Can Sourceforge marketplace open the cash drawer?

Sourceforge has always been more about traffic than money.

No more.

Sourceforge.Net Marketplace registers those with skills, organizes the skills into categories (even non-programming categories) and tries to make money from the deals which result.

The system launches with over 600 listings from major open source operations like JasperSoft, Zenoss, Compiere, Firebird, Nagios and Spring Framework. It has been tested since May.

At least one magazine has already made the obvious comparison to eBay, but a more proper comparison might be to b2b markets like VerticalNet, which eventually morphed into a supply chain management outfit.

So that would be my advice. Memo to Sourceforge. Concentrate on the software, rather than the relationships. Relationships are for the people in them. Software is something you know.