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Looking Back at Open Source in 2005
bhmit1 writes "BusinessWeek is reporting on the open source progress in 2005. Their conclusion: "in 2005, the software movement finally gained traction in Corporate America and saw a new influx of VC cash." Has the shift in corporate america really occurred or are activities like the profitability of Red Hat signalling that the CEO's are still holding on to the old way of business?"
Old way of business = profit. New way of business = ???
Seriously that doesn't make sense. Surely Red Hat's profitability indicates that they have a handle on the new way of doing business.
IBM learned long ago that ongoing support generates a constant revenue stream.
That lesson was not lost on Novell, Redhat and I believe Ubuntu is following the same path
I think that we will see the application services and support companies running up the revenue stream. However, it takes talented people to seed this activity; one with a proven track record. I have been told that a VC looks briefly at the business plan, just to see it is thorough, knowing full well that as soon as the business opens it's doors, that plan will change as the prime movers identify the hot market needs.
So the quality of the people in the enterprise, and their successes is what gathers the most attention from the VC. It is the people that will make or break the business.
This is progress?
Office suites are a bad idea. MS Office is proof of that; it's the best product in its category, but it still really really sucks.
I hate comparisons like this. They are so useless. It's like saying the Babylonians were the best mathematicians in their day, but they were really, really stupid. Or the Germans were the best physicists in their day, but they were really, really bad at physics.
You can gain no insight whatsoever with such a statement.