If you found this article useful or valuable, subscribe (in the top-right corner of this page) and share. Let's spread the word and inspire more people to become passionate about OSS. Ryan is Passionate About OSS and has dedicated the last two decades to sharing his passion for OSS with the world. He is a founder, author, blogger, Engineer, connector and inquisitive learner about OSS and managing networks. To find out a little about his back-story and why he's so Passionate About OSS, click on the About Page. To connect with Ryan and the PAOSS team, click on the Contact page.
“How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?” Homer Simpson I just realised that a really serious oversight needed to be fixed. I hadn’t […]
“Augmented Reality (AR) represents a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, that enrich the user’s perception of the real world.” MindCommerce.com Smart-phones have already generated significant changes in the way we work and play. OSS tools are starting to be developed that harness […]
“Go oft to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.” Ralph Waldo Emerson As an OSS consultant, it sometimes* saddens me to see powerful OSS systems being abandoned by organisations who have invested so much, but are now unable or unwilling to make use of their systems. There are so many […]
“We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking.” Santosh Kalwar Drug dealers have enough faith in the addictive nature of their product that they can offer a free trial, knowing their customers will be back. Without having the deadly effects, can a free trial of your OSS […]
“You need to feel frustration and discomfort before you can really learn.” Jamie on 37signals.com blog How did you feel when starting out on your first OSS project? Frustration and discomfort were definitely two of the many feelings that I felt. The learning curve was definitely steep. And the more I learnt, the more obvious […]
“When you’re building a new product, you’re often thinking about all the new things people are going to be able to do with it. Now they can do this, now they can do that. Exciting! But there’s a better question to ask: What are people going to stop doing once they start using your product?” […]
“A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” Frank Morgan The same is true of OSS products. You may love your product and your customers. But do your customers love you and your products? There are many products in many CSPs around the world […]
“The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim.” Edsger W. Dijkstra Artificial intelligence (AI) and fuzzy logic is a field that has fascinated me since being taught the topic as part of an Electronic Engineering subject at University. The concept of machines/software that can measure, analyse, refine […]
“You can see a lot by looking around” Yogi Berra When working on one part of an OctopOSS, it might seem obvious that you should narrow your field of view to that aspect of the project. But an OSS adds value by sifting through all of the available information and making enlightening connections. Widen your […]
“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.” John C. Maxwell If you work on an OctopOSS of any significant size, you will get whacked by an unexpected tentacle at some point in time. Do you and your team have a […]
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” Albert Einstein There are many things that spawn my passion for OSS, but the strongest reason is brilliantly encapsulated in Einstein’s quote above. There are a loooooong list of difficulties with OSS in their current form: They have many layers of complexity They are time consuming to implement They […]
“The fun stuff comes when someone is not so strict on sticking to the script. You’re allowed the spontaneity, and great moments can happen.” Jennifer Aniston A continual improvement exponent will tell you to “Repeat the script for things that work well. Re-write the script for things that don’t.” Sage advice in many situations and […]
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.” Albert Einstein As Einstein stated, compound interest is a powerful force. I’m also a big believer that learning also compounds. The more you learn, the more you’re able expand that learning and the […]
“One man’s transparency is another’s humiliation.” Gerry Adams Social media gives everyone’s voice a loud-speaker. Sites like Wikileaks take the exposition of secrets to a new level. There is almost nowhere left to hide. But why hide? Transparency and honesty make customers and employees more comfortable and trusting in what you have to offer. The […]
“Screw it, let’s do it” Richard Branson Whether you’re representing a CSP, a vendor or an enterprise organisation, your OSS probably has some flaws that need to be beaten into shape. Or maybe you have a particular module that needs to be added or heavily modified. Many companies have tried to implement change in their […]
“I’ve concluded a great message at its essence packs four complementary purposes into one powerful whole: It connects with other people based on their values (C), rewards (R) them with a benefit they seek, asks for a specific action (A) to get that benefit, and sticks with us in a memorable (M) way.” Katya Andresen […]
“There is so much anger, distrust, greed, and pettiness that we are losing our capacity to work well together.” Margaret J. Wheatley An entrepreneur can have a level of greed – the desire to bring a new product to market and see it used by as many customers as possible, without being exploitative. There is […]
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” H. G. Wells The theory of evolution states not survival of the strongest, but survival of the most adaptable, like the crocodile. Most broad-featured OSS products are highly adaptable/customisable straight out of their shrink-wrapping. A CSP must be careful not to implement highly specialised customisations […]
“The person who knows how will always have job. The person who knows why will always be his boss” Alanis Morissette The world of an OSS has many compartments. If you know how (ie you become proficient) in one of those compartments, you probably have a niche that not many people will share, reducing competition […]
“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.” John Scully Many recent runaway success stories have built upon the co-creation model and the associated network effect. Organisations such as Twitter, Facebook, Ebay, Wikipedia and many others have not built the content, but have built platforms on which many people can contribute […]
