There are certainly reasons not to use a third party to host your data. I
think if you are going to use a third party the software should be free and
encrypting and the software should be encrypting it prior to placement on the
host in a transparent manor. And not just SSL. Transport isn't the issue. It
should be protected from scrutiny from all who have "access" to it (other
than you).
As far as making money from free software I can say that you can make money
from free software. A really really really rough estimate of its potential
with current desktop GNU/Linux users today is 24 million dollars. That is
based on a zero increase in new users.
This is based on selling computers, accessories, and other similar services
to desktop end-users. That doesn't take into consideration catering to
businesses users and other companies. This is based on supporting the top 10
largest distributions.
You can argue this number is tiny and I wouldn't disagree. The thing is there
is not a single company (besides) us which is really taking advantage of this
market opportunity and the growth potential beyond that 24 million is huge.
You have to consider that once you get to a certain point you can actually
take advantage of the economics to scale and compete with the monopolies.
There is no reason desktop GNU/Linux can't compete with Microsoft, Apple, and
Google's offerings.
A billion dollars isn't much when you are comparing to Microsoft, Apple, and
Google. I can see what t3g is implying although don't agree with his
assessment that Redhat is the exception. Redhat is simply one of the few
companies making money exclusively off (even though they are distributing a
limited amount of non-free third party software) development of free
software. However everybody starts somewhere and Rehdat isn't the only
company profiting from the development they do in relation to free software.
Anothing thing to consider is Redhat is a very young company. Apple,
Microsoft, and at least IBM are much much older. Even Google is a recent
entity into the major league. The company was only founded in 1998. Redhat
was founded a bit earlier in 1993 although has entrenched competition in some
of its potential markets. Comparatively though here are the dates of each:
Apple: 1976
Microsoft: 1975
IBM: 1889
Rehat made the right business decision around 1998. It wasn't so much the
potential wasn't there for desktop GNU/Linux. The issue was the resources
available and the return on the potential speed of the return on the
investment. As much as I disliked it the money was much better spent
elsewhere. The return on the investment in the future though is huge.
Currently they still develop a huge amount of desktop software too.
Ubuntu may not succeed and I'd argue 10.04 was it's height of success. It
will be downhill from here. What we need to do is focus on a grass roots not
for profit development approach. We need Trisquel to become the Debian of
GNU/Linux on the desktop.
It is amazing that we have seen so many companies put so much into the
development of desktop GNU/Linux for so long. Company after company has
failed. Why would anyone start another company and attempt to compete with
Microsoft on the desktop? I sadly see each company repeat (and each
distribution) the same mistakes again and again. I think there was one
company that had a successful business model for the desktop. Unfortunately
(or maybe fortunately- they weren't well loved by GNU/Linux users and
especially not by free software users). They don't exist now and other
factors led to its downfall.
If all goes well I'm hoping to see ThinkPenguin up in that list :) in the
near future. It's more than doable. It's happening. Slowly. But it's
happening. At some point things will just "take off".
If I released the revenues from quarter 3 and 4 of 2011 and you knew what
factors pushed up the revenue and by how much you'd be shocked. Continuing
down the road we are travelling the future is looking awesome! We will be in
a position to make a huge difference before you know it and I'd argue we
already have made a huge difference. We aren't to that tipping point yet
although we are getting there. Every sale still makes a difference. You will
probably have to wait a few more years to really see the results show
although it's whats happening right now that is pushing us to that tipping
point :). Redhat is big now, ThinkPenguin's going to be bigger!
