Open Sources | Rodrigues & Urlocker » Open Source community subversion as marketing ploy

June 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Open Source community subversion as marketing ploy

TAGS: Microsoft

The launch of Microsoft's Codeplex "shared source" site is merely the latest attempt to undermine and usurp the open source community via clever marketing.

There are two main reasons proprietary vendors are threatened by open source alternatives: price compression and loss of market share.

Open source companies have a pricing umbrella in relation to proprietary vendors license fees. Proprietary vendors argue that open source alternatives lack features, are less secure, socialist and so on, but fundamentally the difference in features is likely no more than 20%. Open source products are generally 10-30% of the cost of the proprietary competitor. This means you can pay roughly 20% of the cost and receive roughly 80% of the features. This is a very appealing proposition. And the more companies who take advantage of this fact the more market share is lost by proprietary vendors.

We are seeing more enterprises shifting parts of their infrastructure to open source software. Evans Data Corp. says that 60% of all U.S. developers touch open source components. As more enterprises shift toward open source proprietary vendors will share market share and margins shrink. Proprietary vendors will do anything they can to protect themselves from forces that disrupt their position

Discerning the methods that undermine open source growth are as important as identifying what tactics lead to further adoption. In the last few years we've really only seen two major software vendors come out strongly against open source: Microsoft and SAP. Each had taken different paths up until recently where now it seems the anti-OSS strategies are beginning to converge.

First lets look at the strategies we have seen to date from Microsoft and SAP.

Microsoft Strategy: Discredit the alternative
Microsoft launched its "Get the Facts" campai(g)n in 2004 with the goal of educating IT buyers on exactly why they should not buy Linux. And since IT buyers shouldn't use Linux they should clearly buy Windows. It was groundbreaking in that it showed that Microsoft was truly threatened, but somewhat bizarre in its implementation, replete with unsubstantiated data and quotes from notorious Redmond-loving analysts. Still though, it was effective. It brought Linux front and center to a broad audience that might never have learned just how great it is.

SAP Strategy: Trust us, we know what's best for you
SAP has taken a different anti-open source path. Instead of print and online ads, executives have made statements that allude to the fact that open source tends to be too amateurish for use in enterprises. The basic goal is to ensure that existing customers remain locked into SAP's expensive offerings and that these customers won't be tempted by the not-ready-for-prime-time open source alternatives.

While both companies will likely continue with these strategies a new iteration is emerging. It’s a game plan that relies on end-user customers as the spokespeople to discredit open source.

Anti-OSS Strategy Convergence: Locked-in customers discrediting open source
Both SAP and Microsoft have begun providing sources to editors that will insist that open source is: hacker fodder, not reliable, buggy or less secure depending on the theme they are trying to push and maybe the cycle of the moon. (I can't come up with any other reason behind this near random rhetoric so I assume some kind of Wolfman type scenario.)

An odd twist is that both companies have started to embrace certain aspects of open source. Microsoft has opened the doors to its Linux labs and started a "shared source" office to collaborate with developers outside of the company. SAP made an investment in MySQL and opened an open source office of its own to manage community relationships. And while I have no doubt that respective program leaders have the best intentions in their "embrace" of open source we must remain somewhat wary. But, is there an ulterior motive?

Anti-OSS Strategy Convergence: Subverting the community
Consider the fact that Microsoft sponsors open source events, has a team dedicated to Linux, and has kindler, gentler (and smarter) staff that engage with the open source community

This is a smart strategy on many levels, not the least of which is the pseudo-friendly approach to open source developers and pundits. One could argue that much of the press and marketing related to open source comes from vendors like Microsoft who have chosen to antagonize. This strategy of getting along starts to diminish the zealousness of both sides. As Chinese Military Strategist Sun-Tzu said back in ~400 BC "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Marketing takes on many forms. The open source model has allowed for companies and projects to grow rapidly with minimal marketing dollars. As the open source movement matures and big companies fall behind we will see marketing rhetoric and spending increase. Any outreach attempts from vendors who have worked for years to destroy open source should be taken with a grain of salt and a sharp eye cast on motivating factors.

Posted by Dave Rosenberg on June 27, 2006 01:41 PM

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