How Do You Sell Linux Software?

smelroy asks: "My software company recently released a Linux port of our business instant messaging product, but we are not sure of the best way to sell it, since to many people selling Linux software is an oxymoron. Users on each end of the computer knowledge spectrum associate any and everything Linux with free. Even when we tried to get people to beta test it for us they said, 'It runs on Linux so why isn't it free?' Another comment from a reporter in response to our telling him of our Linux release was 'So it is open source then right?' So my question to the Slashdot community is when is Linux going to be prevalent enough on the desktop that people will pay for applications and not always assume they are free? Better yet, where are the people who feel that way now?"

Comments

Marketing...

[cuyler]

A good marketing technique would be getting your company's product posted to the front page of slashdot...

Aha

[Outland Traveller]

Maybe the problem is that the world doesn't need yet another proprietary instant messaging platform.

No offense, but IM is infrastructure that should be under control of a standards body, or at the very least open source and distributed, not jealously guarded by a bunch of companies each with their own extremely evil EULA.

Perhaps your customers rightly recognize this state of affairs. I know I do, and that's why I prefer Jabber for IM.

I and the people I work with purchase all kinds of linux software, from development tools to high-end graphics applications, to games. Perhaps your problem isn't linux, it's your product.

Re:Aha

[JabberWokky]

I dunno - some pretty damn big names have thrown in with Jabber. IBM and Oracle sell their own implementations (non-open source but open-protocoled) to multi-national corporations, and they (IBM, Oracle and their customers) are rumored to know a thing or two about scalable enterprise level software. Some of the big cell phone companies use Jabber as their back end protocol for text messaging services. Washington DC is using it as the backbone for their emergency communications system...

You also seem to have a common misconception. Jabber is not just an IM protocol, but rather a complete protocol for the routing of arbratrary data across networks and through various gateways and firewalls. The IM protocol is just an example of what can be done with it.

I'd say it's considered "acceptable for mission critical applications" - simply because major companies with the funds to pick and choose messaging systems are already choosing it. Sure, it's not a popular download on the internet among teens and twentysomethings, but to extrapolate its usability from the fact that it's not 'hip' is a ludicrious act.

--
Evan

What?

[Hard_Code]

...You want free advice?

Never

[phaze3000]

So my question to the Slashdot community is when is Linux going to be prevalent enough on the desktop that people will pay for applications and not always assume they are free?

Hopefully never - when people use GNU/Linux they will realise that Free software is better for a whole host of reasons. Once they've had their eyes opened to this, then using closed-source proprietary software becomes a much less appealing proposition.

Re:Never

[zeugma-amp]

I use Linux at home exclusively and as much as I am able to at work, but I don't have any problem with paying for a product that performs well and is well engineered.

Given the nature of the way things work in the Linux world though, If you are trying to sell me a product that already exists in open form, it had better be much better designed or supported than open source alternatives. It had better have good documentation too, or I'll just puzzle through the piss-poor excuse for documentation that comes with many (if not most) open source projects instead.

People will buy software....

[duffbeer703]

If there is a compelling reason to do so. Lots of people have bought programs like Oracle or VMWare for Linux.

Expecting to sell an instant messenger to anyone is a different story. You have low-to-no cost competition from Lotus, Microsoft Exchange and Jabber.

Instant messenging is a mature product that has already begun to consolidate into a few big players.

Server and client Linux

[martin]

Perhaps is the server AND the client were available for GNU/linux you'd have a better chance.

Also providing a cut down 'free for ever' version would help get it through the front door.

???

Perception of free

[sql*kitten]

Users on each end of the computer knowledge spectrum associate any and everything Linux with free. Even when we tried to get people to beta test it for us they said, 'It runs on Linux so why isn't it free?' Another comment from a reporter in response to our telling him of our Linux release was 'So it is open source then right?

I think this might be an "urban legend", or perhaps your choice of sample for your researched was biased in some unintentional way. For example, Oracle is available on Linux, and it's very much a pay-for product. Oracle, as far as I know, haven't come under any serious pressure to make the Linux version free (speech or beer) - at least not any freer than it is on any other platform. I don't think anyone seriously expects MATLAB or Houdini or any other serious application to be free on Linux either.

If you face any expectation of no-cost it's most likely because MSN, ICQ, AIM and all the rest are free. You're better off positioning your product as something other than IM/chat and selling it on what it does that free chat doesn't.