Title: Blue Fountain Systems - An Open Source Company

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Date: 03 December 2004 13:16:09 +00:00 or Fri, 03 December 2004 13:16:09 +00:00

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A company which produces Open Source Software (OSS) is nothing new. There are plenty in the US and Europe that have been trading very nicely for quite a number of years (RedHat and SuSE spring to mind). However, these are companies who write the distributions. Can a company exist which produces OSS, and if it can, how does it survive?

Recently, I was informed of a company based in Liverpool which does just that. As Liverpool is my home city and only about 45 minutes away, I arranged for a meeting and on the 3rd of November, in rather dull weather, ventured forth to visit them in the world famous India Buildings, very close to the River Mersey and a stone's throw away from the town centre.

I was met by a very friendly environment, with a team of six programmers and one receptionist. I was presently introduced to one of the directors, Aidan McGuire. Over a coffee and quite a lot of laughter, we settled down to conduct the interview for C Vu. Okay, he did find out a lot about my involvement with OSS, programming and technical background, C Vu and lots of other things first, but I wouldn't have expected very much else.

From past experience, interviewing company directors can be a tricky affair. Most don't (or can't) reveal very much. In true Open Source tradition though, Aidan offered more than I expected when he answered with a candidness which was really refreshing!

How long has Blue Fountain Systems been around and what is your primary business? How can an open source company make money? Is it funded on the back of writing bespoke code?

1991, though it became incorporated in 1996. Our primary business is as a solution company. A client stipulates what they want and not only do we write the software, but install the hardware, maintain the both software and hardware, provide training - in fact, everything you would expect.

As a business plan, we offer very reasonably priced maintenance contracts (ranging between £100 and £750 per month), as well as working with the likes of Southport Council to provide a free WiFi network for the town centre (it would be funded by a nominal fee from local businesses).

[At this point, we chatted about the problem of older buildings and I used the example of the conference building we used this year - only to discover that Aidan had also been there and gave a talk in one of the Python sessions - we do move in a small world!]

We are effectively using an IBM style "utility" model.

We do not work on the typical IPR model. It is something which surprises a lot of companies in the same line as us, as we freely and openly give away the source code, IPR is not a big issue and being an OSS company, we are transparent in that if we make a mistake, we can hold up our hands, admit to the mistake and fix the problem. OSS also gives us an advantage in that we can involve other developers and code without having to go through the expense on non-disclosure agreements. We do not write anything closed source.

We also work with our competitors. We are part of the Zope group and as such, while we may be in competition with other companies, we are working to the same common aim. This really confuses traditional companies! We are in competition, but we all meet quite regularly with a common aim.

You have described Liverpool as being "the open source capital of the UK". How did you come to that description?

That was from a PR company! That said, businesses and Liverpool Council are starting to come to see the advantages of using the Open Source model over the traditional way of purchasing software and licences.

Obviously, you have the two Universities a stroll from your offices as well as a good supply of talent from colleges. As they are brought up on the world of closed source (largely), how much of a culture shock is it for them to move to open source?

It is a culture shock and actually quite hard for them. However, they adapt quickly. We are working with Liverpool John Moores and the University of Liverpool on a mentoring programme. This means that students will see both sides of the coin.

Do you source most of your employees locally or do you advertise nationally and internationally?

Both - via the internet (we use JobCV as an agency). We also employ people on word of mouth as we find it is one of the more reliable ways of finding staff.

We are a company with offices in Belgium and a small office in London as well as possibly a new office opening in China due to their increased uptake of OSS. Additionally, we have people who work from home who are dotted around the UK and other countries.

What licence model do you use (GPL etc)?

LGPL

How do you feel when you have some of the big closed source producers denouncing open source as a flash in the pan and largely unsustainable (as has been recently seen in the technical press)?

I personally don't think that they understand the business model - and that equally applies to some Open Source companies

Development environment

Do you have an in-house development environment or have you settled on something like kdevelop / anjuta? Do you have a preferred development language?

We use Python / PostgreSQL / Zope for all development - unless there is a specific requirement from a client for another. Even if they do, we usually find that our trio of set technologies will accomplish the task and they are happy to use them when we demonstrate what they are capable of.

Does the company have a preferred widget set or is it a home grown one?

Most of our work is web based but for GUI projects we use wxWidgets (wxPython).

As lots of non-software companies expect to pay, pay and pay some more for commercial software, how, in your opinion, have they responded to the surge in OSS and the ability to get something they can tailor to their needs (or have you do) and still be able to see the source?

We are still fighting against scepticism and "early adopter" syndromes. Undoubtedly, the SMEs can see the big advantage in not only the total cost of ownership in using OSS, but there is still a lot of resistance given the relative newness of OSS and the domination of the big players in the commercial world.

If you combine that with the Liverpool being home to some very large companies, it is an uphill struggle, but one we are winning on.

Do you employ any form of extreme programming (or similar) and how effective do you feel it is?

We have examined many different development methodologies. I can't say we employ any specific one although our development methods do utilise methods of XP (e.g. rapid feedback, embrace change) and others. At various points we will try new ideas and embrace them if they work for us or throw them away if they don't.

What do you look for in a new employee? At the ACCU, we actively promote best practice when it comes to new employment as well as giving out a lot of advice on what to and what not to expect.

We look for quite a lot of qualities other than being a good programmer! As we have to go to the customer for their service contracts, the employee has to have not only customer relations skills but also be technically proficient to speak to them at the correct level.

Roughly, what proportion of local talent do you have to "shipped in" talent?

Currently, it's about 50/50. We do hope to be expanding soon and when we do, the local number will increase.

Future prospects

As you know, software is a fickle beast, though OSS has been increasing in adoption and use over the past years on not just the Linux (and other free OS) platform, but also the Windows platform. Can you see this continuing for (say) the next 10 years and what effect will it have on company business plans?

Open Source is increasing at an almost exponential rate and should assure us of a good future.

Our main concern is the speed at which UK Plc is adopting open source. If we compare the UK to our European neighbours, we see them moving over and adopting Open Source more and more. The commercial edge is being lost to companies with far lower overheads due to their adoption of OSS. If we decide to go with the proprietary system and everyone else doesn't, then UK Plc is not going to be very healthy and it will probably take ages for us to claw our way back.

Hardware is forever changing with the push currently for movement to x64/IA64 and above. What have you got in place currently to ensure current products will still work in (say) 3 - 5 years from now?

All our work is done within Python so we are shielded from the joys of such things.

Have you seen any significant turn down or reluctance to using OSS since SCO's unfortunate FUD over their IP in Linux and subsequent suits against RedHat, Autozone, IBM and Novell? And where do you see that ending up?

We haven't seen a down turn and really, it is up to SCO to prove their claim. Even if SCO win, it may slow things down, but certainly won't stop it. Open Source is here and it's here to stay.

I must thank both Aidan for being so friendly and open with his answers and Ian Cottee (the company's technical manager) for the more technical answers to some of my questions.

As you can see, it is not only possible for an OSS company to exist, but in this case, it is a company which is expanding and succeeding despite the reluctance of some to accept the change.

Blue Fountain Systems can be contacted on 0870 0202 111, or http://www.bluefountain.com

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