Back to KMD2004: competitive forces

Posted on November 8th, 2006 by Sacha Chua

(This is not even a draft – more like table-napkin scribblings for my article for a class I’m taking)

Although open source can greatly help developers advance in their
careers and provide low-cost, custom solutions for local markets,
other factors discourage local developers from gaining open source
experience.

First among these factors is the lack of time. Most open source
developers are employed by software companies. In a software industry
where the benefits of open source are not clearly recognized,
developers are unlikely to have the leisure time to experiment with
open source.

Second, language may pose a significant barrier for local developers.
Local developers who are not comfortable with English may find it
difficult to participate in most online communities, where English is
used as a common language.

Third, customers may need to be educated about the benefits and risks
of open source. Customers may prefer the brand name of an established
proprietary solution, or may resist change. Customers who have read
about open source may be too optimistic about the benefits it can
offer, only to be burned. Developers must carefully manage
expectations as they sell solutions to their customers.

Lastly, some actors actively work against the adoption of open source.
This is discussed in the next section.

Open source solutions can directly cut into the revenue stream of
proprietary software developers and distributors. Some proprietary
software vendors adapt by offering open source products. Other vendors
attempt to discourage open source adoption through aggressive
discounts of closed source software, marketing campaigns, and even
anti-open-source articles and advertising.

Use trackers enforce the copyright of proprietary software products by
imposing heavy fines on organizations found to violate the licence,
but do not educate users about more affordable open source
alternatives. This has the effect of stifling the local IT industry
due to higher capital requirements. Use trackers can also harass
companies that develop with open source projects through audits and
other actions.

Proprietary software companies and use trackers such as the Business
Software Alliance also exert a powerful influence on the very frame of
the controversy. The metaphors chosen and promoted by these
organizations are based on physical property and use words such as
theft and piracy. Open source advocates argue that the near-zero cost
of duplication and distribution of software makes it fundamentally
different from physical goods. Because proprietary software companies
have successfully framed the debate on their terms and laws and public
understanding reflect these changes, open source advocates have a more
difficult time arguing the benefits or even the legality of their
work.

Proprietary software producers can also weaken support for open source
through litigation. Patent disputes can scare developers and consumers
away from contested software, or even open source in general. Patent
disputes generally play out on the global stage, but affect the public
perception at the local level as well.

The open source license is a controversial tool. Different actors
within the network attempt to align other actors according to their
goals, and how these actors resist the attempts of other actors.

On Technorati: kmd2004

Random Emacs symbol: message-syntax-checks – Variable: *Controls what syntax checks should not be performed on outgoing posts.

More posts about: kmd2004 // Add Comment »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/4009

On This Day...

2012: Sketchnotes: ENT101: Value Proposition–Joe Wilson — This talk is part of the free MaRS Entrepreneurship 101 series (webcast and in-person session every Wednesday). Feel free to [...]
2011: Visualization resources — One of my coworkers asked me if I knew interesting examples of visualizations. I mentioned quite a few sites and [...]
2010: The story of the shoes at our wedding; also, wedding pictures — Here are some of the wedding pictures: Wedding pictures People found the shoes we wore remarkable, so let me [...]
2009: Made a sofa wrap! — In preparation for Neko’s arrival (and to protect W-’s leather couch from the adventures of soon-to-be-three cats), we decided to [...]
2007: Emacs in the news — I am not happy. Well, mock-unhappy. I’m fine, but mock-peeved. The December 2007 issue of the Linux Journal has an article [...]
2006: Seven pages, double-spaced — That’s what my previous blog posts and this morning’s list of actors come to: seven pages, double-spaced. Add another page for [...]
2006: There’s a reason why I learned Japanese — … and if only to drop in on blogs like this and say hi, those six months were worth it! <giggle> http://d.hatena.ne.jp/KotoriKoToriko/20061103/p3 Random [...]
2006: Evangelism — Taking a break from my KMD2004 cramming to post this cautionary note from an IBM evangelist (see, they do exist): [...]
2006: Strengthening their network — (This is not even a draft – more like table-napkin scribblings for my article for a class I’m taking) Developers who [...]
2006: Indirect benefits of working on open source — (This is not even a draft – more like table-napkin scribblings for my article for a class I’m taking) Working on [...]
2006: Open source acting on developers — (This is not even a draft – more like table-napkin scribblings for my article for a class I’m taking) So how [...]
2006: Blogging away my writer’s block — It is often helpful to think out loud on my blog, where I can be more informal and less structured. =) [...]
2005: Sometimes it’s not just about the jobs you create — Year to Success had this inspiring thought: Success is creating jobs and opportunity. Gates’ company, Microsoft, employs more than 50,000 people [...]
2004: Started on the Debian new maintainer application process… — Debian%20–%20Debian%20New%20Maintainer%20-%20Applicant%20Status
2004: My effect on people ;) — sachac: seems like you and clair have been getting along... sachac: i knew it the moment she started talking [...]
2004: TLUG meeting information — Date November 13th, 2004 (Saturday) Time 14:00-16:30 (doors open 13:30) At Ubiquitous Business Technology meeting room, 3-42-5 Hongo, Boa Building 2F,Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 map TLUG%20MEETINGS
2004: How to use remember-planner — How do you file your notes under specific topics? Like all your short stories are under short stories, right? How does [...]
2004: Really adorable cat! — ../pics/japan/320×240-20041108-164128.jpg We saw this really, really adorable cat on the street. She was so friendly and well-behaved… <melt> Made me miss Neko [...]
2004: Happy birthday, Diane! — Happy birthday to a very special girl friend. =) ../personal/20041108-diane-birthday.wav
2004: Necessity is the mother of invention — I love the Internet. I really, really do. I spent the last hour talking to my family through Skype, a free-as-in-beer-but-not-speech Internet telephony [...]
2003: Teaching and learning: a personal journey — http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/457382.html
2003: BlueJ resources — - http://www.rdv.vslib.cz/skodak/en/bluej/draw_tutorial/index.html - http://www.sleepinggiantsoftware.com/FGJ/tutorials.htm: This is actually pretty cool, as it explains dependencies. I think I’ll use it as a starting [...]
2003: BlueJ resources — - http://www.rdv.vslib.cz/skodak/en/bluej/draw_tutorial/index.html - http://www.sleepinggiantsoftware.com/FGJ/tutorials.htm: This is actually pretty cool, as it explains dependencies. I think I’ll use it as a starting [...]
2003: BlueJ resources — - http://www.rdv.vslib.cz/skodak/en/bluej/draw_tutorial/index.html - http://www.sleepinggiantsoftware.com/FGJ/tutorials.htm: This is actually pretty cool, as it explains dependencies. I think I’ll use it as a starting [...]
2003: Further thoughts on BlueJ and Beanshell — I think BlueJ suits my needs more – it allows people to evaluate expressions easily, too – but I’ll need to [...]
2003: Java interpreters — Miguel Paraz saw my TODO on finding a Java interpreter and he pointed me to Beanshell. I’ve been thinking about using a Java [...]
2003: speechd — The home page of the project is http://www.freebsoft.org/speechd-el .
2003: “The Many Shapes of Tomorrow’s PC” — PCs have shrunk in size and grown in power, but their architecture and design methodology is relatively unchanged, as is their chief [...]
2003: The Very Verbose Guide to Updating and Compiling Your Debian Kernel — http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2949
2003: “It Only Looks Like Child’s Play” — MIT researcher Hiroshi Ishii has long explored alternate ways for people to view and manipulate data that offer more flexibility and simplicity [...]
2003: “Charity Challenges Programmers to Code for Society” — The nonprofit mySociety.org recently launched an initiative to fund low-cost, socially beneficial IT projects that operate over electronic networks. The organization [...]

sacha chua living an awesome life