Making Money by Giving Stuff Away -
“I’d just like to emphasise that these open source companies have all found ways of making money by giving away stuff.”
“Generally speaking, this has been achieved by accepting that the software they produce is abundant, and therefore cannot be charged for directly, but noting that there are associated products and services that are scarce, and can therefore support a non-zero price tag.”
“This is important, because the phenomenon is not limited to software. Basically, *any* digital good is subject to the same pressure to reduce its asking price to zero. We have seen the effects of this in two industries in particular: music and film.”
The one thing that Google Nexus One has over the iPhone -
“The biggest difference between the two is that Google has decided to open up the mobile market, where Apple has created a closed ecology. There are good reasons for both strategies…”
Rethinking Web Logins With OpenID Connect -
“Consider OpenID in the shadow of Facebook Connect, its far more successful competitor based on Facebook’s proprietary platform. Forget that Facebook is much more widely known than OpenID — the real problem is that Facebook Connect is attached to an actual thing you can log in to, a website you can visit, a company you’ve heard of.”
“OpenID, on the other hand, is more nebulous. Your identity… on the web… portable… everywhere… what?”
The BBC's digital rights plans will wreak havoc on open source software -
“Free/open source software, such as the GNU/Linux operating system that runs many set-top boxes, is created cooperatively among many programmers (thousands, in some cases). Unlike proprietary software, such as the Windows operating system or the iPhone’s operating system, free software authors publish their code and allow any other programmer to examine it, make improvements to it, and publish those improvements. This has proven to be a powerful means of quickly building profitable new businesses and devices, from the TomTomGo GPSes to Google’s Android phones to the Humax Freeview box you can buy tonight at Argos for around £130.”
“Because it can be adapted by anyone, free software is an incredible source of innovative new ideas. Because it can be used without charge, it has allowed unparalleled competition, dramatically lowering the cost of entering electronics markets. In short, free software is good for business, it’s good for the public, it’s good for progress, and it’s good for competition.”
“But free software is bad for DTLA compliance.”
Facebook privacy changes are not evil -
Another interesting (but flawed) viewpoint…
“It’s pretty obvious what they are doing. They want search inventory to sell to Google and Microsoft. They want to be as cool as Twitter.”
“I think the more important story is that they are turning their square into a triangle.”
“Google senior vice president Jonathan Rosenberg published a long memo “about the meaning of ‘open’ as it relates to the Internet, Google, and [Google’s] users.”
It’s the biggest pile of horseshit I’ve ever seen from Google.”
The new divide: Walled v. open -
“The new divide in media is walled v. open. Here’s why I think walls are bad for the builders and us all.”
How open standards are created
“Facebook’s privacy pullback isn’t just outrageous; it’s a landmark turning point for the social network. Facebook has blundered before, but the latest changes are far more calculated. The company has, in short, turned evil…”
“Main Entry: fauxpen source
Pronunciation: \fo-p?n so?rs\
Function: noun
Etymology: a term invented by Phil Marsosudiro at a dinner party in North Carolina
Date: 2 May 2009
A description of software that claims to be open source, but lacks the full freedoms required by the Open Source Definition.
synonyms: see open core, neo-proprietary
antonyms: see Linux kernel, Apache, OpenNMS”