On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 10:07 AM, Jordan Erickson<[email protected]> wrote: > R. Scott Belford wrote: >> *snip* >> The idea of limiting the focus is a good one. I am immensely >> frustrated that first Redhat, then Novell, and now Canonical overlook >> the long-term benefits from a decided focus on the K12 market. >> >> --scott >> > > My shot at an explanation is that "it's not a profitable market" for > huge companies like that. What I find interesting is that it's a VERY > profitable market for smaller service providers (like me, who is an > outside consultant for schools, bringing this technology to them and > helping them maintain, learn and teach it themselves).
Perhaps my perspective is skewed by the fact that our Department of Education is not like the rest of those in the U.S.. We don't have multiple, geographically distinct districts. We have one District, one Superintendent, one Vice-Superintendent, multiple Complex Area Superintendents, one office of NSSB, ATRB, OCCIS, CSD, and all those things that arise in a centrally controlled system with 2 Billion Dollar budget. FOSS loses here because there is not one entity to assume responsibility for the software licenses we expect to pay for. Period. We, as in our DOE, expect to pay something to someone. I have written about this phenomenon, and how the FOSS community has missed it, on the K12OSN list in my OPM (other people's money) Addiction in Education essay. I experienced it two weeks ago. A school's Tech Coordinator (the glorified teacher in charge of running an Enterprise with teacher's credentials) showed Open Office to her teachers. She wanted them to use it in lieu of licensing MS Office. The teachers wanted to see the Word Art feature. The Tech Coordinator could not find it. She blushed, and they bought MS licenses. I told her that this was my fault. Had I known, and had I offered to license OO to them, then we would have A Forced Feedback Loop Apprising the OO Developers of a Lost Opportunity. Without this, or without her willingness to contact the OO Developers on her own, how does anyone know? This bleeds in to the ongoing discussion of feedback, user response, etc., so to keep it on topic.. How does this affect Ubuntu/Canonical? Well, I can tell you that I brought Novell out here, catalyzed their meetings with the key DOE parties above, and soon our DOE offered the first Linux+ Certification in a secondary school system. I never got the strong push from them, though, to follow through. It is left to partners, and partners are not big enough for this client. I've never gotten a response from Red Hat. Sun has a good team that calls on me prior to its visits here, and a certain company has recently finally "gotten it" and is about to do something special here. Canonical left me hanging on meetings with the CIO of The University of Hawaii, and the Vice-Superintendent of our Department of Education. I not only targeted the highest executives present at Linuxworld 2008, particularly at IBM's reception at The W, secondarily at the show, and finally at the SVLUG Picnic, but also followed through and pre-arranged meetings with these entities. They look for someone bigger than you or I to discuss licensing services from. If we represent Ubuntu, they'd like to believe that someone in charge of Ubuntu understands how big they are. So my own experience, not from griping, but from endeavoring to build the local relationships required to accelerate the global adoption of FOSS, have left me believing at this point that all but MS, Apple, and an un-mentioned company actually *understand* the principals of marketing, branding, and building a long-term customer base. If I were in a smaller market, Jordan, I may very well have your own perspective. I often wish I were. I am a student of one of the Everett Rogers' students who helped on the research for 'Diffusion of Innovations,' so I've tracked down all components of our adoption curve and nurtured their progress. However, in Hawaii, even the bravest early adopter has no choice but to care about what the Superintendent wants. Hawaii is no place to be unemployed. We're an island, so you can't get a U-Haul, drive a few states away, and start over. Consequently, we need more than my good efforts to generate the revenue required to reach the next plateau with FOSS. I really thought Canonical would be it. I do, however, have a plan, so it's okay. > > This is the ecosystem as I see it - it is *simple* to make money with > open source software. Instead of selling the software, service providers > sell their services. They then help fund development of open source > projects they are involved with with some of the profit. Of course, a > lot of people don't care about the money. In that case, there is always > the foundation of FOSS - people who are passionate about making awesome > software together as a community. Personally, I don't see this as simple. Make no mistake, this is the model I advocate, but, it is 1000 times easier to invoice for a software 'license', for pre-installed hardware, or for training, than it is for support. Here I have to collect for support in our DOE *after* it's been completed, approved by the school, and then paid by another, geographically separate department, if everything is in order. This means 90 days, but this is also the way Government is, so I embrace it. I've tried the above model, and I still perpetuate it through HOSEF and my weekly Free workshops and monthly Free presentations at our University and our mirror, etc.. Schools do better with appliances, with training sessions, with maintenance contracts, and with things that are easy to understand and pay for. I now sell 'licensed' installations of FOSS that are good for the lifetime of the client as long as they obey the gpl/etc.. This is the opportunity lost first by Red Hat, then by Novell, and now, it seems, by Canonical. Yes, it's good for the "little guys." Meanwhile, the real momentum from the markets we need is left to the "big guys." > > Cheers, > Jordan/Lns Aloha --scott -- edubuntu-users mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-users
