Microknowledge

Open Source - the hidden costs of 'free'

I had an interesting conversation at Passover Seder the other night.  One of the folks at my table was an unabashed apologist for open source solutions, the iPhone, Google Docs, etc.  He did concede that SQL Server is the best database system out there, but hadn't (yet) had his mind opened up to SharePoint and the support for open standards - REST, RSS, XML, AJAX, etc. - especially in 2010. 

Also, he complained that Windows 7 does such a great job of running the computer and applications seamlessly, flawlessly, and unobtrusively you forget it’s there.  If he likes an OS that keeps reminding you it’s there - he musta loved Vista!).  In the end, he believed that the browser is the OS, and he thinks Google's Chrome OS is in all of our futures.  Interesting stuff.

Anyway, the conversation got me thinking about a few things.  One thing that's always concerned me about open source is security.  Consider a bank which prints a diagram of its floor plan and bank vault design on the outside of the bank.  If I'm walking down the street one day, and i notice a design flaw, i have at least two choices.  One is to publicize the flaw to the bank, or at large, to trigger someone to take steps to fix things.  However the other choice is to keep it to myself and exploit the gap in the future.  The open source model supports both behaviors, and as such, is less inherently secure than a closed model.  (In fact, I'm not so sure you'd ever want to use the Open Source Vault Design Bank to store anything worth keeping!)

The other point is the direction of open source development, and how directed software development can move in ways that mob-sourced development can’t.   The "hidden costs of free" are all the future possibilities never realized by a random walk down a feature wish list.

In corporate usage, Internet Explorer is often the standard, because of its support for browser objects and integrated authentication.  However, sometimes out of sheer inertia, users (often remote) would find themselves inside Firefox and notice that some SharePoint hosted controls wouldn't work.  I've been asked numerous times over the past three years why a given page wouldn't work on Firefox.  The answer, sadly never changed - the page will work fine once the Mozilla/Firefox organization supports the ActiveX standard.  Sadly, Mozilla never got around to it.

Moving forward, the great news for SharePoint 2010 is that Microsoft has extended the core platform to use AJAX to render controls to provide cross-browser support for IE, Firefox, and Safari.  I think this makes sense - if you can’t count on Firefox to support a standard, do their work for them, I guess.  I think this is a clear example of how a directed software development process can accomplish things that open source development fails.

 Full disclosure – I do think open source has tremendous benefits in the component space.  We're big believers in www.codeplex.com, the open source home for many web parts and application in the SharePoint/SQL/Exchange/Active Directory world.  Its great way, for example, to adjust a Silverlight streaming video part to support streaming.  Codeplex solutions provide a great starting point for senior and junior developers alike.   

Seven on Seven - First Impressions of Windows 7

It’s July, and NFL training camps are set to open by the end of the month, thankfully.  That means that veterans players and rookies can soon expect two-a-day full contact sessions, full pads in the summer heat, and my favorite, the seven-on-seven drill.

Windows 7 is also almost here.  Its official release date is October 22, 2009, in time for the holiday season.  I've been running the Windows 7 release candidate for several weeks now, in a variety of virtual and non virtual configurations.  I’ve also attended Microsoft's MSDN Northeast Roadshow 2009, which was focused on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.  So here are seven quick first impressions about “Seven” - my own seven-on-seven, if you will.

1. Problem steps recorder (PSR.EXE).  This is a neat utility that automatically captures a user’s actions, clicks and screen shots into a nicely formatted compressed file for emailing.  It uses a VCR-like record/stop control, and is perfect for remote troubleshooting.  Microsoft’s team calls this the “father-in-law” feature. 
2. Native VHD Support.  You can now attach Virtual Hard Disk VHD files as native disk volumes.  MOUNTING a VHD is a great way to drop off install files or pull out a copy of a file on a virtual system without mounting the whole system.  I used this to build an install VHD of our Office 2007 server install packages that we could then use with our virtual servers without ISO support or adding the images directly to the primary VHD.
3. Federated search.  Just like Search Server 2008 and SharePoint, windows 7 desktop search can pass your search off to other search engines, and results are integrated and grouped.  Works with external services like Bing or Google, as well as internal search engines (SharePoint).
4. Application Compatibility Toolkits.  Windows 7 is coming with a broad range of tool kits to evaluate existing apps and installers running on Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8.  Writing something new in .NET?  No problem - Microsoft has an API in the SDK that lets use .NET to call COMsystem functions that used to require C++ or lower level languages.
5. Windows XP Mode.   Got an older app that only runs on Windows XP?  Again, no worries.   Windows XP mode uses virtualization to run your app directly inside its own XP virtual machine, running seamlessly in a window alongside your other applications.
6.  The power sander.  Not that Microsoft calls it that, but the Vista interface is smoother.  Cleaner.  Faster.  Fewer security popups.  Better organization and previews of applications on your toolbar.  Support for multitouch interfaces (a la Surface).   There are simple techniques, like Aero Peek, which lets you preview your windows in place while task switching among them.   Finally, Windows 7 supports auto rotation of the desktop background wallpaper.  Admittedly, third party UI tools have been offering this for a while.  The desktop has lots of neat widgets, and manually switching the wall paper periodically is a lot of fun means I have too much time on my hands.  Now Windows catches up, with a background as dynamic as the rest of the UI.
7. Libraries.  Vista introduced the basic concept as part of Windows Photo Gallery, and application that guided you through all your pictures and videos regardless of where they live on your PC.  Libraries extend this idea throughout all file access in Windows 7.  Libraries can now become your principal interface to working with documents, pictures, etc., without needing to remember to browse for all the places where you’ve stashed Excel files, for example. 

One other thing --  some of the user interface advances (e.g. Aero Peek) are unavailable if you run Windows 7 in a virtual PC session.  Be brave - if you can try Windows 7 as the primary OS on a real system, take the plunge.