Open Source an Advertising Buzzword?

With several clients in the Hedge Fund industry, my eyes were drawn to a zdnet blog post which focused on an "Open Source" SOX compliance platform. The article looked promising, however after digging a little deeper it seems like the use of Open Source seemed to be simply a marketing tactic.

The product website has no mention of Open Source (other than links to sites which ran the press release). I tried to call to get more information about the nature of their commitment to Open Source, but was greeted with a broken answering machine.

There is a big need for this product in the Open Source market place. I would be very happy to see a company dedicating resources to contributing this essential peice of software, and would gladly contribute my time and effort into this. However based on the information I've seen so far, this is nothing more than a marketing tactic.

To end the first entry on my shiney new FSFE blog, I would like to thank Zak and eZsystems (a company who truely understands Free Software) for indirectly getting me involved with FSFE through their sponsorship of the PHPVikinger unconference earlier this year. I look forward to becoming an active community member and getting to know the rest of the fellows.