[PLUG] huh?? commercialized or irrelevant?

[Randy Stapilus]

So, a question: Bearing in mind the overall size and scope and type of  
people who use Linux and open source, notably in the Portland area, *is*  
there a realistic market for an "H&R Block" or "Jiffy-Lube" or "Geek  
Squad" for open source? Or is the community just not substantial enough  
(yet at least) to support it?

On Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:36:13 -0700, Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com>  
wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 21, 2006 at 01:35:27PM -0700, Russell Senior wrote:
>>
>> Rogoway had an short article in a recent Oregonian about Compiere
>> moving to California, and it made Compiere sound like a well-known
>> local open source company.  This surprised me a bit because, well, I'd
>> never even heard of it before.
>>
>> Later on in the article, he quotes Scott Kveton (recently leaving
>> OSUOSL for a startup) as saying: "For this thing to be relevant, we
>> have to commercialize it.  Otherwise it's just a novelty."  WTF??
>
> Scott probably said a lot more than that, and the Oregonian reporter
> chose the words that fit what he wanted to write.  I've talked with
> Scott a little about this, and my no-doubt-faulty impression is that
> he wants to see a lot more commercial activity.  For example, an
> individual or small business should be able to use open source and be
> supported by a well-organized and efficient support services company.
>
> To date there are a lot of inefficient small supoprt providers,
> and large corp-to-corp providers like IBM, but little in between.
> No "H&R Block" or "Jiffy-Lube" or "Geek Squad" for open source.
> Scott's work on OpenID and reliable authentication may contribute
> to the infrastructure such businesses will need.
>
> Compiere is working on small business Enterprise Resource Planning
> and Customer Relationship Management software (ERP and CRM), which
> are also pieces of the puzzle.  The fact that such business needs
> are invisible to most of us demonstrates how non-commercial most
> of us are.  Most of our neighbors are out there buying and selling
> stuff, though, and if we want them to use open source, we have to
> do things that are relevant to them.  Video player and blogging and
> browser plugins are indeed just novelties to these business people,
> compared to making and distributing the stuff of everyday existence.
>
> Relevance is in the eye of the beholder.  To the vast majority of
> eyes, computers in general and open source in particular are just
> not that relevant.  We don't get to define relevance for these
> people, but we can identify it and move towards it if we choose.
>
> Keith
>



-- 
RANDY STAPILUS
Ridenbaugh Press / P.O. 834, Carlton OR 97111
www.ridenbaugh.com