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> The author makes a good case against open source businesses, but he indulges himself in a false dichotomy between a traditional proprietary model and open sou
by hodgesrm 6y ago
> The author makes a good case against open source businesses, but he indulges himself in a false dichotomy between a traditional proprietary model and open source.
More generally people seem to get tunnel vision about open source models. The big distinction in business software is not open vs. proprietary but SaaS vs. non-SaaS, with SaaS increasingly dominant. OSS companies therefore need to have a SaaS strategy. You build your own on community OSS projects, supply other SaaS businesses, or use OSS as an on-ramp to your SaaS product.
- dgudkov 6y agoWhat viable SaaS strategy can you have if Amazon can come at any moment and do the same?
- nradov 6y agoAmazon only offers horizontal platform services. There's still huge opportunity in the verticals.
- dgudkov 6y agoCan't think of any vertical FOSS. Can you?
- hodgesrm 6y agoWell you could start with a SaaS-first business model. People are obsessing about Amazon, but the fact is if you publish open source software and don't build an outstanding SaaS for it, somebody else will do it for you. It can't be an afterthought. Second, add IP on top that makes the service easy to develop applications for, secure, easy to integrate with other SaaS services, etc. Amazon gives you a service but for the most part they don't build ecosystems. Third, make it work on multiple platforms, not just AWS. Fourth, integrate with AWS Marketplace and get their reps working for you.