Comments on: Microsoft and Open Source http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source Software and Innovation Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:23:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: rhyre http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-125 rhyre Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:14:05 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-125 OK, I read the the interview (at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4834.html, while the paper is at this URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID439340_code030903590.pdf?abstractid=439340&mirid=1 I'd be much happier to see a Forrester-style system dynamics model, with initial conditions set based on market shares. To be complete, it would have to compare Linux, *BSD, and Windows (Vista, ME, 2000, XP, etc). A good model will have predictive value, and can be back-tested. It's going to be challenging to model how media inputs and the web have changed things. The market failure of Vista is an interesting study in itself. My personal experience is that only about 5-10% of people will switch to an Open Source stack, unless it comes with the computer that way. Amazingly, this occurs even in the face of the Microsoft tax, Microsoft security tax, etc. My brother in law spends $200/year on security updates for two systems. My sister and I spend closer to zero, because we runs MacOS and Linux. OK, I read the the interview (at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4834.html, while the paper is
at this URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID439340_code030903590.pdf?abstractid=439340&mirid=1

I’d be much happier to see a Forrester-style system dynamics model, with initial conditions set based on market shares. To be complete, it would have to compare Linux, *BSD, and Windows (Vista, ME, 2000, XP, etc).

A good model will have predictive value, and can be back-tested. It’s going to be challenging to model how media inputs and the web have changed things. The market failure of Vista is an interesting study in itself.

My personal experience is that only about 5-10% of people will switch to an Open Source stack, unless it comes with the computer that way. Amazingly, this occurs even in the face of the Microsoft tax, Microsoft security tax, etc. My brother in law spends $200/year on security updates for two systems. My sister and I spend closer to zero, because we runs MacOS and Linux.

]]> By: Robert Goldman http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-124 Robert Goldman Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:10:44 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-124 One additional reason for contributing to open source: it can just be fun. I write software commercially, and i still find that contributing to open source can be fulfilling for a couple of fun reasons: First, I can either fix a bug or add a small feature with a very short turn-around. Getting something out to users in the kind of research-based software I write is very, very difficult, uncertain and slow. But if I contribute a few lines of code to someone's Open Source Common Lisp library (or build a small algorithm library), it can be out there in hours, and actually used. Second, related to newsham's point, I have found that a lot of the closed-source software I wrote, even some of the good closed-source software, just went onto a tape somewhere and got stuffed into a drawer, never to be seen again. That's not very fulfilling. Authors like their books to be read; coders want their software run, and even read. One additional reason for contributing to open source: it can just be fun. I write software commercially, and i still find that contributing to open source can be fulfilling for a couple of fun reasons: First, I can either fix a bug or add a small feature with a very short turn-around. Getting something out to users in the kind of research-based software I write is very, very difficult, uncertain and slow. But if I contribute a few lines of code to someone’s Open Source Common Lisp library (or build a small algorithm library), it can be out there in hours, and actually used. Second, related to newsham’s point, I have found that a lot of the closed-source software I wrote, even some of the good closed-source software, just went onto a tape somewhere and got stuffed into a drawer, never to be seen again. That’s not very fulfilling. Authors like their books to be read; coders want their software run, and even read.

]]> By: TJIC http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-123 TJIC Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:01:07 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-123 <blockquote> this is like what the airline industry calls “revenue management”: charge less to people who can afford less, using various tricky means to identify these people) </blockquote> More generally, the term economists use is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination" rel="nofollow">price discrimination</a>. My favorite example of this was from ~ 10 years back. I was in Cambridge at a computer store, looking to buy a Zip drive. There were two pallets of boxes: one with the standard full-color printing, and a price tag of (let's say) $100, and another with just black-and-white box art (identical to the first box art), and a price tag of $79, and a sticker on each box that said "may contain reconditioned parts". I thought about this for a second, and realized that this new model Zip drive hadn't been out long enough for units to be returned and reconditioned...this was <b>clearly</b> a price discrimination play. So I bought the black and white box, and never had a problem with the unit.

this is like what the airline industry calls “revenue management”: charge less to people who can afford less, using various tricky means to identify these people)

More generally, the term economists use is price discrimination.

My favorite example of this was from ~ 10 years back. I was in Cambridge at a computer store, looking to buy a Zip drive. There were two pallets of boxes: one with the standard full-color printing, and a price tag of (let’s say) $100, and another with just black-and-white box art (identical to the first box art), and a price tag of $79, and a sticker on each box that said “may contain reconditioned parts”. I thought about this for a second, and realized that this new model Zip drive hadn’t been out long enough for units to be returned and reconditioned…this was clearly a price discrimination play. So I bought the black and white box, and never had a problem with the unit.

]]> By: dispatches from TJICistan » Blog Archive » busted http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-122 dispatches from TJICistan » Blog Archive » busted Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:57:27 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-122 [...] http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/1… [...] [...] http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/1…; [...]

]]> By: Andreas Davour http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-121 Andreas Davour Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:02:24 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-121 Dan, I think your last paragraph have summed up pretty well why people work on Free/Open software, at least myself and others. There are just so much about Microsoft's business practices that spell out to "behave like a jerk". If you like people around you to be decent towards each other you will tend to oppose Microsoft. It doesn't explain if the development model is "better" in any way, and I frankly don't care. Dan,

I think your last paragraph have summed up pretty well why people work on Free/Open software, at least myself and others. There are just so much about Microsoft’s business practices that spell out to “behave like a jerk”. If you like people around you to be decent towards each other you will tend to oppose Microsoft.

It doesn’t explain if the development model is “better” in any way, and I frankly don’t care.

]]> By: localhost http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-120 localhost Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:55:25 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-120 "Some new stack will come along that, basically, makes linux and windows irrelevant." Do you know if they've set a date yet? “Some new stack will come along that, basically, makes linux and windows irrelevant.”

Do you know if they’ve set a date yet?

]]> By: Thomas Lord http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-119 Thomas Lord Mon, 19 Nov 2007 03:19:55 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-119 Some new stack will come along that, basically, makes linux and windows irrelevant. -t Some new stack will come along that, basically, makes linux and windows irrelevant.

-t

]]> By: newsham http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-118 newsham Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:36:05 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-118 Here's another reason people support open source software -- People do not spend their entire career at one company. Developers often want to ensure continued access to their work, and the ability to continue to improve upon software they've written commercially. Here’s another reason people support open source software — People do not spend their entire career at one company. Developers often want to ensure continued access to their work, and the ability to continue to improve upon software they’ve written commercially.

]]> By: Jeremy http://danweinreb.org/blog/microsoft-and-open-source/comment-page-1#comment-117 Jeremy Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:35:48 +0000 http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/microsoft-and-open-source/#comment-117 It's a little bit tangential, but I'm presently fascinated by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_license" rel="nofollow"> dual-license </a> (or N-license) products such as <a href="http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/index.html" rel="nofollow"> MySQL</a> and <a href="http://trolltech.com/products/qt/licenses/licensing" rel="nofollow"> Qt</a>. Having a single commercial vendor lets people get as much of a "guarantee" as possible. Having the code out there in open form gives you the opportunity for community-wide audit. It also lets the vendor relax about source licenses --- the source is already out there for the non-paying customers, so you might as well give it to the paying customers. This, in turn, lets the paying customers fix bugs in-house that the vendor might not be able to get around to right away. (Lack of source, plus bad service, is why I hope never to use Oracle again. Source, plus decent service, is why I'll pay TrollTech again in a heartbeat next time I need a cross-platform GUI library.) It’s a little bit tangential, but I’m presently fascinated by dual-license (or N-license) products such as MySQL and Qt. Having a single commercial vendor lets people get as much of a “guarantee” as possible. Having the code out there in open form gives you the opportunity for community-wide audit. It also lets the vendor relax about source licenses — the source is already out there for the non-paying customers, so you might as well give it to the paying customers. This, in turn, lets the paying customers fix bugs in-house that the vendor might not be able to get around to right away. (Lack of source, plus bad service, is why I hope never to use Oracle again. Source, plus decent service, is why I’ll pay TrollTech again in a heartbeat next time I need a cross-platform GUI library.)

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