Comments on: Open source = market development

Marten Mickos is a very smart man who gets market development, says CNET Blog Network contributor Matt Asay.

[troubpk]

Matt,
Excellent post. I would add this new product distribution model is works effectively because access to the source code allows localization. Another factor is the massive 'partner' ecosystem which gets developed. MySQL has done a great job in building this ecosystem and, like customers, some partners generate demand and revenue.

[Briansdg]

I definitely concur with the article and the above post. The last paragraph of the article couldn?t be truer and will prove to be completely prophetic.

[douglasdooley]

Apologies for another seemingly anti-OSS post, but the reason MySQL was bought is directly tied to their need for more sales and business development resources. Marketing is still needed. Reference architectures, Non-commission system engineers, proof-of-concept centers, and pre-built solutions are all needed.

This whole thesis that if you build it, they will arrive is not true. It is true for a few projects on a massive scale, and most others on a small scale, but the true OSS winners will be business execution teams, that manage the technology at all levels of the value chain. Business has not changed, pricing has.

This is the 2nd post in 2 days that promotes the theory that OSS has it won, and that "proprietary" apps and companies are left to maintain their base, but not to compete. I think this is mis-guided, for there is nothing guaranteed about JBoss, MySQL, and Alfresco's assault on these types of companies, just because they have OSS licenses.

Huge amounts of investment are needed in the business side of managing innovation, and having a rock-star CEO is not enough. All of the things that OSS companies need to do can be encapsulated in the theory of competitive advantage, where pricing is but 1 component. Much, much more is needed for JBoss, MySQL, and Alfresco to knock off the incumbents, and simply following the trend is not enough.

Matt, again, I understand the purpose of your blog, and I appreciate it, read it, and look to it for some of the best info. on the software biz. But it would be naive to think that a certain trajectory assures victory. Would not the same have been said about the trajectory following the advent of the Internet, and be used to argue for Netscape's impending dominance.

Great people from Netscape and great product strategy could not overcome all factors, and it fell. Glassfish, LDAP, and JavaScript, notwithstanding, nothing is left of their efforts. All good, but only a certain measure of success for something that may have once seemed so inevitable.

[jkunz001]

@douglasdooley no need to apologize as there is nothing anti about your post. The fact is that oss companies are waking up to the reality that you can't get away from business 101. While the community effects are real and valuable, they are insufficient to scale. I think you hit the nail right on the head. Well done.