I recently came across a term on LinkedIn – FOSS. Aside from having an incredibly amazing sound to it – as acronyms go – I couldn’t help but wonder what possibly could it mean? Being a bit of an acronym geek and proud of being able to discern almost anything, I felt a sudden loss in blood pressure when I realized that I had absolutely no clue. For a moment I envisioned some sort of Gen-X Dental Hygiene Club that met on weekends to evaluate and test various types of dental floss. Fortunately, I was wrong. Free OpenSource Software or FOSS — as it is now coined — is popping up places all over the net. I recently met this term again when reading a brief article distributed by InformationWeek. It turns out that OpenMoko, an OpenSource mobile phone solution, presents it’s technology stack as being built on FOSS. They have a wonderful architecture stack diagram of the relevant technologies in the mix: Linux is at the core, GNU C Library, X Window system, and GTK+ toolkit.
There is something that fascinates me about this. . . . It’s the branding. It’s clear the power of being able to establish a compact term that immediately denotes a whole set of technologies. It lends power to the speed at which it spreads. There was a time when OpenSource almost always meant you were referring to the Linux/GNU set of technologies but that day has long since past. We needed a new term. LAMP was born to denote a whole new composite pack of technologies. With just one word we are able to denote an operating system, a web server, a database system, and a development language [yeah don’t get me started about the letter ‘P.’ That’s Part 2 of the post]. Just one word! Beyond the simplicity of being the initial letter of the individual components there is a subtext behind the word. Think about what a lamp does for us. A lamp is a device that affords light where there once was darkness: “It wasn’t until we turned on our organizational LAMP, that we truly showed business stakeholders the power of IT”. . . . or a more explicit dig against Microsoft, “It wasn’t until we turned on the LAMP, that we truly got out from under the shadow of Microsoft.” [It should be noted that I am technology agnostic and a huge fan of both unix and windows –sorry Bill] The power of developing these coinable phrases, ripe for text’ing to our friends and flipping about at the water cooler fosters the very pulse and hum that makes things spread.
There are two contemporary authors that effectively capture this with almost stereo precision: Malcolm Gladwell and Seth Godin. I must confess that I have not really read Seth but in fact stumbled onto his TED Talks. Malcom, is another story having read both Tipping Point and Blink. With Tipping Point, Gladwell captures very succinctly the social roles and relationships that exist to facilitate the spread of information. Seth Godin’s talk captures why in this day and age we are all modern day magpies flapping after the next shiny object. There is a brand savviness that exists as almost an innate skill set for most people today in our modern consumer society that allows us to have a gut reaction – yeah you better read Blink as well – and take action either to buy, sell, gossip about the next new thing. It’s this productization of ideas that allows for the transportable nature of ideas which is actually crucial in facilitating the lpropagation of our near and dear favorites. So what’s all the FOSS about you ask? It’s about people being exposed to enough 30 second buzz clips that they can come up with a name that not only makes it easy to remember, but effectively denotes a platform, a culture, a technology, and consumer expectation – all built in: linux, accessible, bullet proof technology, and by-in-large FREE! So when a bunch of engineers get together and come of with the name for a phone that sounds a bit like something you would expect to be a promotional giveaway at Starbucks, I am left scratching my head for a split second only to fall-way to a slight rhythmic head nodding and a easy sounding “Cooooooooool.” OpenMoko is something to watch. It’s definitely going to aid in the critical mass that is Android (yeah, if you don’t know what that is you better go hit Google – it’s not a video game) and is a sign of just how powerful a word can be in getting traction in a market. So when it doubt, FOSS out!
When some one asks you next time what’s all the FOSS about?, tell them it’s about putting the right packaging on a really great idea or product and watching it literally go viral in it’s adoption and spread.
