$34 billion! That’s what Big Blue (IBM) recently put forward to acquire the world’s most prominent open source company, Red Hat. What a massive vote of confidence for the free and open source software (FOSS) development model! As a long time FOSS advocate, I’m going to be really mature about all this…and…blow a huge raspberry at all the detractors who have, for years, dismissed the movement as a ‘fad’ that allegedly delivers poor quality, insecure and legally dubious products. You all were so wrong; frankly, the modern pervasiveness of open source technology even surprises me at times!