Craig Brozefsky writes: > Is it "The Open Source Acid Test" article by Ted Lewis, or another set > of articles? At least one more article. > Your comment about it possibly being motivated by a erroneous > understanding that somehow IP protected shrink-wrap software is the > only type of software development that matters seems plausible to me. > Whenever I am asked to describe a Free Software Business model it is > assumed that the model is not viable or worthwhile if it is not some > analog of the shrink-wrap software business. If I describe a service > based model, or something else which does not center on the > manufacturing of a discreet shrink-wrap product, a common response is > hand-waving about how it's not viable in the 'real world'. <anti-rant type="inspirational"> The point I didn't make terribly well was that the very concept of "crossing the chasm" (that is, making the leap from the early adopter market to the MIS market) implies that the product will not be a financial success and will die if it fails to cross the chasm. Indeed, the very idea of "financial success" invokes ideas of ROI, burn rate and ventura capital (y'know, Minneapolis) [apologies to non-US readers -- it's a US joke, you wouldn't understand ]. If you introduce a proprietary product too early, you'll run out of money and won't get past the chasm. But a piece of free software -- so long as it solves problems for people able to reinvest in it (whatever that may need to mean) -- will never die. It will always be there on the wrong side of the chasm from MIS, until one day a need provokes someone in MIS to get out the binoculars and say "Hey, what's that over there?? We could use that. Let's build a bridge and go get it." Our job, in the free software business industry, is to meet these bridges halfway. That's all we have to do. And when we do, we get to put a toll plaza on the bridge, and MIS doesn't care because they've got their problem solved. A problem solved is worth a lot of money. I just made $15,000 last week by solving a $50,000 problem using free software. </anti-rant> -- -russ nelson <rn-sig@crynwr.com> http://crynwr.com/~nelson Crynwr supports Open Source(tm) Software| PGPok | Good parenting creates 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | an adult, not a perfect Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | child.