Matt Asay I think you are wrong about Sourcefire

As I have written before I have a lot of respect for Matt Asay and his advocacy of open source.  But I have to tell you that I was very disappointed in his Open Sources blog article today about Sourcefire's IPO. While paying homage to the idea of an open source company going public as a tide that will lift all boats, Matt questions Sourcefire's commitment to its community and its revenue deal size.  I think Matt is wrong on both counts. I am sure Wayne, Marty and the rest of the team can defend themselves, but with quiet periods and all, they probably can't say anything just yet.  They don't need me to defend them, but I want to put my perspective on this one.

First on the issue of community support.  Matt by his own admission is just going off the prospectus.  Matt if you don't know about Snort and what Sourcefire has done with that community, you should not be casting aspersions like that.  The prospectus deals with people on the street looking to invest.  These are not VC's or open source experts, who understand open source business models. If they don't see a clear path to how the community is monetized, they don't care.  But if you are interested, as a Sourcefire partner, competitor and Snort community member, I will tell you that few companies are as committed and supportive of their community as Sourcefire is.  Also, I think you will find few communities that are as appreciative of Marty and the Sourcefire team, as the Snort community is. If you have ever been to a security event that Marty appears at, you would see the admiration for yourself.  Sure there are some who may have other agendas, but overall Sourcefire has supported their community from day one and their community supports them.  Heck, truth be told we don't even use the VRT rules that we license from Sourcefire, but pay our partnership fee to Sourcefire because of what Sourcefire has done for the community.

Also, lets cut to the point on this. For-profit companies pursuing open source business models, whether they be public or not, look to their communities to monetize the business.  Of course it is good business to keep those communities that are supporting you healthy and robust, so any smart business would do so. There is no difference here.  I think Sourcefire has to put in their IPO prospectus how they are going to monetize the community, I don't think any investors are going to care how they continue to feed it.  The fact that the community is as vibrant and large as it is speaks to their commitment to the community plenty.

On the issue of Sourcefire's revenue.  Number one, again Matt I assume you are not familiar with the IDS/IPS market and Sourcefire's products.  I will tell you that $500,000.00 worth of IPS gear is a very large deal.  I bet the average is below 100k.  Matt, this is not ERP software or ECM. I assume when you are talking about companies you know knocking down big deals you mean Alfresco.  Good for you and them.  Are you doing 40+ million dollars a year with those big deals?  If not, don't be casting doubts about business models and products you don't know about.  Frankly, it comes off making you a little green, with envy that is. 

Matt, bottom line is I want you to call them as you see them, but do a little digging around the facts first.