Microsoft & Linux: At
What Point Is It Cheaper
to Just Buy Novell?
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MOST READ THIS WEEK |
TOP LINKS YOU MUST CLICK ON Paul Sterne
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I've always wondered
where the word 'oxymoron'
came from. What does
'oxy' have to do with
'moron'? What about the
words 'commercial' and
'open source'; do these
words form an oxymoron
when combined in one
phrase? 
A rollercoaster - as
trite as that image may
be - is the right analogy
for venture capital
investing in open source
companies. And what a
long, strange trip it's
been. 
The beginning of a new
year is a good time to
sit back and reflect.
Where is the open source
movement going? What is
the next frontier? In
2005, we explored the
business models of the
open source movement. We
almost got through the
entire list, though we
still nee...
The other day my
16-year-old daughter came
down the stairs in tears.
She was holding the new
version of the Scholastic
Attitude Test and
complaining that it was
unfair. 
At LinuxWorld Expo in San
Francisco, it occurred to
me that I had overlooked
a very important Open
Source business model,
the Membership Model.
Confronted by a keynote
speech by Stuart Cohen,
the leader of the Open
Source Development Lab
(OSDL) (www.osdl.org), it
...
The central issue in any
Open Source business
model is how to convert
software that is free on
the Internet into revenue
that can be booked under
US GAAP, hence the term
invented by some clever
person, 'Conversion
Model.' The issue boils
down to how to convert
the...
In the beginning, the
800-pound gorilla of
online industry was
Prodigy, Inc. This joint
venture between IBM and
Sears Roebuck boasted 2.5
million subscribers in
1993, the year before
Netscape broke open the
Internet. 
The open source movement
is something completely
new. It doesn't fit
neatly into any accepted
economic or business
theory. For that reason a
lot of traditional
thinkers, e.g.,
economists, business
people, and investors,
are struggling to figure
out what it means. ...
Looking at the open
source software industry
from the outside, it's
often difficult to tell
what is really going on.
To use a string of
clichés, it is hard to
peel back the onion, to
look behind the curtain,
to perceive 'Das Ding an
sich' (German for the
'thing-in...