Imagine the CIO of a consumer bank who thinks he is running 50 Oracle
databases, but now finds out that in fact he has 100 databases installed
behind his firewall. He doesn't have any idea where the other 50 came from.
He doesn't know the name of the vendor(s) supporting them. And he doesn't
have anyone on his IT team assigned to managing them. This scenario would be
totally unacceptable to anyone.
That CIO would be shocked to hear that a very similar situation is happening
today. But it's not undocumented databases that will surprise him. It is
undocumented open source software embedded inside externally facing web and
software applications.
Spend Small, Think Small
Often times the philosophy of "spend small, think small" prevails for most IT
organizations. Unless an organization is adopting a large open source project
such as Linux, special resources are not being... (more)
Hybrid applications made up of proprietary, open source and third-party
components are the result of today’s fast-paced and complex software
development landscape. Applications developed within the last five years
– whether internal or external – are at least 50% open source
software (OSS) and third-party components. Of that amount, over one-third of
it is undocumented. What were once purely proprietary applications are now
complex code mashups. It’s safe to say that open source is everywhere
– it’s woven throughout your enterprise network whet... (more)
Unemployment is rising and competition for the few jobs that are available is
becoming tougher than ever. With each open job requisition, hiring managers
are receiving hundreds of résumés. How do you stand out of the crowd? What
can you do to get noticed? How can you start an interesting conversation?
The key to successfully securing a job is to prove your expertise, while
differentiating yourself from the crowd. It takes creativity and ingenuity -
which are both possible using open source software. Open source can help you
distinguish yourself without pulling on your purse string... (more)