If you haven't already, it's a good idea to head over and check out BEA's Dev2Dev open source 'portal' (for lack of a more appropriate word). While the idea behind it is relatively simple, i.e. extending the company's Dev2Dev developers community with a dedicated open source subset, it happens to represent what I think will be a key strategic play for a great deal of proprietary vendors facing pressure from open source alternatives. Despite the fact that I'll never be of the opinion that the closed source model is dead or passé (not at least until I behold an open source version of Windows with my own eyes), there is sufficient proof that industry incumbents are feeling sufficient pressure from open source such that notice has been served of its potential and ascendancy.
BEA with a self-proclaimed blended strategy, reflects a pattern which should continue to emerge as a competitive response from proprietary vendors to the growth of open source. The importance of which is set to become clear with more product and project entrants into the space. As is the case with BEA, a blended strategy doesn't necessarily entail attempting to incorporate open source alternatives, but instead implies a seamless interlace of high quality open source components into an existing product ecosystem. In doing so, BEA ensures it can capitalize on the tremendous value proposition of open source within the enterprise development space, one which is becoming a progressively mixed source world by the moment.
Underlying the importance of embracing this new reality is the fact that openly available software assets have reawakened a definite movement towards choice. Continuous with this movement has been the unshackling not just vendor lock-in, but also methodology lock-in [see the explosion of POJO based development courtesy of Spring]. And since, open source stands to remain a breeding ground for the tools, libraries and frameworks which represent new waves of methodologies and approaches, it is costly for vendors like BEA to not remain aligned with various signs of the times.
Currently the direct support of auxiliary open source offerings embodies a proven manner of maintaining an edge over what is a rapidly expanding suite of open source alternatives. By supporting Spring, BEA essentially ensures that the WebLogic platform remains competitive with levels of naturally forming, shared traction that the open source model tends to produce. An example of this is the noticeable trend of developers grabbing the Spring + Tomcat + Hibernate combo as a quick development environment ramp-up, even if they eventually deploy on WebLogic or Websphere. Obviously Tomcat isn't around to compete as a head-on replacement for either of the other two, but as it found a familiar home it perpetuated further acceptance of open source components by the enterprise Java development community. Currently, it is the same affirmation of open source which continues to propel the growth of JBoss, a product which does compete with both WebLogic and Websphere.
In accepting the increasing inevitability of a mixed source world, proprietary vendors will find it necessary to decide not if, but how to respond to the substantial steam gathering behind open source. Blended strategies coupled with sound execution can do just that, while hedging against the onslaught of competition stemming from the availability of more mature and better accepted open technologies.
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