Surrogacy with NOOP

NOOP fundamentally refers to NO OPeration or NO Operation Performed in assembly language world. So why the new language from Google is termed the same?

Google is currently developing a language, the binaries for which can run inside Java Virtual Machine (JVM) i.e. the program will look different than a java program but after compilation it will result in java byte code. This is interesting since the purpose of this project is to eradicate the programming challenges without impacting the final executables.

Though we have seen significant evolutions in programming languages (all intended to improve the readability or ease with which it can be understood) but still maintenance of applications continues to be a challenge. Primary objective of high level language was to have programs in human readable form. But quite often we encounter situations when we find it hard to interpret (individual source code line may be making sense but the overall output of the program may not be clear). In today's world when sharing of components or applications are increasing e.g. open source software, it important to keep the source code clean so that it is readable and modifiable.

So it is not enough to produce code which works but it is equally important to have low maintenance. Infact there are tools or procedures to measure the quality of code e.g. Cyclometric Complexity Number (CCN) which measures the complexity of the source code.

Having said that, NOOP is indented to solve the programming challenges without impacting the end product. Surrogacy in some form or overall NO OPeration.

Support system of Open Source Software

While the open source software is available either at no cost or very minimal price tag but over all it may not be such a super saver.

Few negatives about open source software are non-availability to support, reactivity to security threats, regular upgrades etc. And companies which have used open source to create commercial models have exactly cashed on these cons. Typically the software is made available cheap but the support or maintenance will cost hefty. Classic example is redhat model.

From business perspective nothing wrong in this model but I personally feel it may have bad influence on the philosophy of open source. Secondly if the overall math turns out to be same as proprietary software then customer will have second thoughts.

Opening up of M & A in Open Source space

It is interesting to analyze M & A activity for open source products. Conventional approach of business valuation will not work. Why? Even for the most popular open source products do we know the customer individually. Well it is very limited view. How do we evaluate the brand value? How to measure the worth of the intellectual property? Many such aspects can not be adequately answered.

One solution to the problem is to treat it like stock market. You do not know where the stock price will head tomorrow. You can only speculate. So we fix the margin we want to make and then evaluate if the stock is worth it or not. Apply the same principle. Rather that trying to find the worth of the product it is easier to fix the target. So question which should be asked is how much money we want to make from the acquisition and does the intrinsic value of the product matches that.

But irrespective of how you define the rules of game, lot of traction may be seen this year.

Is this really the time for Open Source?

Lot is correlation is being established between Open Source and current economic conditions. Most common argument is rise of Open Source as an alternative for cutting costs in 2009. Now the question is whether the benefit of lower cost is compelling enough for corporates to switch products or not.

In theory, economically it definitely makes sense but one important consideration is the cost of migration. When companies are hard pressed for money, does it makes sense for them to invest further to move the existing setup. So the possibility of higher acceptance can be expected for new projects and cases where open source can integrate itself seemlessly into the mainstream business.

More about open source trends