Drupal and Linux: Lessons Learned for Building Open Source Communities

Ruth Suehle | OpenSource.com | November 17, 2011

In today's Open Your World Forum webcast, Chris Grams moderated a discussion between Michael Tiemann and Dries Buytaert about how Linux and Drupal have evolved as two thriving open source communities competing in the enterprise world...

Michael Tiemann is a true open source software pioneer. He made his first major open source contribution more than two decades ago by writing the GNU C++ compiler, the first native-code C++ compiler and debugger. His early work led to the creation of leading open source technologies and the first open source business model.

In 1989, Tiemann's technical expertise and entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Cygnus Solutions, the first company to provide commercial support for open source software. In 1999, Cygnus solutions was acquired by Red Hat, where Michael has served in various leadership roles over the last 12 years. He is currently Red Hat’s Vice President of Open Source Affairs.

Dries Buytaert is the original creator and project lead for the Drupal open source web publishing and collaboration platform. Buytaert serves as president of the Drupal Association, a non-profit organization formed to help Drupal flourish. He is also co-founder and chief technology officer of Acquia, a venture-backed software company that offers products and services for Drupal. Dries is also a co-founder of Mollom, a web service that helps you identify content quality and, more importantly, helps you stop website spam...