OPEN Sauce

Web 2.0 Business Models Discussions

2008-05-08T17:35:00.004+02:00

Am looking into how Web 2.0 apps make money... found these interesting descriptions:

1. http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2005/12/01/web-business-models - Ken Yarmosh maintains that 'There are mainly two Web 2.0 business models today, one based on technology and the other on network effects':

i. 'The technology business model is one primarily based around innovation, offering a compelling value proposition not available elsewhere. These services are extremely useful and can be fully utilized without any investment on the part of a user. Bells and whistles, however, are only available as premium or pro upgrades.'

ii. 'The network effects business model is one primarily based on user base and user interaction. Like its counterpart, technology is key for this model but it is not the focus. Instead, technology is important as an infrastructure tool, facilitating the business models of these companies.
Of course, in any network effects business model, the idea behind Metcalfe's law comes into play - the total value of the service is roughly proportional to the square of the number of customers' utilizing the service. So for MySpace, if Suzy Q could not connect to Betty B or John S but might be able to do so on another network, she might leave.'

Also like these presentations on what it takes to make money in the blogosphere:

2. http://www.slideshare.net/mathowie/making-money-blogging Making Money Blogging

3. http://www.slideshare.net/yizmo/10-ways-to-a-killer-blog/ - 10 Ways to a Killer Blog

4. http://www.slideshare.net/darmano/conversation-by-design?src=related_normal&rel=7780 - Conversation By Design

How OPEN Source Disrupts Traditional Economics

2008-04-20T18:21:00.002+02:00

Really enjoyed this video snippet of Law professor Yochai Benkler explaining '..how collaborative projects like Wikipedia and Linux represent the next stage of human organization. By disrupting traditional economic production, copyright law and established competition, they're paving the way for a new set of economic laws, where empowered individuals are put on a level playing field with industry giants..'

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Hmmmm.....the thinking and the thunked ;-)

2007-07-10T22:12:00.001+02:00

Now where have I heard that before??

Suddenly there are a proliferation of open source social networking systems out there.

I wonder what the "real" motivation is behind the sudden surge to make your code available to the world?? ......

Looking to get the code sorted out for free perhaps?

Once again the trend seems to be moving rapidly towards sites looking to create the "killer" database ... rather than the "killer" application. Now we've seen the aggregator of "IM" sites in meebo and now there's Mugshot
the open source aggregator of social networking sites.

Where is this all going? Are the creators of software solutions once again trying to give commerce technological answers to questions that have not been asked?? A mistake I believe the original creators of the "CRM" (Customer Relationship Management) systems made.

If this is true?! then what is the "killer" app? Why are supposedly smart investors pouring millions of "angel" & VC dollars into buisnesses than have NO visible or identifiable revenue generating ideas, plans or hopes?

How many amazons, ebays, ICQ's, etc. are there out there?

MSN's 25 Web Sites to Watch

2007-06-23T18:48:00.000+02:00

See 25 Web Sites to Watch... these links discussed:

1. www.popfly.com - easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications. Popfly consists of two parts:

1Popfly Creator is a set of online visual tools for building Web pages and mashups.
2Popfly Space is an online community of creators where you can host, share, rate, comment and even remix creations from other Popfly users.

What’s Microsoft’s motivation for releasing Popfly - FREE?

A. Popfly is another piece in our company-wide outreach in helping non-professional developers build everything from Xbox games to Robotics to custom Web applications using Windows Home Server. Popfly becomes the online home for building and sharing all types of non-professional projects, from static Web pages to mashups, to game mods.

2. www.circleup.com - With CircleUp you can email or IM a question to a group of any size and get back a single result with everyone's answer.

3. http://pbwiki.com/ - PBwiki lets you quickly set up your own free, hosted, password-protected wiki to edit and share information. It's as easy as a peanut butter sandwich.

4. Yodio

How the "BIG" players are using the Open Source concept

2007-06-01T11:15:00.000+02:00

I've just received this email from IBM:

"Open source not only offers potential benefits like flexibility and cost savings, it also offers potential challenges like support and maturity. See how these new open source offerings from developerWorks can help.

Webcast: Integrating open source into your business
Join us on June 6 at 4:00 p.m. (BST) as we explore IBM's unique set of abilities and offerings designed to help you integrate open source into your existing strategy, your IT infrastructure, and your business. We will cover the IBM combination of open source and commercial software offerings, our more than 8 year involvement with open source, and our experience with Linux, Apache, Eclipse and more. This webcast will be available on demand within 24 hours following the live broadcast.

Jump-start your application development with complimentary software from IBM
This comprehensive, no-charge development, data management, and deployment environment has an IDE, a database server, and a Web server -- everything you need to get simple Web applications and Web services up and running.

Tutorial: Develop and deploy J2EE Web services using WebSphere Application Server Community Edition
This comprehensive, no-charge development, data management, and deployment environment has an IDE, a database server, and a Web server -- everything you need to get simple Web applications and Web services up and running.
Sincerely,
IBM developerWorks "

So what's the plot? If these guys are doing this kind of thing there has to be a serious business motive behind it!

Free Cell Phone Calls - WORLDWIDE !

2007-05-16T12:23:00.000+02:00

Innovative SA start-up slashes cellphone costs -
Written by SA Good News on Monday, 14 May 2007

"Three Business Science graduates from the University of Cape Town have set up a technology company that offers VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology for cellphones. What this means is that users of their communication service can make free cellphone calls to other users. They are not only the first South African company to offer this service, but one of the first companies worldwide to do so. "

Read the full story here

Visit the site Here

OPEN SOURCE THINK TANK FINDINGS PUBLISHED

2007-05-12T17:18:00.000+02:00

The Second Open Source Think Tank was held in March in California. A report on the events findings has now been released.The event saw 100 key members of the open source software (OSS) industry collaborating, discussing, brainstorming and developing solutions to develop and mature commercial open source.

Areas of Consensus-
1. Open source and proprietary software models are converging, and virtually all proprietary software companies will adopt key elements of the open source model, including collaborative development, and the building of viral distribution channels.
2. A new open source branding or certification is not needed, beyond the established (Open Source Initiative) OSI definition and approved licences.
There are too many OSI-approved licences, and much confusion over licence terms in the most popular licences.
3. There needs to be a new OSI-approved open source licence that better meets the needs of commercial open source vendors and commercial customers then existing licences.
4. There is a need for a new industry body where the concerns and requirements of commercial open source vendors and customers are represented. Existing organisations such as the Linux Foundation (see previous Tectonic story) and OSI do not yet meet this need.

Areas of Disagreement-
1. GPLv3 (draft 2) is accepted by some but disliked by most. (see Tectonic story on the third draft's release) Many open source companies and customers had very strong negative opinions about GPLv3 (draft 2), and will manage their organisations to reduce their exposure to GPLv3.
2. The Microsoft-Novell deal remains controversial. While San Ramji and Justin Steinman did a good job explaining some of the reasons for the deal, some in the open source community remain skeptical.
3. The future of open source vendors is uncertain. Some were very bullish on open source vendors, but others noted the relatively small number of "successful" open source companies and that most of them were started and funded many years ago. There was also disagreement on what would happen to open source if the economic cycle turned and companies cut back spending on IT. Would open source accelerate due to lower licensing costs, or would it stagnate as companies revert to tried-and-true solutions?
4. Is open source good or bad for the software industry in the long run? Many cited the open source development model as the future of software development, producing better software faster. However, the difficulty in building strong open source business models could jeopardise the future as venture and other investment capital is redeployed, away from software startups.

Read the full story here:

simplify, Simplify, SIMPLIFY ..1 ..2 ..3

2007-05-11T10:10:00.000+02:00

Trevor writes:

From this post - MAD 7. It Only Takes 'HALF-A-DOZEN' Things! (extract below) - I am reminded that it is all to easy to fall into the trap of adding unnecessary complexity to ideas, projects, strategies, et al, that should be as simple as ...1 ..2 ..3

Too many people look to make the simple things in life too complex to understand.

Yes, most often it takes only a few things... 1, 2, or 3 things... just a 'half-a-dozen' things to ensure success in most projects.

I am resolving to simplify every idea, project, strategy I have into a 'simple as ..1 ..2 ..3' graphic presentation.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Want Free Business Software? Just Look At The Ads

2007-05-07T16:41:00.000+02:00

"Forget the mantra of Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff and a handful of other industry chatterbugs that "Software is Dead," and consider an even more radical concept: Paying for software is dead."

"An increasing number of small companies are using free business software that Microsoft, Google, Spiceworks, and other vendors offer that is paid for by advertisers" .........

Read the full article here :

From a slightly different point of view!

2007-05-06T11:08:00.000+02:00

Who says computers are powerful? Check this story out ....
"IBM's BlueGene/L supercomputer contains 4,096 processors, each tricked out with 256MB of RAM. It crunches out 360 trillion floating point operations per second." ....... "The mouse cortex has roughly 8x10⁶ (8m) neurons and 8,000 synapses per neuron."
Mouse Versus Supercomputer: No Contest!

A Biblical Definition of Open Source !

2007-04-20T17:16:00.000+02:00

"A biblical scripture from Matthew came to mind:
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. (Matthew 15:11)Using a more positive paraphrase of this scripture, it's not what I consume that makes me open source, but what I produce. "

Check out Matt Asay's blog here

Freebies?! So where is the MONEY?

2007-04-20T11:00:00.000+02:00

Take a look at this -
January 17, 2007
Meebo gets $9 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Capital
"Meebo is already showing some viral growth. Three months ago the 17-month-old startup had 500,000 user-accounts, today it has more than 1 million. Meebo’s overall funding is now $12.5 million."
Read the full story here:

So, what is getting these guys to invest millions of dollars into these companies that have no revenue model?? Are we going back to the 2000 dot com bubble days?

Take a look at these guys too .... also funded by DFJ amongst others

jaxtr - free voice on your blog & site

"What does it cost to get my own jaxtr account?Nothing! Your FREE jaxtr account comes with unlimited voice messages and unlimited text messages. Plus, jaxtr allows you to send up to 100 minutes per month of incoming calls to your phone in 29 countries (the number of minutes will depend on your country and the kind of phone you use). "

"VCs Aim to Out-Angel the Angels - read the full article here
Responding to the emergence of a new breed of wealthy investor, venture capitalists are boosting their early-stage investments in startups "

Latest Top-Rated PC Freebies

2007-04-14T13:06:00.000+02:00

Trevor writes:

Found this link on MSNBC - PC World's 101 Fantastic Freebies - liked these extracts:

Free email gets a big punt, especially - Gmail - 'The heavyweight champ of free e-mail is clearly Gmail, and not just because it gives you as much storage space as you'll ever need' - and Yahoo Mail - 'We love the interface, which works more like desktop e-mail software than traditional Web mail does.'

Instant Messaging, Voice, and Video - Winner: Meebo

Blogging Site - Winner: Google Desktop - Blogger is home to tens of thousands of blogs, and with good reason. Because it's template driven, getting started is simple; posting is also a snap. But you have plenty of powerful tools here, as well, such as the ability to make RSS feeds yourself, and the ability to create posts merely by sending an e-mail message containing the text.

Backup and File Synchronization - Winner: Mozy - Free backup programs and Web sites tend to give you only the basics, hoping that you'll then pay extra for additional features. That's not the case with Mozy, a full-featured online backup service.

Office Productivity Software and Services - Winner: Zoho - What makes Zoho the winner is that it doesn't merely try to copy Microsoft Office functionality. It's Web-based, so you can collaborate with others on your documents, for example. But the functionality of even the base software beats Microsoft's offering in some areas; for creating HTML and graphics-heavy documents, for instance, it surpasses Word. This is the best and most comprehensive Web-based office suite you can find. Included are a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation program, and a database builder -- and plenty of other productivity applications are being added all the time.
Business Productivity - Winner: Google Apps for Your Domain - If you're running a small business, why pay for collaboration software when this site can give you a lot of what you need for free? Google Apps offers group calendaring, portals for each employee, and Gmail accounts for everyone using your business domain.

Many more great links... check it out: 101 Fantastic Freebies

Also: Fantastic Freebies, by Category

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Open Source Companies Getting Bought Out

2007-04-11T16:11:00.000+02:00

Iona Acquires LogicBlaze for Open-Source SOA" - "Iona's customers are looking for ways to reduce costs, while at the same time seeking to add the innovation and flexibility required of IT to rapidly respond to changing business requirements," said Iona CEO Peter Zotto

And Sun gives it away! Free trade: Sun cooks up open-source storage donation

South Africa's Open Source Drive Gains Momentum

2007-04-06T09:31:00.000+02:00

Some major players in the South African market are throwing their weight behind the open source movement.

From Tectonic News: (read the full article here)

"One of the primary drivers towards open source software is the reduction of licensing costs. Furthermore, the move towards open source software brings Eskom in line with government's strategy to use open source software wherever possible," Lok says

The Meraka Institute takes over the Linux Professionals Institute:

"The Meraka Institute, like the Shuttleworth Foundation, is not driven by commercial interest or the desire to compete in the market," the Meraka Institute said. "Instead, the institute is committed to the task of growing free software adoption in the country." Ceza said the current expansion of free software usage has already led to an increased demand for skills development "which will become particularly urgent in light of the adoption by cabinet last month of a new free and open source software (FOSS) policy for government" - read the full story here

Western Cape Schools start OSS certification:
"Five schools in the Western Cape are beginning the development phase of the INGOTs (International Grades in Office Technology) certification. A platform independent certification" - read the full story here

And finally just take a look at the partner list on the "Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits" list of partners - here

So who says there's no money in open source ??!

Follow Mark Shuttleworth's UBUNTU Project

2007-04-03T14:58:00.000+02:00

Trevor writes:

UBUNTU - great African (South African) word that has gained international acceptance through Mark Shuttleworth's commitment to Open Source applications.

Read his blog on http://www.markshuttleworth.com and UBUNTU - http://www.ubuntu.com/

Also read Lead Story: Mark Shuttleworth and watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke-kel9zOFo

Here's a great no-holds-barred discussion by Mark on Ubuntu - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarkShuttleworth

Finally, - Open Source Conversations: Mark Shuttleworth - http://osc.gigavox.com/shows/detail1643.html

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

So where's the MONEY !?

2007-04-03T14:10:00.000+02:00

An extract from BBC News 6 Nov 2005 reads:

Rich pickings

"The open source movement does not object to making money. In fact, many of these programmers can afford to be choosy about how they earn.

We now have a world that has distribution costs of zero. We have just built a world-wide copying machine called the internet

Karl Fogel, CollabNet
The source code may be free, but there is gold in software support, training and publishing. "

So what??
You might say.
That's nearly two years ago.

Yup - but check this out - from Edward Ort 23rd March 2007

"Perhaps the most interesting question that came up during the session was the one that ended the session: "How much money is being made in the Open Source business?"

Hmmm ....

Making an open source living ..... although this article is also a little old the company http://outerthought.org/ seem to be doing well. They have some interesting thoughts on some of the licencing models being used by vendors of "open source" products. See The pain of open source and dual licensing models and Open source bait-and-switch and here's an example http://www.alfresco.com/products/networks/compare/

And finally - the big boys are all playing the game :
Big vendors give open source added clout

And for the Serious readers !

2007-03-20T18:20:00.000+02:00

Ivan writes:

Read Michael K. Bergman's Open Source Business Models

AND

Matt Asays' blog at infoworld Some ideas on constructing open source revenue models

Deep in Sherwood Forest .......

2007-03-20T16:50:00.000+02:00

Ivan writes:

The debates rage all over the net .....

One question that many people seem to get confused about is that of What's the difference ... if any .... between 'Free Software' and 'Open Source'?

A point I made in an earlier post but never expanded upon .... here's a good definition from eIT.in - Free Software Movement & Open Source

This guys' site has a ton of interesting info:
From eIT.in – everything IT is in Here

As far back as 2000 some major companies were taking the Open Source route - this story should be music to the advocates of open source ;-) ....
Rockin' on without Microsoft

Is the weather forecast for your IT "Bright & Sunny?"

"A Sunny Forecast for Open-Source
Weather.com's move to an all-open-source Web site infrastructure has enabled the company to lower costs while meeting increased capacity demands.

April 26, 2004 (Computerworld) -- Four years ago, Weather.com, the online counterpart of The Weather Channel Interactive Inc.'s 24-hour TV channel, relied entirely on proprietary commercial software to serve up millions of Web pages of maps, forecasts and hour-by-hour weather data every day.

Today, the Atlanta-based Web site serves more than 50 million pages on stormy days, but it runs almost entirely on open-source software and commodity hardware. And since the move to the new architecture, it has slashed IT costs by one-third and increased Web site processing capacity by 30% "

Read the full article here - A Sunny Forecast

And if after all that you'd like a little lighter reading and some fun :) check this out ....

Halloween IV: When Software Things Were Rotten

Open Source STAR Wars

2007-02-24T08:05:00.000+02:00

Trevor writes:

Dana Blankenhorn's site highlights the politics and agendas, and Amateurs vs. Professionals' debates behind 'Open Source' development. Interesting to watch... especially Mark Shuttleworth's influence in this market with his Ubuntu product:

1. Amateurs and pros seek common ground in open source

2. The commie smear against open source

3. Will politics or economics drive open source?

4. Does open source have a political agenda?

5. Less to Raymond letter than meets the eye, or more? - 'Eric Raymond (left) has switched his desktop from RedHat to Ubuntu. Is that a headline? Sounds more like a celebrity endorsement to me. And make no mistake, Eric Raymond is a celebrity. At least in the corner of the computing world called open source he is. People in this world recognize the initials ESR like politicians recognize JFK.'

Take a read when you have a moment.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

OPEN Sauce

2007-01-19T09:14:00.000+02:00

OPEN Sauce - It's been an interesting ride so far.

The debate on open source & free software, and is open source always free and is free always open source, is described in a multitude of different resources all over the net. Trevor has linked a couple of interesting articles to this blog ..... but google these concepts and you'll find massive amounts of comment, arguments, theories etc. I googled "is open source free" and got this response - Results 1 - 10 of about 24,100 for "is open source free" !

An excerpt from the Open Source bLog @ Systemic Logic reads:

"Re: Open Source...Its all about the money?!!
Some news that might be disturbing then:Germany, Korea, South Africa, China, etc. are the countries where there are national initiatives to replace Microsoft with some form of open source product."

to read further go to:
http://www.systemiclogic.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=95&forum=13

Anyway, so much for the theories and their authors if you really want to try and understand these concepts there are multitude of authors, gurus and geeks out there ever willing to confuse and enlighten you! SO ..... down to business ;-)

The Business Developer's Dilemma

2007-01-17T17:36:00.000+02:00

Writes Trevor:

As non-geek developer of the online business networking platform - INNER Circle Business Forum - I am constantly aware of the money, time & effort that can be soaked up by such online projects.

Thank goodness that I have Ivan Andersen - a unique cross between a geek and a common-sense business entrepreneur - as a JV project partner. At least someone now understands my ramblings.

Ivan has taken up the challenge to develop his OPEN SOURCE software development skills by sourcing, assessing, learning and applying FREE software applications to deliver on my madcap business ideas and unreasonable demands. He can clearly work OPEN SOURCE magic in YOUR business too.

Our discussions centre continually on how to make these FREE applications PAY. This blog will share some of those discussions.

Here are three links to stimulate thinking on this topic:

1. Making Open Source Pay— A Developer's Dilemma

2. Interview with Eric S. Raymond on Open Source Software

3. What Business Can Learn from Open Source

Enjoy!

Trevor Nel - Developer: INNER Circle Business Forum