Sustainable software
The community way

Sustainability, in a broad sense is the ability to
maintain a certain process or state. It is now
most frequently used in connection with
biological and human systems. In an
ecological context, sustainability can be
defined as the ability of an ecosystem to
maintain ecological processes, functions,
biodiversity and productivity into the future.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability

Is there any value in
software?

“software is largely a service industry
operating under the persistent but
unfounded delusion that it is a
manufacturing industry”
Eric Raymond, “The magic cauldron”

“In spite of the rise of Microsoft and
other giant producers, software
remains in large part a craft industry.”
Freeman Dyson, “Science as a Craft Industry”

*-intensive

“If copying hurts the software industry but has no effect on
general welfare a prohibition is not morally justifiable on
consequentialist grounds. If copying is not directly related to
income, nor income to a decline in the industry, then too, the
argument breaks down. On close scrutiny these links don't
stick.”
[...]
“Finding that there are insufficiently strong moral grounds for
universally prohibiting copying, I conclude not that all
unauthorized copying is morally acceptable, but that some
copying is acceptable. There is sufficient variability in the types
of situations in which software users copy to suggest that we
ought to evaluate them case-by-case”
Nissenbaum, Helen. \"Should I Copy My Neighbor's Software,\" in Computers, Ethics,
and Social Values. D.J. Johnson and H. Nissenbaum eds.Prentice Hall. 1995.

1970

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ddebold/2386922188/

“Any technology which creates abundance
poses problems for any process which existed
to benefit from scarcity. The beneficial
abundances caused by technology usually
bring unpleasant societal side-effects. Then
we complain about the very things that were
previously benefits.”
http://www.automation.com/resources-tools/articles-white-papers/articles-by-jim-pinto/the-problems-of-scarcity-abundance

“Well, for starters the classic definition of economics is
\"the science of choice under scarcity\". That's a warning
sign right there. From Adam Smith on, economics has
focused almost exclusively on behavior within
constraints. My college textbook, Gregory Mankiw's
otherwise excellent Principles of Economics, doesn't
mention the word abundance. And for good reason: if
you let the scarcity term in most economic equations go
to nothing, you get all sorts of divide-by-zero problems.
They basically blow up.” - Chris Anderson
http://longtail.typepad.com/the_long_tail/2005/03/the_tragically_.html

What about
Open Source?

Open source is a
development method for
software that harnesses
the power of distributed
peer review and
transparency of process.

Commercial
Open Source
Commercial Open Source is a business “model” based on
customers paying a fixed or recurring fee to a vendor to use
software that, give or take a few details, is also available for free
and as Open Source. The value proposition can be based on
✓ FUD (warranty, indemnification, support),
✓ ease of use (better packaging, faster updates),
✓ more functionalities (widget frosting)
✓ enabling of aggregates (avoiding the non-permissive
licensing reciprocality).

FUD == CDS?

ease scratch
good
of your
enough
use itches

Traditional software - cost model
100
75
Sales
Marketing
Maintenance
Testing
50
Production
R&D
25
0
Cost

Open Source Software - cost model
100
75
Sales
Marketing
Maintenance
Testing 50
Production
R&D
25
0
Cost

Traditional software - revenue model
100
75
Services 50
Support
License
25
0
Revenue

Open Source Software - revenue model
100
75
Services 50
Support
License
25
0
Revenue Revenue

Sales
Marketing
Maintenance
Testing
Production
R&D
Internal cost Community

Production Testing Maintenance Marketing
Sales
100
75
50
25
0
Proprietary Community Open Source Commercial Open Source

\"Biodiversity is an
insurance policy against
unknown environmental
fluctuations and
disturbances.\"
Reed F. Noss

“every [corporation] endeavors to employ its
capital so that its produce may be of greatest
value. By pursuing its own interest it frequently
promotes that of society more effectually than
when it really intends to promote it.”
Adam Smith

Don’t upsell
your community!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/niallkennedy/8505312

Kongō Gumi