In a recent discussion with one of my business associates, we discussed the prospect of open source accounting software, as well as other generic and common business programs, like time trackers and document management systems. The question was whether or not it made sense to pursue such a business, because no matter how good your product is, the market will undoubtedly respond to the more effective marketing campaigns. My associate advised me that pursuing such a market was not such a good idea, as there are many successful companies who have nailed the challenge of marketing software and are able to leverage that skill, sell products, and still have enough money left over to create some half-decent (if that) software. Surprised? Sorry, its true. The majority of successful software companies aren’t really software companies, they are marketing firms, or at least management companies that evaluate, outsource, and manage specialized marketing firms.
This was not my favorite realization; one of the characteristics of software I most appreciated was the low barrier to entry. You could “get started” without the need to invest in expensive manufacturing equipment, prototypes, or even (gasp!) marketing studies.
Along Came a Spider
I’m not sure what the chicken and the egg would say about this, but first came the web, then came the spider. And the spider of interest here is the Googlebot. This Googlebot happens to be an incredibly talented and sophisticated research agent. While I’m not sure if they are currently, but executives and business managers can use the information harvested by the Googlebot to circumvent (or more efficiently connect to) marketing materials, getting the information, product, or service they need to achieve their goals. What does this mean for marketers and salespeople? Nothing at the moment, but its impact on independent and start-up software developers is staggering.
How to market open source software
The beauty of Google’s service to open source software is two fold. You get the marketing engine to distribute your information to whoever may be looking for it and informed enough to know what they are looking for (and if they don’t know what they are looking for, you can use AdWords to pursue those who kind of know what they are looking for. Second, you get AdSense. When you launch an open source project, its all about the community. If an open source project builds a community, then the community can again become an audience for Google ads. This is a pretty amazing scenario. Its almost the opposite of a “downward spiral”, and why I can’t stand the news sometimes because they always report the bad news. This “Google effect” seems to end up rewards those who “do good”. I’m really interested to see how the world of software evolves over the next few years, especially in light of Microsoft’s recent legal threats against companies using open source. Talk about the dog that bites the hand that feeds it. The companies that are big enough for Microsoft to sue in a worthwhile manner are big enough to probably be making Microsoft lots of money at the same time by buying their software (which is almost certainly the case). With Dell selling Ubuntu machines, this doesn’t seem the right time for Microsoft to be making enemies. P.S. - I personally lead, maintain, and contribute to many open source software project and think its the best thing to happen to civilization since soap, the written word, and running water, combined! Here are a few of the projects I am involved with:
The RESTful Nexista PHP / XSL / XML Framework PBooks Open Source Accounting Software