Open source's next frontier

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What eludes you.

"Whatever is wrong with the model eludes me, and apparently a
bunch of smart, dedicated people."

If you're not one of Microsoft's employees, investors, or one of
the many indentured developers or small business owners who
perceive their own fortunes as inextricably linked to the
continued dominance of certain markets by a certain corporate
entity, you never will see what's wrong with it. From those
people's perspective, however, its shortcoming is clear: it
doesn't benefit Microsoft.

While the argument has been made repeatedly that Microsoft
can, if it so chooses, operate on the open software model just
like anyone else, but it chooses not to.

From their perspective this choice is understandable: perhaps
even inevitable. To Microsoft insiders and dependants it must
seem as if the open source model was specifically designed to
work against them, as success under this model is determined
almost entirely by excellence, and there are no opportunities for
proprietary lock-ins to maintain monopoly or leveraging a
monopoly in one market to obtain one in another.

Both of the above strategies are, of course, in violation of anti-
trust statutes; unfortunately, our government has been unwilling
to enforce these laws. The open software model has developed,
either by design or of necessity, to compensate for government's
failure.

Ironically, Microsoft's successful gaming of the legal/political
system will ultimately result in the downfall of the very business
model on which it depends. Survival will then depend on a
company's ability to adapt successfully to the new paradigm.

Posted by: Immanuel Tranz-Mischen   Posted on: 11/23/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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