The Oh-So-Practical Magic of Open Source Innovation: An interview with Marten Mickos

• Localización: MIT Sloan management review, ISSN 1532-9194, Vol. 50, Nº 1, 2008, págs. 15-19
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • There are 12 million reasons why Marten Mickos isn�t afraid that his rivals in the database software industry will ever overtake him. �Let them try,� he says brazenly of his competitors. �Our secret is in the way we operate our culture, and I�m convinced others cannot imitate that.� MySQL AB, the business Mickos has built since 2001, has committed itself to �open-source� innovation since its founding, giving 12 million coders � who typically receive no compensation � permission to debug, add features or otherwise modify the product before redistributing it.

    Mickos, now a senior vice president at Sun Microsystems Inc. after it acquired MySQL AB for $1 billion, talks with Josh Hyatt, freely sharing his ideas about why this Internet-age version of a barn raising produces superior innovation and the strengths and limitations of in-house innovation. He also discusses how open-source innovation isn�t for every company and how many organizations fail to engage the community and thus are forced to fold their open-source innovation projects. Mickos discusses engaging software developers who are so devoted to a process they seldom get paid for, and how these contributors are even willing to spend their own money to be a part of the process. Finally, he talks about whether dangers exist in open-source innovation, including potential damage to the code from malicious entities, competitors stealing code or ideas, and whether people will perceive this style of innovation as just a passing fad.