Business plan for Messieurs Lord & Turnbull

[davidnwelton]

You guys are capable of a lot of intelligent thinking, and as you have
amply demonstranted over the past week or so, of writing a great deal.

Why don't you sit down and write the "definitive" book on the
economics and business of free software?

--
David N. Welton
http://www.welton.it/davidw/

[davidnwelton]

> Why don't you sit down and write the "definitive" book on the
> economics and business of free software?

As a precaution in case anyone thinks my (early morning) note was a
snarky response to their conversation: it was not.  I would *love* to
see the wisdom of this list over the years distilled into an
approachable book on the current "state of the art" in free software
businesses.  What's been tried, what works, what doesn't, open
questions, the underlying economics, and so on.

Heck, I think it'd be fun to work on myself, just that there are more
qualified people out there, including the two gentlemen in the
subject, both of whom, if I'm not mistaken, are in industries where
publishing something is valuable for one's reputation.

Ciao,
--
David N. Welton
http://www.welton.it/davidw/

[Chris DiBona]

There are a lot of books out there, many written by list members.

Open sources and open sources 2.0, books I edited, are filled with
essays from many list members.

Chris

On Oct 23, 2007 7:20 AM, David Welton <davidnwelton@...> wrote:

> > Why don't you sit down and write the "definitive" book on the
> > economics and business of free software?
>
> As a precaution in case anyone thinks my (early morning) note was a
> snarky response to their conversation: it was not.  I would *love* to
> see the wisdom of this list over the years distilled into an
> approachable book on the current "state of the art" in free software
> businesses.  What's been tried, what works, what doesn't, open
> questions, the underlying economics, and so on.
>
> Heck, I think it'd be fun to work on myself, just that there are more
> qualified people out there, including the two gentlemen in the
> subject, both of whom, if I'm not mistaken, are in industries where
> publishing something is valuable for one's reputation.
>
> Ciao,
>
> --
> David N. Welton
> http://www.welton.it/davidw/
>

--
Open Source Programs Manager, Google Inc.
Google's Open Source program can be found at http://code.google.com
Personal Weblog: http://dibona.com

[Federico Lucifredi-2]

While we are on the subject,

* Ferller, Fitzgerald, Hissam and Lakhani - Perspectives on Free and
Open Source Software
(http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11216)

and

* Karl Fogel - Producing Open Source Software
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/producingoss/
(which by the way is also available free online)

make my top list with Chris' Open Sources series.

Best -F

Chris DiBona wrote:

> There are a lot of books out there, many written by list members.
>
> Open sources and open sources 2.0, books I edited, are filled with
> essays from many list members.
>
> Chris
>
> On Oct 23, 2007 7:20 AM, David Welton <davidnwelton@...> wrote:
>>> Why don't you sit down and write the "definitive" book on the
>>> economics and business of free software?
>> As a precaution in case anyone thinks my (early morning) note was a
>> snarky response to their conversation: it was not.  I would *love* to
>> see the wisdom of this list over the years distilled into an
>> approachable book on the current "state of the art" in free software
>> businesses.  What's been tried, what works, what doesn't, open
>> questions, the underlying economics, and so on.
>>
>> Heck, I think it'd be fun to work on myself, just that there are more
>> qualified people out there, including the two gentlemen in the
>> subject, both of whom, if I'm not mistaken, are in industries where
>> publishing something is valuable for one's reputation.
>>
>> Ciao,
>>
>> --
>> David N. Welton
>> http://www.welton.it/davidw/
>>
>
>
>

--

_________________________________________
-- "'Problem' is a bleak word for challenge" - Richard Fish
(Federico L. Lucifredi) - http://www.lucifredi.com

[davidnwelton]

> I think we're all flattered.   But, how about this:  *after* some of us
> make a cool few million, at least, and *after* we create some jobs for
> third parties -- then, the book.   Until then, I'm sorry to let you down,
> but we're arguably just a bunch of blowhards ;-)

Some people's "comparative advantage" is in things like collecting and
disseminating information.  That is Stephen's job, for instance, and I
think he has a lot of credibility here, even if, to my knowledge, he
hasn't made millions of dollars from a free software business.

--
David N. Welton
http://www.welton.it/davidw/

[davidnwelton]

> * Ferller, Fitzgerald, Hissam and Lakhani - Perspectives on Free and
> Open Source Software
> (http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11216)

Not bad at all, but it suffers from the fact that it's a collection of
things by different people, whereas a book focused on the business and
economics of open source could be expanded and deal with everything in
the same voice.

> * Karl Fogel - Producing Open Source Software
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/producingoss/
> (which by the way is also available free online)

Agreed - an excellent book!

--
David N. Welton
http://www.welton.it/davidw/

[Thomas Lord]

David Welton wrote:

>> Why don't you sit down and write the "definitive" book on the
>> economics and business of free software?
>>    
>
> As a precaution in case anyone thinks my (early morning) note was a
> snarky response to their conversation: it was not.  I would *love* to
> see the wisdom of this list over the years distilled into an
> approachable book on the current "state of the art" in free software
> businesses.  What's been tried, what works, what doesn't, open
> questions, the underlying economics, and so on.
>  

I think we're all flattered.   But, how about this:  *after* some of us
make a cool few million, at least, and *after* we create some jobs for
third parties -- then, the book.   Until then, I'm sorry to let you down,
but we're arguably just a bunch of blowhards ;-)



> Heck, I think it'd be fun to work on myself, just that there are more
> qualified people out there, including the two gentlemen in the
> subject, both of whom, if I'm not mistaken, are in industries where
> publishing something is valuable for one's reputation.
>  

Proof first, then book.    And, so far, we're stuck at Stephen's argument
that no proof will be forthcoming, so.... we'll see.

-t

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

Chris DiBona wrote:
> There are a lot of books out there, many written by list members.
>
> Open sources and open sources 2.0, books I edited, are filled with
> essays from many list members.

Mmm... there still might be a market for a book specifically about
businesses based on free software.

I suppose I could write and/or edit it. I haven't written a book for
nearly two years now, so I suppose it's time for another one.

Anyone have any advice about such a project? Or care to participate?

- Robin

[Thomas Lord]

Robin 'Roblimo' Miller wrote:

>
> Mmm... there still might be a market for a book specifically about
> businesses based on free software.
>
> I suppose I could write and/or edit it. I haven't written a book for
> nearly two years now, so I suppose it's time for another one.
>
> Anyone have any advice about such a project? Or care to participate?
>
>  

What kind of participation are you asking for?

-t







> - Robin
>
>  

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

David Welton writes:

 > Why don't you sit down and write the "definitive" book on the
 > economics and business of free software?

I suggested a book to Tim O'Reilly, and he replied that he didn't think
my suggestion was particularly interesting.  I think he was right. :-)

I've been thinking for a long time about how to do it better, but
haven't had time to actually *do* it.

Although your point about me being in the business of collecting and
disseminating is correct (and I do feel a certain burden of
responsibility), I certainly wouldn't pretend to write the definitive
book, since I've never actually done free software business.

There are lots of good books out there, Chris DiBona's "Open Sources"
series, for one.  I will agree that there's a need for a textbook
treatment different from the ones I've seen so far (Fogel's book is
literally at the top of my list so I can't comment, but the others
I've read have been unimpressive---the best are really about how to
insinuate FLOSS practices and products into large enterprises, so miss
the point most of us are interested in).  But I'm not entirely sure
that readers' money wouldn't be better spent on a combination of "Open
Sources" and a general text on managerial economics such as the one
written by Michael Baye than on the book I would write.