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This headline recently appeared in several places across the Web:

“Salesforce.com Passes $1 Billion Annual Revenue Mark”

THIS IS NOT TRUE. I don’t know whether this material misstatement arose from media manipulation or an honest mistake, but it’s genesis is most likely this 20 August 2008 press release…

“Salesforce.com Announces Record Fiscal Second Quarter Results”
http://tinyurl.com/5m5mea

…the subheading of which claims:

“First Ever Software as a Service Company to Exceed $1 Billion Annual Revenue Run Rate”

THIS IS NOT TRUE, EITHER. “Software as a Service” is marketing technospin for “service bureau”. And payroll processing giant ADP–another service bureau–exceeded not only a “run rate” but actual annual revenues of $1 billion in 1985:

“The original outsourcer, Automatic Data Processing…”
http://tinyurl.com/56y5tx

Yes, SalesForce.com did report revenues of $263 million for their most recent quarter. And yes, they have raised “FY09 Revenue Guidance to $1.070 - $1.075 Billion”. But NO, Salesforce.com has NOT passed the “$1 Billion Annual Revenue Mark”. And despite Cheerleader/CEO Marc Benioff’s effusive exuberance, some like Tiernan Ray do not share his enthusiasm:

“Salesforce’s Deferred Revenue Debacle”
http://tinyurl.com/6oagtp

Perhaps in an effort to meet ever-inflating investor expectations–a fire they themselves have fueled–Mr. Ray notes that Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Nemeroff “…thinks Salesforce may be pushing customers to sign more multi-year subscription contracts by lower prices, which could be hitting deferred revenue.” And reading that, for me, brought on a disturbing case of Datapoint deja vu:

http://tinyurl.com/gk77r

“By the early 1980s, Datapoint was a Fortune 500 company. Under immense pressure to increase sales figures, its sales representatives encouraged customers to place large orders at the end of the fiscal year, permitting the company to count the orders as revenue even though the money had not been received and, in some instances, the sold equipment had not yet even been produced…. When some of the customers went broke before paying their bills, Datapoint had to reverse sales or record substantial bad debts, which caused the company to lose $800 million of its market capitalization in a matter of a few months in early 1982. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered Datapoint to stop this practice.”

Is Salesforce.com the new ADP … or the next Datapoint? Some say their business model is to take your watch and then bill you for the time. If so, what will happen to all those watches if blue sky clears the cloud?

Bruce Arnold,
Web Design Miami Florida

I think there are 2 sides to the “Open Source Buisiness Model”.

Side 1:

Closed + open = choice and profit

Eg: Xandros

Xandros, Suse, Companies Like these have had great market growth, Great innovation, And have grown up with reality: That is, Closed source + Open Source = innovation, market growth, and better computing.

Look at the continuing inclusion of Nvidia and ATI drivers, sound Eg, Etc, in Opensuse, SLED, and Xandros. Even Linus himself has come around and supported this business model. Closed + open does not eqaul evil, or lack of progress.

Side 2:

Redhat/Debian etc

RedHat is thne ONLY company to have made a profit + exposure, in the IT business from “pure” Open Source. I think it’s still debatable how pure it is, but anyway, it shows that You CAN make profit from “pur5e” OS Business.

Side 3 :

Ubuntu/Canonical:

Ubuntu to me, is the best OS Linux hands down. Sure, Debain is in here too, but I have PPPoe internet at my place, DHCP internet, at my mum’s. I have not been able to get PPPOe gpoing on Ubuntu yet. And yes , I have tired older and newer versions, + ubuntu/linux mint etc. I found the option “PPPoe Internetr” under Network section of admin menu. But, I tried, i could not get a connection. Sure, You might say “:what about checking cables , etc?’. But I did it under Windows Fine, Ansd opensuse as well. I don’t think it is a lack of knowledge on my part, could just be a technicality that i have not noticed.

So,

1) I would LOVE all above business models tpo be accepted as kosher, and any others, eg as well as mixed licensing would be great.

I have never found a distro, that I could take and say” Hey I’m going to take this one, run it on all my machines, and forget the upgrade, crossgrade, and standardising nightmare.

I REALLY want to have a distro that I can standardise on for purely practical purposes(I can use just 1 version as well, wait until the updates reun out), so I acn run say quanta, on all desktops(eg for standarised web devel needs), or maybe eclipse on all of them for sytandarised devel, etc.

I have not found one that does. Suse does not include quanta anymore. On Opoensuse, there is no eclipse, But that’s less of a worry

I wish there was one and ONLY one codebase, for packages eg, ( everyone come to ubuntu and Redhat based combined repository_, and any package you need , our distors are preconfigured for all the packges under the sun. No more sources.listX8 hell, and no more yum lists x 8 hell.

This is my major gripe.

The progblem is not no buisiness model, prob is no standard way of creating a proper distro. business wise, linux has all the hype it needs, but we need good standrds too

my 2 cents

can you tell me which program that i can run linux’s command on windowxp

I suppose your dad would not have understood the change as he was motivated by money. But then is everything based on money? Do I stop flying model airplanes because of money; Do friends of mine stop operating their boats because of money, and other friends stop writing software because of money? No, money is not always the motivation.

Our motivation is our mind and the need to think, to solve problems and to be recognized.

Yesm, I think your dad would have understood and made the transition.

If open source is ever to have meaningful financial impact in the market, entrepreneurs should build their companies as if they want to be the next Microsoft, not the next Zimbra.

Microsoft didn’t put IBM out of business.
Google didn’t put Microsoft out of business.
A lot of people might be putting AT&T out of business or NOT?

Follow your passion, if you can. And you need customers to sell to and products/services they are willing to pay for. Or the Google/media model of selling advertising. Or…

Not every company is a Microsoft, nor do they need to be. I’d rather see a dozens of competing companies - but that is my consumer bias.

Monopolies (or too few companies) always seems to lead to abuse/corruption.