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Mundie Speech @ OSCON - Blogged In Real Time
Thanks to Simone for pointing out Doc Searls' weblog as well as Dan Gillmore's weblog being updated about the Craig Mundie (of Microsoft)'s speech @ O'Reilly's Open Source Convention. Dan's take is excellent - that's what I'm hearing from people there as well.
Yes, the loss-leader business model has some serious risks involved. What does that have to do with open source?
Open source software is not a business model; it's a development model. It's a way to get software that you want or need -- by collaborating with others in developing that software. Open source's success or failure is not predicted or represented by Red Hat's success or Eazel's failure, but by the ability of open-source participants to get and to build the software they need and want.
Is there any open-source software you use? Does it do what you need it to? Is it in active development? Well then, the open-source model has succeeded in producing value for you. Some notable ways in which open source has succeeded for me include the Postfix mail server, the Konqueror browser, and the mutt email client. These are successes not because anyone is or isn't making money on them, but because they are good and useful software, valuable to their users.
It is true that a few companies built around a loss-leader business model have used open-source software as their loss leader, and have failed to recoup their losses and thus gone out of business. However, this is a consequence of the risks of a loss-leader business, and of the drying-up of capital for risky high-tech ventures. Hardware loss-leaders -- the :CueCat and the iOpener come to mind -- have also tended to fail recently. Yet nobody suspects that a "hardware business model" is to blame, and that non-loss-leader hardware companies such as Dell or AMD are threatened.
Moreover, it is interesting to note that when a loss-leader open-source company disappears, the value (if any) of its open-source software tends to be preserved: take Nautilus, for example, which is still being developed after the demise of Eazel. The open-source development model has as one of its strengths that it is not vulnerable to the failure of anyone's business model.
So, once again, Microsoft speaks, and millions of Open Source/Free Software geeks listen in rapt attention, then spend the next few days bitching about what was said.
Guys (and gals), listen to me: When you're paying attention to Mundie or Ballmer or Gates, and then bitching about how evil they are... You're not writing code.
Can't you see? By holding these "talks" and issuing press releases, Microsoft's intent is to distract you from writing code!
All that time you spent writing up a self-righteously indignant post to Slashdot, the time you spent checking your user profile to see if anyone replied to it or modded it up, that time you spent writing counter-replies, all that time you could have spent writing code is now lost. (And yes, by writing this post, I myself am guilty of that offense.)
Look, Microsoft's "Shared Source" initiative has two primary purposes: To throw the Open Source/Free Software advocates into disarray, and to keep the uninitiated from getting involved with Open Source/Free Software in the first place. The purpose behind this is to forestall any competition to Microsoft's .NET buildout, which is going to require a gargantuan engineering effort. Microsoft will have to write every line of code themselves, whereas a potential competitor may choose to leverage Open Source/Free Software works to get to market quicker. So naturally, Microsoft wants to scare as many people as possible away from OS/FS. The "Shared Source" ploy also theoretically gets them free debugging expertise, a job they have traditionally been unable or unwilling to do themselves.
My advice (which is worth every cent you paid for it): Write code. Ignore them and write some code.
I name SourceForce since it's one of the best known, but there's no reason you can't go to SunSite... er, MetaLab... er, iBiblio. Or the FSF's projects pages. Or any other site hosting Open Source/Free Software works.
There are thousands of pieces of software out there needing work. Some are sexier than others. Some are dull but crucial tools or pieces of infrastructure. Some don't exist at all, except in your imagination. Pick one.
Some consider the lack of a feature to be a bug, so add a feature if you like. Either way, it'll improve the quality of the project.
Microsoft is worried because a lot of the Open Source/Free Software alternatives are better than their own stuff. Where OS/FS alternatives fall short, they are rapidly catching up. Microsoft can make all the sophomoric remarks it wants about the GPL and Open Source/Free Software ("If you touch the GPL, your intellectual property will get cooties! Ooo, icky!"). But at the end of the day, the reliability and quality of OS/FS projects will be the compelling factor that causes users, both business and casual, to migrate over to our stuff. And that will happen only if the work is done to make the OS/FS projects better.
Personally, I can think of no more direct or effective rebuke to Mundie's "talk" than an audience full of people with laptops and 802.11b cards, deliberately and maliciously fixing bugs at him.
Jump on SourceForge. Pick a project. Fix a bug.
And then when you've checked in your fix, post about it here, so everyone can see the progress being made.
Back to the grind,
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Assuming that when I write something and release it to the public it's for the purpose of making money. I'm growing tired of this rat race. I know what Microsoft is saying - they want to make money, pure and simply, but can't do it under the GPL. In addition to this, they want all competition eliminated (GPL software). So, they spend all this time boo-hooing about how the GPL is bad becuase it doesn't foster Microsoft's Universal Law - making money.
I would have thought that all those in the business world with their degrees and such would see this and let the air of Microsoft's tire. But it would seem that we are SO CONSUMED with the urge to argue that we engage Microsoft and discuss it with them.
We should be concentrating on doing what we do best - writing good code and sharing it with each other. We made it this far by concentrating on that - writing good software. We did not get this far by targetting a company and attempting to beat it with a free alternative. We should not be targetting Microsoft and attempting to beat them. They will out manuever us.
We should drop all this bickering with MS and go back to doing something that Microsoft can't beat us at: writing good code.
Um... maybe because MSFT is a member and key financer of the BSA, one of the DMCA's chief architects/proponents?
Is there any reason NOT to keep the pressure on these guys until DMCA is overturned?
-Renard
Tim has talked about not going after a winner-takes-all approach, but an everyone wins approach. I wonder how many OSS / Free Software advocates agree with this? My take on Microsoft and it's understanding (or lack thereof) of the Open Source community is very similiar to the historical dominent culture experience; when you are the dominent culture, you often don't understand or even see the passive power you posess; only those who are not part of the dominent group can see that. From today's "debate", I am prone to think that perhaps a similiar mindset is current in Microsoft as the dominent culture. (reference: The Color of Fear, a program / documentary on cultural-race differences)
"What we have here, is a failure to communicate." - Cool Hand Luke
- Dan I.
Hi there.. another OSCON guy here...
I have to say this, first of all: the Mundie opening comments might have been "statesmanlike," but the whole idea came down to the same thing that happened in our first keynote (from a Cisco bigwig). He said that we basically don't see economic reality and we don't know about business, and while we have good points we should abandon most of our philosophical ideas. More Red Herring arguments and usual anti-os crap that gets refuted again again.
Converstaions since the Mundie debate around here seem to mention this: when Mundie was really forced to face issues (especially when it came down to hard DMCA questions) he fell back to basic Corporatespeak. The same old crap: "If you don't like the law, write your Congressman and change it." Sorry, it's easy to say that when you have millions of dollars to back you up. When faced with a question about defending against Patent infringement suits and there costs, his comment was something like "Well get the money."
This debate was interesting, but when it came down to it Microsoft retained their basic Arrogance. In addition, they tried to paint themselves as UNDERDOGS. "We have seen a lot of failure" they say. Whatever.
Business good... GPL bad... that was most of their argument...
"Yes.. no matter what the culture, folk dancing is stupid." -MST3K