Free and Open Source Journalism

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How many bloggers are paid...

... enough to consider blogging fulltime work? That's a reasonable wage for (say) 40 hours expended. Supplemental income and hobbyists not included.


On business plans...

The single great lesson for business plans coming out of the dot com bust was: "A company cannot remain in business while giving away its main product."

Advertising supported media are an apparent exception. Though it's worth noting that Google, for example, may be defined as an advertising distribution company which attracts people to the advertising through services such as search.

If the definition applies to the TV networks...

So the question for the open source business plans is why any company would attempt to violate the obvious rule about giving away the primary product, even considering the reduction in labor costs saved because of people's willingness to damage others working in the same field.

A solution I've been considering, for what it's worth, is the conscious deception model.

A company like Red Hat sells software, obviously. That's what the company says it does, and that's the way stockholders think of it.

But apparently a significant number of people are not willing to take the company at its word, believing Red Hat to be corporately as opposed to profit and employment and wages from software as they are.

And in this case, one out of three ain't good.

So the issue comes to how long a company can maintain a business plan based on the self-deception of those contributing to its success.

The open source movement will some day be included among those which led to people giving away all their possessions in order to be free to await the end of the world. Though open sourcers are awaiting an end to capitalism, the effect is similar.

Perhaps the FSF should declare a date when its goals will be achieved. That way, people will know when to be disappointed.

Open source companies will never become large, and when disillusionment strikes their disappearance will be quick.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 07/31/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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