On Wed, Dec 03, 2008 at 12:02:15AM -0500, tom smith wrote:
> Article by Stuart Cohen, CEO of Collaborative Software Initiative, on the future
> of the open source software business model.
> http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2008/tc20081130_276152.htm
It's a bunch of sensationalistic nonsense. The fact that some businesses
fail to make a mint at a support-based business model doesn't mean it's a
bad business model. The fact Cohen mentions that some businesses are
succeeding quite well at an open source software support based busienss
model kinda helps undercut his own point.
He's basically just babbling on about things the same way people did
after the dot-com bubble burst. Just as a bunch of people who lost their
shirts in the dot-com bust pushed blame for their own failures off on the
idea that the Internet is a business dead-end, he's talking about how
open source software's support-based business model is a business
dead-end. The truth of the matter is that some people made good
decisions and pursued the business model intelligently, in each case,
while a whole lot of others just thought the words "dot" and "com", in
one case, and "open", "source", and "software" in the other, were magical
incantations that money run from one's faucets.
The secret to the whole thing is this:
Neither open source software nor the Internet is a business model. Each
is simply a tool that can be used to construct a business model. You
still have to have a business model somewhere in there, rather than just
making squawking noises about "dot com" and "open source software", to be
able to make money.
If you say "I'm going to build a business supporting open source
software," you first need to find some open source software that needs
commercial support -- and needs it badly enough that people will pay you
for the support. The fact that you arbitrarily selected ImageMagick out
of a bucket of names doesn't mean you have a viable business model, any
more than selecting Borland Delphi as a support target will give you a
viable closed source software focused business model.
. . . but don't blame open source software for your inability to
recognize a business model when it bites you on the buttock.
-- Chad Perrin [ content licensed PDL: http://pdl.apotheon.org ] Power corrupts. The command line corrupts absolutely.
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