A Brief History of Computers and Free Software: Where Is the Money?

[ Thanks to steve
hill for this link. ]

“The software market is shifting completely towards online
applications aimed at managing and sharing information. The
business model may vary (revenues are generated by online
advertising or by paying users), but the main concept is always the
same: it needs to be online, it needs to be accessible, it needs to
give something to the user, and it needs to look good. Since last
year, companies can write small third-party Facebook applications
which are then picked and installed by Facebook users; the
applications actually reside on the third-party server, and can
display anything — including third-party ads (the revenues will go
to the software maker, rather than Facebook). Only antivirus
software seems to be resisting this trend, mainly because they are
a tool that is so tightly related to the computer itself.

“Google’s Android is about to come out. With it, a whole lot of
‘big phones’ or ‘small computers’ will invade the market (Android
or not). This is already happening as we speak with the iPhone.
These devices will be constantly connected to the Internet, and
people will browse. Software companies today need to focus on which
online applications this small army of users will want. Web
applications that need a wide 19′ screen in order to be usable will
miss out on all those mobile users — and that’s simply not an
option.

“The business model (and therefore the revenue source) will
depend on the application, but one thing is sure: there is money to
be made.

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