant to the topic under discussion.
A news story is like a press release. It’s supposed to stand on its own, and stand as truth, or at least the corporate line on truth. A blog post, like a Wikipedia entry, is a community project — your input is as vital as mine.
The job of a commercial open source company is to merge these two strains. Acquia seems to do it well. I like to think Alfresco, where our own Matt Asay works, also does it well.
It’s in marrying commerce and community that these companies earn their living, and my respect. They deserves yours.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a journalist, writer and part-time futurist for over 30 years.
