| How to make millions writing free software |
Nov. 04, 2005
So you want to be an open-source millionaire, do you?
Well, first things first. I don't care, I really don't care, how good your technology is. Or, how you've tweaked out a few extra cycles from the flux capacitor. No, so long as your program does whatever it's supposed to do, you're at least in the race for financial success.
You'll likely finish an also-ran, mind you, but at least you're in there.
What will really determine if your Linux distribution or your content management system, or whatever, will ever bring you a thin-dime has very, very little to do with your code's goodness.
Right there, I know a lot of you are already getting ticked at me.
Folks, I'm on your side. I want to see open-source projects turn your code into gold, but I'm telling you like it is, not how you'd like it to be, or how you think it should be.
In the real world, success comes to those who can identify a need, and then communicate to would-be buyers how their wonderful program can meet that need.
That only sounds simple. It's anything but.
To start getting a handle on how to move from your parent's basement to the penthouse, or from a 486DX to a Pentium IV if you prefer, start by reading John Terpstra's "The Yin and Yang of Open Source Commerce" over at Linux Planet.
If you don't buy what he says, well, take a look at what real live CIOs -- the guys who really can help you make your first million -- have to say about open-source.
For example, my colleague, Lisa Vaas at eWEEK.com, found in her story, "CIOs: Keep Your Open Source Outta My Database", that... well, the title kind of says it all.
It's not that these guys aren't buying into MySQL and the like. They are. But, when push comes to shove with the crown jewels of mission-critical databases, they're still using Oracle.
It's not that they love Oracle. They won't say it in public, lest the wrath of the mighty Larry Ellison crash down on them like the hammer of god, but many IT department heads would actually love to toss Oracle out the door with yesterday's stale coffee.
They don't dare. That's because, even though Oracle always over-promises and under-delivers, they know Oracle works. It may do awful things, really awful things, from the tales I've been told by Oracle DBAs (database administrators), but at the end of the day, it works.
They know that for certain.
You, and your program? That's another matter entirely.
Never, ever underestimate the power of the installed-base. If you're going to take an Oracle or a Microsoft to the cleaners, you don't just have to be technically better. You have to present an entire package that the buyer -- not you, not your mom, not your investors, but the buyer -- believes will make life better for them.
It ain't easy.
Take the CIOs who kicked the tires of three open-source programs in another Vaas story, "Skeptical IT Execs Poke at the Tender Underbelly of Open Source".
Did these guys zero in on such burning questions as: Whose program is the fastest? Whose software has the best stability? Which operating system is the most innovative?
Heck no!
They wanted to know about training, ecosystem shallowness, technology lock-in, third-party certification, company stability, and much, much more.
If your eyes are beginning to glaze over, find a job and program for someone else rather than try to found your own small open-source empire ala Red Hat, MySQL, or JBoss. To make it big, you need to be able to answer all the above questions. And more.
No one ever said becoming an open-source millionaire would be easy.
--Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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