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Analysts build open source straw men

By Scott Clark
on October 16, 2009

It is natural that market analysts might not like open source. Open source lowers costs and passes the savings on to you. While it is possible to build a $1 billion business on open source the path to that success does not require that you do the Forrester walk or buy Gartner studies on sales channels.

It costs nothing to try open source, so instead of selling youre converting users into buyers of service.

Open source is also a big enemy of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD), which often defined success in the 1980s. Its hard to talk about what you might offer when everyone can see what you do offer and add to it if they want.

These same problems, I must add, apply to the media as well. Open source companies do not advertise as widely as those with closed source. They do not hold food frenzies for reporters with big shrimp and an open bar. They know who their customers are they are the people who have downloaded the code.

Read the whole story here http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=5029