[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“Do you ever have the feeling that some open-source
companies just don’t “get it”? From every Linux company, we
hear the same thing, “We’ll make our money from support and
services.” Then every financial statement from SuSE or Red Hat
confirms what we’ve all suspected: these companies are still making
most of their revenue through sales of shrink-wrapped boxes. At
this early stage in the Linux market, we shouldn’t expect any of
these business models to have reached maturity, but I think it’s
clear that we’re moving into the second stage of Linux/open source
growth: the stage where these companies are really expected to make
money. So it’s logical to ask, how can today’s Linux distributors
fulfill their promises and become tomorrow’s successful support and
consulting firms?”
“Let’s not focus much on Red Hat, Inc., the current market
leader, because I’ve already discussed their situation at length in
the “Open Business Plan. Version 6.1 of their distribution is
moving in a great direction in terms of enterprise manageability,
but their retail sales still dwarf their support revenue. It’s more
interesting to consider the status of SuSE, TurboLinux, or Caldera
as they try to move out of also-ran status and into the big
leagues…”