RE: Open Source Developer Exchange (Economics)

I agree 100% on this one - thank you Ben.

The model ensures that price is one of three main drivers;
(i) Price (this is a factor), (ii) Quality (historic customer ratings and
peer rating) and (iii) Availability - a combination of how many projects the
member is actively participating in and how much effort the new project will
require. Availability affects deliverability hence the reason for including
it as one of the drivers.

There are a number of statistical reports available indicating the norms
followed by most OSS developers in relation to number of concurrent projects
they participate in, number of additional hours per week spent on projects
and level of complexity associated with concurrent projects. Similarly there
are many such reports on peer rating and review systems that are frequently
used in the OSS environment. These models should be a component of the
proposed NewCo system without making the system unduly complex and
cumbersome to use. Speed, efficiency and simplicity is what we should build
into this model. Any additional comments from readers on these two topics
are most welcome.

Very best regards
Julius Steyn


-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Laurie [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 29 April 2003 10:55 AM
To: Julius Steyn
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Open Source Developer Exchange (Economics)

Julius Steyn wrote:

> Hallo gentlemen,
>
> You may recall my debut under the above subject heading on this mailing
list
> during late March. Again thank you for the constructive feedback received
> from members of the list. I have since collated all the findings of
several
> months' research and joined forces with other members on this mailing
list.
> Our focus was simple:
>
> "How to leverage the advantages, culture and experience of Open Source and
> to integrate these with the demands of business customers to such a degree
> that Open Source can become a better provider of business critical
> software - with lasting benefits to both developers and business
customers"
>
> We developed an Operating Model and business strategy based on the
feedback,
> research and challenges discussed in the summary essay that followed. Many
> existing and past business models were investigated each have their own
> unique characteristics, benefits and advantages. Some of the 13 business
> models that we investigated included; Sourceforge, SourceXchange,
Collabnet,
> Elance, sologig, rent-a-coder, experts exchange, free agent, asynchrony,
> etc. Although we are confident about our strategies and the proposed
> business model we are at a stage that we respectfully seek your advice and
> input. I have summarised the basics of the Operating Model at the location
> below and will provide a detail strategy and business solution during the
> latter part of this week, your feedback is critical to finalise some of
the
> key aspects of the business solution.
> http://www.devcity.org/opsmodel/
> I look forward to your constructive response, criticism, comments and
> discussion about some/all of the initiatives mentioned in the above essay.

IMO, one of the things that went wrong with SourceXchange was that there
was too much focus on price, so the good coders didn't bid, and the
successful bidders tended to be flakey or not of high quality (of
course, this was by no means universally true). So, I'm concerned that
you quote as critical: "Teams can bid against each other to ensure that
the customer can obtain the best price" - it isn't just about price.
Getting the best value for money is what it is about.

Cheers,

Ben.

--
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"There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go if he
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