Re: [TCLUG:17767] Open Source Article

[<Nick.T.Reinking@supervalu.com>]

Last I checked, SGI's stock was at 6 1/2 - down from 40, which it was
at just five years ago.  IBM isn't desperate - but that's because they
are the biggest service/support agency in the world, and people think of
IBM when they think of service and support.  I don't know anybody (at least
at SUPERVALU, 99 on Fortune 500) that thinks "LinuxCare" when it comes to
support.  IBM made a lot of money selling _products_ for a long time (they
still do), and just recently have they really started transitioning into
a services company.  I don't think that IBM makes any money from selling
AIX - they make money selling big mainframes and supporting them (and that's
because there aren't many that support IBM mainframes).  Corel, as you noted,
is definitely desperate.  Apple is not that desperate anymore, and they
haven't embraced OSS for much (maybe when I see the source to Quicktime, eh?).
VA isn't desperate, but I'm noting that their stock is at 50 - down from
320.  I suspect they'll be more desperate when their stock drops a bit
farther.  And VA, AFAIK, is more known for selling low to mid-range servers,
not for their support.

Looking at OSS, I see a few really big successes.  Linux.  Apache.  Samba.
GIMP.  But you know, I'm just a little developer - I work on OSS projects.
But you know, I've never gotten a call from anybody offering me $$$ to
support my products.  But they do use them.  So if I had charged for the
product, I might have gotten some money.  But I don't so I have _no_ money.
It works the same way for corporations as it does for me.

If Adobe open sourced Photoshop, would you pay Adobe $500/user for support?
Honestly?  Or would you just buy it off of CheapBytes for $2, and chuckle
at Adobe because you get something for nothing, and Adobe only loses out?

Nick Reinking

>Is SGI really that desperate? Is IBM desperate? Didn't I hear somewhere
>that "AIX is a stepping stone to Linux"? Corel desperate? Yes
>(Microsoft's fault mostly). Apple desperate? Usually. :) VA desperate? Not
>nearly -- not with their market cap. ;)
></nitpicks>