"This morning's keynote presentation was titled
"Fueling the Open Source Alternative," but I found that title to be
a little vague. To me, the focus of the discussion was more on how
large companies are using Linux as a solution to their distinct
business needs.
In reality, the keynote, lead by Michael Tiemann from Red Hat
Software, was more of a panel presentation/discussion. I'll admit
it, normally, I'm not too enthused by keynote presentations. But I
found this one intriguing because it showed how Linux and Open
Source are moving more into mainstream business as a solution,
rather than as something that businesses are just wanting to try
out.
The idea for the keynote came about because Dale Dougherty and
Tim O'Reilly heard that Michael Tiemann was going around to meet
with the CIOs and CTOs of various companies to try and learn about
how and why they were using open source software to build unique
systems for their needs. What he learned was that they weren't as
concerned with cost savings as they were with trying to provide the
right solution to the problems they encountered on a daily basis
with their businesses."
