It feels a bit like the enterprise open-source market has slowed. Not the sales aspect of the market, but the number of new players entering the market. We're getting greater breadth but not greater depth.
I hear each week about a new open-source vendor doing X, Y, or Z. Early on, all of the action was in the Big Categories like CRM, ERP, ECM, EAI, etc. Now people ping me about companies in the "web container" space, tech support solutions, etc. Big problems to be solved, to be sure, but big markets? I don't know.
This is good, in a way. It means that the commercial open-source ecosystem gets richer and more diverse. But it also worries me that open source is not providing a deep bench/several alternatives for each particular enterprise need. It's far too early to have the open-source software market consolidated in a few bets/vendors.
On the other hand, maybe it's just a sign that there isn't much room in these old, established markets for many new entrants. Buyers just don't have patience for several new alternatives to BEA, for example: they may just want one good open-source alternative (or two).
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