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What Would You Do With Open.org?
itwbennett writes "The Linux Fund recently bought the open.org domain at auction for an undisclosed sum. Now begins the challenge of doing something with it — something that generates enough revenue to be self-sustaining."
A repository of knock spells? Sure to be a winner!
What is more open than goatse?
1. Buy domain
2. ??
3. Profit!!
Porn. no better option.
Something like the Mac App Store, but cross platform and accepting only open source submissions. Take a 30% cut of paid downloads.
Shouldnt they have a clue what they will do with the domain before blowing money into the wind?
something that generates enough revenue to be self-sustaining
Like capable of generating $30 per month ? Seems hard.
It would be great if open.org was a place to find not just software but other types of open source content and resources that could be used creatively with open software. I'm thinking of sites like the Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org), freesound.org, and the like.
Twenda Learning: Educational Apps that Engage.
Start something that promotes open software, open ideas, and open standards. Take on Microsoft and other companies head on. Show people what quality software and open standards do for everyone.
That's what I'd do.
This is a sig. Deal with it.
A free, open source "app store", of course! A database with open source programs (similar to the Ubuntu Software Centre), but including windows programs. With systems to search for, rate and review open source applications, with screen shots, installation instructions and everything. I cannot think of anything more useful than that. This is easily self-sustaining if they did not spend more than $1000 on the domain. If they did, the best option is to sell it and buy a cheaper domain name.
I would immediately counter by selling close.org.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I own neutrality.org. If any readers would be interested in assisting me in fighting the good fight, please drop me a note at ideas@neutrality.org. My intent is to use this to promote network neutrality, and not to make a quick buck.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
I think there needs to be a fresh new marketing campaign that reintroduces the concept of open source software to people (including the geeks) because it seems that a lot of the efforts have fizzled out or become misunderstood by the latest generation.
you forgot about the "undisclosed sum" that they had to pay up front...
Part of the "problem" with open source is that only us geek types give a damn about it. Average joe doesn't care about how "open" what he's buying is, which is why people continue to buy closed systems without a second thought.
Open.org could be the face of open platforms. Get a nice logo and some sort of catchy slogan "Approved by Open.org - your software, how you want it" or something. So when Microsoft releases a new "open" standard that isn't actually that open, open.org could be the ones fighting to make it as open as possible, supporting a truly open alternative, keeping things that are supposed to be open, but aren't, in check (I'm looking at you, Oracle) and generally educating the masses on why being open is "cool" and why they should care, as well as encouraging companies to open up their products more.
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
Isn't that what it is all about? Trying to find a community that is dedicated to open source projects and finding out about the projects they are working on? Make it easy to get on their CSV and contribute.
There are so many OSS/FOSS repositories out there. I'd love to see them help foster the copyleft movement and get a directory of creative commons art, audio, video, and ui elements. It would both benefit Linux itself, and attract high traffic for people looking for stock photos etc. thus, ad revenue.
snapshot index from wayback machine, from a few years ago, the shutting down notification page.
So, why not the Open Public Education Network? It's self-referential, same as Linux Is Not Unix, or Gnu's Not Unux.
For individuals or for business, the site could offer alternatives and/or solutions to common problems. It can also promote open standards for others to follow.
e.g. replacement Office suite = Libre Office, ProTools = Audacity, SAP ERP = OpenTaps, OpenBravo, etc.
You can setup case studies to advocate the use of open source software and solutions.
This wouldn't just apply to software. You can also throw in hardware designs too (I'm thinking Arduino stuff).
A source of income could be companies that advertise on the site, offering their expertise in setting up open source business systems.
Construct the Open Manifesto.
Open government, open code -- open philosophy.
Open honesty between all humans. Truth: you are all bags of carbon and mostly water.
Reality: We need to become completely open if we hope to achieve a successful deep space program with multigenerational stability, and save our species from extinction, which will happen unless we all work together towards a multigenerational goal of continuing the species.
Governments are corrupt. Politicians lie to get votes, even good ones. That can't be allowed anywhere for the open philosophy to prevail.
We must hunt down and expose all those who wish to hide secrets. Off with their heads! (I mean: revoke their parking pass for a week).
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
A single site to register open source software developers. It would work like a temp agency -- you pay the developer $30/hour, the hiring company pays you $45/hour. There may be something else out there but it would be nice to have a central community for hiring experts on Plone, Python, Drupal, Graphic Design, MySQL, Postgres, etc. Something that showcases their resumes, portfolio, photos of their mom's basement, etc.
A list of all the companies that support open standards and are heros of freedom and democracy.
and a list of all the closed and abusive standards and the companies that force them upon society, exposing them as the terrorists and haters of humanity they are.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
It doesn't have to be - MIT is doing nice stuff with their opencourseware. Of course, that's not as interesting to the masses as re-shooting the Harper Valley PTA TV series would be.
Make a database on it containing all open standards, like pdf, odf, HTML, etc. But not OOXML. I bet even MS will not ask to have it on there.
-- Cheers!
Use it to market the value of open source. Perhaps feature a whole section with tips on switching and cover the basic challenges a user might face. A resource where new users aren't going to be judged for their ignorance about Linux.
A domain like this shouldn't be wasted catering to a community already sold on the concept.
What does "self-sustaining" mean? Obviously, there is the cost of hosting the site and maintaining the domain registration, but that isn't a lot of money. Is $20/month on the conservative side really that hard to get? Recouping the cost of purchasing the website is a different issue, but that money has already been spent.
In this context "self-sustaining" means able to generate enough income to pay off the huge bank loan involved in buying the domain with enough left over to pay for a few 100K a year salaries for management staff who don't work more than an hour a week. It's a dot-com bubble concept.
Additionally, you could even charge people a nominal yearly fee for access as what you would be creating is an online knowledge base for support and trouble shooting of just about every open source project in the world. This would be WORTH a monthly/yearly fee and most companies would gladly pay a small 'per license fee' or one lump sum fee just for the support.
Considering the route Canonical is going, you could easily work out an agreement with them more than likely (as long as they got THEIR cut) and eventually expand into phone support allowing those with most accurate records to be called via a voip number which would be routed through a web interface (thus allowing logging of times and handling of availability).
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
Make a site that is a great resource to all things Open. Not just software or hardware, but open culture, architecture, design, access, etc. Be educational yet very handy so as to better inform and enthuse users as to what communities and resources are out there and how they can participate, either globally or locally. Be a hub site to help join the dots and frame how fantastic the idea of Open is.
MilkMiruku
Before you read what I would do, I want to state that openness, to me, does not just mean open source. Openness is a moral value. Openness in its best form is absolute honesty, with your users and your administrators, with your friends and family. Openness in its worst form is Wikileaks (which I don't think is a bad thing), or in another word, controversial. When software is open, it is open to change, it is open to criticism, it is open to becoming better than it is, and it is open to others' differences. When a person is open, that person has the same qualities.
The open source community is intelligent and idealistic. It is also fragmented and childish. A central domain like Open.org is the perfect place to bring people together in such a way as to establish openness as a strong moral value with a strong cultural backing. If I were to do something with Open.org, and I were a large organization that could pull this off, here's what I would do:
I just hope that this comment isn't lost under 200 other comments on Slashdot. I am a web developer and I would be willing to help make this a reality.
I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
So was it purchased at a public auction or for an undisclosed amount? Unless you have some weird auctions in Oregon it would be difficult not to disclose the amount.