[LINK] Code-Closed then Open then Back to Closed

[Kim Holburn]

A New Direction for Open-Source Software
http://www.newsfactor.com/news/New-Direction-for-Open-Source-Software/ 
story.xhtml?story_id=010000BQZFO4

> It's not surprising that some open-source software companies  
> consider closing their source code, said Dennis Cox, chief  
> technical officer at BreakingPoint Systems. Closing the code and  
> selling future versions or becoming the official supplier of  
> support services can be profitable, Cox said.

> Open-source software developers that move to a closed-source  
> licensing model to help pay their bills can create challenges, but  
> they also offer opportunities for federal agencies, experts say.  
> Federal users who are increasingly reliant on open-source software  
> are paying more attention to those decisions, and they are stepping  
> in to get the outcomes they want.
>
> For example, Tenable Network security announced in October 2005  
> that it would make Version 3.0 of its ubiquitous open-source Nessus  
> network-scanning tool closed source. It was probably the first  
> major open-source I.T. security tool to become proprietary, said  
> Nick Selby, senior analyst for enterprise security at the 451  
> Group, an I.T. consulting firm.
>
> Tenable officials said Nessus 3.0 would still be free to users, but  
> the company would begin selling technical support contracts and  
> would charge other firms that want to use the newest version of  
> code in their products or services.
>
> Nevertheless, the Tenable news shook up the I.T. community,  
> including federal users. Government and the private sector rely so  
> heavily on open-source tools that switching to proprietary  
> replacements -- even if the new software is better -- is  
> disruptive, Selby said. At a minimum, a switch requires  
> organizations to change administrative routines, which is not  
> always a simple task. It could involve a more significant  
> infrastructure overhaul, he said.
>
> "Even with warning, Tenable's decision to take Nessus proprietary  
> changed the way a lot of people do business. [Systems  
> administrators] used to running a quick scan to determine a box's  
> posture suddenly had to find another tool that worked so simply for  
> so little money," Selby said.
>
> No More Working for Free
>
> It's not surprising that some open-source software companies  
> consider closing their source code, said Dennis Cox, chief  
> technical officer at BreakingPoint Systems, a company that tests  
> I.T. security tools. Traditional open-source licenses require  
> developers to give software improvements and fixes back to the open- 
> source community for free. Closing the code and selling future  
> versions or becoming the official supplier of support services can  
> be profitable, Cox said.
>
> A move to closed source is part of the business plan for some open- 
> source companies, Cox said. Companies and developers can issue a  
> rough version of the software in open source, he said. Once the  
> software becomes prominent, the originators can make it closed  
> source and provide extra features at a cost.
>
> The desire for more federal and commercial business can drive open- 
> source providers to close their code for future versions, said  
> Darryll Dewan, group president of SourceForge enterprise software  
> at VA Software, which operates SourceForge.net, a major open-source  
> development Web site.
>
>  That's because government and private-sector enterprises often  
> prefer the structured support that closed- and mixed-source  
> solutions provide, Dewan said. Large organizations often move to  
> proprietary versions of open-source products to obtain service- 
> level agreements and other structured arrangements for paid  
> support, said Paul Henry, vice president and security evangelist at  
> secure Computing.
>
> But the move to closed source can backfire. Tenable's switch became  
> a public relations nightmare because many users felt that someone  
> else would profit from the collaboration they put into the  
> software, Selby said. "Does the community get owed something for  
> promoting and fixing Nessus?" Cox asked.

> Switching to closed source could have national security  
> implications in addition to financial and operational ones. For  
> instance, Check Point Software Technologies announced in October  
> 2005 that it planned to acquire Sourcefire Network security.  
> Sourcefire helps manage Snort, an open-source network intrusion- 
> detection and -prevention software used worldwide. Many federal  
> agencies that handle sensitive data, including the Defense  
> Department and the National Security Agency, rely on Snort.
>
> Congress, the FBI, the Pentagon and the Treasury Department balked  
> when they learned that Check Point is an Israeli company. Many  
> members of the federal I.T. community feared that a foreign company  
> could make one of the government's primary security tools  
> proprietary and take control of the Snort source code. Under  
> federal pressure, Sourcefire and Check Point scuttled the $225  
> million deal in March.


(Who's that trit trotting over my bridge?)

--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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                           -- with apologies to Yakov Smirnov