On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 3:26 AM, Wolf Halton <wolf.hal...@gmail.com> wrote: > sorry for the top-posting. > Android doesn't give me a lot of choice. > > My current employment is deploying opensource software for libraries, so I > am profiting modestly from developers' work that I didn't pay for, exept > when the company pays one or another of them as a contractor to solve an > issue we can't sort out. > > I do not think the projects are being molded in our company image. At the > moment, AOO is not one of the projects we are actively marketing. Since I > have a personal interest in AOO, I would like to see ways I could sell AOO > to my managers as a product to support and offer to our members/patrons. > > True, profits do not always rain down on opensource developers. If there > are no profits available from leveraging FOSS, then there is nothing to > send back to the projects in any fashion, is there? >
I think the idea is that a successful open source product (or a success product of almost any kind, software or other) creates an adjacent market for complementary goods and services. The iPhone is a successful platform, so there are many apps and accessories for it. And this is circular, the larger ecosystem is based on the success of the iPhone, but the ecosystem reinforces the success of the platform. Microsoft Office experiences great success in this area. This is not because the code is proprietary. As large part of it is due to the network effects of getting past a threshold of market penetration where these ecosystem effects start to work in our favor. With OpenOffice, 33 million downloads now. We'll hit 50 million before the snow stops falling in Massachusetts. This is small compared to Microsoft Office, but it is (I think) large enough to be interesting. We talked about doing a survey once. Maybe it is time to do this more seriously. If we had a better sense of the user demographics, of home use versus business, academic, government, etc., and size of organization, it might clarify exactly what kinds of opportunities are out there. -Rob > Wolf Halton > http://sourcefreedom.com > Apache developer: > wolfhal...@apache.org > On Jan 21, 2013 3:06 PM, "janI" <j...@apache.org> wrote: > >> On 21 January 2013 20:10, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: >> >> > On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 1:52 PM, janI <j...@apache.org> wrote: >> > > On 21 January 2013 19:36, Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> wrote: >> > > >> > >> I'm wondering if anyone would be offended or object with a blog post >> > >> along the lines of "How to make money with Apache OpenOffice"? >> > >> >> > >> I appreciate that Apache is a non-profit and that we do not pay for >> > >> developers, etc. But we are also commercially friendly, and our >> > >> permissive license and focus on consumable source releases supports >> > >> this. One view is that this is good for the community, to encourage >> > >> commercial interest in a product, since that leads to investment in >> > >> the code, and investment leads to a larger, more diverse community. >> > >> Yes, some will take and never give back. But for many commercial >> > >> ventures there are notable advantages to working with the community, >> > >> having credibility and commit privileges, etc. So it s a win-win, I >> > >> think. >> > >> >> > >> The proposed blog post would cover a few business models, emphasize >> > >> the opportunity brought on by the end of life of MS Office 2003, etc. >> > >> >> > >> If anyone is uncomfortable with this I can do it on my personal blog, >> > >> of course. But it is relevant to the AOO project, so I'd prefer to >> > >> put it here. >> > >> >> > > >> > > For me it would depend a lot on the wording. It is a fact that >> > > people/companies make money of our non-paid work, but to me it is >> another >> > > level to actively promote it. >> > > >> > > The right place to put it, is as you write the AOO blog and The >> business >> > > models should be presented in a way that (if for nothing else, then >> pure >> > > morally) part of the earnings should flow back to AOO, in order to keep >> > us >> > > going, >> > > >> > >> > Yes, that would be my intent. >> > >> > > I do not really see it as win-win, when a company makes money and has >> > > commit rights. I (as many others) have commit rights and do not earn >> > money, >> > > we do it for other reasons. >> > > >> > >> > Maybe this question deserves its own thread, but what would increase >> > your enjoyment/satisfaction with volunteer with AOO? >> > >> good question, it is easier to say what would demotivate, and that is when >> I put in a lot work to help end-users, and the community actively >> encourages others to make money on it. >> >> See later "eco system". >> >> If seeing the project advance faster, seeing more stuff getting done, >> > fewer things left undone, then this is made easier with more >> > investment into the ecosystem. And that becomes a virtuous cycle, >> > since that success attracts more volunteers, which leads to further >> > success. >> > >> >> Well that depends, I am sure that e.g. IBM (just an example) could throw in >> a lot of man power, and we could move high speed, but the price would be to >> de facto work to IBM rules, and that is a situation we should avoid. >> >> I believe that one of the reasons for AOO success is difference between the >> people involved, which enforces discussions and compromisses...something >> you easily loose when money is involved. >> >> To me is essential that the eco system is primarely kept intact by "real" >> volunteers...and that paid volunteers (sorry could not find a better >> expression), which have more time and resources are not taking over. Just >> to be completely clear, this statement is meant as a general rule, and in >> not to point at you or all other paid people in AOO, who all do a great >> job. >> >> > >> > > This is of course just my opinion which in one sentence is >> > > "good initative, but feeling comfortable depends a lot on content of >> the >> > > business models" >> > > >> > >> > Well, I haven't written in yet, but I was thinking of a listing or >> > catalog of ways of making money from OpenOffice. Maybe 10 or so. So >> > not "get rich quick" stuff, and generally a pitch for involvement by >> > for-profit organizations. >> > >> >> I like your idea, and a catalogue of ideas is good...but think about giving >> it the twist of a danish expression "when it rains on the priest, it drips >> on the vicar". >> >> >> > >> > -Rob >> > >> > > Jan I. >> > > >> > > >> > >> >> > >> No rush to decide. I won't get to this for another week, at least. >> > >> >> > >> -Rob >> > >> >> > >>
