Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Article on Datamation website: "How Microsoft Office Tops LibreOffice: 11 Features"

On Thu, 2012-04-26 at 12:56 -0400, Robert Ryley wrote:
> Tom,
>
> I'm quite familiar with all of these claims.  But they don't address
> the fundamental *business* question of how to support an open source
> *project* more effectively, which is more than just development.  Some
> comments to follow:
>
> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 12:29 PM, Tom Davies <tomdavies04@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > Hi :)
> > I guess it depends what you mean by "pay" and "free".  A vast amount of people get sucked into 
> > the Free Software World and
> > then start helping people or programming or putting their valuable time into the projects in 
> > other ways that benefit the project.
> > The pay-off is that they tend to reduce their outgoings so there is less need for them to spend 
> > money on things they would >normally have to spend a lot of money on.
>
> This is focused on *cost* as opposed to *profit* and is trapped into
> the commodity mindset.  Costs are irrelevant if you have no sales.  It
> is also why FOSS has trouble (with a few exceptions) selling itself
> outside of a few niches.
>
> > The Free Software Foundation are very clear in their GPLs and such how people can legitimately 
> > earn money through Free >Software.  The ones i noticed were through providing technical support 
> > and selling the software on media such as Cds/Dvds
> > /Usb-sticks.  For the devs i guess that means tier3 support?
>
> That model worked when having tangible media was a value added
> service.  Is that model really relevant now when you can download
> fully functional software and install it automatically?
>
> Software is more than just the code.  It is the documentation and
> education of users.  Education of users is *the* most effective
> marketing I know of, because educated users then become marketers for
> you.  There is less benefit to open sourcing these aspects than there
> is to just open sourcing the code.
>
> > A lot of devs are paid by the company they work for to work on FLOSS projects.  The pay-off for 
> > the companies are things like >NOT paying a rival competitor vast sums of money for license 
> > fees.  Also being able to target specific issues to suit the company >rather than waiting for a 
> > rival company to get around to it (whatever "it" happens to be that month).  Helping produce 
> > > something that undercuts their rivals products is an off-shoot.
>
> The companies that support FLOSS are large companies that have profits
> from other areas, so their activities are in essence a subsidy.  How
> would you justify pursuing FLOSS development strategy to a start-up,
> without the cash to burn?  That is my concern.
>
> > Copenhagen hospitals are apparently set to save millions by moving to LibreOffice.  If they 
> > spent a fraction of that saving on >developers time then they could end up with something 
> > practically purpose-built for their precise needs.  A small boost to the >local economy rather 
> > than having that money disappear off to a foreign country.
>
> There are economic fallacies here, but I don't dispute that
> LibreOffice is a viable alternative to MS Office.  I provide help
> (unpaid) to professional writers who need to use it to do things that
> MS Office does not, after all.
>
> I want developers to be able to earn a *very* good living from
> developing and supporting FLOSS as an alternative to working for some
> large organization that happens to permit contributions to some
> projects.  I have seen no effort to encourage the development of ISV
> to make money via support of LO, or by offering value added
> extensions.  

Hi,

http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/TDFCertification

Thanks,

//drew


> That would go a long way toward spurring the use of LO,
> as well as providing an alternative funding source for the TDF.  The
> TDF could act as a lead generator for ISV, who then pay for this
> service as a marketing expense for their business.  They also help
> contribute to testing, etc.



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