Dana’s blog on Hyperic opening its code has this worthy line: Open source does not just change license terms. It can change everything. There needs to be a phrase that’s the exact opposite of “throwing code over the fence” to describe this change from closed source company to open source. I saw this when Sun opened Solaris. They looked at every facet of their software, from repository to decision-making to the libraries it used, and changed everything so it would work as an open source project. A huge task, but Sun knew it was essential if the open sourcing was to work. If Sun ever transitions from a hardware company to a consulting company, these best practices for open sourcing are something it could sell. Think Producing Open Source for the whole company.
