Let's be practical about this. The idea that DVDs will destroy Hollywood's movie industry is simply nonsense. Movies, like almost all other industries in the enconomy, are driven by supply and demand dynamics. If anything, the demand for entertainment is increasing not decreasing. So even if consumers decide that the DVD experience is superior to that of theaters (which is questionable), movie studios will simply raise the price of DVDs until they restore their profit balance. So rather than paying $30 or $40 for a movie we'll be paying $60 or $80. This may actually drive people back to theaters thereby restoring the equilibrium. Since most people don't watch the movies they buy more than once or twice (unless they are exceptionally good) most consumers would be less willing to fork over top dollar for something that is substantially less expensive at a theater. The real reason DVDs are causing a decrease in theater profits is because the cost of buying a DVD for four people (ie. a typicaly family) is equally or less expensive on a per person basis than at theaters.
If worst comes to worst, the outrageous salaries paid to top-billed actors in movies will decline allowing more cost effective movies to be produced. If anything, actors should be paid a moderate salary followed by a percentage of the profits of the movie. If the movie isn't successful then tough luck, if it is then everyone is happy.
As for the piracy issue, most DVDs are bought through large consumer outlet stores like Sam Goody, MediaPlay, Walmart, etc. I have yet to hear that any of these chains is selling pirated DVDs. Pirated DVDs are being bought by people who would rather not own the movie than pay for buying a legitimate DVD. And if piracy were ever to become that big of a deal, then in the age of the ubiquitous Internet, all DVD players will have a modem that would be used to connect to the movie studios server to download a decryption key to decode the movie for playback.
I think there are several factors to consider when evaluating the adoption trends for open source software among businesses and organizations.
Quality: Many businesses make the assumption that commercial software is more rigorously developed and tested than open source software. The rationale here is that a commercial software vendor has an economic incentive to ensure quality and correct problems. There is also an expectation of accountability from an organization that exchanges products for currency. Support: When investing in a mission critical software package, an organization wants to rely on the vendor to provide assistance and support that may be beyond the capabilities of its own staff. This is coupled with a desire for fast response to critical problems - if your company's livelihood depends on your webserver being up, you want to partner with a vendor that can deliver immediate service and support. Integration: In today's computing landscape, software does not exist in isolation - software is expected to interface and collaborate with other packages and components that are part of the portfolio of an organization. Unfortunately, integrating diverse software components is a daunting and error-prone task. Organizations tend to favor vendors that provide installation and configuration support as well as consulting services geared toward integrating their products with the systems they already have deployed. Maintainability: Organizations make software acquisition decisions based on the long-term. From their perspective, they want to invest in a "platform" that has long-term viability. This viewpoint is often associated with buying applications from an established vendor who they expect to be stable and viable enough to last the long-haul. Usability: When a company makes a purchasing decision for a software package, one of the factors considered is whether the software is usable. This includes how easy it is to configure and maintain, the quality of the GUI (if any), the ease with which you can understand how the software operates, and so on. Open source software, is often viewed as being written "by hackers for hackers". In reality, open source software usually IS targeted to the upper echelon of software users, making it more difficult for organizations lacking highly experienced staff from being able to adequately deploy and use such software.
There are many other factors (both real and perceptual) that impact organization decision-making when it comes to open source software. Vendors tend to market their products to corporate decisions makers aggressively, whereas open source software does not. In many cases the merit of an software solutions is less important than the "relationship" between the IT decision makers and vendors. Not all organizations are aware of the wealth of open source solutions available to them in virtually all domains. And, clearly, if you don't know something exists you won't use it.
The reality is that much open source software meets the quality, support, integration, maintainability, and usability requirements that organizations demand. In many cases, open source software is actually better than the commercial alternatives. The free availability of source code makes it possible for the user community to find more of the potential problems and defects than in closed, black-box commercial alternatives. Skilled consumers can actually submit fixes to the community maintaining the open source solution making turn-around of bug fixes considerably faster. Open source software tends to be more compliant with other industry trends and open source alternatives, vs. the proprietary NIH (not invented here) mentality prevalent among large commercial software vendors.
This is not to say that open software doesn't have its downside. The availability of source code makes it possible for hackers to discover holes and back-doors more easily than with closed commercial software. Installation and configuration is often a tricky, complicated proposition. You can't get an SLA for an open source program. Maintaining, integrating an operating open source software often requires a higher class of user or IT professional than shrink-wrapped software.
Organizations need to learn to better recognize and weigh the benefits of open source against its downside. And while there is a place for both open source and commercial applications in the business environment, organizations need to overcome the "false" impressions they hold of open source software and leverage its benefit.
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If worst comes to worst, the outrageous salaries paid to top-billed actors in movies will decline allowing more cost effective movies to be produced. If anything, actors should be paid a moderate salary followed by a percentage of the profits of the movie. If the movie isn't successful then tough luck, if it is then everyone is happy.
As for the piracy issue, most DVDs are bought through large consumer outlet stores like Sam Goody, MediaPlay, Walmart, etc. I have yet to hear that any of these chains is selling pirated DVDs. Pirated DVDs are being bought by people who would rather not own the movie than pay for buying a legitimate DVD. And if piracy were ever to become that big of a deal, then in the age of the ubiquitous Internet, all DVD players will have a modem that would be used to connect to the movie studios server to download a decryption key to decode the movie for playback.
Quality: Many businesses make the assumption that commercial software is more rigorously developed and tested than open source software. The rationale here is that a commercial software vendor has an economic incentive to ensure quality and correct problems. There is also an expectation of accountability from an organization that exchanges products for currency.
Support: When investing in a mission critical software package, an organization wants to rely on the vendor to provide assistance and support that may be beyond the capabilities of its own staff. This is coupled with a desire for fast response to critical problems - if your company's livelihood depends on your webserver being up, you want to partner with a vendor that can deliver immediate service and support.
Integration: In today's computing landscape, software does not exist in isolation - software is expected to interface and collaborate with other packages and components that are part of the portfolio of an organization. Unfortunately, integrating diverse software components is a daunting and error-prone task. Organizations tend to favor vendors that provide installation and configuration support as well as consulting services geared toward integrating their products with the systems they already have deployed.
Maintainability: Organizations make software acquisition decisions based on the long-term. From their perspective, they want to invest in a "platform" that has long-term viability. This viewpoint is often associated with buying applications from an established vendor who they expect to be stable and viable enough to last the long-haul.
Usability: When a company makes a purchasing decision for a software package, one of the factors considered is whether the software is usable. This includes how easy it is to configure and maintain, the quality of the GUI (if any), the ease with which you can understand how the software operates, and so on. Open source software, is often viewed as being written "by hackers for hackers". In reality, open source software usually IS targeted to the upper echelon of software users, making it more difficult for organizations lacking highly experienced staff from being able to adequately deploy and use such software.
There are many other factors (both real and perceptual) that impact organization decision-making when it comes to open source software. Vendors tend to market their products to corporate decisions makers aggressively, whereas open source software does not. In many cases the merit of an software solutions is less important than the "relationship" between the IT decision makers and vendors. Not all organizations are aware of the wealth of open source solutions available to them in virtually all domains. And, clearly, if you don't know something exists you won't use it.
The reality is that much open source software meets the quality, support, integration, maintainability, and usability requirements that organizations demand. In many cases, open source software is actually better than the commercial alternatives. The free availability of source code makes it possible for the user community to find more of the potential problems and defects than in closed, black-box commercial alternatives. Skilled consumers can actually submit fixes to the community maintaining the open source solution making turn-around of bug fixes considerably faster. Open source software tends to be more compliant with other industry trends and open source alternatives, vs. the proprietary NIH (not invented here) mentality prevalent among large commercial software vendors.
This is not to say that open software doesn't have its downside. The availability of source code makes it possible for hackers to discover holes and back-doors more easily than with closed commercial software. Installation and configuration is often a tricky, complicated proposition. You can't get an SLA for an open source program. Maintaining, integrating an operating open source software often requires a higher class of user or IT professional than shrink-wrapped software.
Organizations need to learn to better recognize and weigh the benefits of open source against its downside. And while there is a place for both open source and commercial applications in the business environment, organizations need to overcome the "false" impressions they hold of open source software and leverage its benefit.