The real reason Open Source Succeeds
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| peragrin May 21, 2005 5:43 AM EDT |
In any other product, the end result is built by using resources. Those resources cost money to gather, and then build the product. It costs money to design those products. The end value of the product is the sum of the above on a per unit cost. In Software you only spend enough to design the product. After the design setup is paid for the company gathers pure profit for their product. Take two companies one builds Washers and dyers(A), the there build a graphics manipulation program(B). Both spend a million dollars to get their product designed and out the door. Both sell their product for $600. The reoccurring cost for company A (the cost of time, and materials needed to build each machine) is $450. Leaving the company needing to sell 6,700 units BEFORE profit starts to come in. The reoccurring costs for company B( CD's boxes, ) is $20 . Leaving the company needing to sell 1,750 units BEFORE profit starts to come in. Now Both companies need to provide directions on use, support if something goes wrong, and updates/repairs if a defect is found. So why is it acceptable for company B earn 4 times the profit of company A for less overall work? |
| TxtEdMacs May 21, 2005 4:01 PM EDT |
"The end value of the product is the sum of the above on a per unit cost." To me that is the cost only of producing a product, the result may have little to no real value. What about all those projects after long periods of planning, modeling and coding are aborted. They have terrific costs but are ultimately valueless. The remainder of your argument just leaves me perplexed. Are you saying those that use open source without paying for the code are inherently unethical? Perhaps, if they overcharge for their product, but your model is flawed, companies do not have exactly the same cost structure or efficiency in producing products. Sounds more like a class room argument, which might be fine to make simple comparisons, but the real world differs. Moreover, there are worse things happening in business. |
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