Open source and the shrinking waterhole

Well and good. Just don't break out the champagne.

Open source may be doing well with a shrinking waterhole but that does not necessarily mean it is doing well.

My late friend Russell Shaw did a "shrinking waterhole" tour during the last recession, hitting all the cities where he had contacts, giving them face time, looking for work.

He gained market share but, as he told me many times during those years, it was touch and go. He had to work hard for the money.

That's a message I think most open source vendors, especially Red Hat, understand. Any order todya is a big order. It's good that open source is getting orders.

When business grows by orders of magnitude, will open source retain that share? Russell didn't.