Priscilla Chung wrote: > Here is a brief description of the different business models...
I like your analysis. I've not previous heard the phrase Cosmo business models and wonder at its applicability. Open software rarely has a business model per-se; generally software is used in the context of something entrepreneurial such as a service to generate revenue. 3 of your 4 models are Hosted Service models. Previous analyzes done in that space brought the ops working group to the conclusion that ad-hosted models were substantially the better models for our purposes, at least within our planning horizon. Other models, including the 3 on your list, have substantial operational costs; for instance setting up any level of payment processing requires a certain staffing level to manage the results and operational details, and that hassle scales directly with growth. Anyone who is paying for service has a dramatically higher level of expectation for support (phone call center, etc). Only the ad-funded models for OSAF as a whole allow us to keep costs low even while building a user base into the 5-digit levels. The Hosted Service roadmap (previously had) broad consensus that there will be no efforts to acquire revenue before the Preview phase, and at some point later, when a certain level of users were reached, we would run an ad-driven revenue experiment. Then we would stop, recollect, and consider how to proceed with revenue efforts from there. I'm not fully comfortable reopening that issue, though now that it's open, it will be best to work towards consensus again. While I'm loath to shut down engaging conversation, I don't think the results of any poll or discussion can or should affect any work done before Preview. An argument that we need to know about 1.0 to plan properly may hold some water, but in that time phrase, I'm highly in favor of driving towards ad-generated revenue before considering any other model. So to plan for 1.0 features, I'd like to see planning for ad real estate, AJAX-compatible ad reloading, and a framework for supporting some users having an ad-free experience based on a flag in their account profile. At this time, I'm not planning to open the "Business Models for Hosted Service" thread without hearing that people want to have that conversation now. If so, there's lots of shuttered planning notes of mine that can be introduced. -- Jared _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Open Source Applications Foundation "Design" mailing list http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/design
