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It's bad for the business of programming because now customers expect to be able to find a free solution to every problem. Here's the dirty little secret about

by edw519 16y ago

It's bad for the business of programming because now customers expect to be able to find a free solution to every problem. Here's the dirty little secret about B2B software: It's not about the money. It's about the risk. I tell my customers that if they can find a free generic horizontal piece of software that provides them value without risk, then by all means, use it. Then I ask them to consider questions like these: - Is the website up? - Is the fulfillment system up? - Is the phone system up? - Did we get that order? - Did that order ship? - Did the customer pay? - Did the bank get the money? - Did the material get received? - Did we make payroll? - Did we get the best price? - Where are our revenues below plan? - Where are our margins below plan? - What are our numbers for the day? Week? Month? Quarter? Then the killer question: "If we don't know the answer to any of the above because of our free software then who are you going to call?" If you have a good answer to that question, then you may want to consider a free software alternative. Otherwise, paying for legitimate software and support is simply the price of doing business. The risk to your business and its stakeholders is simply not worth the couple of bucks saved on free software.

cabalamat 16y ago
> I tell my customers that if they can find a free generic horizontal piece of software that provides them value without risk, then by all means, use it. No software is risk-free, regardless of the licensing terms. One big risk is you'll find out, after weeks or months using the thing, that it doesn't do all that you want it to do, and getting it to do the rest is costly and time-consuming. > Then the killer question: If the answer to any of the above is "no" because of our free software, "Who are you going to call?" Literally millions of businesses do well using Linux, Apache, PHP, Perl, Python, Django, Ruby, Rails, MySQL, etc without having problems. (My answer to that question is "do a Google search on the problem and find the solution thast way). > The risk to your business and its stakeholders is simply not worth the couple of bucks saved on free software. If you want personal support for your software, you're going to pay a good deal more than $2 for it. And paid-for technical support is available for open source software too, if that's what you want.
praptak 16y ago
Yes, but there are also some risks associated with commercial apps. What if the company folds? What if they decide to stop supporting my platform? Are slow to fix bugs? Having no rights to the source code leaves you in the cold if any of the above happens.
- unoti 16y ago
  You're absolutely right, but this is well covered ground when dealing with smaller software vendors in a B2B environment. Source code escrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code_escrow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code_escrow) is something we would often do when I worked for a company that sold ERP software. The basics of the idea are to give good answers to all the questions you put at the top of your post about what happens if the worst happens. A source escrow agreement makes it so that if the company you're buying the software from disappears, you at least have access to the source and will have a shot at not being completely screwed. Thing is, though, that the source code license isn't really the thing that you're betting on. It's your relationship with the vendor. Your business can be screwed a lot by a business long before the escrow agreement kicks in, and long before they fold. Being heavily dependent on a software company, at least in ERP type business software, is a lot like marriage. You definitely want to pick the right one, and it's all about the relationship. If the marriage goes bad, it can make your life hellish, even if you do have a pre-nup.
  - etherealG 16y ago
    possibly 1 good argument for open source software is that this kind of depedance on 1 other business generally isn't there. most bigger open source projects have people from various companies working on them, so relying on that software is safer cause it doesn't depend on just 1 other company. having said that, this isn't always the case, but in many situations bigger open source projects that are widey used it is.
    - thomaslee 16y ago
      I spoke about exactly this at a recent conference in Brisbane, Australia: http://linuxconfau.blip.tv/file/4697493 http://linuxconfau.blip.tv/file/4697493 Beyond various companies working on an open source solution you have the more important benefit of being able to choose your support vendor.
suraj 16y ago
What if the software supplier goes out of business? I am going to pay for support for any software open or closed source. However, with open source, I can almost always get some support.
- dstein 16y ago
  However, with open source, I can almost always get some support. One bad side effect of the FOSS movement is that customers are now conditioned to expect that open source software literally means free software including free support, free updates, and free bugfixes. So when you do try to build a company around offering support and timely bugfixes people don't think they need it.
  - derleth 16y ago
    One bad side effect of the FOSS movement is that customers are now conditioned to expect that open source software literally means free software including free support Really? The people I know expect free message boards, possibly peopled with the people who wrote the software (why is this not the case in the closed-source world?), and message-board-level technical help. This may well be good enough to fix problems, but you obviously can't build the classic business "Blame Avoidance Contract" on message boards.
billswift 16y ago
It is not really about risk - it's about blame. If you choose the "professional" (whatever that means in your business) alternative, it's not your fault when it fails. It also helps when there is a business behind the product that you can point your finger at and say, "It's their fault, their fault!"
- pasbesoin 16y ago
  The insidious side. When you begin to smell this with any regularity, it's time to check out. (On the other side, I've worked with some people in Big Co. who role up their sleeves, diagnose the problem, and then tell and/or work with the vendor to get it fixed. Those kind of actions make it enjoyable to stick around.)
raganwald 16y ago
These are all great questions to ask about any software that powers a business. Of course, if you are "selling" software on the basis of the question "who are you going to call?", then you have to embrace the fact that you are not in the software business, you're in the "You can call me" business. You're really in the software support business. Everything about your pricing model is really a kind of fiction. The charge up front, the license, everything. It's really a support business, pure and simple. Oracle and IBM know this, and so do their customers. And thus the business proposition as a developer comes down to: 1. If I'm in the support business, writing and selling my own software places my customers in thrall to me. I have a monopoly on support. Of course, that means they have a certain risk since I'm the sole vendor. And I have to develop the software and compete with other vendors just to get a customer for my support business, which has a certain risk. 2. If I'm in the support business, supporting free software outsources the part of my business that isn't my core value proposition, and lets me focus on the value I charge for.
lutorm 16y ago
The risk point is a good one. Free but closed-source software seems like the worst of two worlds, noone has any obligation to make it work and unlike if it was open-source, I can't do it myself either. But does anyone really use free, closed-source software for core business functions?

by edw519 16y ago

cabalamat 16y ago

> I tell my customers that if they can find a free generic horizontal piece of software that provides them value without risk, then by all means, use it. No software is risk-free, regardless of the licensing terms. One big risk is you'll find out, after weeks or months using the thing, that it doesn't do all that you want it to do, and getting it to do the rest is costly and time-consuming. > Then the killer question: If the answer to any of the above is "no" because of our free software, "Who are you going to call?" Literally millions of businesses do well using Linux, Apache, PHP, Perl, Python, Django, Ruby, Rails, MySQL, etc without having problems. (My answer to that question is "do a Google search on the problem and find the solution thast way). > The risk to your business and its stakeholders is simply not worth the couple of bucks saved on free software. If you want personal support for your software, you're going to pay a good deal more than $2 for it. And paid-for technical support is available for open source software too, if that's what you want.

praptak 16y ago

Yes, but there are also some risks associated with commercial apps. What if the company folds? What if they decide to stop supporting my platform? Are slow to fix bugs? Having no rights to the source code leaves you in the cold if any of the above happens.

unoti 16y ago
You're absolutely right, but this is well covered ground when dealing with smaller software vendors in a B2B environment. Source code escrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code_escrow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code_escrow) is something we would often do when I worked for a company that sold ERP software. The basics of the idea are to give good answers to all the questions you put at the top of your post about what happens if the worst happens. A source escrow agreement makes it so that if the company you're buying the software from disappears, you at least have access to the source and will have a shot at not being completely screwed. Thing is, though, that the source code license isn't really the thing that you're betting on. It's your relationship with the vendor. Your business can be screwed a lot by a business long before the escrow agreement kicks in, and long before they fold. Being heavily dependent on a software company, at least in ERP type business software, is a lot like marriage. You definitely want to pick the right one, and it's all about the relationship. If the marriage goes bad, it can make your life hellish, even if you do have a pre-nup.
- etherealG 16y ago
  possibly 1 good argument for open source software is that this kind of depedance on 1 other business generally isn't there. most bigger open source projects have people from various companies working on them, so relying on that software is safer cause it doesn't depend on just 1 other company. having said that, this isn't always the case, but in many situations bigger open source projects that are widey used it is.
  - thomaslee 16y ago
    I spoke about exactly this at a recent conference in Brisbane, Australia: http://linuxconfau.blip.tv/file/4697493 http://linuxconfau.blip.tv/file/4697493 Beyond various companies working on an open source solution you have the more important benefit of being able to choose your support vendor.

suraj 16y ago

What if the software supplier goes out of business? I am going to pay for support for any software open or closed source. However, with open source, I can almost always get some support.

dstein 16y ago
However, with open source, I can almost always get some support. One bad side effect of the FOSS movement is that customers are now conditioned to expect that open source software literally means free software including free support, free updates, and free bugfixes. So when you do try to build a company around offering support and timely bugfixes people don't think they need it.
- derleth 16y ago
  One bad side effect of the FOSS movement is that customers are now conditioned to expect that open source software literally means free software including free support Really? The people I know expect free message boards, possibly peopled with the people who wrote the software (why is this not the case in the closed-source world?), and message-board-level technical help. This may well be good enough to fix problems, but you obviously can't build the classic business "Blame Avoidance Contract" on message boards.

billswift 16y ago

It is not really about risk - it's about blame. If you choose the "professional" (whatever that means in your business) alternative, it's not your fault when it fails. It also helps when there is a business behind the product that you can point your finger at and say, "It's their fault, their fault!"

pasbesoin 16y ago
The insidious side. When you begin to smell this with any regularity, it's time to check out. (On the other side, I've worked with some people in Big Co. who role up their sleeves, diagnose the problem, and then tell and/or work with the vendor to get it fixed. Those kind of actions make it enjoyable to stick around.)

raganwald 16y ago

These are all great questions to ask about any software that powers a business. Of course, if you are "selling" software on the basis of the question "who are you going to call?", then you have to embrace the fact that you are not in the software business, you're in the "You can call me" business. You're really in the software support business. Everything about your pricing model is really a kind of fiction. The charge up front, the license, everything. It's really a support business, pure and simple. Oracle and IBM know this, and so do their customers. And thus the business proposition as a developer comes down to: 1. If I'm in the support business, writing and selling my own software places my customers in thrall to me. I have a monopoly on support. Of course, that means they have a certain risk since I'm the sole vendor. And I have to develop the software and compete with other vendors just to get a customer for my support business, which has a certain risk. 2. If I'm in the support business, supporting free software outsources the part of my business that isn't my core value proposition, and lets me focus on the value I charge for.

lutorm 16y ago

The risk point is a good one. Free but closed-source software seems like the worst of two worlds, noone has any obligation to make it work and unlike if it was open-source, I can't do it myself either. But does anyone really use free, closed-source software for core business functions?