What appears to be too little too late, last week, VA Linux announced SourceForge Enterprise Edition which is a hybrid combination of open/proprietary software, (The SourceForg core is owned by VA Linux.), and closed/proprietary software. This is in opposition to the traditional Free/Open Source position. The open source position is that open source-based software needs to remain “pure” and untainted with “proprietary” software.
Eric Raymond tried to get out in front of the nay sayers with what he calls a “brutally candid” discussion about the decision to go hybrid. Eric tried to position the shift to a hybrid business model as a short-term tactic:
What VA is doing instead is throwing a sop to those instincts by hanging some proprietary tinsel off the product. This makes it psychologically easier for Mr. Middle Manager to sign the check; he can think “I’m buying something real” — as if bits on a disk are more real than the people-hours in the service contract that goes with it. But there it is; most sales and marketing is founded on the reality that people aren’t very rational.
Eric goes on further with the position that the hybrid approach is a short-term thing:
So the real news here is that VA is still about open source — if I didn’t believe that, I’d be off their board of directors so fast it would make your head spin. We’re just being pragmatic about how we sell the idea. Change peoples’ behavior first, show them the advantages in doing so, and their hearts and minds will follow.
Sorry. The real news here is that VA Linux is finally doing what it should have done from the onset, field a rational business model that balances making money with maintaining religious purity. VA Linux must strike a realistic balance between generating shareholder value and fostering global ubiquity. The question is, is it just too little too late? Since I think the new VA Linux hybrid strategy is too little (it has no distribution strategy in place). I am also of the opinion that this move is also too late.
I guess VA Linux shareholders can just be happy Richard Stallman isn’t driving this strategy eh?
Subsequently, SorceForge.Net (owned and operated by VA Linux) tried to make the best of things with this statement:
Dear SourceForge.net user,
VA Linux Systems, the company that owns and operates OSDN and SourceForge.net, has gone through some significant changes recently, and we felt that it was important to let you know how these changes will–and will not–affect SourceForge.net. The Open Source community and SourceForge.net are vital to VA, and we will continue to host Open Source projects on SourceForge.net–now the world’s largest Open Source development web site–at no cost to Open Source developers.
It’s About Time!
[Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "viewDirectoryBox" hasn't been defined.]Moving to a hybrid model for selling software makes sense. This is the way that infrastructure vendors make money.
I have been talking about the Internet Services Model now since 1993. (Previously called the Network Services Model.) One of the useful mechanisms to explain the internet services model is the Craig Burton Technology Matrix.
“ismfig3″
The core of the Internet Services Model calls for a hybrid approach to selling software infrastructure. In general, the upper half of the quadrant stimulates industry and ubiquity, the lower half makes money, and when used improperly, stifles ubiquity. A working strategy for selling software infrastructure requires the balanced use of both halves of the quadrant.
Proper management of technology in this matrix produces usable products and innovation, stimulates industry growth, and generates shareholder value. This is tough to pull off. Traditional commercial vendors have a hard time knowing when to give up core technologies. Free/Open Source vendors have a hard time knowing when not to give up everything. VA Linux is making an initial stab at understanding this paradox. This practice is appropriate for them and benefits everyone in general.
The move to a hybrid approach by VA Linux is strategic, not tactical as Eric believes or is trying to make you believe. Whether Eric is purposely misleading us on this matter is irrelevant.
The irrational rejection of a “well-balanced software offering” in the name of “open source purity” is finally becoming exposed. I like that. Thank God the fantasy is beginning to come to an end. This will allow the rest of the industry to return to reality of living in a Microsoft dominated space while providing tangible value to customers.
Maybe the SourceForge Enterprise Edition can begin to address some of the customer concerns about SourceForge.
The shift by VA Linux from a pure open source business model to a hybrid business model is a harbinger of reality in the software business today. The so-called “commercial” software vendors and the “free/open source” vendors are moving towards a hybrid approach. They have no choice. Each group will have to adapt to market reality. This is what needs to happen. This is not a short-term tactical move–it is a long-term strategic necessity.
Next, I will tackle why the open source “service model” doesn’t scale. Do the math. Global infrastructure ubiquity isn’t servicable by a single vendor. Can you say “two-tiered distrubution?” Duh.
