Articles by Mark R. Hinkle

Five Reasons Why JBoss Founder Marc Fleury is My Hero

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EDT

Open source software is a disruptive technology it's about changing the status quo. Open source is rock and roll while proprietary software is easy listening. That's why I always admired JBoss' Marc Fleury. Marc was and is a bad boy, a rebel, and he played the part to a successful $350 million dollar acquisition of JBoss by Red Hat. Beyond that he was a professional who built a company that was professional and respected grew his customer base and created an iconic software brand. All things that are consistent with open source software, he also seemed to have a good time doing it.

Which of These Six Open Source Companies Will Be the Next Red Hat?

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:15:00 EDT

In the world of open source software Red Hat's crossed over from exciting leader to respectable elder statesman. The action is among the new batch of up-and-coming open source software companies who are not yet venture backed but are developing interesting technologies and services. Here are some of the companies that may well be the new open source superstars.

2008 Is the Year of the Acquisition: The Only Question Now Is, "Who's Next?"

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:45:00 EST

Is 2008 going to be the Year of the Acquisition? Activity in 2007 was on the rise but now things seem to be at full speed. I remember when Alta Vista and Excite! were the hot search engines, my how the world has changed. It looks like it's narrowing down to a two horse race with Microsoft putting the moves on Yahoo! for about $44.6 billion. I guess it's really on now, Google versus Microsoft in a search engine death match.

From Linux World to EOS - A Futurist Reminisces

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:00:00 EST

It is with some sadness that I am writing my last editorial for Enterprise Open Source Magazine. As the founding editor-in-chief of this magazine and a past contributor to its predecessor, I am going to miss it. However, all things must end and this chapter of my writing career, I am happy to say, ends on a high note.

Do You Accept the iPology?

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:00:00 EDT

I am very conflicted by Steve Jobs iPology. You see I bought the iPhone on day one. Normally, I would say they told me the price, I paid it, and I moved on no big deal. I am/was happy that I purchased the iPhone it's been a very cool choice for me. However, when Steve issued his apology he made me think twice.

Open Source, Part of a Bigger Trend

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:30:00 EDT

During my career I have had the privilege and the misfortune to be involved with quite a few nascent businesses. Some have been small, with no more than five or ten employees. To this day they still have that many or less. Others grew from 50 employees to over 10,000 in a very short time. In every case there was a technology component involved in my job.

Ubuntu Fails to Impress

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:00:00 EDT

AMD has announced that they will be working on a strategy to open source drivers for their ATI hardware including their X1000 series and HD2000 series. It's been a long time coming as any Linux desktop guy knew to go for the nVidia graphics card because they support open source. I am still puzzled by hardware company's protectiveness of their drivers are they really that big of a competitive advantage?

Do You Grok Open Source?

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 15:30:00 EDT

Open source owes its success to a large group of people who have a shared set of values about which they feel strongly. Mainstream society probably lacks any real understanding of the things that matter to them in the world of open source. It's ironic that the term came from a fictitious Martian language. Most people not in the know look at devoted open source developers as if they hailed from the red planet.

The Linux Desktop Marches On

Thu, 31 May 2007 15:30:00 EDT

There was a time when you couldn't shut me up about the Linux desktop. I was a fanatic. In 2000, I made the switch to a full-time virus-free Linux desktop and weeks of crash-free computing. I was a zealot. However, I did suffer from a few of the alternative operating systems shortcomings. My preferred desktop vendor deemed my Linux laptop1 unsupported, so if I ever had a problem, I had to boot into Windows to receive assistance. When someone sent me a macro-laden spreadsheet, I was forced to run Excel within a virtualized Windows instance2 to read the document as intended. Finally, when it came to wireless, I suffered a multitude of connection problems. While I loved the speed, the stability, and the security, it lacked convenience.

Editorial — Welcome to Opensville

Fri, 04 May 2007 07:45:00 EDT

I had originally written an editorial for this month's issue titled, 'Is Commercialization Killing Open Source?' Then I read William Hurley's blog (http://talk.bmc.com/blogs/blog-whurley/whurley/opensville). William or as his friends call him, 'whurley,' is the chief architect of open source strategy at BMC. He gets to the heart of an issue that is being brought to light as a greater number of businesses adopt open source business models: 'As a greater commercial influence exerts itself in the open source community, will these companies run roughshod on those early pioneers who have demonstrated the effectiveness of the open source model?'

EOS Editorial — When Open Is Really 'Open'

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:15:00 EDT

Of late there has been a lot of buzz around what constitutes open source software. Industry leaders and pundits alike have weighed in on the 'openness' of certain software and companies' business models. The generally recognized test for open source software is the Open Source Definition drafted by Bruce Perens and endorsed by the Open Source Initiative, the non-profit organization that shepherds open source licenses and gives an industry-recognized stamp of approval for these licenses.

EOS Editorial — The Parable of the Innovator and the Purple Cow

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:00:00 EST

Blogs are a great platform for people to espouse their passions (not unlike editorials). They are different than traditional news outlets because they may be objective, opinionated, and even wrong. Interestingly enough, each of these behaviors is frequently rewarded equally.

The Year of Virtualization

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:15:00 EST

I think it's going to be a great year for IT. I think it's going to be a whole new ballgame though compared to the spending habits of the dot.com era. I think IT is back but I qualify that as 'smart IT' where purchases are scrutinized and value solutions win out over long time trusted names that come with hefty price tags.

EOS Editorial — The End of an Era

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:00:00 EST

The other day I was driving down the highway when I passed an American classic, a 1965 Ford Mustang. As I waxed nostalgic, I realized that there will never be another era in history where we will appreciate automobiles like those produced in the 1950s and 1960s. No matter what their merits, I don't foresee automobile aficionados 50 years from now tooling around in a Toyota Prius, Honda minivan, or any of today's plastic-covered modes of transit.

"From a Business Standpoint It's Very Compelling" Says Hinkle As Second Life Viewer Goes Open Source

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 11:45:00 EST

Linden Labs, developer of the virtual online world, Second Life, has announced that they will be releasing their virtual world viewer client software under the GNU Public License. This is a very smart move especially for a business driven by community. It also has the potential to spawn interesting new ways beyond the keyboard and mouse to interact with the wildly popular online world

EOS Editorial — Linux Everywhere

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 10:45:00 EST

This has been an exciting month for proponents of the Linux server. Two of the world's largest software companies have started to provide Linux support and services. As you probably already know, on October 25, Oracle announced that they would be selling their own derivative of Red Hat Enterprise Linux called Unbreakable Linux. This was huge news. Then, in an even more shocking announcement, Microsoft stated on November 2 that they would be collaborating with Novell for better Windows and Linux interoperability and would even be giving away coupons for SuSE Linux Enterprise collaboration and support. And deeper into the rabbit hole we go...

Is This the Death of the Client Operating System?

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 14:30:00 EST

The Linux desktop replacing the Windows desktop in its current incarnation is both silly and impractical. As our applications move to the network the need to replicate the Windows desktop computing environment on Linux is unnecessary.

EOS Editorial — The Three OS Monty

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 11:00:00 EST

Let me preface this discussion with the disclaimer that I am not the typical desktop user. I am technical; I am mobile and travel frequently; I support and use software that runs on multiple operating systems; and I am an incessant tinkerer. Now that we got that out of the way, let me share the benefits of the day-to-day travels from Linux to Windows and sometimes Mac OS. For years I lived in a world dominated by a single operating system, only occasionally challenged by Apple. Now a new chapter is being written.

i-Technology Viewpoint: "Open Source Is Not a Trend, It's a Paradigm Shift"

Sun, 15 Oct 2006 13:30:00 EDT

I recently read an article in the 'mainstream' media that gave me pause. The author made an assertion that the current trend towards Open Source might just be a passing fad. I thought about this and looked critically at the software industry, thinking about whether there was merit in that statement. After all, we have seen plenty of high flyers peter out in a software industry riddled with buzzwords and acronyms-of-the-day. I just don't believe that open source is one of them.

An Open Source Approach to Software Integration

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 11:00:00 EDT

Enterprise Open Source Magazine editor-in-chief, Mark Hinkle, interviewed Mulesource CTO Ross Mason and founder of the Mule Enterprise Servive Bus (ESB) project about the usefulness of this technology and its recent success.

EOS Interview — Taking a Solutions Approach

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 14:00:00 EDT

Paula Hunter is an industry veteran who has an extensive background in Linux and open source. She was tapped in May of this year to lead the U.S. marketing efforts for Collax (www.collax.com), a Linux distribution aimed at addressing the needs of the small and medium business. Collax is set to expand on their European success in the U.S. this summer offering a solution that could rival more traditional offerings like Microsoft Small Business Server.

EOS Editorial — Net Neutrality

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 16:00:00 EDT

First, Internet access will be the core telecom service of the future. Not only will essentially everyone in the developed world be connected to the Internet, but more and more applications will migrate to the Internet. In our homes we will use a variety of devices which communicate via the Internet. We will use telephone-like devices to have voice conversations over the Internet. We will use one-way and two-way video devices that communicate through the Internet. We will use many different web-capable and email-capable devices. And certainly we will use important new Internet applications that we cannot yet imagine.

Mark Hinkle's Linux.SYS-CON.com Blog: Open Source Business Models and Software Symbiosis

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:45:00 EDT

I had the opportunity to meet Larry Augustin from VA Software yesterday. Larry's company had one of the most successful IPOs of all time, he's an angel investor and he serves on the boards of a quite a few open source companies including SugarCRM, JBoss (pre-Red Hat Acquisition), Medsphere, and Pentaho. I really enjoyed speaking with him as he's got a very pragmatic and sharp view of open source.

EOS Editorial —The Times They Are a Changing

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 13:00:00 EDT

In the 1964 Bob Dylan song The Time's They are A-Changin' it says, 'Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam and admit that the waters around you have grown, And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you is worth savin' then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin.'

Enterprise Open Source Editorial — Coexistence

Wed, 10 May 2006 15:30:00 EDT

Sometimes I worry that I sound like a broken record repeating the phrases Open Source, open standards, and virtualization over and over again like an obsessive parrot. I refuse to stray away from what I believe are some of the most important considerations for your IT decisions. However, one thing I think I may not mention quite enough is coexistence. In the last year I've been preaching about keeping your options open. Maybe I've spent a little too much time on my soapbox so let me step back and explain myself a little better.

rPath: The Software Appliance Company

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:00:00 EDT

One of the most touted benefits of Linux and open source programs is their flexibility. However, as the popularity of Linux has grown, some of the flexibility seems to have been sacrificed. As larger Linux vendors have become more standardized to support certified applications, the freedom to mold your Linux distribution to your needs has diminished a bit.

Open Source Hardware

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 08:00:00 EDT

The benefits of commodity hardware are well known. Competition among memory, storage, and chip providers has benefited the consumer and driven down PC prices. My belief is that the next big 'open opportunity' is for the Open Source commodity laptop. The consumer would be rewarded by applying to hardware, specifically laptops, the same principles that have made Open Source software a success. Desktop PCs are fairly easy to repair and your local electronics superstore likely has all the parts to repair them. There are also plenty of local repair shops competing to fix them. This isn't the case with laptops. As laptop sales surpass desktops, I believe there's growing demand for local vendors to not only sell but fully service laptops on-site.

Making Sure Migration Is an Option

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:00:00 EST

As time passes, the base of Linux users is growing in the data center, desktop, and even embedded electronic devices. Numbers from industry analysts point out that Linux server shipments have shown double-digit growth every quarter for over two years. In many cases these servers are being used for expansion or new projects. Inevitably they will be put into service to replace systems that once ran Unix or Windows.

Linux.SYS-CON.com Editor Profile: Jon Walker, CTO, Versora

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 15:15:00 EST

The thing I like about Linux.SYS-CON.com is that most of the authors by and large practice what they preach. Every one of our staff is involved with a Linux vendor company, a non-profit, or is an active user of Open Source technology.

Running Your Business on Linux

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 09:00:00 EST

As many of our readers already know, all the editors of LinuxWorld Magazine have day jobs where we use Linux and open source. Some like Paul Sterne of Open-Xchange (www.openexchange.com) and Jon Walker of Linux migration specialists, Versora (www.versora.com), work for vendors. Others are practitioners like Matt Frye who manages Solaris-to-Linux migrations for a telecom infrastructure company. That's what I like about LinuxWorld Magazine; you get the unique perspective of not just pundits who are reporting on technology but anecdotal stories about real-life successes (and failures) that benefit our readers.

Trans-Pacific Open Source Software Conference (TPOSSCON) 2006

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:15:00 EST

Where do you go if you want to discuss Open Source with some of the most influential Open Source leaders in Asia, Australia, and the rest of the Pacific Rim?

Getting Pot Odds from Open Source

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 15:45:00 EST

I'm a poker junkie. Yes, the game that's been played at kitchen tables and on riverboats for the last 150 years. The game that American folk hero Wild Bill Hickok was playing in Deadwood when he was gunned down holding two pairs - aces and eights - since then know as the dead man's hand.

Mark Hinkle's Linux.SYS-CON.com Blog: "The New Technology Acronym RAMAN?"

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:00:00 EST

I was recently asked what technologies where hot. I started to think about it and I came up with my own list (given below). I then started to think of what acronym could be spawned from that technology grouping. The acronym LAMP that describes the Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (Perl or Python) combination used to develop web applications but that's for providing a web infrastructure not so much rich applications that are served to the desktop and are interactive and robust like native apps (the good ones at least). I The group of technologies that are being used to make next generation database driven apps that function like today's native apps spell out the word, RAMAN

"A Watershed Event for Open Source Office Suites": Linux.SYS-CON.com Reviews StarOffice 8

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 10:30:00 EST

On September 27, Sun released StarOffice 8, their cross-platform office suite, which they believe to be the best alternative to the business standard, Microsoft Office. This new product release along with the release of OpenOffice.org 2.0, on October 20, was a watershed event for open source office suites. With a host of new features and increased functionality, both suites have never before offered such a robust and feasible alternative to the undisputed productivity suite leader, Microsoft Office. Sun Microsystems has been developing the product since their acquisition of Star Division, the previous maker of StarOffice, in August of 1999. For the first time in its history, StarOffice (and OpenOffice.org) has the best chance to convert millions of Microsoft Office users as a result of the latest crop of improvements.

Desktop Computing and Beyond

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 10:15:00 EST

The year is 2015 and I am sitting at my desk typing on my 'computer;' I interact with it through a holographic projection of a keyboard etched with blue-green lasers on my desktop and a whopping 42' wide image projected onto my office wall. The walls are painted with light-reactive paint enhanced by a phosphorus polymer from the Phillips Company, a once-leading supplier for now passé LCD monitors that used to crowd desks, along with a noisy PC tower.

Linux.SYS-CON.com Editorial: It's About the Tools

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:30:00 EST

I have spent the last 10 years implementing, using, and advocating Linux for a variety of applications. During that time I have watched the steady progression of Linux, gaining success as a server, desktop, and embedded operating system. The facts are indisputable: Linux is a success and it more than adequately meets the needs of many enterprise class applications and open source operating systems, chalking up wins in both consumer electronics and on the desktop.

Mark Hinkle's Linux.SYS-CON.com Blog: Patents and Open Source

Sat, 17 Dec 2005 13:15:00 EST

I have had growing concerns over the potential wickedness of patents. You see as a good friend who is the COO of a patent processing software company recently pointed out to me: that patents don't entitle you to do anything instead, they give your the leverage to prevent others from doing things. This was pretty disturbing to me since I started to think about what he referred to as patent trolls. Patent trolls are organizations or individuals who patent processes or technologies.

Case Study: Biocomputing Solutions Using Linux Networx Cluster System

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 10:00:00 EST

Tulane University is home to the Center for Computational Science (CCS), a unique facility designed to provide computational resources for research projects across many disciplines. The Center provides an infrastructure for investigators interested in computational science to exchange ideas, produce research, and establish new collaborations.

The Future's So Bright For Open Source I've Got to Wear Shades

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 06:30:00 EDT

I recently broke my glasses though I admit I don't wear them much and I started to notice that I was squinting more. Sometimes I could make out what was going on on my Linux desktop, which is set to a whopping 1920 x 1200 resolution, but I couldn't quite make out some items without closer inspection.

Nitix Linux Operating System - Debate Between Open Source and Microsoft

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 18:45:00 EDT

There is a new facet in the debate between open source and Microsoft, pitting the flexibility of open source against the tight integration of Microsoft technologies. One camp claims that integration is the key for ease-of-use and consequent cost-savings from reduced administration while the open source advocates are preaching the virtues of flexibility.