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free-software-is-serious-business [2019/11/10 19:35]
admin |
free-software-is-serious-business [2019/12/03 12:22]
rijk [The Free Software Practice] |
| ====== Free Software is Serious Business ====== | ====== Free Software is Serious Business ====== |
| By [[mailto:rijkr@datraverse.com|Rijk Ravestein]] - Owner of Datraverse. | //A Libre Business Model by Example// |
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| | By [[rijkr@datraverse.com|Rijk Ravestein]] - Owner of Datraverse. |
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| ===== Introduction ===== | ===== Introduction ===== |
| //The Libre Business Model is an application of Free Software Design Patterns.// | //The Libre Business Model is an application of Free Software Design Patterns.// |
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| * Concepts like Decentralization, Peer-to-Peer, Distribution and Confederation are ingrained into Free Software Design and considered best practice to let users optimally exercise their freedom. \\ \\ -> //“With Free Software users control their own computer instead of being controlled by their computer.”// | * Concepts like Decentralization, Peer-to-Peer, Distribution and Confederation are ingrained into Free Software Design and considered best practice to let users optimally exercise their freedom. \\ \\ -> //“With Free Software users control their own computer instead of being controlled by their computer.”// \\ \\ |
| * Likewise, a Libre Business Model is designed as a distributed federation of small business units, or individual professionals, who cooperate peer-to-peer to accomplish well defined Free Software community targets. \\ \\ -> //“In a Libre Business Model partners run their own business instead of being run by their business.”// | * Likewise, a Libre Business Model is designed as a distributed federation of small business units, or individual professionals, who cooperate peer-to-peer to accomplish well defined Free Software community targets. \\ \\ -> //“In a Libre Business Model partners run their own business instead of being run by their business.”// \\ \\ |
| * A distributed design facilitates fail-over capability. Partners can take over each others work when one of them is unavailable. This makes Free Software Support sustainable. | * A distributed design facilitates fail-over capability. Partners can take over each others work when one of them is unavailable. This makes Free Software Support sustainable. \\ \\ |
| * The Libre Business Model leans heavily on a [[wp>Web_of_trust|Web-of-Trust]]. By achieving common business goals, trust among federated partners will be extended and reinforced. \\ \\ -> //Trust is the most valuable equity of a Free Software community.// | * The Libre Business Model leans heavily on a [[wp>Web_of_trust|Web-of-Trust]]. By achieving common business goals, trust among federated partners will be extended and reinforced. \\ \\ -> //Trust is the most valuable equity of a Free Software community.// \\ \\ |
| * [[http://www.melconway.com/Home/Conways_Law.html|Conway's Law]] states that "organizations produce designs whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure". Restated by Eric S Raymond, "the organization of the software and the organization of the software team will be congruent". \\ \\ -> //The Libre Business Model is congruent with Free Software Design Patterns.// | * [[http://www.melconway.com/Home/Conways_Law.html|Conway's Law]] states that "organizations produce designs whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure". Restated by Eric S Raymond, "the organization of the software and the organization of the software team will be congruent". \\ \\ -> //The Libre Business Model is congruent with Free Software Design Patterns.// |
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| ===== The Free Software Practice ===== | ===== The Free Software Practice ===== |
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| I am the owner, and in 2015 was the sole employee of [[https://www.datraverse.com/|Datraverse BV]], a company I established in 1998 for my software development contracting work and value added software reselling. The “BV” (Besloten Vennootschap) acronym is the Dutch equivalent of an “Ltd” (Limited). | I am the owner, and in 2015 was the sole employee of [[https://www.datraverse.com/|Datraverse BV]], a company I established in 1998 for my software development contracting work and value added software reselling. The “BV” (Besloten Vennootschap) acronym is the Dutch equivalent of an Limited (Ltd) or Limited Liability Company (LLC). |
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| As it happens Datraverse BV is also the owner and creator of [[https://www.savapage.org/|SavaPage Open Print Portal]], and therefore the perfect legal umbrella to prototype the Libre Business Model. I implemented the model as a so-called //“Libre Software Practice”// for the SavaPage Community, see https://wiki.savapage.org for a complete explanation. In a nutshell, the practice works as follows: | As it happens Datraverse BV is also the owner and creator of [[https://www.savapage.org/|SavaPage Open Print Portal]], and therefore the perfect legal umbrella to prototype the Libre Business Model. I implemented the model as a so-called //“Libre Software Practice”// for the SavaPage Community, see https://wiki.savapage.org for a complete explanation. In a nutshell, the practice works as follows: |
| ==== Strategy ==== | ==== Strategy ==== |
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| === Create your own level playing field === | > **Create your own level playing field** |
| | //"Never innovate to compete, innovate to change the rules of the game."// \\ ― David O. Adeife |
| //"Never innovate to compete, innovate to change the rules of the game."// \\ \\ ― David O. Adeife | ---- |
| | > **Think big, act small** |
| === Think big, act small === | //"Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do."// \\ ― Malcolm Gladwell, [[wp>The_Tipping_Point|The Tipping Point]]: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. |
| | ---- |
| //"Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do."// \\ \\ ― Malcolm Gladwell, [[wp>The_Tipping_Point|The Tipping Point]]: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. | > ** Learn by doing** |
| | //“An ounce of practice is generally worth more than a ton of theory.”// \\ ― Ernst F. Schumacher, [[wp>Small_Is_Beautiful|Small Is Beautiful]]: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered. |
| === Learn by doing === | ---- |
| | > **Rely on your compass** |
| //“An ounce of practice is generally worth more than a ton of theory.”// \\ \\ ― Ernst F. Schumacher, [[wp>Small_Is_Beautiful|Small Is Beautiful]]: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered. | |
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| === Rely on your compass === | |
| // “Liberty and Justice for All.”// | // “Liberty and Justice for All.”// |
| | ---- |
| === Have hope and courage, be realistic === | > **Have hope and courage, be realistic** |
| | //"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."// \\ ― Václav Havel |
| //"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."// \\ \\ ― Václav Havel | ---- |
| | > **Be confident** |
| === Be confident === | |
| //FOSS now is the dominating software development paradigm.// | //FOSS now is the dominating software development paradigm.// |
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| * Proprietary software vendors are fighting an uphill battle. | * Proprietary software vendors are fighting an uphill battle. |
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