Week 45: Open Source as a Linux Feature

For the record, I like the Twitter. But darned if I can figure out how someone would make money from it.

The concept of micro-blogging is straightforward: in 140 characters, you tell the world at large what you're doing, how you're feeling, or why your life is so good/bad. I know quite a few people who use it, and like it, but I know quite a few more who think the whole exercise is just silly.

Regardless of how you feel about Twitter, one opinion that everyone seems to share is the sense of puzzlement about just how such a thing can be properly applied in the business world. In other words, where's the bank?

This concern is remarkably similar to that once held by pundits and users about Linux. Linux was (and is) remarkably loved by its fans. And when I say "loved," I mean the kind of love held by overprotective wolverine mothers for their kits. In the early days of Linux, even its most ardent fans were at times hard-pressed to answer the question: "how do you make money with a free operating system?"

By now, we are all familiar with the answer: you don't make money on a free operating system, you make money from the add-on value of technical expertise and support. In essence, the question was changed. In reality, the very nature of free and open source software (FLOSS) was able to change the business environment which surrounded the use of FLOSS.

This still amazes me, and I think it's one of Linux's greatest strengths. People who tried to pigeonhole Linux into a traditional software model were very quick to call out the "failings" of Linux. But those who were willing to look beyond the old models soon found that the advantages of Linux were numerous.

I was reminded of this again this week when I read Matthew Aslett's summary of his conversation with Juanjo Hierro from the Morfeo Project. Aslett, as usual, hit it dead-on with his analysis of how open source practices have moved beyond the novelty point and into the realm of pure advantage. Businesses who can successfully adopt open source software and ideals now are seen as having the edge on their competitors who don't.

This strikes me as interesting, too, because there is still a prevailing attitude in the business world of not "getting" open source. When I heard Anthony Williams, co-author of Wikinomics, speak at the End User Summit last month, I was struck by the fact he took some time to highlight the benefits of open source to the Summit audience.

At the time, my first reaction was that Williams must have missed the part that everyone knows about open source. I started writing a blog entry in my head about how maybe we live in a "post-open source" world now, where we didn't have to argue the benefits of open source to people anymore. Thinking some more, I realize that Williams hadn't missed anything at all.

We are not in a place yet where everybody understands open source yet. Not "likes," but "understands."--you will never get everyone to like open source. But there is a still a large segment of the IT population that still falls back on the old chestnuts about open software being unsafe, non-profitable, unsupported...

This is a challange for Linux, just like any technical challenge it might face. Educating business people on the benefits of open source is just as important as educating them about the latest filesystem features for Linux. Open source is a feature of Linux, like any other.

Open source may not be the feature that actually makes the sale for someone considering Linux, but if we can get everyone to a higher level of understanding, it will no longer be the feature that breaks the deal.