Open source trickle-down

The Open source business model suffers from a form of trickle-down economics. (Do you like this cartoon by Ross Kettle? Send him some PayPal love.)

Enterprises can see the value. They get rid of monopoly rents to Oracle or Microsoft. By seeing the source code they avoid its becoming obsolete. They can set internal programmers, external vendors, and outsourcers against one another to keep costs down.

As a result money is flowing out of the tech economy, and innovation is slowly. The money is going to the enterprises' bottom line. It is not being re-invested. Media that covers the enterprise space is suffering along with the industry.

In the mass market it's a different story. It is possible to build a credible office PC out of Linux, Open Office and Firefox, but only if you're a sophisticated user. You lose access to content on proprietary platforms, you may have (or fear you may have) trouble communicating with business partners. It's a big risk.

That's why Microsoft can hobble new Vista PCs. Customers don't have a choice but to obey its technology dictates. Desktop Linux has yet to get into the middle of demand's "s" curve, and win mass-market acceptance. Until it does Microsoft need not respond to complaints.

If the open source business model does not meet this challenge, it will lose support from the mass user community. Lose that and all its other gains are at risk as well.