Interviews

Cloud.com Exec Mark Hinkle on Community, Infrastructure, and T-Shirts

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 07:00:00 EST

Cloud.com was founded in 2008 with a mission to “take the complexity and high costs out of deploying cloud services,” according to its website. It delivers an open-source software platform for public and private cloud environments, delivering components to build, deploy, and manage multi-tier and multi-tenant cloud applications. Cloud.com's CloudStack solution aims to let the company's customers get rolling “in minutes, without the overhead of integration, professional services, (or) complex deployment schedules.” The company's VP of Community, Mark Hinkle, is well-known in the open-source community, having been the force behind driving the Zenoss Core community to more than 100,000 members. Mark co-founded the Open Source Management Consortium and the Desktop Linux Consortium, has served as Editor-in-Chief for both LinuxWorld Magazine and Enterprise Open Source Magazine, and authored the book, "Windows to Linux Business Desktop Migration." (Thomson, 2006). Roger Strukhoff: Where does Cloud.com fit into the SaaS/PaaS/IaaS continuum? Mark Hinkle: Cloud.com is an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solution. We abstract the server, storage and networking to allow IT to offer elastic computing power on demand so that IT personnel can match resources with the needs of the organization. If you look at software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service they usually build on top of IaaS. We are striving to be the best cloud platform that enables users to provide virtual resources in a secure, highly-available and scalable way and we want to provide the foundation for other cloud offerings. Roger: You've been involved in open-source and community building for a long time. How does this experience come into play at Cloud.com? Mark: The two things I've learned above all else is open source is a technology development process not a business model; using Red Hat as the best example that a thriving community can drive a profitable business. Second, open source only works when you empower people to do exceptional things. That starts with giving them a useful, open piece of technology to use and extend without additional software or services from a sponsoring organization. I think a lot of companies foul things up by trying to create superficial, divisive mechanisms to force free users into upgrading to commercial versions. Roger: And how do you apply those lessons? Mark: My experience has given me a better understanding of what tactics work for facilitating a community, and which ones don’t. For example, many people discuss the value of community development, which is an activity that only a small percentage of the community participates in. Before you get to open source success you must start with user-led adoption. Typically only after there are successful users does it help with the development of the technology. You cannot cause this to happen; it’s just a function of having a critical mass in your community. In addition, I subscribe to Bill Joy's Law: “No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” Open source development is unique in that it allows you to tap the talents of those people. Roger: And those smart people are everywhere... Mark: Yes, and so I've come to understand that communities thrive when they interact with and learn from other communities. I have tremendous respect for the Red Hat-sponsored Fedora project, for example, which published a book on open source community development and methodologies called “The Open Source Way.” It’s an excellent blueprint for developing open source communities. I hope that we can leverage their experience to build our own cloud computing community. Roger: What are your day-to-day activities? What unique challenges are there to community building in a Cloud environment, ie, a more strategic environment than pure geek stuff? Mark: My day-to-day activities are consumed with two things: evangelizing and trying to facilitate the use of our cloud computing software. Roger: And how do you go about this? Mark: This means communicating the value of our project in forums and in the press as well as talking and interacting with people interested in using our technology. By providing the technology as open source it widens the audience by removing barriers to participation and provides a forum for a richer conversation about the product versus pay-to-play software. Also, I have to give credit to Cloud.com for providing substantial resources to build the project. I have recently added a technical community manager to the team who handles the day-to-day interactions including answering forum questions, providing answers to FAQs and a lot of the things a user needs from a technical perspective. Roger: How do you get your jollies? Mark: One of my favorite community activities is to go to LinuxFests--volunteer-run, open source expos--and talk to people about their needs and get live feedback on what they do. This spring we’ll be at the Southern California Linux Expo, Indiana LinuxFest, and LinuxFest Northwest, speaking, offering free training, and providing demos. Roger: And handing out T-shirts, I hope. Mark: Of course! Handing out Cloud.com T-shirts. We're also doing a “Build and Open-Source Cloud” event at some of them. Roger: What's the difference, to you, between a "customer" and a "community member"? Is there any effective difference? Mark: The main difference is that customers pay us money for a guaranteed level of support and service, and input for the product roadmap. Some customers pay us for cloud implementation services and customizations. Unlike many commercial open-source companies, our open-source software and products are convergent, not divergent. So later this spring, we'll be combining our code bases completely. The CloudStack product will be the same for commercial and community users. We’ll also be offering free unrestricted use add-ons though we want to maintain control of the development. That said, as a community manager I don’t draw a distinction between free and paid customers, in that I try to offer the highest level of support to all members of the community. As a company, Cloud.com strives to service the customers in a way that makes them acknowledge the value they pay for, as well as provide resources for our do-it-yourselfers in our open source community. Roger: What hot buttons do you see with members of your community? Mark: There aren't many, but if I had to pick one it is the lack of solutions to build truly useful infrastructure for collaboration. I think it’s an area that every open-source project at some level struggles with. Having a platform that allows users to interact via forums, post blogs, report bugs, contribute documentation, etc. is important and I don’t think there is a great solution out there. Roger: Really? Mark: Right now there are great open source projects for parts of the problem--Drupal for content management, MindTouch or MediaWiki for wikis, Trac for bug tracking and collaborative development. But there is very little “glue” to hold them all together. Roger: And what does that mean for Cloud.com? Mark: Right now we have a lot of work to do on our infrastructure for the Cloud.com community. But I have found that the easier it is to interact, the quicker the community grows and more value they get from it. I would point to Linux.com as one of the best examples around of community infrastructure. I think they did a good job extending the Joomla! open source CMS to make their community easy to participate in. Ubuntu’s Launchpad is pretty good, too. But there are always features individual communities want or need that aren’t features of even the most broad projects.

Virtualization Eyes the Big Prize of Critical Production Applications

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST

When any game-changing technology changes the rules of the game, nobody ought to be surprised. Virtualization follows the pattern established by earlier game-changers: Some things get easier. Other things get more complex. Physical server sprawl may be replaced by virtual server sprawl. In addition, applications, networking, storage and backup are all affected by the physical-to-virtual abstraction of x86 server virtualization. IT responsibilities, policies and tools also have to evolve now that there is a physical infrastructure, a virtual infrastructure and myriad interdependencies between them. In any case virtualization brings up a lot of questions.

Cloud Talk with Peter Coffee: What's Next for the Cloud?

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Peter Coffee, of eWeek fame. Peter, as industry veterans may be aware, was eWeek’s Technology Editor, and is now Director of Platform Research for Salesforce.com, a leader in cloud computing. Our conversation began with my blatant attempt at gaining insight about Salesforce's strategic roadmap, knowing full well only the CEO can answer those type of questions, but you never know what you can glean from a non-response. Hey, I gave it a shot.

Linux.SYS-CON.com Editor Profile: Jon Walker, CTO, Versora

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 15:15:00 EST

The thing I like about Linux.SYS-CON.com is that most of the authors by and large practice what they preach. Every one of our staff is involved with a Linux vendor company, a non-profit, or is an active user of Open Source technology.

Trans-Pacific Open Source Software Conference (TPOSSCON) 2006

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:15:00 EST

Where do you go if you want to discuss Open Source with some of the most influential Open Source leaders in Asia, Australia, and the rest of the Pacific Rim?

D@TA Protection and the Linux Environment

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 19:15:00 EST

Organizations that gather and store critical information have to protect it. While there are tried and true techniques for data protection, there are also new and innovative ones. These new practices and tools greatly enhance an organization's ability to protect mission-critical data. Linux and Open Source users are specially challenged when trying to take advantage of much of this new technology.

"Secure Coding in C and C++" A Linux.SYS-CON.com Interview With Robert Seacord

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 14:15:00 EST

Robert C. Seacord, a senior vulnerability analyst at the CERT/Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University, has just published the book Secure Coding in C and C++ (Addison-Wesley, 2005). I sat down with him to discuss software security in the Linux environment and elsewhere.

The Open Source Business Conference

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 16:15:00 EST

Matt Asay, the founder of the Open Source Business Conference, discusses his views on the conference and open source businesses and products. Matt works at Novell as director, Open Source Strategy. Prior to Novell, he worked with Lawrence Lessig at Stanford and subsequently at Lineo.

Linux.SYS-CON.com Q&A with Lead Developer of Joomla!, Andrew Eddie

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 17:15:00 EST

In September, core developers of Mambo, the popular open source content management system, announced a fork of the project, called Joomla!, with virtually all active participants following the fork.

Should Open Source Applications Run On Windows?

Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:00:00 EDT

There's been some interesting debate in the Open Source community regarding Open Source applications that run both on Linux and Windows. One camp feels most users select an operating system based on its available applications. If the applications people want are on Windows, they will tend to stick with Windows. Conversely, if the applications they want are only on Linux, they will eventually end up using Linux. By porting free software to Windows one increases the valuable applications on that platform. If Windows has Microsoft applications plus a stable of free software apps while desktop Linux has only the free software apps, why would anyone switch to Linux (and incur the training and data migration costs) when they already have all the software they need and want right? And as long as Microsoft can keep people on Windows Microsoft will gain the time needed to improve its applications and, most importantly, the supporting software stack.

At Last, You Have Alternatives: Switch to Firefox and Thunderbird

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 16:45:00 EDT

Firefox and Thunderbird are Open Source products that are made available by the Mozilla Foundation. Open Source development lets anyone who wants to to examine the source code, or if they wish, to modify it. There are a number of advantages to Open Source development, including the fact that many people look at the code every day, which results in better responsiveness as bugs are uncovered. This dynamic development community is able to provide continual feedback to make the product better, paving the way for a better browsing and e-mail experience for everyone.

Interview with Userful CEO and Founder Tim Griffin

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 11:15:00 EDT

Userful of Calgary, Alberta, makes a resource-sharing system for Linux called 1-Box (www.userful.com). 1-Box is a multiuser approach to Linux desktop computing that turns a single computer into a network of up to 10 workstations. Traditional networks require a server, networking equipment, and individual PCs for each user. 1-Box approach eliminates all this. Each station requires only a standard monitor, keyboard, and mouse, but operates like an independent PC. Each user can operate simultaneously and independently, running the same or different applications securely and privately.

The Rapid Development of SugarCRM with LAMP

Mon, 30 May 2005 12:15:00 EDT

After all the buzz about SugarCRM at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo this year in Boston, we caught up with the company's co-founder and VP of Open Source, Clint Oram, to find out more about his hot new project and what SugarCRM's plans are for the future.

Open Source "Spying" On Open Source: The CIA Project

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 02:00:00 EDT

'Commit reporting has been done before,' Micah Dowty tells LinuxWorld Magazine's founding editor Alan Williamson in this exclusive interview at the recent Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco, 'but one of the things that makes CIA really unique is that it brings projects together into a larger community.' There are several large projects that are making use of CIA and showing their support by linking to the web interface, Dowty says. Gaim, AnhkSVN, Enlightenment, Gentoo, Adium, and Beagle are just a few of the larger projects that use CIA and link to it prominently on their web sites.

Exclusive Linux.SYS-CON.com Interview: My SQL Network

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EDT

The MySQL Network is a new service operated by MySQL AB to help companies use and deploy MySQL technology in their applications. It bundles up a number of different components into a single chargeable service and includes certified copies of the MySQL binaries, online and phone-based support, full access to the MySQL KnowledgeBase, and updates and notifications of new releases.

Promoting Open Source Solutions

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EDT

The Open Source Software Institute is an advocacy group with a mission to promote Open Source software in government. We caught up with executive director John Weathersby to tell us more.

Point-and-Click Linux! Your Guide to Hassle-Free Computing

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST

If you have ever met Robin Miller or 'Roblimo' as he prefers to be called, you immediately realize that he's one of the endearing 'characters' that make Linux colorful. Roblimo is editor-in-chief for the Open Source Technology Group, which includes Linux.com, slashdot.org, and SourceForge.net, and is the author of the Online Rules of Successful Companies (FT Prentice Hall).

The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST

Martin Fink's book on the business side of Linux and open source was one of the first books that looked at Linux and open source from the perspective of corporate managers and executives. In this extremely influential book, he explained in business terms why Linux and open source are here to stay and why companies everywhere should be aggressively moving to develop strategies for their adoption. He now speaks at conferences around the world delivering this same message.

Version Control with Subversion

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST

Recently I had the opportunity to talk with the authors of Version Control with Subversion. In this interview, they discuss what Subversion is, migrating to Subversion, and, of course, music.

Last Exclusive JDJ Interview With "IBM's" John A. Swainson, Now CA's Newly Appointed CEO

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST

Swainson: 'Let's start by defining 'on demand.' First, on demand reflects what our customers are doing with their businesses - streamlining their business processes to make them more flexible and adaptive to new markets and opportunities. They use information technology as a tool to integrate these processes, so obviously IT is a critical enabler of on demand.'

Exclusive Linux.SYS-CON.com Interview: Where Is Sun Going with Linux?

Fri, 12 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST

Linux.SYS-CON.com's senior contributing analyst, Bill Claybrook, spoke with John Loiacono, executive vice president of Sun Microsystem's Software Group about his new job, and what he has in store for Sun's Linux strategy.

OSDL's Data Center Linux

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EDT

Data Center Linux (DCL), one of four OSDL initiatives, has the goal to accelerate Linux adoption in corporate data centers. DCL provides a center of gravity for developers, users, vendors, and the open source community to work together to improve Linux capabilities and feature requirements, accelerating the development and adoption of Linux in the data center.

Black Duck Software

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EDT

LWM's senior contributing analyst, Bill Claybrook, spoke with Doug Levin (CEO and president), Palle Pedersen (CTO), and Karen Faulds Copenhaver (executive VP and general counsel) of Black Duck Software in Waltham, MA, about the company and their role in helping Linux and open source software succeed in the enterprise.

An Interview with Mark Hinkle

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EDT

Mark Hinkle, LinuxWorld Magazine's editor of desktop technology and CIO of NeTraverse, makers of Win4Lin, talks to Kevin Bedell about the latest developments in the Linux desktop and Windows-to-Linux migration.

Interview with Mark G. Sobell

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EDT

For this issue, I'm going to talk with long-time Linux author Mark Sobell. Mark's first Linux book came out in 1996, when Linux was in its infancy. In this interview Mark discusses Red Hat's Fedora Core 2 version of Linux and his experiences writing Linux books.

Know Your Enemy - Introducing "Honeynets"

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EDT

One of most exciting areas to emerge in information security has been honeynets. These networks are designed to be compromised in order to capture all the tools and activities of the attackers. We had the opportunity to talk with members of the Honeynet Project, a nonprofit security research organization, and the group's founder, Lance Spitzner, about their latest book, Know Your Enemy: Learning About Security Threats, Second Edition (Addison-Wesley). We asked many questions and discovered some surprising truths about security. Read on for the rest of the story.

Controlling Your IT Destiny

Tue, 27 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EDT

LWM's editor-in-chief, Kevin Bedell, recently had the opportunity to ask Ranajit Nevatia, director of Linux Strategy for VERITAS, a few questions about how Linux is impacting VERITAS and how the company is contributing to the world of open source.

What's New Under the Sun?

Tue, 27 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EDT

LWM's editor-in-chief, Kevin Bedell, spoke with Sun's John Fowler about what's new - with Sun, with Fowler's new position, and with Sun's place in the open source world - and learned a little history as well.

OSDL and Carrier Grade Linux: The Full Story

Tue, 15 Jun 2004 00:00:00 EDT

In previous LWM articles, we have discussed the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), Carrier Grade Linux (CGL), and the momentum Linux is gaining in telecom. We have also covered the current technological trend of companies moving away from proprietary technologies towards open and standardized platform components (hardware, operating system, and middleware).

Computer Associates Sets Up Shop in the Bazaar

Thu, 20 May 2004 00:00:00 EDT

A funny thing has happened to the computer industry over the last few years. The traditional wisdom was that there were two types of companies. At one extreme, there were small, fast startups that could maneuver nimbly and rapidly gain market share. On the other end of the spectrum were old, established, conservative companies that slowly faded into extinction or irrelevance as they lost track of what the market wanted.

HA: What Does It Take?

Tue, 18 May 2004 00:00:00 EDT

Providing continuous service availability is a crucial factor for many industries, especially in the telecommunication sector. For instance, people always expect to hear a dial tone when they pick up their phones, and they always do. This is the level of reliability and service availability that is needed in the newly converged mobile phones IP networks.

Anarchy Online: Linux-Powered Science Fiction

Tue, 18 May 2004 00:00:00 EDT

It turns out that, indeed, many MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) are running Linux on their back ends. Christian Berentsen, the operations director of Funcom (www.funcom.com) kindly agreed to a virtual talk with Dee-Ann LeBlanc, LinuxWorld Magazine's gaming industry editor, about how Anarchy Online (www.anarchyonline.com) uses Linux to bring the world of Rubi-Ka to life for their user base.

Francois Bancilhon on Mandrakesoft

Mon, 19 Apr 2004 00:00:00 EDT

In this interview, LWM Editor-in-Chief Kevin Bedell speaks with Francois Bancilhon, CEO of Mandrakesoft, about the success they've had over the past year...and how they plan to build upon it.

Xandros on the Desktop Means Business

Mon, 19 Apr 2004 00:00:00 EDT

With a new business desktop, a 'Best Front Office Solution' award, and an expanding product line, things are looking good for Xandros. LWM Editor-in-Chief Kevin Bedell spoke with Dr. Frederick H. Berenstein at LinuxWorld Expo; here he shares the history of Xandros and, more important, what he sees in the future.

Bruce Perens on UserLinux

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 00:00:00 EST

Bruce Perens, cofounder of the Open Source Initiative and long-time leader of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, announced plans at the November 2003 Desktop Linux Consortium event in Boston to start a project called UserLinux. UserLinux is to be a Linux distribution based on a subset of Debian that will target large and small business desktops and servers. Bruce is currently continuing negotiations with his customers while also beginning to put the first broad brush strokes on UserLinux as a technology.

Interview with Eben Moglen

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST

LinuxWorld Magazine's editor-in-chief Kevin Bedell recently met with professor Eben Moglen of Columbia University. Eben's the general counsel for the Free Software Foundation; here he shares with LWM readers his insight on the distribution of culture and information in our Internet world.

Activism Around Ideas

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST

Tim O'Reilly, founder and president of O'Reilly & Associates, was a pioneer in the popularization of the Internet and has been an activist for Internet standards and open source software. He has led successful public relations campaigns on behalf of key Internet technologies, most recently organizing a series of protests against frivolous software patents.

LWM Speaks with Richard Stallman

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST

Richard Stallman is the founder of the GNU Project, launched in 1984 to develop the free operating system GNU, and thereby give computer users the freedom that most of them have lost. Here he shares with Kevin Bedell and LWM readers the history of the GNU Project and, more important, the philosophy behind it.

LWM meets Chris DiBona

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 00:00:00 EST

Four hundred years from now, Earth is a shadow of her former self. On August 24th, 2202, a near calamitous strike from a planetary fragment sent 12 billion souls into backup and made extinct hundreds of thousands of animal and plant species.

LWM Speaks with Julian Field

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 00:00:00 EST

The latest dirty word to creep into people's vocabularies is used to describe the flood of unwanted e-mail: spam. This unintended consequence of the Internet has made checking e-mail a chore of wading through obscene and unwarranted material.