Think Like Linux, Act Like UPS, Smile Like Amazon: Toward Open Source Logistics

What does one do when quality, quantity, and complexity collide? For that is the conundrum of large enterprises facing the vast resources available in the world of open source software (OSS). GitHub, the largest online code-hosting site, lists 10.2 million repositories, and Black Duck, the company for which I work, tracks 30 billion lines of open source code.

Included in these vast resources are some of the world’s most important software innovations — Linux, the most popular operating system, Android, the most prevalent mobile OS, and Hadoop, the Apache project for Big Data processing. All of it is available to anyone who is interested, from indie game developers to Fortune 500 CIOs. With nearly 30 percent of the average enterprise code base incorporating open source, according to IDC, OSS is changing development and corporate innovation, and as such, we all need to find ways to adapt for success.

For example, in this video, Tony McCarthy, CIO Global Technology at Deutsche Bank, articulates the needs and concerns of today’s software-dependent enterprises:

• Apprehension about not having all the skills needed within an organization
• Suspicion that some of the best talent has no desire to work in large corporations
• Belief that it is not an enterprise’s job to build software; rather, they should produce frameworks and tap creativity outside the organization