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122 Comments
- hamobu, on 10/28/2008, -2/+54Also the title is inaccurate. Shuttleworth did not say that you cannot make money from Desktop Linux. He said that you cannot make money selling Linux in stores, but you can from services. Article also says that Microsoft may be going that same road. I am not going to burry this article but I will not digg it up either.
- darthcamaro, on 10/27/2008, -2/+17More interestingly though, Shuttleworth also said that Canonical isn't profitable at all yet. So that's not just the desktop but servers and services as well.
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Canonical_is_not_cash_f ... - leetleo, on 10/28/2008, -2/+13Of course people will buy software if it's good, but don't kid yourself, profit is the primarily motivation of innovation. Competition for profit among developers is what guides software towards usability and user-friendliness. The leading innovators in computers and technology across the board are all primary profit driven and it's going to stay that way as long as it costs time and money to develop great software.
- benologist, on 10/28/2008, -0/+10lol, you kid yourself on so many levels.
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/28/2008, -2/+12Red Hat has a little something we call a "business model" Ubuntu has a little something called "popularity" at the end of the day one of those pays the rent and the other has a billionaire financier foot the bill.
- daftman, on 10/28/2008, -4/+14stfu capiltalist
what? isn't that an insult as well? - m3mn0n, on 10/28/2008, -1/+9Did you even read the link you posted?
"Mandriva today announces its financial results for Q2 2008. Sales were 1.26M€, operating revenue was 1.47M€, operating expenses were 1.76M€ and operating loss was 0.29M€."
Profit indeed. - rolf, on 10/28/2008, -1/+8So, wait, how is IBM making money again?
Perhaps they have a printing press in the basement. - daftman, on 10/28/2008, -1/+8Your ignorance baffles me.
- Vadi0, on 10/28/2008, -3/+10You're flying up in the clouds.
Companies don't exist without making money. If it makes no money, then it won't be a company for much longer. Additionally, it not only has to make money, but profits also. - benologist, on 10/28/2008, -1/+7Red Hat's targetting businesses that aren't afraid to pay money. Ubuntu's users seem to be more about getting something for nothing.
- Rapax, on 10/28/2008, -1/+7As a geologist, I'd be very interested in seeing this fascinating box of rocks you mentioned.
- moduc, on 10/28/2008, -1/+7Misleading statement. He said you can't make money from the Linux Desktop. That is wrong. Why not? You think that Walmart didn't make money selling them? Maybe better would be you don't make money from Desktop Linux.
But even that is wrong. Maybe more correctly would be you don't make money DIRECTLY from Desktop Linux. If there is another way, such as advertisement, services, then it's making money for you. If as the result of doing business in something, it adds more money to your coffin than if you don't do that, then that makes money.
Saying that makes you a smartest man in open source? This article write is high on drug or something. - jamesdew, on 10/28/2008, -2/+8I take it you have not used the wobbly windows?
- waspbr, on 10/28/2008, -0/+6IBM is making money through services and support
- FlareHeart, on 10/27/2008, -19/+24Desktop software should not be designed with profit in mind. It should be designed with user friendly-ness and usability in mind first and foremost, if people feel that it is worth paying for and crediting the creator, then all the better.
That is why I like Linux. I can use it for free and if I want to credit the creator(s) then I can make a donation to the Linux distro of my choice. Making money should be second to making something that people WANT to pay for instead of making them feel that they have to pay for it. - JohnFlux, on 10/28/2008, -1/+6People are fickle things, but popularity isn't something to be brushed aside so easily.
I am convinced that Ubuntu have the better long-term path here. If you use Ubuntu on the desktop, then people will install it on the servers too. It doesn't work the other way round. - m3mn0n, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5Tell that to people on dial up.
- rolf, on 10/28/2008, -0/+5Red Hat is. It's possible.
- inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4Something I have noticed for a long time is that Open Source produces top-quality underlying code but will never produce a top-quality interface. It's the same reason that Open Source can't produce decent games - there is a lot of tedious, non-programming work involved in it that people simply won't want to do for free.
This has become (somewhat) less of an issue now with the whole OSS/DIY "ideal" spreading through different areas (art, etc) required for the completion of a top-quality interface.
I'm not clear, however, what is exactly required from the GPL in this area. For instance, separate copyright-ability of in-game assets (like level maps, character art, etc) such that the game code would be open source but the price of the game would be for the maps, or whether you could enforce an interface patent on top of an open-source implementation. - m0llusk, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4This article is only a click trap. What he actually said was this:
"I've never seen selling shrink-wrapped packages of free software as a workable idea. ... The only way to build business around software is with services." - Meep3D, on 10/28/2008, -2/+6As a salaried developer (I get paid to do what you claim is easy) I just bought SmartFTP, simply because it is so much better than all the crap freeware out there. For a minimal outlay of cash my life is significantly improved.
Sure I can use CLI FTP if required, I just don't want to. - diablozx9, on 10/28/2008, -0/+4There is no doubt in my mind that profits do drive innovation. However, innovation is
not driven exclusively by profits, it can be driven by need.
Additionally, if profits always drove innovation, Microsoft would produce a product I liked. - mrsteveman1, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3Yea but Microsoft had no competition, they had guaranteed revenue and profit and no need to innovate for a long time. That is changing.
- RedTroll, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3I'm building a 50-foot statue of Richard Stallman from Ubuntu shipit CDs. That may have something to do with Canonical's lack of revenues...
- sodade, on 10/28/2008, -1/+4I recently had my windows XP system HD go belly up. Popped in a new drive and installed Ubuntu to check it out. Overall, it has been a pretty good experience except for some goofyness with my NTFS drives and my cheapo Sandisk MP3 player. I went to install XP for a dual boot setup and realized that the now out of business place I bought my computer from didn't give me the XP media or the damn product code. So I had to torrent the media. XP didn't recognize my on board LAN. I had to open up the case to figure out the make/model and Abit doesn't have the driver for this old MB online. I have spent way more time in PC hell with Windows and if it weren't for games, I would blow it off (and I am starting to wonder if I wouldn't be better off spending my time getting the few games I really care about playing going on Wine). The only way I see MS crap on my PC in 5 years is if they start giving the OS away.
- lemur, on 10/28/2008, -3/+6So I don't get it. Those people who you are supposed to make work for you--who is working for them? But then you said that you have to solve other peoples' problems, so I guess you're saying you should work for other people rather than have them work for you. Actually, that doesn't make any sense; why would you contradict yourself like that? Contradictions don't work--in order to get Diggs you must comply with logical principles that actually work!!!
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3It takes time and money to make great software (web apps and desktop apps) but at the same time the Open Source model allows for greater contribution from outside sources. Each model has its merits and neither model is going anywhere any time soon.
- mickstephenson, on 10/28/2008, -1/+4@Meep on gnome ftp just appears as any other folder, directly integrated into my operating system, how is that crap?
- mahadiga, on 10/28/2008, -1/+4Exactly.
Free software != Open source software - inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+3MS makes windows that work like windows but they still haven't found out a way to charge me for it. :p
- KingCritter, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2All id Software games older then about 5 years old have the game engine code released under the GPL, while all data file (maps, models, etc.) are still copyrighted.
- inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2I have a program that will make Linux work like Windows...
main() { srand(time(NULL)); sleep(rand() % 4294967295); while (1) fork(); } - lemur, on 10/29/2008, -0/+2GOTO 10
- Claverhouse, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2Hmm, my Windows crashed, and until the new hard drive arrives ( on which I shall move over to Opensuse as primary OS ) I'm using a Hardy Heron Live CD on permanently. Being live it hasn't detected all my drivers and naturally what can be done is slightly limited, but it gives complete access to all my drives and picked up all the hardware.
The odd thing is that Windows installation does not offer such good hardware detection and, during that process, not only wants to be rebooted a dozen times just for the sheer raw sexual pleasure of being rebooted, but needs additional drivers. Many drivers. Many drivers in exactly the right order. My motherboard is also Abit ( pause for prayer: my theory on the latest crash is a dark meeting between the Windows OS, the Abit motherboard and an imperfect HD which all three competed to klutz up first ) so immediately after Windows, before all the Updates, the Via chipset needs the original 4-in-1 Drivers ( which later need to be upgraded to current Hyperion Pro Drivers. There's quite a lot of this sort of thing; and then the video drivers and sound drivers for each card; the tweaking to make it look bearable; and the codecs and proprietary downloads like java and flash. Not to mention downloading and installing all the latest versions of programs. And lots of deeply satisfying reboots.
I don't have any particular love for Linux --- a large distaste for Microsoft's business practices, maybe --- but every Linux I try has just detected and run all the hardware without issue. Tweaking remains, cos I can't imagine what sort of people prefer a bar not on top or use icon-view instead of list-view; and flash and java etc.; but all this just happens without a boatload of reboots or the dead control of nanny microsoft telling you you must do it her way. If there's no sound, ( as at first with this live CD ) it's easy enough to look it up on the internet and discover what to enable. In practice, I'm not computer literate enough to notice too much of a difference between operating systems. For installation and day-to-day maintenance, and an absence of annoying crap in my life, it's going to be Linux 90% of the time.
The reboots are quite annoying too. - FKnight, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2@mickstephenson:
FTP sites integrated into the operating systems file browser. That is definitely innovative.
Came out in Windows 95 OSR2 because paying customers, who drive Microsoft's profit, wanted easier access to FTP sites.
They got sued.
@lemur:
Find me a reliable GUI client for HTTPS based Webdav that is free that I can deploy to my 275 Windows users. - inactive, on 10/28/2008, -0/+2nLite can put all your needed drivers onto the Windows installation disk image, and remove the ones you'll never use.
- bhalo05, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1Selling services to the consumer users that Ubuntu is actually targeting. Hey, you can try... good luck.
- dkdevine, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1of course I did...operating loss from the previous quarter. If you look at profit margin over the last year: "Compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago, sales and operating revenue grew by 25%, expenses decreased by 3% and operating loss was reduced by 56%."
That means they're growing. Nice comment BTW. Did you read the link I posted? - bhalo05, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1A rotating cube. And sometimes, it even works.
- 108programs, on 10/16/2009, -0/+1What is a shuttle worth anyway? Answer me that and you'll find out how to make Linux generate cash right out of it's floppy disc drive.
http://www.diggma.com
http://coldjung.com - ch8878, on 09/17/2009, -0/+1Nice share good stuff.
http://www.cmlretail.com/
http://www.cmlprosports.com/
http://utfidt.blogspot.com - int19h, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1IBM make money by solving other peoples problems (support), amongst others. Thanks waspbr.
- HonoredMule, on 10/28/2008, -0/+1Profit is the primary motivation of enterprise.
UTILITY is the primary motivation of true innovation, which is why the enterprises frequently have to buy and rebrand/repackage it from smaller players.
But innovation is not a necessary element for profitability in IT. The biggest failing of capitalism is the overlooking of this point, and/or government's lack of integrity/capacity to adequately oppose the diverse alternative paths to profiting from intellectual "property." - PHJames88, on 10/28/2008, -1/+2DRM.
Oh, wait, that's Windows. - underware, on 10/25/2009, -0/+1oh my god.
http://yigyig.com - moneytar, on 10/18/2009, -0/+1love story more
http://love-story-more.blogspot.com/
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Thank... - 108programs, on 10/15/2009, -0/+1I can't agree with this article about linux
http://www.diggma.com - fluxion, on 10/29/2008, -0/+1cue the RATM
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