Open Source in the Cloud Computing Era

The Real Open Source Opportunity

Tim O’Reilly

March 17, 2010

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Open Source in the Age of the Cloud

Tim O’Reilly

March 17, 2010


“Major Strasser has been shot...
Round up the usual suspects”


Open Source Web 2.0 Cloud Computing

“You keep using that word. I do not think it
means what you think it means.”


You may think of me as a book publisher


What We Really Do At O'Reilly

Change the world by spreading the
knowledge of innovators


O’Reilly Radar Methodology
 “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed
yet.” - William Gibson
 We “watch the alpha geeks” and think about the
futures they are living in
 We then look for trend data that tells us that a
particular future is becoming mainstream

 I’m going to tell you some seemingly unconnected
technology stories from the front lines of
innovation. Then we’re going to connect the dots.


“I’m an inventor.
I became interested in
long term trends
because an invention
has to make sense in the
world in which it is
finished, not the world in
which it is started.”
-Ray Kurzweil


<1>


What we see here
 Peer-to-peer credit card payments
 Social networks used for risk evaluation

 The PC is out of the loop
 The phone is a sensor platform
– Hardware add-on innovation
– Location based sensing
– Touch screen UI
 Processing is done in real time in the cloud
– Allowing processing that can’t be done on the device
– Big data analysis
– Building new networks on the back of existing ones
 Reinventing a major industry


<2>


The cloud future includes...
 Devices acting as sensors for intelligent data
collection
 Devices whose UI is on the web rather than the
device
 Feeding data into multiple online services that will
turn into a full-on sensor web
 Setting the stage for robotics, augmented reality,
and the next generation of personal electronics


Some of the open source hardware talks at OSCON
 Arduino: Open Source Hardware Hacking from the
Software Nerd Perspective http://www.arduino.cc/
 Plumbing: Parallel Programming for Artists and
Makers http://www.concurrency.cc/
 Face detection on the iPhone with OpenCV
 Environmental Monitoring with Arduino and
compatibles
 Open Source Data Visualization on Open Source
Hardware
 Software Control of Home Automation Systems
 New Open Source Tools for Creating Embedded
Linux Devices


<3>


The smart phone plus local search. Today pizza,

Pizelle Pizza, 50 Post Street
California Pizza Kitchen, 53 3rd Street
Escape from NY Pizza, 333 Bush Street


An application running on a
mobile device whose user
interface is driven by sensors:

- Touch screen
- Motion and proximity sensors
- Microphone
- GPS or cell tower triangulation


An application that depends on
cooperating cloud data services:

- Speech recognition
- Search
- Location data

In real time.


<4>


•Search in plain English
•Search by voice
•Traffic view
•Search along route
•Satellite view
•Street view


An application that
depends on cooperating
cloud data services:

- Location
- Search
- Speech recognition
- Live Traffic
- Imagery


The Internet Operating System is
A Data Operating System


The Internet Operating System is a Data Operating System
 It helps applications find out about
– People
– Places
– Things
– Prices
– Documents
– Images
– Sounds
– Relationships
– ...

 and helps people interact with them through services
– Search
– Payment
– Matching and Recognition
– ...


In Real Time


“Augmented Reality”


The Yelp Monocle
 Find cafes nearby.


But how do you decide what data to show?


“We don’t have better algorithms than anyone
else. We just have more data.”

--Peter Norvig, Chief Scientist, Google


The underdog is the ally of open source


Potential open source supporters
 Search: Microsoft
 Maps: Microsoft, Yelp, Foursquare
 Speech: Nuance, Microsoft
 Social Graph: Google
 Payment: ??
 Cloud infrastructure: VMware
 Smartphones: Google
 Device Operating Systems: Google


Interoperable web services, open data, and
standard protocols are at least as important as
open source


Switching tracks (a bit)...


Open Source and Scientific Data
“With the very pressing issue of climate change, releasing raw data is vital.
There can be no excuse not to. Releasing source code is optional, truly
great for open source review - but very dangerous if everyone just re-runs
the same code with the same baked-in implicit and explicit assumptions and
errors.

In discussion with our Chief Scientist, we have agreed it's much better to
publish the following:

  - the raw data and the circumstances of its collection
  - the method and assumptions used to process the data (in words and
  equations)
  - the results of the processing
  - the known limitations on the method and signiﬁcance of the assumptions

The computer code should be written from scratch as many times as possible
to reduce the chance that it affected the results in any way.”

--Gavin Starks, CEO, AMEE


AMEE - the world’s energy meter


For more information
 The Open Source Paradigm Shift (2003)
http://bit.ly/cKLSUP
 What is Web 2.0? (2005)
http://oreil.ly/a0zT65
 Web Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On (2009)
http://bit.ly/kEKgs
 Government as a Platform (2010)
http://opengovernment.labs.oreilly.com/
 Ongoing commentary
http://radar.oreilly.com
http://twitter.com/timoreilly
http://buzz.google.com/timoreilly


Open Source in the Cloud Computing Era

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