Dr. Sandeep Krishnamurthy Associate Professor E-Commerce and Marketing University of Washington, Bothell Sandeep is the author of a successful MBA E-Commerce.

Dr. Sandeep KrishnamurthyAssociate ProfessorE-Commerce and MarketingUniversity of Washington, Bothell

Sandeep is the author of a successful MBA E-Commerce textbook- “E-Commerce Management: Text and Cases” and has recently edited two books, “Contemporary Research in E-Marketing: Volumes I, II”. His academic research has been published in journals such as Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (OBHDP), Marketing Letters, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Quarterly Journal of E-Commerce, Marketing Management, Information Research, Knowledge, Technology & Policy and Business Horizons. He is the Associate Book Review Editor of the Journal of Marketing Research and a co-editor for a Special Issue of the International Marketing Review on E-Marketing. His writings in the business press have appeared on Clickz.com, Digitrends.net and Marketingprofs.com. Sandeep was recently featured on several major media outlets (TV- MSNBC, CNN, KING5 News; Radio- KOMO 1000, Associated Press Radio Network; Print- Seattle Post Intelligencer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, UW’s The Daily; Web- MSNBC.com, Slashdot.org) recently for pointing out the flaws in Microsoft Word’s Grammar Check. His comments have been featured in press articles in outlets such as Marketing Computers, Direct Magazine, Wired.com, Medialifemagazine.com, Oracle’s Profit Magazine and The Washington Post. Sandeep also works in the areas of generic advertising and non-profit marketing.

MBA560: Guest Speaker

An Overview of Open Source Software

Sandeep [email protected]

http://faculty.washington.edu/sandeep

Sandeep Krishnamurthy [email protected] 3

When you buy a software package, you get….

The box.The CDs.The Software Program. Only executable files. No source code is usually provided.


Brief Intro to Source Code

Source code = program instructions in their original form [I.e., as written by developers]. When you purchase programs, you usually receive them in their machine-language format. This means that you can execute them directly, but you cannot read or modify them.


The IP Perspective

Source code=intellectual property.A corporation has the right to protect its IP.Legally, the corporation has no obligation to reveal the source code for 95 years after it was created. Windows source code will be available

in mid 2000s.


But, what about innovation?

With software products, source code is a pre-requisite for innovation.Developers need to understand the logic of previous developers when enhancing a product.Reusability of code leads to major efficiencies.


Famous OSS Programs

Operating Systems LINUX, BSD

Applications Open Office, Star Office

Infrastructure Sendmail, Apache

There are many small programs (e.g. Mailman).




Benefits of OSS to UserCan add new features to the product.Can understand programming logic.Can customize changes. e.g., Using only subset of features

Can freely pass the product on to others. No concept of piracy. You can borrow a

friend’s CD and install the product, for example. (Restrictions are on code- not executables).


The key difference between OSS and commercial software.

In commercial software, product innovation is limited to a single author.In OSS, the user is part of the product innovation process. Users can suggest features. Users can help create new program modules. Users can test out early versions as lead users.

Quicker feedback between user and author.Global community means quick fixes to bugs.


OSS movement is about greater choice

Users can mix and match. Example: In the LINUX environment, users

can pick from different user interfaces(Gnome, KDE), Web browsers (Mozilla Firefox), Office suites(Open, Star).

This is possible because the software is free. This threatens many companies’ efforts to dominate the entire user experience.


OSS is Global COUNTRY Number of

Groups COUNTRY Number of

Groups

1 UNITED STATES 150 14 COLOMBIA 7 2 GERMANY 38 15 DENMARK 7 3 CANADA 27 16 SWITZERLAND 7 4 INDIA 24 17 ARGENTINA 6 5 RUSSIAN FEDERATION 23 18 BELGIUM 6 6 ITALY 17 19 NETHERLANDS 6 7 UNITED KINGDOM 14 20 HUNGARY 5 8 FRANCE 13 21 SWEDEN 5 9 BRAZIL 12 22 UKRAINE 5

10 AUSTRALIA 10 # with 4 user groups 4 11 SPAIN 10 # with 3 user groups 3 12 MEXICO 8 # with 2 user groups 10 13 NORWAY 8 # with 1 user group 35


OSS Leads to Greater Reliability

Companies can test for a small set of conditions/scenarios (e.g. hardware configurations).

With a global support community, OSS programs are stress-tested on a larger set of conditions leading to better reliability.


Netcraft Survey of 40 million sites in April 2003


Estimating Economic Impact

It would cost over $1 billion to develop Red Hat Linux 7.1. $600 million estimate for Red Hat Linux

version 6.2.

Red Hat Linux 7.1 includes 30 million physical source lines of code. Estimate of about 8,000 person-years of

development time (as compared to 4,500 person-years to develop version 6.2).


Perhaps, the truest sign of impact is fear!

“Linux is the long-term threat against our core business. Never forget that! You should be smothering your accounts from every angle and if you see Linux and/or IBM in there with it, then get all over it. Don't lose a single win to Linux.” (Microsoft’s Brian Valentine, World Wide Sales)


Why do developers produce OSS programs?

To take part in an intellectually stimulating project.To improve their skill.To take the opportunity to work with open-source code.Non-work functionality.Work-related functionality.Four types of developers- Believers, Fun-seekers, Professionals and

Skill-enhancers.


Are all OSS programs free?

Open source does not automatically mean zero price. Pricing is an independent choice.However, many programs are free.Free=larger access.Remember: Many commercially available software have benefited from OSS products.




OSS-related revenue models

Installation/Integration/Customer Support Enterprises want accountability. Version authentication.

Releasing premium version of product that is available for a price.Certification/Training/Education of Developers.

An Overview of Open Source Software

Sandeep KrishnamurthyUniversity of [email protected]

http://faculty.washington.edu/sandeep

Dr. Sandeep Krishnamurthy Associate Professor E-Commerce and Marketing University of Washington, Bothell Sandeep is the author of a successful MBA E-Commerce.

Documents

source code source code

bothell sandeep

edusandeep slide

journal of marketing

windows source code

marketing management

marketing letters

marketing computers