On Fri, 2006-08-25 at 13:56 +1200, Rik Tindall wrote: > Sole-proprietor decisions may flow easier, and I can at least stimulate > more discussion.. > Thank you for this.
> I'm readily contradictable, but shouldn't this be "We'll pay you $200 to > explain your FOSS business model"? That way, we've already proven that > it works :) > It can happen this way too, but only when you are invited. To be invited you or the company you work for have to match certain criteria among which is having a leading position in or a significant contribution to the industry or to have something original you or the company are working on or using in your work. You know this, your company has already been invited once. The pay however will come eventually from a sponsor. > It sounds like you're wanting a (FOSS) mindshare pitch to programmer > graduates, with job offers. That makes sense, assuming there's enough $ > floating round our side of the industry to do it. I guess you've got a > partial answer already. > No jobs will be on offer, this is not about this. It is about showing the students another side of the industry. The money is there and there is a principal sponsor for this event. The amount required here is not much, it is less than what you'd pay for an add in the paper or at the radio. True that the benefits are not immediate, it is more like a long term investment, but I thought to seize the occasion and to ask anyway. > And you correctly, I believe, indicate that FOSS sector growth is > largely a matter of investment and promotions. > Thanks > a) where will the $ come from? - it's a risk of faith that OS-types > aren't mustering on the ground, evidentially. > b) can you find a cheaper venue? It is the traditional venue for events dedicated to students > > c) taking up yachting has been likened to 'standing in a cold shower, > tearing up money'. Is FOSS another such parallel - community rich & > money poor? It is not quite so. I know some (quiet) members of this list who are very successful in their business and are using exclusively FOSS. On July 2004 Jason Haar from Trimble and more recently on July 2005 Andreas Girardet from Novell both had very good presentations at NZCS about possible business models using open source software. So money can be made with FOSS. Some of you may also contribute with your experience. > We must be getting _something_ back on our enormous time inputs. > My offer for a CLUG organised event with NZCS still stands. > d) clearly, sysad gurus with real skills are not free to give away - or > pay _you_ for - their time. This might explain the proposal's apparent > sinking. Creating a market for said speakers' expertise is what you Maybe, but I didn't intend to do that. There is a market of speakers out there and NZCS like many other interest groups tapped into it to present its members what looks like an interesting point of view one time or another. This event though doesn't follow this model. > probably need to do; tapping the IBM, HP & Novell et al veins is the > logical start. Better still, get Microsoft to sponsor the whole thing - > they have some "Open Source" policy now, and promotional budgets to boot. > These are some of the corporate partners of NZCS (http://www.nzcs.org.nz/SITE_Default/corporate_partners/current_list.asp) and one of them is the principal sponsor for this event. If I am not successful in this endeavour by Monday, that company will take over. This is an opportunity I thought to offer that arose due to a fortunate series of events. > e) room for more comment.. Any comments welcomed > > > Adrian
