Posted by: Administrator
on March 10, 2007 09:43 PM
My point about UI is not that there is inherently anything about it that makes it easier to do in a proprietary software environment (or harder in open source). It's that it's difficult to create good UI. It's also expensive, as developers who are good at it more often than not want to be paid for their work. Proprietary software companies have a financial model that allows them to invest in UI. They succeed to varying degrees, but if it's strategic and they focus on it, they can afford it.
This all comes back to a profit model for open source. The only ones I know of are to sell services (Red Hat) or sell hardware (appliance vendors) or sell advertising (Firefox - I think they are a foundation, but I believe they make a lot of money from Google's sponsorship).
That model doesn't work for all application categories. In those categories there are many current open source applications. Some of them are good. But on average their lack of a sustainable profit model means that adding all of the features that customers want, with a simple UI, doesn't happen, which is where proprietary software comes in, and why that market continues to grow.
Open source is not bad. Proprietary software is not good. They each have advantages. For small business IT and departments in enterprises, which is our market, we think an advertising model won't work, and service-based or hardware-based solutions are too expensive.
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Re:Joe Barr rips proprietary software vendor...
Posted by: Administrator on March 10, 2007 09:43 PMThis all comes back to a profit model for open source. The only ones I know of are to sell services (Red Hat) or sell hardware (appliance vendors) or sell advertising (Firefox - I think they are a foundation, but I believe they make a lot of money from Google's sponsorship).
That model doesn't work for all application categories. In those categories there are many current open source applications. Some of them are good. But on average their lack of a sustainable profit model means that adding all of the features that customers want, with a simple UI, doesn't happen, which is where proprietary software comes in, and why that market continues to grow.
Open source is not bad. Proprietary software is not good. They each have advantages. For small business IT and departments in enterprises, which is our market, we think an advertising model won't work, and service-based or hardware-based solutions are too expensive.
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