I got an email today from Greg Gianforte, CEO of RightNow Technologies, the on-demand CRM vendor with the title above.
Some of what he says.
"Imagine a car company that got its steel for free. So, instead of
spending its money on costly raw materials, this company could invest in
high-value differentiators such as better vehicle design, build-to-order
manufacturing, and superb customer service."
"This, in a nutshell, describes the business model of an on demand
software vendor using open source technology. By eliminating the cost of
databases, operating systems, and other infrastructure components, open source
technology allows an on demand vendor to invest more in development, hosting, and
services. And by providing software as a service, the on demand model
frees customers from the valueless, budget-sucking burdens of IT
ownership."
"So, while RightNow is not an open source vendor per se, it's hard to name a company that's more effectively taking advantage of the economics of open source"
Greg, my thoughts exactly as I wrote in Killing the Golden Goose? Open source, global labor, cheap broadband...the raw materials have become so cheap, why not the finished product?
Turning Water into Wine...there is a new religion afoot and the incumbents have reasons to be uneasy. Greg, keep on preaching...
