The article reflects on the shift from valuing open source code artifacts to valuing conformance, certification, and indemnification as enterprise value drivers. It uses IBM's acquisition of Red Hat as a case study to illustrate how governance moved from inspecting code to ensuring compliance and support.
Background
The author recounts an anecdote about early skepticism toward open source in enterprises, contrasting it with IBM's later $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat, which succeeded by offering governance around open source rather than proprietary code.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Jul 27, 2026 at 07:34 PM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10