Comparing “open source” projects? Start by asking why does the project exist.

I’ve thus far made no mention of OpenDS and the wildfire reporting that has ensued, but there was one aspect of this situation I commented on to Stephen O’Grady and others on #redmonk when it came out that bugged me. It was a question: “how did it ever get to this point?â€Â. How does a company – a profit seeking company, not a wild tongued developer – even get into an OpenDS situation? I believe the answer is that many people have wrongly assumed that the label “open source†indicates a project is disentangled from corporate affairs. Let me explain.