Open Source: Intellectual Property or Intellectual Services?

As open source gains increasing momentum, it becomes clear that the revolution is in the business model, not the economics.

By Shirish Netke, Aztec Software

According to Arthur Schopenhauer, the 19th century philosopher, all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Open source is now coming close to stage Three. It has recently gained momentum because it supports the immediate economic imperative to cut cost and has the potential to demonstrate a positive ROI on projects and increase predictability in measuring output.

Open source is not about free software. It is really about a new business model for software services.

Get Ready for Enterprise 2005

The eighth annual, invitation-only gathering of the top 200 software industry executives will be held August 7-9, 2005 in Pebble Beach, Calif. Enterprise 2005 is always the event of the year for strategic insight on the direction of the software business. Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen and Symphony Technology Group’s Romesh Wadhwani will deliver keynote addresses on this year’s theme, "New Opportunities." To request an invitation and find out more about the conference, click here.

The Impact of Merger Mania

Industry experts comment on the spate of recent enterprise software mergers and speculate about their impact on the vendor and buyer communities in this week’s SandHill.com blog.

If you have a post for the SandHill.com blog, email us at editor@sandhill.com.

Poll: Committed to Open Source?

Last week, an European Commission official questioned the genuine commitment of global I.T. vendors to the open source movement. What statement do you feel best characterizes their feeling about the open source movement? Take our Pulse Poll.

Last week, readers gave their opinion as to why H-B1 visa applications have slowed. Click here to give your opinion and see the results.

Learn Service & Support from Tom Hogan

Don’t miss this month’s Software Personalities profile of Tom Hogan, founder of Communidad. The former technology marketing executive is applying his business savvy to the non-profit world by providing health, educational and infrastructure assistance to several villages in Baja California, Mexico.
Read his story and find out what you can learn about customer service and product development from his "representante" program in the villages.

More Podcasts from Software 2005

Visit www.software2005.com for the entire spectrum of event information and proceedings, including new videos and podcasts.

More at SandHill.com:

Read the most important enterprise software industry news of the week>>

Monitor the latest software venture capital deals>>

Size up last week's software M&As >>

See who’s made it to the top in our list of recent software executive appointments. >>

Send us your feedback on this newsletter and the SandHill.com site... Email editor@sandhill.com

Parting Thought

"Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa."
- Casey Stengel

Courtesy of Malcolm Kusher, The Kushner Group

THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR

Sonata Software is a premier I.T. consulting and software services company which approaches technology as a strategic enabler of critical business processes. Visit www.sonata-software.com for more information.

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Business Strategy for Software Executives

June 6, 2005