On 9/4/06, Rogelio Serrano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Almost all of the new software companies in the US seem to be open source based at least. Does not make sense at all.
As I said, using open source tools can be an advantage for a start-up software company, but the product(s), the feature set, or value proposition is what separates "the" software company from "a" software company, I mean the distinctive quality of a software company. As a case in point, id Software produces such popular first-person-shooter games like Quake, Doom and Wolfenstein, they assert to have used GCC to develop portions if not the whole game in, but it's the gameplay value of their products that makes id Software a computer game producing brand to reckon with. Microsoft, using closed source tools developed closed source but deeply entrenched product like Microsoft Office is another case in point. In this scenario, MS Office is widely used (not necessarily joyful to use amd quite expensive for the common Juan dela Cruz), posing challenge to new and upcoming office suites, even free and open source alternatives. Red Hat Software is a great example of open source-based software company that stand out as a brand because of they've pioneered ideas like RPM, one of the most widely accepted Linux package management format. Summarily, the value proposition is what saves the company, absence of it closes the shop, open source-based or not. _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
