4 ms·

http://www.technobuffalo.com/internet/how-does-the-mozilla-foundation-make-money/ http://www.technobuffalo.com/internet/how-does-the-mozilla-f... While true, y

by aklofas 15y ago

http://www.technobuffalo.com/internet/how-does-the-mozilla-foundation-make-money/ http://www.technobuffalo.com/internet/how-does-the-mozilla-f... While true, your claim that nobody makes money with open source is false. The classic business model of selling IP doesn't work anymore, but there are other models out there. Mozilla being one of them.

davidw 15y ago
I wrote about this a while ago: http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/02/03/in-thrall-to-scarcity http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/02/03/in-thrall-to-scarcity Open Source Software is not a scarce resource: you cannot sell it. Therefore, you have to sell something associated with it - developers' time, the right to integrate it with proprietary software, or things like that.
- podperson 15y ago
  But in Stallman's world no proprietary software is allowed.
  - davidw 15y ago
    In that sort of world, certain kinds of software would be underproduced. Software by hackers for hackers would probably still exist, but why would you go to the trouble of making something user friendly to sell to people?
    - srdev 15y ago
      As I have an interest in video games, the all-FOSS-no-proprietary approach is particularly troublesome. You see very few indie games being done as FOSS, and pretty much zero high-quality big-production games. Proposals for a system of funding game development in a FOSS-only world are.... iffy at best. At worst, everyone makes MMORPGs.
cooldeal 15y ago
>The classic business model of selling IP doesn't work anymore, but there are other models out there. Mozilla being one of them. And iOS will be killed by Android anytime now. Right?
- aklofas 15y ago
  I'm not saying that, that quote is out of context. I was referring to the classic business model as applied to open source, not in general. As long as there is forced scarcity (FARTS--Forced ARTificial Scarcity) in software, there'll be people making money on it.
  - recoiledsnake 15y ago
    Forced scarcity as in tying Windows 7 to a license and OS X to a Mac device that you need to buy? If "forced scarcity" as you call it is eliminated, the first copy of software, songs, movies, will cost a few billion dollars and the rest will be free. After all, it costs real money to feed the designers and coders.
    - aklofas 15y ago
      I'm not saying that forced scarcity is a bad thing. What I'm trying to say is that, if you take a project/business open source, forced scarcity is no longer a viable strategy (you know, the whole free as in freedom not as in beer thing). There are other strategies, like dual licensing (Trolltech [before nokia]), or consulting (Red Hat), or even (yes) Mozilla with their cross agreements.

by aklofas 15y ago

davidw 15y ago

I wrote about this a while ago: http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/02/03/in-thrall-to-scarcity http://journal.dedasys.com/2007/02/03/in-thrall-to-scarcity Open Source Software is not a scarce resource: you cannot sell it. Therefore, you have to sell something associated with it - developers' time, the right to integrate it with proprietary software, or things like that.

podperson 15y ago
But in Stallman's world no proprietary software is allowed.
- davidw 15y ago
  In that sort of world, certain kinds of software would be underproduced. Software by hackers for hackers would probably still exist, but why would you go to the trouble of making something user friendly to sell to people?
  - srdev 15y ago
    As I have an interest in video games, the all-FOSS-no-proprietary approach is particularly troublesome. You see very few indie games being done as FOSS, and pretty much zero high-quality big-production games. Proposals for a system of funding game development in a FOSS-only world are.... iffy at best. At worst, everyone makes MMORPGs.

cooldeal 15y ago

>The classic business model of selling IP doesn't work anymore, but there are other models out there. Mozilla being one of them. And iOS will be killed by Android anytime now. Right?

aklofas 15y ago
I'm not saying that, that quote is out of context. I was referring to the classic business model as applied to open source, not in general. As long as there is forced scarcity (FARTS--Forced ARTificial Scarcity) in software, there'll be people making money on it.
- recoiledsnake 15y ago
  Forced scarcity as in tying Windows 7 to a license and OS X to a Mac device that you need to buy? If "forced scarcity" as you call it is eliminated, the first copy of software, songs, movies, will cost a few billion dollars and the rest will be free. After all, it costs real money to feed the designers and coders.
  - aklofas 15y ago
    I'm not saying that forced scarcity is a bad thing. What I'm trying to say is that, if you take a project/business open source, forced scarcity is no longer a viable strategy (you know, the whole free as in freedom not as in beer thing). There are other strategies, like dual licensing (Trolltech [before nokia]), or consulting (Red Hat), or even (yes) Mozilla with their cross agreements.