by Matt Asay

Mapping the world’s open source implementations

analysis
Apr 30, 20071 min

John Scott (RadiantBlue, Department of Defense) and I were IM'ing this morning, and he raised a topic that I've heard once before, but never seen implemented: a wiki/mashup/listing of all companies using open source. I think it's an excellent idea, and would go a long way toward promoting further use of open source. Does anyone have any good ideas/infrastructure for hosting a growing list of companies using open

John Scott (RadiantBlue, Department of Defense) and I were IM’ing this morning, and he raised a topic that I’ve heard once before, but never seen implemented: a wiki/mashup/listing of all companies using open source. I think it’s an excellent idea, and would go a long way toward promoting further use of open source.

Does anyone have any good ideas/infrastructure for hosting a growing list of companies using open source? Maybe it could call out the projects they’re using, too? We’d still have to think through how to manage privacy concerns (obviously, no one could post a company to the list against its will), but I think it would be very powerful to have a Google map of the world, with dots showing all the places open source is being used. Mouse over a dot and see the projects that company is using.

If someone can come up with the technology for this, we’ve got two perfect places to host it, either one of which would work.