Open Source: Not Just for Tech Anymore

-- but all over the globe in new corners and facets of our society.

We've already seen the ideas and fundamental principles of open source software applied in other industries and sectors, including automotive technology and infotainment, healthcare, and the space industry, where NASA recently launched a new site for its open source code and activities. Now, it appears 2012 may be marked by a further expansion of open source ideas and ideals into new areas. A few examples include pharmaceuticals and other biological sciences, politics and publishing.

Pharma and Life Sciences

In pharmaceuticals, the debate over open source research, results and data continues. There are also some interesting ventures, technology and tools in pharmaceuticals, such as an open source image-sharing effort in clinical research. In addition, the technology industry trend of devops, whereby application development comes together with application deployment and IT operations, is propelling movement into more mainstream enterprises and new verticals, including pharmaceuticals and biological sciences, according to a few key devops vendors.

Along with devops, there tends to be a lot of open source software, from Linux to open source programming and scripting to databases and data management. The presence of open source technology in pharma and life sciences may drive a greater propensity and acceptance for open source research and results as well.

Politics and Publishing

Politics is another area experiencing a growing presence and impact from open source software and ideas. Many of the central tenets of the Occupy movement parallel open source software, including transparency, openness and collaboration. "Occupy" has been described as a type of "open source brand," whereby Occupy can be combined with other places, such as Wall Street, Oakland or Portland, and other ideas, such as banks, ports, etc.

Not surprisingly, open source is visible in its most basic form -- software -- in efforts, initiatives and offerings from Occupy protesters, including an open source-based, Occupy alternative to Facebook. As a political and protest movement, Occupy's efforts to build and expose its message will most likely drive more use and acknowledgment of open source software, as well as open source ideas.

Another area that continues to be fairly heavily influenced by open source software practices and ideas is publishing. Given the Creative Commons open source license, which continues to grow in use and popularity, particularly with Web and self-publishing, publishing continues to be ripe for open source collaboration and creativity. The same goes for other media and also government, where we see a growing impact from open source.

Enterprise IT and Mobile

Of course, I expect open source software will continue to be a key part of enterprise IT, particularly cloud computing, where we find open source components almost always lay the groundwork for cloud offerings.

I also expect a continued impact from open source in mobile software and devices. While it remains a part of technology, political and other debates, I also expect open source will continue branching out in new areas and fascinating ways through 2012 and beyond.