Chet Hayes

For the past several years, US Government agencies have shown an increased interest in open source software, and with the advent of the Obama administration's call for transparency and openness several organizations believe open source software is part of the answer.  So what is the allure of open source to the government? Is it the promise of reduced cost? Is it access to the source code and the knowledge that it can be modify at any time if desired? Is it hope that the government will no longer by locked into a specific vendor?  Most people will be surprised that the reason for so much interest by the government in open source software is really based on the government acquisition process and how the open source business model relates to this process. In order to unde... (more)

How Business responds to IT and SOA.

How Business views IT and SOA. A great cartoon from Geek and Poke on how Business responds to IT and SOA. ... (more)

Zen and the Art of SOA

Many organizations are struggling to find balance and harmony on their journey to embrace service-oriented architecture (SOA).  There are many reasons for this discord, including the background and skill sets of the team members, natural friction created by company organization, and even the prevailing company culture.  These factors tend to influence how an organization approaches SOA, ... (more)

Thoughts on How to Select Between COTS and Open Source

Organizations continue to wrestle with the COTS vs. Open Source question and continually look for guidance on how to select one vs. the other.  Many organizations make the frequent mistake of basing the decision on the capital investment cost or up front investment with no thought to any other criteria.  While cost is an important factor, there are other areas that organizations should c... (more)

The Beginning of the End for SOA?

The post from Anne Thomas Manes on the end of SOA has caused a bit of ruckus in the IT world over the past week or so.  Folks from eWeek and ebizq have all blogged in response to this, as well as the numerous comments from everybody in response to these postings and I figured I would join the fray. For several reasons, businesses and organizations are being forced to do more with less. Wi... (more)