O’Reilly Network: Lessons from the Layoffs at LinuxCare

“…service does not equal tech support! It does not equal
training and certification. It does not equal custom development
services! It can include all of these components, but it most go
beyond them, by reframing a problem that your customers are
struggling with, and offering a compelling outsourced
solution.”

“My point isn’t to suggest that any particular approach to
services based on open source is the best one. Right now, the open
source sector is still young, with rapidly changing tools,
practices, and services. What I hope is that the open source
community will think big. The really huge opportunities typically
redefine markets, creating services that seem obvious and necessary
in retrospect, services that were once handled haphazardly but are
now so central that no one can do without.”

“That’s ultimately the lesson of UUnet and Network Solutions: to
find the killer service, you have to stop taking things for
granted. You have to look with fresh eyes at what problems people
are struggling with, and find a way to take them off their hands.
Once you’ve succeeded, everyone will take things for granted
again.”

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