Open-source companies see profit aplenty

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Interesting points

I think your first thesis is that sharing results removes competitive advantage and the corresponding incentive. Well, to that I can answer immediately and decisively: I don't know. If that phenomenon were to kick in eventually, I think it will be a year or two before we see the effect. Human nature being what it is, the people working full time will want to continue their best efforts, particularly with the personal commitment on the part of the respective CEOs. These giants of the industry are zealously staffing up their "full time bug stompers," as Carroll terms them, as we have to compete vigorously to retain our top Unix/Linux people. Momentum will carry the day for the near future.

As for some serendipitous benefits from unpaid volunteers, it's hard for me to get too worked up. I don't personally get involved until the stuff goes mainstream and the full timers are engaged. Likelihood that somebody giving after-hours support is much help isn't all that great, unless you're talking about those truly expert in the field. And remember, there is expert level ability among the full timers as well, and they are able to stay abreast of latest changes and issues. People running multi-tens of billion dollar businesses have to be able to control the assets they're dependent upon for corporate reputation.

Of course, the code is out there for the learner bees, and they can play around with it to hone their skills in order to compete for well-paying jobs. But they should not get overly enthused about the possibility of making a great contribution to a commercial product. It's like an art dealer once told me - there are no great amateurs.

Posted by: IT_User   Posted on: 05/20/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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