More than just a fad

EVERY ONCE IN a while, I receive e-mail from someone who wishes that I would stop "whining" about open source. They believe that I am merely trying to persuade people to join "my side," like someone going door-to-door to get people to join a local political party. They believe that I seek to add people to "my club" or to add notches to my belt.

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In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

I have been in the IT world for more than 20 years. In that time, I have seen endless declarations from vendors trumpeting the next great technology in the computer world -- almost always a technology championed mainly by that vendor, of course. Very few of these IT-shattering technologies ever matched the gloss of the press releases.

But in these past two decades, a handful of technologies have literally remade the IT world. And, usually, these technologies took off not because of the marketing plans of the inventors, but because of the practical impact they had in the IT world.

One such technology was the IBM PC. The PC succeeded far better than IBM had ever dreamed because it gave people computing power in a truly useful, cost-effective fashion.

The concept of the World Wide Web was another key technology. The Web took many older technologies and wrapped them in a fairly simple but usable HTML blanket. I can still remember the dismissive remarks of some leading computer vendors who derided the Web concept while hawking their latest proprietary solutions. Most of the proprietary solutions -- and many of the vendors -- were long forgotten before the Web's 10th birthday.

In my professional history, I have rarely thrown my full support behind any technology. There have only been a few innovations I have been willing to stake my reputation on. Open source has made that list.

I am not trying to coerce folks into "joining me." I am not looking to make converts. But I am looking to wake people up.

Should you drop all your plans and run to open source on my say so? Absolutely not. That would be preposterously stupid. Business plans should be based on careful analysis, not the pronouncements of any individual.

But let me say this: If you are planning for your future and you are not carefully examining the possibility of using open-source solutions, you are committing a grave error.

Planning for the future in 2002 without considering open source would be akin to planning an IT future in 1985 without considering the PC. Most of the companies that planned a future without the PC in 1985 had to make serious adjustments by 1987.

So make your IT plans. But don't ignore the possibilities that open source brings to the table. Otherwise, you might find yourself having to reconsider your plans before long.