How will you know which page to buy if you can't see it until you buy it?
Erm... you found it on google books maybe - but that only showed you a page or two, so you now buy the whole chapter from amazon.
Who would want to work on the "less glamorous" aspects of FOSS applications like Portability, Usability, Efficiency, Maintainability, Reliability, Functionality.
Thats just part of human nature. When people do stuff for free, they do it mostly for fun - there are some genuine obsesive altruists out there, but i don't think that applies to a majority. Everyone wants to work on the cool wizz bang stuff on a large scale. The buffing and polishing is (a) tedious and (b) often contentious.
But google hiring people to work on OO is a perfect example of a good use of FOSS. Instead of developing "Just Right" inhouse software, companies can take a FOSS application that does most of what they need, customise it, polish it a bit for their requirements, feed the changes back to the community. The company saves n development time. The community gets a (mostly) improved product. Everyone is happy.
The only problem i see with this is what do smaller companies do with the staff they hired to work on the project once it's done if they are not big enough to absorb them. Does FOSS promote outsourcing ?
Now consider some of the secondary factors. People buying a PC with Linux are going to be less likely to buy additional software. They arguably don't need things like Spyware or Virus products, and much of what they want is OSS and available for free anyway. So the chances for upsell are greatly reduced, and follow on sales are going to be less.
Thats a fine nutshell you've put the problem into - abd the solution is right there too. Some enterprising linux distro should create a range of boxed software these retailers can stick on the shelves - not just distros, but individual apps. Design a pretty logo, burn the app onto CD and (heres the clincher) print out the docs (or wrtie some) and stick it in the box - joe sixpack still loves printed docco - and price it at 60-80% of the competing MS product. Pump the profits back into linux development obviously. I presume the GPL allows for something like this.
The problem in giving everything away for free is that people still believe you get what you pay for. If people could see the range of applications available for linux, and the fact that they are all cheaper, they might be more willing to try it.
Hell, stick a pretty GUI around/bin/false and call it Ubuntu Antivirus...
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How will you know which page to buy if you can't see it until you buy it? Erm... you found it on google books maybe - but that only showed you a page or two, so you now buy the whole chapter from amazon.
Who would want to work on the "less glamorous" aspects of FOSS applications like Portability, Usability, Efficiency, Maintainability, Reliability, Functionality. Thats just part of human nature. When people do stuff for free, they do it mostly for fun - there are some genuine obsesive altruists out there, but i don't think that applies to a majority. Everyone wants to work on the cool wizz bang stuff on a large scale. The buffing and polishing is (a) tedious and (b) often contentious. But google hiring people to work on OO is a perfect example of a good use of FOSS. Instead of developing "Just Right" inhouse software, companies can take a FOSS application that does most of what they need, customise it, polish it a bit for their requirements, feed the changes back to the community. The company saves n development time. The community gets a (mostly) improved product. Everyone is happy. The only problem i see with this is what do smaller companies do with the staff they hired to work on the project once it's done if they are not big enough to absorb them. Does FOSS promote outsourcing ?
Now consider some of the secondary factors. People buying a PC with Linux are going to be less likely to buy additional software. They arguably don't need things like Spyware or Virus products, and much of what they want is OSS and available for free anyway. So the chances for upsell are greatly reduced, and follow on sales are going to be less.
/bin/false and call it Ubuntu Antivirus...
Thats a fine nutshell you've put the problem into - abd the solution is right there too. Some enterprising linux distro should create a range of boxed software these retailers can stick on the shelves - not just distros, but individual apps. Design a pretty logo, burn the app onto CD and (heres the clincher) print out the docs (or wrtie some) and stick it in the box - joe sixpack still loves printed docco - and price it at 60-80% of the competing MS product. Pump the profits back into linux development obviously. I presume the GPL allows for something like this. The problem in giving everything away for free is that people still believe you get what you pay for. If people could see the range of applications available for linux, and the fact that they are all cheaper, they might be more willing to try it. Hell, stick a pretty GUI around