Microsoft: An Open Source Windows Is ‘Definitely Possible’
 

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/microso...tely-possible/

M$ finally seems to realize that open source is the future when it comes to horizontal developement (operating systems been the most extreme of them)...

Well, even if M$ does allow Windows to become open source, the problem is.....it's still Windows. And what flavor? XP? :)

This also seems to contradict the approach M$ is considering for Windows 10, where they want to lock the boot loader to one o/s on the hardware....

It's interesting times in IT. I can't believe how quickly IBM has nose-dived, and how they're still struggling with so much dead wood in middle management. The future belongs to the nimble and the cheap, and historically that's not been M$. As more businesses port their desktops to the cloud or run converged infrastructures in co-los, , then you'll really start to see the revenue stream dry up of the biggest players.

Of course, I've been wrong before - I thought VMWare was a fad.....

Isn't "open source" anti-capitalism? just asking!

DL,

I do not understand what is so great about that link you posted. It basically says, "Open Source is Capitalism" but with no explanation why.

Can you explain why it is capitalism?



Please understand I am not saying it is anything else, I simply do not see anything of value in the article.

Dave,
just do a google on 'open source license', which DL's link mentions.

Open Source transforms software more to the vehicle rather than the destination.

OS is beneficial for the free economy and capitalism, since it tends to level the inequalities that are produced by large enterprises, essentially blocking their evolution to monopolies.

High quality and no licensing fees are the main reasons why the vast majority of start-ups are basing their implementations on OS platforms. Keeping infrastructure cost as low as possible is one the most fundamental rules of any business but when it comes to a start up is what makes the difference of life of death. It is not a coincidence, that almost all of the successful giants of the contemporary Web are still using OS, exactly as they did from their humble beginnings and of course this will not change any time soon.

What is great about OS, is that it usually is backed from huge companies (Google, IBM, Oracle, Facebook just to name a few), something that is continuously improving its quality attracting even more small players who will try to get a market slice, keeping pricing low and evolution quick and always beneficial for the end user..

Capitalism and open source software are completely aligned and as time goes by, we will only have more and better OS platforms, while the proprietary vendors will continue to loose ground and market share.

In your post you stated why it is great but did not mention the mechanism of producing money.

How does a small software company monetize itself if it produces OS software for the customer (as opposed to B2B)?

Please note: Not trying to be argumentative in any way. Just need a little help understanding this. I have never gotten how it works.

There are many ways to make money from open source software. Some of them are as follows:

• Dual-licensing
• SaaS
• Consulting
• Workikng as a developer for a funding organization
• Direct donations
• Bounties
• Advertising
• Proprietary Extensions

Recent example of a $9K python bounty:

$9000 bounty paid for Python bug

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9327394

The Internet Bug Bounty

https://hackerone.com/internet-bug-bounty

An example of dual licensing:


Alfresco Community Edition

http://www.alfresco.com/products/community

Alfresco One (with a paid licence)
http://www.alfresco.com/products/compare/details

Example of direct donations

http://www.vim.org/sponsor/index.php

magento

Open Source

http://magento.com/products/overview#community

Enterprise Edition
http://enterprise.magento.com/

Certifications
http://magento.com/training/catalog/certification

Courses
http://magento.com/training/catalog/developers

Rabbit MQ

Open Source
https://www.rabbitmq.com/download.html


Training - Consulting
https://www.rabbitmq.com/services.html

DL,

I am sorry but I must respectfully disagree with the examples you gave. I do not see a single one that shows capitalism in action for anything but a large company.

None of these (as far as I can see) represent a company selling to consumer. They are almost all business-to-business, and a couple are jobs.


Could you see a way for YOU to sell to consumers?