🚀 go-pugleaf

Erwin van den Bosch wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 30 Mar 2001 09:17:23 -0800, Ben Matterson
> <bmatterson@borland.com> wrote:
> 
> >Binary files from Borland are required to go though a fair amount of
> >review before being posted. As a business, why would Borland invest
> >that kind of time and effort in something that would 1) provide no
> >return on that investment and 2) take away revenue from the
> >certified version?
> 
> Ben,
> 
> As you know binary files are the result of the source code.
> What you saying is that you put the source code on the internet
> without testing?

How do you test source code? Compile it and test it. We do not have
the excess manpower that we can do that kind of testing every day or
week or whatever. We are going to save that effort for certifying
commercial builds. Like I said, Borland is a business, and requires a
return on an investment.

> But i don't
> understand why you open sourced interbase in the first place. What
> was it's goal? I thought (correct me) that borland wanted interbase
> a widely used product so they could sell support.

I was not with Borland at the time the decision is made, but if you
want my conjecture I'll give it to you, with the understanding that
this is just a GUESS on my part and in no way constitutes an official
statement from Borland on this subject. My guess is that Borland
wanted to cash in on the superhot internet startup frenzy of a year or
so ago. InterBase Software Corp., with that beautiful "open source"
buzz word around it's product, probably seemed like a great prospect
for the "spin off - IPO - cash in" maneuver. What happened after that
is blurred through the lens of time and opinion.

Thus far no company has managed to make money with the "sell support
for OS software" model. Linux is the epitome of the successful open
source project; it's the crown jewel of the open source software
movement. But Red Hat hasn't turned a profit yet. Making money by
selling support does not seem to make money.

> I think the difference in money between a version of interbase that
> works great but open source that cost nothing and a certified
> version is to big. How can i sell a certified version to my
> customers for $1200? Till now they get a free version that works
> great. And if i let my customers simply let them choose what will
> the choose? I think the free version because they don't see what
> they get for $1200.

I suspect you will be right in some cases and wrong in some, maybe
more, cases; it depends on the customer. Corporations generally prefer
commercial software so that they know they have somewhere to turn if
things go wrong. Linux may be becoming the exception to this rule.
 
> And what if application "A" uses a open source version of
> interbase and program "B" uses the certified version. And
> application "B" checks if the certified version is installed.
> Installed on the same computer. I think that will not work
> because of version mismatch.

Yep, that does sound like a potential problem.

<snip>

> So what is your solution to this versioning problem?

Sorry, I don't have one to give you right now. I'll give it some
thought and raise it to the team, but the ugly fact is that there just
may not be a good answer. Like I said, I don't know.

Ben
-- 
InterBase Technical Support
Borland Software Corp.

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