Paul Ramsey’s FOSS4G Keynote on Open Source Business

by Sebastian Benthall

Paul Ramsey did an excellent keynote at FOSS4G on the subject of the profitability of open source software. In it, he points out that the relevant produced unit of the software market is the “Whole Product”–a package that includes both software and services. He goes on to explain the shift in thought from “Buy Software, Get Services Extra,” to “Buy Services, Get Software Extra,” and the inevitable rise of open source as a result. Hilariously.