Can You Sell Something That's Free ?

There is an interesting trend happening within the Open-Source Software community. There appears to be a steady rise in the number of companies that are being quite successful in monetizing Open-Source Software and building a thriving business out of it.

Take for example, Red Hat. They had an IPO in 1999 and have never looked back. Under the stewardship of Matthew Szulik, Red Hat grew from a rag-tag assemblage of geeks and hackers, into a half-billion dollar a years services corporation. Matthew left a few years ago, and Jim Whitehurst was given the nod to grow the company into a billion dollar company. From all accounts, he is doing a pretty good job of it.

Remember, this is Open-Source Software. Nobody OWNS the code. Instead, these companies earn the right to provide services AROUND this software with their customers. In this case, they are selling their intellectual property in terms of services & support, instead of software licensing.

Another example is Digium. My namesake - the OTHER Mark Spencer in the Open-Source Software world - created a project called Asterisk. It is an Open-Source telephone switch (often called a PBX). It forms the heart & soul of a Voice-Over-IP (VoIP) system. He developed the software for free.

His company, Digium, designs, manufactures & sells the hardware boards that go into a computer to convert the signals from the telephone provider into a digital signal the computer can handle. Effectively, his free software creates a demand, and his business supplies that demand ! very good business indeed !

A third company would be JBOSS, founded by Marc Fleury. There is the open-source JBOSS, which is found at www.jboss.org and then there is the commercial JBOSS, found at www.jboss.com  For the record, JBOSS was acquired by Red Hat about 4 years ago, ostensibly to shield them from a hostile purchase by another giant software company - who is decidedly AGAINST open-source software !


The opinions expressed are purely those of the author. Opinions are like noses - everyone has one, and they are entitled to it !

WW_I_D ? (What would I do ?) :: Home automation & media streaming...

Lately, I have been turning my attentions towards new diversions. While I am still keenly interested in alternative energy sources, and how we could better commoditize their implementations, I am also still interested in Open-Source Software. As many of you may know about me, I have a the Red Hat "Shadowman" logo tattooed on my chest !

I watched with admiration and a teeny, tiny bit of envy as a good friend of mine did an rather extensive renovation to his family's home. Of great interest to me was his new multi-source media system. From a central location in his data-room, he can stream high-definition video & audio to any room in his house.

It has multiple sources, including satellite TV, AppleTV, iTunes, as well as a data-storage unit filled with MP3s & MP4s (videos). The house has been carved up into A/V "zones", each with its own programmable remote, controlling all aspects of the media being played.

I started to think about how _I_ would approach this... Also, I happen to know that my friend spent a considerable amount of money installing this system. Since I have nowhere near that kind of budget, I started to explore some Open-Source alternatives...

I absolutely love my friends media-streaming capabilities, but wondered "Does it have to stop there ?".  How about adding in home-automation ? Could I also control climate & lighting in the same way ? That's when I stumbled up the LinuxMCE Project . In fact, they take it a couple of steps further, bundling a VoIP Telephone solution and Home-Security. WOW !

It is built upon a linux distribution called Ubuntu . And then the other technologies are layered on. Drivers for control-devices from X10 and Insteon are built-in, making it an extremely flexible system, suitable for all budgets. My only concern actually lay in one aspect of the solution - how much do I have to mess around importing songs, movies & other media for streaming ?

In a much more proprietary format, Apple has been working on media-dsitribution for years. The foundation is iTunes - not really an application so much as a means of purchasing media content from Apple ! They then layer on products to "assist" in those purchases... Through the use of the AirPort Express (a wireless Access point with ports for printer & speakers), I can stream music from iTunes on my laptop to the speakers I plug into the APE.

Just a few days ago, Apple announced AirPlay, which allows the streaming of video content to compatible devices, including the newly re-engineered AppleTV. It is a wireless device which has a high-definition cable I plug into my TV. So I can stream a movie, either from my iTunes, streamed from Apple, or from Netflix - which is now available in Canada !

So what if I built an iTunes-based media server, and streamed content to the AirPort Expresses and to some AppleTV devices. It would represent a well-designed system, with great commercial-grade support, and not completely destroy my budget ! Take it one step further - I could control all the playback from the Apple Remote application on my iPod/iPhone/iPad... Very swish !

So I can control the media streaming with Apple's products for a couple of thousand dollars. Then I can start on the home-automation path with LinuxMCE. So then I can create lighting & climate "moods" appropriate to my needs - like watching TV, or hosting a party. If my control device is an iPhone or an iPad, I ca control things when I am not even at home ! How cool is that ?!?

The final layer - what about installing a software-based phone application on my control device. I could either install microphones in each room & have the system decide where to route calls to, or use a headset - bluetooth or otherwise.

As you can see, the opportunities are endless. I am quite excited about this project, although I am still in the early stages of writing the business case for approval from the Minister of Finance (aka my wife !).

The opinions expressed are purely those of the author. Opinions are like noses - everyone has one, and they are entitled to it !

Gun Registry in Canada

There is great debate lately about the Canadian Federal Government's long-gun registry. There is a private member's bill that has been tabled by Candice Hoeppner in the House of Commons which seeks to abolish the registry. It is quickly becoming a Liberals vs Conservatives talking point, with the Chiefs of Police nationwide weighing in with their opinions.

The best discussion I have heard so far relates this back to simple roots: Urban Canada vs Rural Canada. The urbanites make the argument that long guns have no place in society. Anybody who owns or uses one must be interested or involved in the perpetration of a crime. As such, those that already exist need to be registered and licensed. Anyone failing to register a long gun in their possession is subject to a fine.

There is a huge outcry from the Chiefs of Police, who defend the gun registry stating that they are provided a modicum of safety by having prior knowledge that a gun is present in a household when they are called to an incident, such as domestic violence. Interestingly, Chief Hanson of Calgary has called the value of the registry into question, and doesn't stand with his brethren Chiefs.

The people in rural areas believe that owning a gun is as much a part of their way of life as owning pants. It is protection from the natural elements that exist in their environment. Living in areas of our nation where there is very little population density means sharing your environment with all manner of fauna - bears, coyotes, cougars and wolves.

What make the Registry so irrelevant  is that it seeks only to control "long guns",  rifles and the like. I suspect that the violent crimes the Registry seeks to manage are perpetrated with pistols and other forms of hand-guns, not covered by the Registry. Further, I would wager that the very same criminals who would perpetrate violent crimes using handguns are just as unlikely to want to register such a firearm. As such, I can't see much protection being offered by the Registry.

So where does the value of the Long Gun Registry come into play ? Was it worth the initial $2billion is purportedly cost to set up, and then the further millions required to maintain it ? Are we ANY safer with it than without it ?

I for one would like to see the figures. Show me cold, hard statistics which irrefutably prove that the establishment of the Federal Gun Registry has been DIRECTLY linked to the lowering of the number of violent crimes perpetrated in Canada. Frankly, I don't think it is possible that statistics could show that. As such, I question the value of the long gun registry.


The opinions expressed are purely those of the author. Opinions are like noses - everyone has one, and they are entitled to it !