March 26th, 2007 - The Long and Short of Open Source

I recently wrote a case study of Jetstar (a Quantas affiliate) and their implementation of the open source content management system Joomla!. Here’s a link to the article as it appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald.

It’s a decent little read I think, but it’s not the bigger article I had in mind. In the course of the research I got quite interested in the dynamics of open source teams, and what corporations can learn from the way these distributed, volunteer teams work. There are some great lessons about documentation, virtual team collaboration, global communication styles, and motivation. That, in my mind, is the article that should be (and perhaps will be) written. I learned a great deal from some good discussions with Joomla team members past (Andrew Eddie) and present (Brad Baker). I also connected with The Cathedral and The Bazaar author Eric S. Raymond for a short but engaging conversation. My thanks to these gents for sharing ideas that have yet to find a place in print.


7 Responses to “The Long and Short of Open Source”

  1. Brian Teeman Says:

    It would be really good to get to read the full report. Maybe I could release it in Joomla Weekly News?

  2. Dan Skeen Says:

    Thanks for the comment Brian. I have pitched the idea to a few big publishers, both online and offline, and based on discussions so far I think this one will get written up fairly soon. I’ll keep you posted.
    Also I’m glad you mentioned the Joomla Weekly News - I’ve just signed up for updates.

  3. Brian Teeman Says:

    If you dont get anywhere or if you have republshing rights let me know and I will be delighted to publish it

  4. Brian Teeman Says:

    Have you got anywhere with publishing this?

  5. Dan Skeen Says:

    Hi Brian, not yet. I’ve still got the source material though and I’m still looking for the right place for it.

  6. Alfred Says:

    Dan,

    Interesting article, this is no small potato “Open source adoption has grown to 60 per cent among US companies surveyed by Forrester in a 2004″
    Thanks for sharing.

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