It is a bone-headed decision from the customer perspective. No going concern would completely disregard the preferences of their client base in this manner unless there was something more compelling, such as the cost side. From CNN Money in July: "Pachter predicts Netflix's streaming content licensing costs will rise from $180 million in 2010 to a whopping $1.98 billion in 2012." (http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/08/technology/netflix_starz_contract/index.htm).
Netflix is looking at a 10 fold increase in their licensing costs. They can't pass that on to their customers, the demand side is too price sensitive. Their former corporate structure probably restricted their ability to negotiate these fees because they couldn't differentiate the user bases, streaming from physical. The key difference with this change is that this is the only way to separate the client bases into two separate companies.
Their setting themselves up for the 2012 negotiations with the content providers. This gives the two companies additional leverage and could potentially save them $1 billion (give or take a few hundred million dollars) in the process. In the long run, it probably is the best way to serve their customers, and their shareholders.
Unless configured to allow anonymous connections, nearly all communication with a Domino Server requires authentication based upon a 128 bit key(North American versions). The only exceptions are for a server set to use Internet protocols (HTTP, SMTP, NTTP).
So you have to have a certificate that the Domino server trusts. However, once you have been authenticated, the user ID that you have authenticated with has to have access to the server. Server access is determined separately from Authentication.
Still, the Domino server is only going to let you see the.NSF (Notes Storage Facility) files that are located in the Domino root (usually domino\data\) or subdirectories from that. Each NSF has security built in and again, your user ID has to have appropriate access according to the Access Control List on the NSF.
Now, in an environment that hasn't been properly configured, especially one running the Domino HTTP task, it can be pretty easy to crack the server. L0pht has posted about ways to exploit Domino default settings. However, I just don't think that its feasible to crack a properly configured Domino server.
Check out Lotus marketing. Sometimes its a joke, but they've been trying to define groupware for about 10 years.
Specifically, the Notes platform (and it really is its own platform) allows you to rapidly develop and deploy applications that are easily distributed, and tie in closely with the Domino mail infrastructure. Groupware is more than just email. It is more than just email & usenet. It is technology that assists people working together.
Most Notes/Domino application fall within one of five catagories: Approvals, Broadcasting, Discussions, References, Tracking (from Notes Application Developers Guide).
Since they are not relational databases, things that relational databases are good at, Notes is not good at. But is is certainly more than email on steroids.
A disclaimer: Most companies don't 'get' Notes. They choose it just for the email functionality and if all you are looking for is email fuctionality, sendmail does that and probably much cheaper. However, if you are looking for an environment that is very flexible, highly secure, and allows for a whole host of solutions (such as CRM, workflow tracking...) Find out what types of application the Lotus Business Partners build (Synergistics, Ives are a couple) and then you can get an idea of what Groupware can do.
I work in a Notes shop, a pretty big (250+ Domino servers) shop. I've done a few installs, all on NT, but mostly I get the servers once they've been set up. Still here are some pointsers to get you started.
I don't know squat about installing on Linux, so this only applies to what to do afterwards. Also, I highly recommend taking some of the SysAd courses for the Certified Lotus Professional exams. This will at least give you some background with the technology.
A couple of hints with the install that are common to all Domino installs:
1. Use your company name for the certifier. Your best bet is something that is 8 characters or less. Acromnyms work well (like AT&T). Don't loose the password. The certifier is perhaps the most important file in a Domino environment.
2. DON'T USE Notes1 FOR THE SERVERS NAME. Pick something, anything other than that. Also, keep the name short (8 char or less). Just about any character is allowed (even spaces), but I would recommend sticking just to alphanumeric characters.
3. Pick a domain name based upon your Certifier, perhaps even identical. Domino mail domains are different from SMTP domains. Don't put a ".com" at the end. Just go with one simple word.
4. Other than that, go with the install defaults, there isn't much that you need to tweak on the install out of the box.
Once you get the server up and running, you are going to need a Win(95/98/NT) box for the Admin client. Install all three (Notes/Designer/Admin) clients on this box. You have to have the Admin, and the other two will prove useful along the way. Lotus currenlty only supports these on Win32, though I've heard rumors of guys running them on WINE.
There are two directions that you can go with a Notes install. It can either start as a mail server and move into a Mail & Application server. Or you can go the other direction and put a couple of departmental applications and then use it to replace your installed mail system.
Either way, you are going to have to create some user accounts. Notes allows you to import from a WinNT account, but that likely won't be necessary here. You'll use the admin client to create the accounts. It will create ID files with the certifier and also mail files for each user. Use the ID's to install the Notes clients if you are going to access the server with Lotus client. If they are just going to access the server via a web browser, then you just need to create person documents in the Domino Directory, each with a username/password combo.
The server is still pretty useless if you don't have an application to use. You can download some generic Domino applications from notes.net in the 'Sandbox' area. Throw and application on the server and let some coworks play with it. Discussion databases work well out of the box. Notes is very good at workflow tracking and those kind of apps aren't too difficult to develope.
Let me know if you have more questions. Like any other server technology, its pretty useless if you don't have a plan for how to use it. The good/bad thing about Notes is that it is very flexible.
I work for a Lotus BP. We are in the Internet-service industry and one of our major markets is distance learning. Also, the fastest growing part of our business is Web-hosting.
Our biggest area of expertise is with Lotus Domino/Notes. Lotus's products are used in all of the areas that you cite, and in order for them to sell lisences (I hesitate to use that phrase here, but Lotus is a business and shareholder value isn't created out of nothing) Lotus has to remain competive in those areas.
Starting with Domino 4.5 and continuing through the current release (R5, beta available on Linux) Lotus has been making a very strong move into Internet technologies.
Last point, Internet censorship will affect Lotus BP's, which will affect Lotus. None of us work in a bubble.
Mail: -# of users in a domain -# of users on a server.
Applications: -Server uptime -# of documents/database.
Web server: -Flat HTML pages -Domino web applications -Hits/minute -SSL.
Domino does so much just asking for a benchmarks doesn't make sense if you aren't specific in what you are trying to benchmark.
In my experience, it is better to look that the business problem first, then look at possible technical solution and then benchmark those. At least you have some hope getting a reasonable comparison.
One of the fundamental economic assumption is that consumers have perfect information. The sad fact of history is that we haven't, mostly because perfect information is costly to obtain.
With the internet, the costs have drastically reduced, almost to being free. So now information is more widely available and easily disseminated.
We've seen this with music, movies, tv and we will continue to see it with all content. Information will be free. Like water chosing the path of least resistence, information finds a way out.
No social institution, peer group or extra-curricular activity can have as much influence as a child's parents do during his/her first 12 years. I can't overstate how important these years are in determining how a person approaches life.
My personal story mimics many that are posted here. My family moved when I was going into the 5th grade and it totally turned my world upside down. Fortunately I have increadible parents and I was able to make it through all the bullsh*t of my last 8 years of public school.
I went off to a well respected private college and I have now started a very promising career in the Tech Industry. I owe a majority of my success to the loving and supportive family life I had while I was growing up.
I've seen it happen. If kids don't get the support and love that they need at home, then their peer group will become extremely influential in their teen years. There are also cases where some chemical/biological issue is going on with them, but these are few and far between.
The most encouraging aspect of all of this is the word is getting out to the 'geeks', 'loners' and 'outcasts' in HS that they are not alone. There are many who have, and other who currently do, share their same experience. You can make it through. Yes, the HS social structure is much like prison and it make sense only on a superficial level. But the storm can be weathered and there is a rainbow at the end. The 'real world' doesn't operate by the same rules rules as HS.
Schools, society, peer groups, and any public or private institutions will never have as much influence on a child's life as their parents do in a child's first twelve years of life. Those years really are the make or break years for everyone.
I owe nearly everything I have to two incredible parents and even though it is quite a while off, I am going to ensure that my children have every opportunity that I have had and more.
Too many parents don't realize what a huge responsibility they have taken on. Littleton is an example of just how bad it can get if you don't take that responsibilty seriously.
First of all, thank you for replying. My degree is in economics and mathematics (w/ an interest in the history of each as you can tell). But I now find myself working in the tech industry.
I chose the Adam Smith quote because it would likely be the most familiar, same with the Zeno illustrations. I still believe that Economics is more the study of rational decision making and that scarcity is a condition of the environment in which those decisions are made. But you are correct that nearly all Economics texts see econimics as the study of the allocation of scarce goods. I'll continue my jihad on this in another forum.
My point about intellectual capital was intended to focus only on the econimics of information 'goods' and I hope to avoid a discussion of IP Law. I agree with you that the goal of IP law is to restrict access to ideas which, once generally available, are fundamentally non-scarce. I also agree that there are a number of negative results of IP law. (I'm a huge collaboration proponent, it is the industry that I work in.)
I see these intellectual 'goods' as still being economic goods. There is a demand for information. There is a supply of information. The nature of information skews their schedules, but they still exist. With both supply and demand accounted for, we have a market and the beginings of an analysis of what decisions are made and how they are made for the exchange of information.
I'm a little confused by the caution at the end of your reply. I never intended to compare agalmic behavior and charity. Perhaps an illustration of my final point would help. In one of my economics classes in college the professor was talking about how we all are rational decision makers. After the lecture, several of us were discussing the assertion and came to the conclustion that the roommate of one of my classmate is not a rational decision maker and therefore an economic analysis of his actions is impossible. I've reflected on that conversation and I have come to the conclustion that we just were not able to 'think outside the box' enough to account for the decisions of the roommate because if you look at his decisions over time they do fit a pattern, and from that pattern you can predict future decisions quite accurately.
The point of that, as applied to free software is that the software is freely available for a reason. The motives of the individuals responsible may not be immediatly apparent, especially from our perspective, but their decisions will fit a pattern and that pattern will point to their motives for producing the software. Those motives likely won't make a lick of sence to a sucessful business man or a your run of the mill industry analyst, but they are obiouse to others with similar motives (i.e. slashdot readers) who are likely pursuing the same goals.
I'm facinated by this whole discussion and I would be interested in other resource that attempt an economic analysis of any of these topics. If you have any, I would appreciate it if you would pass some along. I'm still working on my own economic model of the Internet and its relevant markets. I'll of course create a web site for this so that my observations will be freely available to all who would be interested (a select group of individuals likely including only my mother, and that just for the pictures of me)
From what I understand of the article, the author it dealing with a subset of economics, specifically with the economics of a gift culture. As was mentioned in a prior post, economic analysis of gift cultures and voluneerism is not a new thing.
The author's premise is that economics is the study of the allocation of scarce goods. Adam Smith defined economics (or polictical economy) as the study of "the nature and causes of the wealth of nations." Since then, the focus of the dismal science has not changed. Economics is concerned with how nations, or other arbitrary divisions, produce and increase wealth. In its basest terms, it is the study of rational decision making given certain conditions. It is always assumed that the decision makers are rational, and scarcity is nearly always included as a condition of the environment.
So scarictiy is a common condition (much too common for our tastes), but it is by no means the focus of economics. Economics usually deals with goods and services, because for most cultures that is what the culture consumes and that is how wealth is made. Good, by their nature, are always scarce to some extent. Services are limited first by the time of the individuals that provide the service (there are only so many hours in a day) and by the number of people available to perform the service (not everyone wants to code in assembly).
In the US we are seeing the developement of new kind of economy. We have moved from the manufacturing oriented Industrial age to the technology driven Information Age. However, the same economic principles will still apply. Reguardless of how much you 'marginalize scarcity' (a rather dubious concept) it will still exist. If you keep taking a small portion away from something, you still have most of it left (see Zeno's paradox's for more on that).
We are left a poor attempt at an economic analysis of a gift culture. The author is correct that with the case of free software, you can give away as much as you want, and still have the same amount of free software. This is because what is being distributed is neither a good or a service, it is intellectual capital. Its only depreciation occurs as the the intellectual capital becomes more widely used/known. Even then, the inheirent value of the intellectual capital is not changed.
Think about it this way, do the works of Shakespear gain their worth from their scarcity? Of course not! Their worth is determined by their quality. Their lack of scarity is a result of their quality, not other other way around.
Such is the case of any idea. Its worth is determined by its merite. The primary reason that Linux has gained any ground on proprietary Operating Systems is not because it is free, but because it has greater merit. The free price has allowed it to overcome the FUD propigated by those with a vested interest in the the longer established Operating Systems.
There are costs to Linux, and other free software for that matter. If you chose to use linux, you are chosing not to use another Operating System, and that is an opportunity cost.
I believe that intellectual property economics is a good model to start with when dealing with the economics of the free software (or open source, or copyleft...) market. What must be kept in mind are the fundamental laws of economics. They are tried and tested rules that have shown to explain human behavior in many circumstances.
We are all acting in our own rational self interest, reguardless of how irrational that may appear to everyone else. Begin here and you start on a strong foundation.
Slashdot Mirror
It is a bone-headed decision from the customer perspective. No going concern would completely disregard the preferences of their client base in this manner unless there was something more compelling, such as the cost side. From CNN Money in July: "Pachter predicts Netflix's streaming content licensing costs will rise from $180 million in 2010 to a whopping $1.98 billion in 2012." (http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/08/technology/netflix_starz_contract/index.htm).
Netflix is looking at a 10 fold increase in their licensing costs. They can't pass that on to their customers, the demand side is too price sensitive. Their former corporate structure probably restricted their ability to negotiate these fees because they couldn't differentiate the user bases, streaming from physical. The key difference with this change is that this is the only way to separate the client bases into two separate companies.
Their setting themselves up for the 2012 negotiations with the content providers. This gives the two companies additional leverage and could potentially save them $1 billion (give or take a few hundred million dollars) in the process. In the long run, it probably is the best way to serve their customers, and their shareholders.
Unless configured to allow anonymous connections, nearly all communication with a Domino Server requires authentication based upon a 128 bit key(North American versions). The only exceptions are for a server set to use Internet protocols (HTTP, SMTP, NTTP).
.NSF (Notes Storage Facility) files that are located in the Domino root (usually domino\data\) or subdirectories from that. Each NSF has security built in and again, your user ID has to have appropriate access according to the Access Control List on the NSF.
So you have to have a certificate that the Domino server trusts. However, once you have been authenticated, the user ID that you have authenticated with has to have access to the server. Server access is determined separately from Authentication.
Still, the Domino server is only going to let you see the
Now, in an environment that hasn't been properly configured, especially one running the Domino HTTP task, it can be pretty easy to crack the server. L0pht has posted about ways to exploit Domino default settings. However, I just don't think that its feasible to crack a properly configured Domino server.
Check out Lotus marketing. Sometimes its a joke, but they've been trying to define groupware for about 10 years.
Specifically, the Notes platform (and it really is its own platform) allows you to rapidly develop and deploy applications that are easily distributed, and tie in closely with the Domino mail infrastructure. Groupware is more than just email. It is more than just email & usenet. It is technology that assists people working together.
Most Notes/Domino application fall within one of five catagories: Approvals, Broadcasting, Discussions, References, Tracking (from Notes Application Developers Guide).
Since they are not relational databases, things that relational databases are good at, Notes is not good at. But is is certainly more than email on steroids.
A disclaimer: Most companies don't 'get' Notes. They choose it just for the email functionality and if all you are looking for is email fuctionality, sendmail does that and probably much cheaper. However, if you are looking for an environment that is very flexible, highly secure, and allows for a whole host of solutions (such as CRM, workflow tracking...) Find out what types of application the Lotus Business Partners build (Synergistics, Ives are a couple) and then you can get an idea of what Groupware can do.
I work in a Notes shop, a pretty big (250+ Domino servers) shop. I've done a few installs, all on NT, but mostly I get the servers once they've been set up. Still here are some pointsers to get you started.
I don't know squat about installing on Linux, so this only applies to what to do afterwards. Also, I highly recommend taking some of the SysAd courses for the Certified Lotus Professional exams. This will at least give you some background with the technology.
A couple of hints with the install that are common to all Domino installs:
1. Use your company name for the certifier. Your best bet is something that is 8 characters or less. Acromnyms work well (like AT&T). Don't loose the password. The certifier is perhaps the most important file in a Domino environment.
2. DON'T USE Notes1 FOR THE SERVERS NAME. Pick something, anything other than that. Also, keep the name short (8 char or less). Just about any character is allowed (even spaces), but I would recommend sticking just to alphanumeric characters.
3. Pick a domain name based upon your Certifier, perhaps even identical. Domino mail domains are different from SMTP domains. Don't put a ".com" at the end. Just go with one simple word.
4. Other than that, go with the install defaults, there isn't much that you need to tweak on the install out of the box.
Once you get the server up and running, you are going to need a Win(95/98/NT) box for the Admin client. Install all three (Notes/Designer/Admin) clients on this box. You have to have the Admin, and the other two will prove useful along the way. Lotus currenlty only supports these on Win32, though I've heard rumors of guys running them on WINE.
There are two directions that you can go with a Notes install. It can either start as a mail server and move into a Mail & Application server. Or you can go the other direction and put a couple of departmental applications and then use it to replace your installed mail system.
Either way, you are going to have to create some user accounts. Notes allows you to import from a WinNT account, but that likely won't be necessary here. You'll use the admin client to create the accounts. It will create ID files with the certifier and also mail files for each user. Use the ID's to install the Notes clients if you are going to access the server with Lotus client. If they are just going to access the server via a web browser, then you just need to create person documents in the Domino Directory, each with a username/password combo.
The server is still pretty useless if you don't have an application to use. You can download some generic Domino applications from notes.net in the 'Sandbox' area. Throw and application on the server and let some coworks play with it. Discussion databases work well out of the box. Notes is very good at workflow tracking and those kind of apps aren't too difficult to develope.
Let me know if you have more questions. Like any other server technology, its pretty useless if you don't have a plan for how to use it. The good/bad thing about Notes is that it is very flexible.
I work for a Lotus BP. We are in the Internet-service industry and one of our major markets is distance learning. Also, the fastest growing part of our business is Web-hosting.
Our biggest area of expertise is with Lotus Domino/Notes. Lotus's products are used in all of the areas that you cite, and in order for them to sell lisences (I hesitate to use that phrase here, but Lotus is a business and shareholder value isn't created out of nothing) Lotus has to remain competive in those areas.
Starting with Domino 4.5 and continuing through the current release (R5, beta available on Linux) Lotus has been making a very strong move into Internet technologies.
Last point, Internet censorship will affect Lotus BP's, which will affect Lotus. None of us work in a bubble.
Applications: -Server uptime -# of documents/database.
Web server: -Flat HTML pages -Domino web applications -Hits/minute -SSL.
Domino does so much just asking for a benchmarks doesn't make sense if you aren't specific in what you are trying to benchmark.
In my experience, it is better to look that the business problem first, then look at possible technical solution and then benchmark those. At least you have some hope getting a reasonable comparison.
PhunkyP
One of the fundamental economic assumption is that consumers have perfect information. The sad fact of history is that we haven't, mostly because perfect information is costly to obtain.
With the internet, the costs have drastically reduced, almost to being free. So now information is more widely available and easily disseminated.
We've seen this with music, movies, tv and we will continue to see it with all content. Information will be free. Like water chosing the path of least resistence, information finds a way out.
Or perhaps you should qualify what arena you are talking about: messaging, colaboration, office suites, development platforms, application servers...
No social institution, peer group or extra-curricular activity can have as much influence as a child's parents do during his/her first 12 years. I can't overstate how important these years are in determining how a person approaches life.
My personal story mimics many that are posted here. My family moved when I was going into the 5th grade and it totally turned my world upside down. Fortunately I have increadible parents and I was able to make it through all the bullsh*t of my last 8 years of public school.
I went off to a well respected private college and I have now started a very promising career in the Tech Industry. I owe a majority of my success to the loving and supportive family life I had while I was growing up.
I've seen it happen. If kids don't get the support and love that they need at home, then their peer group will become extremely influential in their teen years. There are also cases where some chemical/biological issue is going on with them, but these are few and far between.
The most encouraging aspect of all of this is the word is getting out to the 'geeks', 'loners' and 'outcasts' in HS that they are not alone. There are many who have, and other who currently do, share their same experience. You can make it through. Yes, the HS social structure is much like prison and it make sense only on a superficial level. But the storm can be weathered and there is a rainbow at the end. The 'real world' doesn't operate by the same rules rules as HS.
I owe nearly everything I have to two incredible parents and even though it is quite a while off, I am going to ensure that my children have every opportunity that I have had and more.
Too many parents don't realize what a huge responsibility they have taken on. Littleton is an example of just how bad it can get if you don't take that responsibilty seriously.
First of all, thank you for replying. My degree is in economics and mathematics (w/ an interest in the history of each as you can tell). But I now find myself working in the tech industry.
I chose the Adam Smith quote because it would likely be the most familiar, same with the Zeno illustrations. I still believe that Economics is more the study of rational decision making and that scarcity is a condition of the environment in which those decisions are made. But you are correct that nearly all Economics texts see econimics as the study of the allocation of scarce goods. I'll continue my jihad on this in another forum.
My point about intellectual capital was intended to focus only on the econimics of information 'goods' and I hope to avoid a discussion of IP Law. I agree with you that the goal of IP law is to restrict access to ideas which, once generally available, are fundamentally non-scarce. I also agree that there are a number of negative results of IP law. (I'm a huge collaboration proponent, it is the industry that I work in.)
I see these intellectual 'goods' as still being economic goods. There is a demand for information. There is a supply of information. The nature of information skews their schedules, but they still exist. With both supply and demand accounted for, we have a market and the beginings of an analysis of what decisions are made and how they are made for the exchange of information.
I'm a little confused by the caution at the end of your reply. I never intended to compare agalmic behavior and charity. Perhaps an illustration of my final point would help. In one of my economics classes in college the professor was talking about how we all are rational decision makers. After the lecture, several of us were discussing the assertion and came to the conclustion that the roommate of one of my classmate is not a rational decision maker and therefore an economic analysis of his actions is impossible. I've reflected on that conversation and I have come to the conclustion that we just were not able to 'think outside the box' enough to account for the decisions of the roommate because if you look at his decisions over time they do fit a pattern, and from that pattern you can predict future decisions quite accurately.
The point of that, as applied to free software is that the software is freely available for a reason. The motives of the individuals responsible may not be immediatly apparent, especially from our perspective, but their decisions will fit a pattern and that pattern will point to their motives for producing the software. Those motives likely won't make a lick of sence to a sucessful business man or a your run of the mill industry analyst, but they are obiouse to others with similar motives (i.e. slashdot readers) who are likely pursuing the same goals.
I'm facinated by this whole discussion and I would be interested in other resource that attempt an economic analysis of any of these topics. If you have any, I would appreciate it if you would pass some along. I'm still working on my own economic model of the Internet and its relevant markets. I'll of course create a web site for this so that my observations will be freely available to all who would be interested (a select group of individuals likely including only my mother, and that just for the pictures of me)
-Josh
From what I understand of the article, the author it dealing with a subset of economics, specifically with the economics of a gift culture. As was mentioned in a prior post, economic analysis of gift cultures and voluneerism is not a new thing.
The author's premise is that economics is the study of the allocation of scarce goods. Adam Smith defined economics (or polictical economy) as the study of "the nature and causes of the wealth of nations." Since then, the focus of the dismal science has not changed. Economics is concerned with how nations, or other arbitrary divisions, produce and increase wealth. In its basest terms, it is the study of rational decision making given certain conditions. It is always assumed that the decision makers are rational, and scarcity is nearly always included as a condition of the environment.
So scarictiy is a common condition (much too common for our tastes), but it is by no means the focus of economics. Economics usually deals with goods and services, because for most cultures that is what the culture consumes and that is how wealth is made. Good, by their nature, are always scarce to some extent. Services are limited first by the time of the individuals that provide the service (there are only so many hours in a day) and by the number of people available to perform the service (not everyone wants to code in assembly).
In the US we are seeing the developement of new kind of economy. We have moved from the manufacturing oriented Industrial age to the technology driven Information Age. However, the same economic principles will still apply. Reguardless of how much you 'marginalize scarcity' (a rather dubious concept) it will still exist. If you keep taking a small portion away from something, you still have most of it left (see Zeno's paradox's for more on that).
We are left a poor attempt at an economic analysis of a gift culture. The author is correct that with the case of free software, you can give away as much as you want, and still have the same amount of free software. This is because what is being distributed is neither a good or a service, it is intellectual capital. Its only depreciation occurs as the the intellectual capital becomes more widely used/known. Even then, the inheirent value of the intellectual capital is not changed.
Think about it this way, do the works of Shakespear gain their worth from their scarcity? Of course not! Their worth is determined by their quality. Their lack of scarity is a result of their quality, not other other way around.
Such is the case of any idea. Its worth is determined by its merite. The primary reason that Linux has gained any ground on proprietary Operating Systems is not because it is free, but because it has greater merit. The free price has allowed it to overcome the FUD propigated by those with a vested interest in the the longer established Operating Systems.
There are costs to Linux, and other free software for that matter. If you chose to use linux, you are chosing not to use another Operating System, and that is an opportunity cost.
I believe that intellectual property economics is a good model to start with when dealing with the economics of the free software (or open source, or copyleft...) market. What must be kept in mind are the fundamental laws of economics. They are tried and tested rules that have shown to explain human behavior in many circumstances.
We are all acting in our own rational self interest, reguardless of how irrational that may appear to everyone else. Begin here and you start on a strong foundation.
-Josh
"In all things, moderation"