Obligatory End of Year Post - 2009

Yes, I know it's already 2010, but this post is still my official "end of 2009" post. I've included some highlights from the posts on this blog along with my choice of top 5 open source stories and themes of the year. Please add your comments on what you think are the top stories for 2009.

Reflections on This Blog

The readership of this blog grew substantial in 2009 and I am very thankful for that. Visitors from 30 states, 29 countries and 6 continents came to this blog with the top 3 countries being the United States, Brazil and the United Kingdom. I have to admit, the prominence of Brazil surprised me. Visitors seemed to be attracted to a wide variety of subjects, but management of open source within a company and GPL enforcement seemed to be the favorites. Here are top 5 most visited posts of the year, beginning with the most popular:

1. In-House Counsel - Managing Open Source
2. FSF Motives in the Cisco Case
3. Obligatory End of Year Blog Post (2008) (emphasis on the FSF-Cisco case)
4. Highlights of the Open Source Business Conference - Day 1
5. Show Me the Money at OSCON - Venture Capital and Open Source

Top 5 Open Source Stories

Shifting to the industry as a whole, the top stories of 2009 also illustrated the importance of in-house open source management and GPL enforcement among many other themes. Below, I have provided my list of the top 5 stories and themes of the year:

1. Oracle Acquisition of Sun Microsystems - As a Sun employee, I have a deep personal interest in this deal, but it is also a significant event for the business of open source (not to mention the software and hardware business too), particularly the EU's competition investigation of the MySQL business. The deal could be characterized as a definitive affirmation of the importance of open source in that even companies whose success is perceived to rely on the traditional proprietary software model (such as Oracle), see open source as an important strategic element. Questions on the MySQL aspect of the deal even prompted industry heavyweights like Eben Moglen, founding Director of the Software Freedom Law Center, to explore the impact of the GPL.

2. GPL Enforcement Actions - The relative popularity of my blog posts on the Cisco-Free Software Foundation litigation (which has since settled) is one indication that GPL enforcement is a hot topic. This trend gained momentum throughout 2009 and will likely continue to do so in 2010. Examples include the Software Freedom Law Center's December announcement of litigation against Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse and 11 other entities on behalf of the owners of BusyBox, and a French court case in which users of GPL software got a ruling affirming their right to receive the source code to that software and modifications.

3. Microsoft Release of GPL Code - Few companies raise the ire of the open source community more than Microsoft. That's why open source proponents were pleased, and surprised, to see hear Microsoft announce that it would contribute driver code to the Linux kernel. It is not clear whether Microsoft's decision was based on necessity in the face of a potential GPL violation, or a strategic move to enhance compatibility with Linux. Regardless of the motive, Microsoft's actions indicate that even the most sophisticated of companies must pay close attention to their use of open source and honor the provisions of open source licenses. This is especially true in light of the recent enforcement activities discussed in the previous paragraph.

4. US Government Commitment to Open Source - The principles of technology neutrality have long been recognized in the European Union to the benefit of open source software usage by European governments. The United States federal government has not been as accommodating of open source, but at least two events in 2009 indicate a possible change in US attitudes. The US Department of Defense revised its guidelines on use of open source software in October to essentially give it a procurement preference over proprietary software when all else is equal. In addition, it appears that the Obama Administration is actively looking for ways to bring the benefits of open source to government operations.

5. Red Hat's 10 Year IPO Anniversary - Red Hat is commonly viewed as the most successful pure open source company with its status as a Fortune 500 company with a market cap of almost $6 billion and generating over $700 million in revenue in 2009. As such, it's longevity and success are significant barometers on the health of the open source business as a whole. With a lingering cloud over the economy, and the relatively slow growth trajectory of most open source companies, it seem unlikely that we will see any open source IPOs in 2010.

Please post your thoughts on the most important open source events of 2009. I wish the best of success to all of us in this corner of the world we call "open source."

[Note: The "Top 5" portion of this post was updated after the original post to make non-substantive changes for purposes of clarification and adding more reference links.]