MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-06-03 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] making money with open source - John Walker
|
On Tue, Jun 02, 2015 at 06:19:53PM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
>
> Quoting Ruben Safir (ruben.safir-at-my.liu.edu):
>
> > The key to making money with free Software and ALL software is the ole
> > Service Contract.
>
> Tunnel vision.
ths is a LONG time ago
>
>
> Quoting an OSI essay from around 1998:
>
> Four Ways To Win
>
> Now for a higher-level, investor's point of view. There are at least
> four known business models for making money with open source:
>
> Support Sellers (otherwise known as "Give Away the Recipe, Open A
> Restaurant"): In this model, you (effectively) give away the software
> product, but sell distribution, branding, and after-sale service. This
> is what (for example) Red Hat does.
This is the profit for all software from Banks to handheld
The only time you sell software is when you are in a locked down
situation with software that is too simple to be of consequense
otherwise.
>
> Loss Leader: In this model, you give away open-source as a loss-leader
> and market positioner for closed software. This is what Netscape is
> doing.
>
That is not a Free Software market
> Widget Frosting: In this model, a hardware company (for which software
> is a necessary adjunct but strictly a cost rather than profit center)
> goes open-source in order to get better drivers and interface tools
> cheaper. Silicon Graphics, for example, supports and ships Samba.
>
This is ALSO not a Free Software business model... PS SI is dead
> Accessorizing: Selling accessories - books, compatible hardware,
> complete systems with open-source software pre-installed. It's easy to
> trivialize this (open-source T-shirts, coffee mugs, Linux penguin dolls)
> but at least the books and hardware underly some clear successes:
> O'Reilly Associates, and SSC are among them.
YES - but they left out training and education...
>
>
> http://opensource.org/advocacy/case_for_business.php
>
> A lot more at:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models_for_open-source_software#Approaches
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