Comments on: The marketing ploy of Open Source http://boldlyopen.com/2008/01/25/the-marketing-ploy-of-open-source/ To boldly muse about Open Source Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:18:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Redhuan D. Oon http://boldlyopen.com/2008/01/25/the-marketing-ploy-of-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-83537 Redhuan D. Oon Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:35:31 +0000 http://boldlyopen.com/2008/01/25/the-marketing-ploy-of-open-source/#comment-83537 That $2m figure was mentioined by our parent project that we forked from sometime ago. Nah, maybe its a coincidence that all such companies based on the same 2m figure as what they hope to save on when they go Open Source. red1 ADempiere Project Community Open Source forked from Compiere (commercial open source) That $2m figure was mentioined by our parent project that we forked from sometime ago. Nah, maybe its a coincidence that all such companies based on the same 2m figure as what they hope to save on when they go Open Source.

red1
ADempiere Project
Community Open Source forked from Compiere (commercial open source)

]]> By: Gianugo http://boldlyopen.com/2008/01/25/the-marketing-ploy-of-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-83088 Gianugo Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:42:52 +0000 http://boldlyopen.com/2008/01/25/the-marketing-ploy-of-open-source/#comment-83088 Matthew, thanks for the clarification. It makes more sense now, but still I'm not sure if there is any metric we can rely upon, as semantics (eg. "qualified leads", whatever that means) are getting in the way. At the end of the day I guess it's just old school: bookings, bookings, bookings. Matthew,

thanks for the clarification. It makes more sense now, but still I’m not sure if there is any metric we can rely upon, as semantics (eg. “qualified leads”, whatever that means) are getting in the way. At the end of the day I guess it’s just old school: bookings, bookings, bookings.

]]> By: Matthew Aslett http://boldlyopen.com/2008/01/25/the-marketing-ploy-of-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-83085 Matthew Aslett Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:50:26 +0000 http://boldlyopen.com/2008/01/25/the-marketing-ploy-of-open-source/#comment-83085 Hi Gianugo, One important point that I didn't make in the original post (and should have done) is that the figures for awareness, web site visits, software trials and qualified leads show year-on-year growth, while the figure for engagements is cumulative, so it's not really accurate to calculate engagements as a proportion of leads. Additionally, for small companies focused on just a couple of customers and a handful of leads the conversion rate is likely going to be disproportionately high. That said, I agree that there is clearly more thought that needs to be put into the value proposition. I have noticed that this January, compared to last January, there were far fewer open source start-ups boasting about their download numbers. Maybe they realized downloads are not enough. Hi Gianugo,

One important point that I didn’t make in the original post (and should have done) is that the figures for awareness, web site visits, software trials and qualified leads show year-on-year growth, while the figure for engagements is cumulative, so it’s not really accurate to calculate engagements as a proportion of leads.

Additionally, for small companies focused on just a couple of customers and a handful of leads the conversion rate is likely going to be disproportionately high.

That said, I agree that there is clearly more thought that needs to be put into the value proposition. I have noticed that this January, compared to last January, there were far fewer open source start-ups boasting about their download numbers. Maybe they realized downloads are not enough.

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