Is open source health related to trade show attendance?

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Dana, great post! Interesting topic

Yes, mny open source businsses are definitively struggling. They have lost many of the "donation" like contracts and have an even harder time landing new contracts.

Once the beancounters hear "open source" they start quizzing to find out if the expenses are really necessary. And often they are not. When the rationalists rule there no place for ideology.

The only open source businesses I see doing ok are the ones with "eyeball" (ads) income - directly or indirectly - like Mozilla and the open source companies who have succeeded in creating a form of lock-in to "enterprise" add-ons to their OS offerings - like RH.

In these times you have to fight for and justify every dollar you give out. And many customers simply chose to go with the self/community support instead of the conventional paid support.

The "open source + paid support" system is really only good when everybody pay a little. It's the classic "prisoners dilemma".

In a sense you could view commercial offerings as more fair because no-one get to take free rides and exploit their peers. To the extent that the license fees are re-invested in the product and advancements.

Posted by: honeymonster   Posted on: 06/12/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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