1 / 43

How can we make a living if we give it all away? Mike Taylor Index Data mike@indexdata

How can we make a living if we give it all away? Mike Taylor Index Data mike@indexdata.com. It's not about “Why open source?” any more. It's about “How open source?”. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com. It's not about “Why open source?” any more.

ansel
Download Presentation

How can we make a living if we give it all away? Mike Taylor Index Data mike@indexdata

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. How can we make a living if we give it all away? Mike Taylor Index Data mike@indexdata.com

  2. It's not about “Why open source?” any more. It's about “How open source?” How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  3. It's not about “Why open source?” any more. It's about “How open source?” “Won't programmers starve?” How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  4. But briefly on “why” ... “Six Myths” countered by Ingres 1. OS is a niche IT sector 2. OS cannot support mission-critical applications 3. OS companies do not own their intellectual property 4. OS technology does not offer professional level support 5. OS is unregulated and anyone can contribute code 6. OS software is not secure How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  5. But briefly on “why” ... “Six Myths” countered by Ingres 1. OS is a niche IT sector 2. OS cannot support mission-critical applications 3. OS companies do not own their intellectual property 4. OS technology does not offer professional level support 5. OS is unregulated and anyone can contribute code 6. OS software is not secure Remember, this was Ingres, not Index Data! How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  6. The key question: How can we make a living if we give it away? How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  7. The key question: How can we make a living if we give it away? Because after we give it away, we still have it! How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  8. After we give it away, we still have it This only works because copying is zero-cost for software. Because copying is expensive for hardware, it took people a long time to grasp this. (And even now, not everyone gets it.)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  9. Another take on the key question: How can we make a living if we give it away? How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  10. Another take on the key question: How can we make a living if we give it away? It depends on what you mean by “it”. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  11. It depends on what you mean by “it”. In fact, we don't give away ownership of the software, and we don't give away our time. We just give away a perfect copy. We still own the software – no-one can sell a proprietary derivative. (The GNU GPL makes this very clear.)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  12. So what is the point of open source? It changes the vendor/customer relationship No longer adversarial but in partnership. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  13. So what is the point of open source? It changes the vendor/customer relationship No longer adversarial but in partnership. We make a living by giving you what you want Proprietary software earns money by denying you what you want. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  14. Free as in freedom Free speech vs. free beer. Free beer is bad for the barman, but free speech is good for everyone. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  15. Free as in freedom Free speech vs. free beer. Free beer is bad for the barman, but free speech is good for everyone. (Except George W. Bush, of course.)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  16. Information wants to be free How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  17. Information wants to be tied up and spanked How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  18. Information wants to be anthropomorphised How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  19. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for customers? * No vendor lock-in How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  20. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for customers? * No vendor lock-in * Change the product yourself How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  21. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for customers? * No vendor lock-in * Change the product yourself * No product end-of-life How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  22. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for customers? * No vendor lock-in * Change the product yourself * No product end-of-life * Level playing field How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  23. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for customers? * No vendor lock-in * Change the product yourself * No product end-of-life * Level playing field * Open source => open standards How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  24. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for us? * Our customers trust us (in the post-FUD era)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  25. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for us? * Our customers trust us (in the post-FUD era)‏ * We don't spend on closed-source overheads How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  26. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for us? * Our customers trust us (in the post-FUD era)‏ * We don't spend on closed-source overheads * We catalyse contributions How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  27. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for us? * Our customers trust us (in the post-FUD era)‏ * We don't spend on closed-source overheads * We catalyse contributions * We get to make cool things How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  28. Back down to earth – some practicalities What's in it for us? * Our customers trust us (in the post-FUD era)‏ * We don't spend on closed-source overheads * We catalyse contributions * We get to make cool things * It's just a better way to live How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  29. Perhaps an important question librarians should now be asking their vendors is: “Who are the highest paid the people in your organization? Your salespeople or your service people?” – Carl Grant. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  30. Perhaps an important question librarians should now be asking their vendors is: “Who are the highest paid the people in your organization? Your salespeople or your service people?” – Carl Grant. (Since I am not a sales person, I want the answer to be “support people”.)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  31. So how do we actually make money? * Sponsored development of core tools How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  32. So how do we actually make money? * Sponsored development of core tools * Integration (e.g. with existing auth systems)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  33. So how do we actually make money? * Sponsored development of core tools * Integration (e.g. with existing auth systems)‏ * Hosted solutions (small but growing)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  34. So how do we actually make money? * Sponsored development of core tools * Integration (e.g. with existing auth systems)‏ * Hosted solutions (small but growing)‏ * Custom development How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  35. So how do we actually make money? * Sponsored development of core tools * Integration (e.g. with existing auth systems)‏ * Hosted solutions (small but growing)‏ * Custom development * Support How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  36. So how do we actually make money? * Sponsored development of core tools * Integration (e.g. with existing auth systems)‏ * Hosted solutions (small but growing)‏ * Custom development * Support * Training How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  37. So how do we actually make money? * Sponsored development of core tools * Integration (e.g. with existing auth systems)‏ * Hosted solutions (small but growing)‏ * Custom development * Support * Training * Non-free licences for proprietary derivatives (only works with GPL.)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  38. Software is largely a service industry operating under the persistent but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry. – Eric S. Raymond. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  39. Software is largely a service industry operating under the persistent but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry. – Eric S. Raymond. IBM understand this. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  40. Software is largely a service industry operating under the persistent but unfounded delusion that it is a manufacturing industry. – Eric S. Raymond. IBM understand this. Anyone who doesn't, provides lousy service. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  41. “Do not underestimate the power of the dark side” We will never get very rich through OS. You can only do that by selling the same thing many times. We only get paid for work that we actually do. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  42. The temptation to go proprietary We have tried this a couple of times: * Z'mbol * Metaproxy It just makes us miserable. Showed us the costs of not being open. (But we might do it again one day, given the right product.)‏ How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

  43. Summary * Software is more about service than product * Giving away product costs us very little (probably less than nothing)‏ * This catalyses service contracts * The vendor-customer relationship is completely different in OS projects. How can we make a living? Mike Taylor, Index Data, mike@indexdata.com

More Related