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Matt Asay on the Status of OSS
OSS_ilation writes "An interview with OSBC director Matt Asay at SearchOpenSource.com gives some insight into where open source software (OSS) has been, is today, and where it hopes to be in the future. A common trend identified by Asay in the interview is that OSS has become very profitable. Asay also touched on the hot-button issue of where the GPL is headed, as well as how open source vendors shouldn't let high download rates give them a big head about the real validity of their projects."
If people use it, you can make money from it.
:-)
If people download it, it does not mean they are using it.
Funny, but I already knew that. Now I just have to find something people will use besides Video Fish
In the week that Nessus went closed source, spitting in the face of all those who helped the project thinking it was free software, let's hope that the Gnessus project (based on the last Free version of Nessus) takes off, and that the continuing-Free Snort and Nmap continue to flourish. The progress of Sourcefire and Snort will be particularly interesting to compare with that of Tenable (Renaud's company) since Marty Roesch has been clear that Sourcefire (his company) being bought by Checkpoint won't affect Snort, which will continue to be Free software under the GPL.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Just because someone downloads music, doesn't mean they listen to the crap...
Proof by very large bribes. QED.
[I did RTFA, though it's entirely possible I missed something.]
Mr. Asay did not clarify the distinction between revenue from product sales and revenue from support and other services. He mentioned Red Hat as an example of an OSS company that is making money, but he didn't indicate how much of that money came from selling RHEL and other products vice the consulting, etc. that RH also offers. He alludes to it briefly when he says "OSS has trended toward examples like the Red Hat Network and the MySQL network" but leaves it at that.
This is not a slam on Asay, btw; it's just something I thought would make the article more useful.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
I agree, nobody should be forced to contribute to an open source project. But then again, I think there is a certail level of honour that the developers of a larger project (such as KOffice or KDE) must show. That's not to say that they have to suck up to their users, or anything of that sort. What they should not do, however, is blatantly insult users in public while mentioning their contributions to said projects.
There's a minimum standard, and that particular developer sunk below it in that particular instance. Intentional or not, it did reflect poorly on the entire project, including all of those individuals who have been extremely helpful in the past. If anything, such insults are more disrespectful to those with the KDE project who have helped built its fantastic image, rather than to the person the insults were directed towards.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
The fact that it's moderated +5 shows that professionalism is a concept that many in the open source community fail to grasp. Now, that doesn't surprise me in a way. The community itself has academic roots, and many members do not have the experience necessary to understand professionalism.
If you follow that particular discussion back far enough, you would clearly see that that KOffice developer was incorrect with respect to his basic points. Follow it forwards and you'll see him blame his inappropriate behaviour on a headache. Either way, such behavior is inexcusable. It shouldn't fly here, and it would never fly in a business setting.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
*LOL*
And true professionalism means telling an idiot when he's being an idiot, not yes-manning the customer because they're the customer. That's what unscrupulous profiteers do.
What fuckin job do you have buddy?
In the -real world- where us real people with real jobs live and work, we do what our unscrupulous profiteer bosses tell us to do or we become fired in a fast and unpleasent way. Our customers are very often total idiots, they don't know their hands from their asses, but if we told them that, they'd call up our bosses and complain -- and boom -- your fired. The customer will occasionally get a retarded idea you just have to let him implement his stupidity before he realizes the error of his ways. Then, and only then, can you implement the correct way without losing your job.
Thats the way things work in reality. "Professionalism" as you describe it, is a luxury of upper management, the rest of us have to content ourselves with the knowledge that we are doing the best we can with the bullshit that we have.
--SD
"Computers will never truly be free until the last windows user is strangled with the entrails of the last mac user."
When more than a select few companies (only three listed) prove to be capable of pulling a profit, then I'd call it a trend. But considering that most open source development teams pursue their software with little to no financing, it's far too early to even call this a trend. I'd call this the beginnings of a foundation that may begin to include other viable open source products.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.