Bryan Carbonnell
carbonnb at sympatico.ca
Tue Apr 6 18:09:15 CDT 2004
On 6 Apr 2004 at 18:18, Susan Harkins wrote: > That was very good and very close to my own opinions except I just > don't have the expertise to speak to servers. I think MS will adjust I don't really have the server experience either. I do, however read as much as I can. > and change as necessary -- but can't really predict what that will > mean. I don't think anyone can. And it probably scares the bejebes out of MS. > My question is this -- if they're all giving it up for free -- how are > they going to make money and stay in business. Support? Is there > really going to be enough support $ to cover it? I wouldn't think so. There are a couple of ways that the money is made. 1) They sell it. Red Hat is a perfect example. The sell boxed sets, well they used to. They sell server versions of Linux. 2) Selling support. Red Hat again. They sell support along with the boxed sets. 3) Donations. Not a get rich quick scheme, I know, but for some enough to get by. Keep in mind that just because the software is open source, doesn't mean you can't charge for the product. You can, but you may have to make the source code available, depending on the license agreement. > Anybody using MySQL and paying for the support? I absolutely hate > using MySQL, but I wouldn't pay for support. There's got to be part of > the puzzle that I'm missing. Why do you hate it? Is it because you are not used to it? Or you don't under stand it? Or there is no GUI for it? There are tons of folks paying for support for MySQL and other open source dbs. Folks like Cox Communications, NASA, Sabre Holdings and Yahoo! probably do. Have a look at http://www.mysql.com/press/release_2004_10.html and http://www.mysql.com/feedback/whitepaper-tco.php (registration required. Free I think) -- Bryan Carbonnell - carbonnb at sympatico.ca Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe producing bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. - Mark Mischler.