Why Open Source Can Mean Better Support

Why Open Source Can Mean Better Support

One of the first questions enterprise clients ask us when they evaluate an open source platform is, "How good is the support?"

The assumption is that a commercial platform means reliable 24/7 support while open source means you’re more or less on your own.

But the opposite is often true: Not only are many open source platforms backed by enterprise-grade professional support, they are also backed by communities of users ready to respond to questions over the web.

Take the example of Mule ESB, an open source software platform that one of our clients asked us to compare with a major commercial platform.

The client asked us to develop two different proof-of-concept versions of their software, one using Mule ESB and the other using the commercial platform. The client wanted us to report back on the robustness of each platform and the quality of the support.

While working with Mule ESB, we discovered an issue with the SMTP Transport in the Mule ESB Enterprise 2.2.5 version with the Mule Management Console (MMC) agent installed (we would learn that the problem was with the MMC agent and not with the core Mule ESB).

MuleSoft, the makers of Mule ESB, not only have an enterprise-level support option, but also an active community support forum where developers offer peer-to-peer troubleshooting.

We posted our question to the community forum and received a response saying that we had likely encountered a bug. The user recommended that we log the bug into MuleSoft's bug tracking system.

After logging the bug, MuleSoft sent us this solution to our problem within four hours. A member of our team has since written a more detailed technical explanation on the solution on his blog.

The lesson here is that open source platforms have an advantage when it comes to support: a layer of community-powered troubleshooting on top of traditional paid support.

So when it comes time to compare open source and commercial options, don’t be surprised if support is one of the reasons you decide to go open source.

Mobile Musings from July

July seems to have been a busy month on many fronts in the world of mobile, then again, isn't every month?

Some hardware news that tickled my fancy:

The continued hubbub around the Dell Streak: you can now sign up for an 'exclusive' 24 hour pre-sales period. It was also spotted on engadet running Android 2.1, was slated for a 'July end' releas; but wait... It is currently on the Dell site for sale "soon". 2

BlackBerry bought the "BlackPad" domain, and it is rumored to be a 9.7 inch tablet with a November 'introduction'. BlackBerry also scheduled a August 3rd event which is supposedly to introduce a new blackBerry slider running OS6 (<-- that's the exciting bit). Personally I can't wait to see either of these devices, especially if they are running OS6; which, from various screen shots and movies floating around the information super highway look's really, really nice. It would be great to see BlackBerry make some (much needed) ground up on the iPhone and Android which seem to be having their way with the mobile market currently. 3

Speaking of BlackBerry OS6, some media for your perusing pleasure:

BlackBerry OS6 Demo

BlackBerry OS6 sneak peak

BlackBerry OS6 screenshots

HP applied for a "PALMPAD" trademark which would cover "Computers, computer hardware, computer software, computer peripherals, portable computers, handheld and mobile computers, PDAs, electronic notepads, mobile digital electronic devices", not sure what else needs to be said really :) 5 6

In software news my favorite announcement came from the Symbian who are going to be partnering with PhoneGap. This will presumably mean effortless support for devices running Symbian, meaning you can have most of your mobile platform bases covered with PhoneGap. I wrote an article a while back regarding 'Rapid Application Prototyping with PhoneGap', and this news seems to solidify it's place as a framework to seriously consider if you are developing for multiple platforms. 7

The fun news from July was seeing Ubuntu on the Nexus one, however this also came with sad news; you can no longer buy the device :( 8 9

Spring Roo - News from Ken Rimple and Gordon Dickens

Chariot's Ken Rimple and Gordon Dickens are following in the path of several of our architects - they are becoming published authors. Both are working, along with Ben Alex, on a book for Manning, Spring Roo in Action.

Here is a video interview with them. They give a brief overview of Roo and discuss why they wanted to write the book.



(sorry for the link, but YouTube was giving me trouble with the embedding today.)

As they said in the video, you can get the early chapters of the book at:
http://www.manning.com/dickens. It may not have been clear in the video.

We will have more interviews with Ken and Gordon on Roo and Spring Integration. As you can tell, they are pretty passionate about the topic.

Mobile Musings from June

June has been a busy month for mobile, primarily because of Apple's launch of iOS4 and the new iPhone (antenna woes and all). However, presenting an update on that would be too easy; here are a few things you might have missed in all the hubbub.

CNET reported that merely weeks after Microsoft launch of Kin, they would be stopping development, and focusing on Windows Phone 7. ¹

Android released 2.2 to developers with the notable additions being:

• Improved performance
• Use as a portable hotspot (certain devices)
• Exchange support
• Multiple keyboard languages ²

Rhodes 2.0 was launched under its new MIT license allowing developers far more flexibility and a broader scope to use Rhodes in developing applications. RhoSync remained under Rhomobile commercial license. The launch of Rhodes 2.0 brought with it some new features, primarily the metadata framework, which I have yet to get my teeth into.³

MeeGo, the joint venture between Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Meamo announced its "Handset Project Day 1" complete with video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW5wpg5epMs), which I thought looked pretty darn slick. ⁴

I'll be keeping a closer eye on MeeGo as its growth continues, and looking out for new Intel Atom-based devices, until then though; I'll just have to hope Santa comes early with a new Aava smartphone for me :)

Finally a fun fact for June, in its 2010 Q1 report RIM announced they had shipped their 100 millionth BlackBerry smartphone; iPhone, what iPhone? ⁵

Sources:
1: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20009336-56.html
2: http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html
3: http://rhomobile.com/2010/06/30/rhodes-2-0-released-rhodes-apps-continuing-to-be-accepted-on-app-store/
4: http://meego.com/community/blogs/valhalla/2010/meego-handset-project-day-1-here
5: http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=4135