Open to Open Source: Creating a New Business Category at VMware | Summary and Q&A

TL;DR

Cloud Foundry started as a proprietary application platform but transitioned to an open-source platform, resulting in increased developer interest, partnerships, and a first-mover advantage.

Key Insights

• 🤗 Open sourcing Cloud Foundry attracted more developers, leading to platform improvements and increased value.
• ❓ Partnerships with companies and technologies expanded the ecosystem, benefiting Cloud Foundry's overall success.
• 🉐 Open source projects often have a first-mover advantage, allowing them to gain developer adoption and establish themselves as the preferred choice.
• 🤗 Open source reduces the cost of awareness and selling by enabling developers to discover and adopt the technology more easily.
• 🤗 Open source provides opportunities for entrepreneurs and executives to create value not just for themselves but for the entire ecosystem.
• 👶 Creating a new platform involves significant challenges, requiring motivation and cooperation from partners and stakeholders.
• 🤗 Cloud Foundry's open-source strategy set the stage for the next generation of developer infrastructure, influencing companies like Docker, Mesosphere, and Google.

Transcript

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Questions & Answers

Q: How did Cloud Foundry transition from a proprietary platform to an open-source platform?

Cloud Foundry started as App Cloud but later embraced open source, making it an open-source platform-as-a-service (PaaS). The decision was initially challenging, given the economic implications, but it ultimately proved beneficial for the platform.

Q: What were the motivations behind open sourcing Cloud Foundry?

The main motivations for open sourcing Cloud Foundry included attracting more developers to improve the platform, fostering partnerships with companies and technologies, and gaining a first-mover advantage to establish itself as the go-to open-source project.

Q: What are the benefits of open source for entrepreneurs and executives?

Open source allows entrepreneurs and executives to gain adoption by developers and enterprises, reducing the cost of awareness and selling. It enables grassroots adoption and empowers developers to make technology decisions, leading to increased adoption and success for the technology.

Q: What were the challenges faced in creating a new platform like Cloud Foundry?

Creating a new platform like Cloud Foundry posed significant challenges, especially in motivating oneself and an ecosystem of partners. It required convincing partners of the platform's value and generating enthusiasm for the open-source strategy.

Summary

In this video, the speaker discusses the journey of Cloud Foundry, which started as a project called App Cloud and eventually became an open-source platform-as-a-service. The speaker explains how they came up with the idea of open-sourcing Cloud Foundry, the benefits it brought, and the challenges they faced in convincing the company to go in that direction. They also highlight the threefold benefits of open-source projects - winning developers, forming partnerships, and creating a first mover advantage. The speaker emphasizes the power of open source when used correctly and how it can help reduce the cost of awareness and selling, as developers and enterprises naturally gravitate towards technologies with merit.

Questions & Answers

Q: What was the initial intention behind Cloud Foundry?

Cloud Foundry was initially conceived as an application platform, not an open-source platform. The team didn't know how to sell it and were in a product review meeting where they discussed the engineering roadmap, product update, business plan, and bringing it to market. That's when the idea of open sourcing it came up.

Q: How did the term "the nuclear option" come about?

Derek first thought of the term in that meeting, referring to the option of open sourcing Cloud Foundry. Mark Lakosky then coined it as "the nuclear option." This term represented the radical shift they were considering by moving from a proprietary software approach to an open-source one.

Q: What were the challenges in convincing the company to open source Cloud Foundry?

The main challenge was the need to change the company's mindset from selling proprietary software to giving away the super-secret project they had been working on for the past year. It required going around the company and persuading executives that open sourcing Cloud Foundry would be beneficial. The significant effort involved was evident, considering the company had recently gone public.

Q: Why was open sourcing Cloud Foundry considered the "nuclear option"?

Open sourcing Cloud Foundry was seen as the nuclear option because it meant moving the economic value beyond just the virtualization platform. Sharing the economic value with a larger ecosystem of players was a risky move. However, by doing so, they hoped to create a strong community that would benefit both the core virtualization platform and their partners.

Q: What were the three aspects of the open-source strategy for Cloud Foundry?

The first aspect was winning developers. Open-sourcing Cloud Foundry would attract more developers who would contribute to the platform's improvement, thus accruing value to it. The second aspect was building partnerships. By going open source, Cloud Foundry would gain an ecosystem of companies and technologies that had a vested interest in its success. Lastly, there was the first mover advantage, as being the first out there with an open-source project would lead to developer adoption and ecosystem building.

Q: What are the perceptions and benefits of open source in business models?

Open source is a powerful tool if used correctly. Entrepreneurs and executives can leverage open source to gain developer and enterprise adoption, reduce the cost of awareness and selling, and allow developers to freely choose the technology they want to use. Open source projects can range from operating systems to runtime environments, databases, or container technologies. With the current generation of developer-defined infrastructure, developers play a significant role in the technology decisions made in enterprises.

Q: How did the sales and product executives react to the idea of open-sourcing Cloud Foundry?

The reactions varied among product folks and engineers. Many loved the idea and understood that open source as a market technology and strategy made sense. However, as an entrepreneur executive, it was challenging to create a new category and convince everyone in the ecosystem, including sales executives, about the open-source strategy.

Q: What were the challenges in creating a new platform like Cloud Foundry?

Creating a new platform is one of the hardest things to do as an entrepreneur or executive. It requires not only motivating oneself but also motivating an ecosystem of partners who are outside of one's control. It is like pushing a big rock up a hill. However, Cloud Foundry successfully created the open platform-as-a-service category, paving the way for the next generation of developer infrastructure.

Q: How has Cloud Foundry influenced the industry?

Cloud Foundry's innovative ideas and concepts have been embraced by the entire industry, particularly in the infrastructure world. Storage, networking, security, and other infrastructure-related aspects have seen competition and embracement of ideas that were first pioneered or discovered in VMware and Cloud Foundry. The success of Cloud Foundry has not only created value for itself but also for its ecosystem of partners, companies, engineers, developers, and employees.

Q: What are the benefits of open source in terms of reducing cost and gaining adoption?

Open source helps reduce the cost of awareness and selling because developers and enterprises naturally gravitate towards technologies that have merit. Developers are more likely to find and adopt open source technologies, be it an operating system, a cloud platform, a new language and runtime, or container technologies like Docker. By embracing open source, companies can tap into grassroots adoption and foster a bottoms-up approach within enterprises.

Takeaways

The journey of Cloud Foundry, from being a proprietary project to an open-source platform-as-a-service, highlights the power and benefits of open source when used correctly. Open source attracts developers, fosters partnerships, and provides a first mover advantage. It helps reduce the cost of awareness and selling, as developers and enterprises find and adopt technologies with merit. Furthermore, open source allows developers to have more say in technology decisions, shaping the next generation of developer infrastructure. Cloud Foundry's success has influenced the entire industry, paving the way for the adoption of innovative concepts and ideas in various infrastructure domains. Embracing open source can create value not only for the company but also for its ecosystem of partners, companies, engineers, developers, and employees.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Cloud Foundry began as App Cloud but later evolved into Cloud Foundry, an open-source platform-as-a-service (PaaS).

• The decision to open source Cloud Foundry was initially viewed as the "nuclear option" due to the economic implications of sharing the value with a larger ecosystem.

• Open sourcing Cloud Foundry benefited the platform by attracting more developers, forging partnerships, and gaining a first-mover advantage.