Meeting needs
It’s not often that I disagree with Hugh, but this time, I do: gapingvoid. The headline of his post is, “How well does open source currently meet the needs of shareholders and CEOs”. I think this question is part of the problem. Almost no new idea meets the needs of shareholders and CEOs. That’s because most of all they need predictability and apparent freedom from risk. This is why public companies are almost always on the road to disaster. They flee from change in order to do what they think is meeting the needs of those constituents. They fight changes in laws, policies, technologies and markets because their CEO (especially) wants a nice even flight pattern while he racks up big time options. Shrink wrap software feels safe. Secure. Supported. Beyond reproach. But… It turns out that open source can do a brilliant job of meeting their actual needs (lower overhead to install and maintain, higher productivity to use, more stable over time) but the problem is that apparent needs (playing it safe, making your boss happy) almost always get in the way. Until it’s too late. When it’s too late, the competition has leapfrogged you.
Simple example: blogging. Blogging doesn’t seem to fit into the command and control mindset of media companies. It doesn’t seem to have obvious ad-driven or traffic-driven payoffs. It represents a threat (or at least volatility) to the stock price. So they ignore them. Until, of course, a blog has a greater circulation than the company’s magazine.
Most of the folks out there want continuity, mediocrity and do not want drastic changes even when the only way out may be drastic changes (like Environmental changes as of now among the others!). Most of the folks do not want to deal with anything that rocks the boat.
This inertia to change is what is killing us all and makes us live life stagnantly. Open Source too may end up in that manner if we are not willing to take risks and think and most importantly execute differently. By being a conformist to the static-only-group, we lose out on the advantage of being Open Source. It is like capping a bubbling champagne bottle , probably it is like taking hot tea with a chilled-glass of beer (well, i have never drunk beer so excuse the comparison but you get the idea i guess)!
Do you want to be like that? Do you want Open Source to be like that? We are different and we will have to strive and move differently to achieve what others have dreamed and talked about but have dared not execute. Be different and things will be different.
