01.30.07
Open Source into the Chasm?
Open Source Software (OSS) has been getting a lot of “traction” as of late, but is the concept destine to fall into the Chasm (see Crossing the Chasm), like so many other cutting edge technologies?
Alright, I admit, OSS is not so much a cutting edge technology as it is a business model. Business model you scoff? “Open Source is about efficient development, collaboration, distributed systems, separation of labor”, HAH! The GPL (GNU Public License) is a distribution license, and therefore, until you start to distribute the code, well, er, it’s just code - nothing tremendously exciting there. But there in lies the rub!
That nasty fourth “P”
Ask any student of Kotler’s Marketing Fundamentals and you’ll hear discussion of the four P’s of Marketing:
- Product;
Price;
Promotion, and
Place
Place?…Place?…. OK so Place ends up to be Distribution, as in Distribution Channels; and so goes the fate of Marketing’s “redheaded step child” (apologies to any real redheaded step children): always neglected and never understood.
The distribution channel (herein, The Channel) is where the money moves from the buyer to the seller (herein, The Transaction). The Channel, therefore, is inextricably linked to cash flow and as you might imagine, disintermediation - cutting out “The Middleman” - really upsets the middleman which typically upsets your cash flow.
Money fer-nothin?
To the casual observer, The Channel - much like a wooden boat - is an obsession you pour money into. In practice, however, The Channel provides “local-knowledge” of the business landscape, which in the Enterprise world (as in trying to get your product/service into the corporate world) translates into “understanding the internal politics” or better stated “career preservation”.
Career Preservation - (k
v
r-y
r-ass) v.
1. Flying under the radar.
2. Staying off the road-less-travelled.
3. The act of minimizing the PERCEPTION of what you did wrong.
The Channel (and Marketing in general) is all about perception. Vis-à-vis the old adage, “no one ever got fired buying from… (place your favorite Enterprise vendor here: IBM or Microsoft or Oracle or SAP)”. These companies have invested hundred-of-millions of dollars marketing their brand; boosting career preservation by minimizing negative perception and in doing so facilitating The Transaction. And (all together now) The Transaction is where the “R” meets the “I” as in ROI.
But what does all of this have to do with Open Source?
Why can’t Johnny read?
So if you’ve been following along at home, you’ve probably picked up on the OSS paradox - if the GPL (and nearly all OSS) is a distribution license and that license often “gives away” the software…where is The Transaction? Right…the GPL has a disintermediating effect which of course pisses-off “The Middleman”.
The OSS paradox often becomes the mantra of many OSS projects/suppliers/consultants banging on the Enterprise door (with bloody knuckles) asking:
Question: if my project is stable; and my price is negligable; and the feature set is rich why isn’t the Enterprise world beating a path to my door?
Answer: There’s no Channel addressing the issue of career preservation.
So what’s an OSS project to do?
If you’re looking for someone to bet their career on your project or service… “I’ll have what you’re smoking”.
tdb
Making a big deal out of nothing (OSS Community, the new Channel )
tbd