osOpinion: What Software Companies Need to Know

[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]

“This is where I plug the concept of an open source business
model that would allow the participants to make a decent, honorable
living. Open Source does not equate to non-proprietary. Most of the
business people that I know are more that willing to pay a fair
price for assistance for improving their methods. I could keep a
hundred people busy for a thousand years doing this. Under the
present system, it seems as though the companies hawking their
wares feel like they have invented something that is more precious
than diamonds. It isn’t. It’s a product. Only desperate people pay
desperate prices for things. What is the future in that?”

“Now lets get right down to it. Ripping off ignorant people will
only get you so far. Look at all the material written by various
decision making venues in the meat world that are disgusted at what
they are getting for a prime salary. You know those guys with your
logos on their business cards. Face it the real commodity in this
game is gray matter. If someone has it, they can write their own
ticket with or without your blessing. So it seems to me that if
someone with the raw material to master your product comes along,
you should wine and dine them. To take the position that I am
master and you should grovel to be my minion is absurd. Yet that is
what is going on. If I pay you enough money you will acknowledge
me. Well, the only way that I need someone else’s validation is
if I am a loser. Winners receive awards for achievement. Losers buy
acceptance. So if you want winners to gravitate around your
products then hrm, you do the math. A certification should be a
reward. So I say again, I am getting ripped off. I am not
going to run to you, pay you, then pay a ridiculous price for your
software and leave so little on the table that there is nothing
left for me. This is lopsided, one way and I will cut you out of
the equation first. If I take the time to establish a rapport,
understand the need, understand or write the software that fills
it, deploy it, and support it then it is you that has a debt to
pay. My time is just as valuable as yours is. This industry is
upside down. It is only a matter of time before it corrects itself.
Which side of all of this do you want to be on?”

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