What would you do to make money if you were Canonical?

[gspat]

Besides venture capital, paid support, Ubuntu One and the Yahoo! search initiative, what ideas would you try if you were in charge of Canonical as strategies to generate money?

My idea would be this:

1). Hire a group of programmers with qualifications in porting windows programs to *nix - make sure you have a good mix of graphical, db etc. experience.
2). Approach high selling / important companies about contracts for porting their code for them and creating .bin executables under NDA.
3). Assist them with deploying a set of PPA type repositories for distribution (Ideally LTS and newer, with support for old LTS dropped after 6 mos of dropping LTS release support).

The contract would be something like this (I'm not going to use legalese):

1). Pay us a percentage of each serial key sold for your product specifically purchased for use with *nix.
2). Flat fee of $X for patches / updates to the product within same product version (as per existing windows product) if requested and not done in-house.
3). Flat fee of $Y for rewrites to new product version (as per existing windows product) if requested and not done in-house.
4). Monthly recurring fee to maintain repositories if not done in-house.

Like / hate this idea?

What would YOU do? I'm very interested in hearings everybody's ideas!

Please don't use this thread as yet another Yahoo / MS bashing arena... there's already a thread for that!

That said, comments on this / others ideas are fair game...

[tgalati4]

Sell a tablet with Ubuntu installed--something like the iPad, but with all the things that the iPad is missing. Perhaps a joint venture with System76.

[jrusso2]

I would get out of the desktop Linux business and invest in something they might be better at or able to make some money at

[gspat]

Sell a tablet with Ubuntu installed--something like the iPad, but with all the things that the iPad is missing. Perhaps a joint venture with System76.

That makes money for System76, but how would canonical make money off it? Any kickbacks from that would be seen as selling the OS and be frowned upon, wouldn't they?

(Although I do think it's a killer idea and I'd probably buy one!)

[jflaker]

What would you do to make money if you were Canonical?

Seriously push Ubuntu/Ubuntu NBR/Xubuntu/Ebuntu, take over the attempt at Ubuntu Christian Edition project and ADVERTISE in major media outlets so that your software is no longer strange.

Have you noticed that Microsoft or Apple rarely show the software on TV? You see someone at the computer, but not what is on screen.

Demo kiosks in major malls and shopping centers would help.

[samh785]

I would get out of the desktop Linux business and invest in something they might be better at or able to make some money at
I think that this idea would certainly make the most money... but it would make me sad :(

[sudoer541]

Besides venture capital, paid support, Ubuntu One and the Yahoo! search initiative, what ideas would you try if you were in charge of Canonical as strategies to generate money?

My idea would be this:

1). Hire a group of programmers with qualifications in porting windows programs to *nix - make sure you have a good mix of graphical, db etc. experience.
2). Approach high selling / important companies about contracts for porting their code for them and creating .bin executables under NDA.
3). Assist them with deploying a set of PPA type repositories for distribution (Ideally LTS and newer, with support for old LTS dropped after 6 mos of dropping LTS release support).

The contract would be something like this (I'm not going to use legalese):

1). Pay us a percentage of each serial key sold for your product specifically purchased for use with *nix.
2). Flat fee of $X for patches / updates to the product within same product version (as per existing windows product) if requested and not done in-house.
3). Flat fee of $Y for rewrites to new product version (as per existing windows product) if requested and not done in-house.
4). Monthly recurring fee to maintain repositories if not done in-house.

Like / hate this idea?

What would YOU do? I'm very interested in hearings everybody's ideas!

Please don't use this thread as yet another Yahoo / MS bashing arena... there's already a thread for that!

That said, comments on this / others ideas are fair game...


I love your idea but unfortunately it wont happen.

[alexfish]

1. OEM

also upgrades etc etc require Internet; a portion of the revenues should be shared by the ISP'S

This keeps " FREE and OPEN"

[samantha_]

1. OEM

also upgrades etc etc require Internet; a portion of the revenues should be shared by the ISP'S

This keeps " FREE and OPEN"

I dont think ISPs are really happy with us seeding the distros already......

[Simon17]

Seriously push Ubuntu/Ubuntu NBR/Xubuntu/Ebuntu, take over the attempt at Ubuntu Christian Edition project and ADVERTISE in major media outlets so that your software is no longer strange.

Have you noticed that Microsoft or Apple rarely show the software on TV? You see someone at the computer, but not what is on screen.

Demo kiosks in major malls and shopping centers would help.

I apologize for my dimwittedness, but how does that make money for Canonical?

[alexfish]

I dont think ISPs are really happy with us seeding the distros already......

Hi

can you elaborate on : I dont think ISPs are really happy with us
.................................:seeding the distros already

[Queue29]

I would quit wasting money on linux for desktop and invest in mutual funds.

Fortunately Canonical is all about the Freedomz, and not the money, like the greedy M$ camp, right?

[gspat]

I think it has to do with them being too cheap to upgrade their equipment to allow for decent bandwidth... and they are scared of users uploading ANYTHING out onto the 'net

[Regenweald]

I would get out of the desktop Linux business and invest in something they might be better at or able to make some money at

Essentially. also, "porting" win apps to linux is tantamount to a re-write. Apple has SOLD over 2 billion iphone apps, Canonical barely breaks even every year. Yay broke FOSS devs or Yay capitalism ?

[LightB]

I would lobby governments to give me an edge. Seems to be the best investment scheme currently. A few million to buy some senators, congressmen, boom, you steal billions.

[Gallahhad]

Put in a subscription service to include updates to software like Firefox, Open Office etc.. etc.. for the LTS releases.

[samantha_]

Hi

can you elaborate on : I dont think ISPs are really happy with us
.................................:seeding the distros already

as in
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-throttles-bittorrent-traffic-seeding-impossible/

They dont care to provide propper equiptment to support the amount of bandwith they sell. Torrenting can take up a lot of bandwith and can connect with an unlimited (as much as your computer supports) amount of peers, which means you can technially use up to your maximum upload/download rate.
If they did however, you would see internet costs going up.... up.... and upp....

[amac777]

Setup some kind of a programmer's market where non-programmers could deposit some money in their account, and then use that money to request features in FOSS software. For example, many people could all be willing to pay a dollar to get a certain feature. If the total amount is high enough for some aspiring programmer, they will implement the requested feature under a FOSS license and get the the money, minus some profitable percentage for Canonical for running the whole market.

[LightB]

If they did however, you would see internet costs going up.... up.... and upp....

They're already artificially high because the telecoms have lobbied to kill cheaper internet service technologies.

[jflaker]

I apologize for my dimwittedness, but how does that make money for Canonical?

By getting more systems in the field. What I should have added: Offer a service contract during/after installation where you can get help when needed. Especially for people who never saw a Linux OS.

[Sporkman]

Setup some kind of a programmer's market where non-programmers could deposit some money in their account, and then use that money to request features in FOSS software. For example, many people could all be willing to pay a dollar to get a certain feature. If the total amount is high enough for some aspiring programmer, they will implement the requested feature under a FOSS license and get the the money, minus some profitable percentage for Canonical for running the whole market.

What if two developers work on the same feature, but one beats the other to the punch? I'd think this would be a disincentive for developer participation...

[Gallahhad]

What if two developers work on the same feature, but one beats the other to the punch? I'd think this would be a disincentive for developer participation...
It would be an incentive to work as a team and share the spoils I suppose...
Or there would be incentive to work hard, work fast, and produce quality code.
May the best, and fastest eat the most cake.

[samantha_]

They're already artificially high because the telecoms have lobbied to kill cheaper internet service technologies.

When I used to live in canada (toronto) about 4 months ago, unlimited 128kb/s down, 30kb/s up cost me a whooping $40.....

and after 4 PM, everything slows down to 10kb/s....

terrible.
I ended up going to the linuxcafe after 4 to get some decent bandwidth.... (or starbucks, since bell canada customers get free wifi there)

[amac777]

What if two developers work on the same feature, but one beats the other to the punch? I'd think this would be a disincentive for developer participation...

Perhaps, developers could claim the feature when the price was high enough so other developers know there is already somebody working on it.

just brainstorming, by the way.

[Sporkman]

Or there would be incentive to work hard, work fast, and produce quality code.

I'd agree with the first two - not necessarily the third. :)

[dell49]

Umm, aren't they already doing that with the Google tablet? Combine the blog.canonical.com entry about Google Chrome with this: http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/02/02/google-reveals-chrome-tablet-concept/

[alexfish]

as in
http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-throttles-bittorrent-traffic-seeding-impossible/

They dont care to provide propper equiptment to support the amount of bandwith they sell. Torrenting can take up a lot of bandwith and can connect with an unlimited (as much as your computer supports) amount of peers, which means you can technially use up to your maximum upload/download rate.
If they did however, you would see internet costs going up.... up.... and upp....

Hi
Re :my post :to the above

This is not where I am coming from

Example :

I pay my ISP X$ per MB of downloads , therefore the ISP in theory should be making a profit, it is a business after all and not a charity

but at the end of the day it is our money which gives them the profit

Companies can donate or support Venture Funding : This is how Canonical is what it is today

So I would be happy to see My ISP help fund Canonical VIA the profit it makes from the downloading and upgrading of Ubuntu ,which is done through me.

service agreements with your service provider is another matter.

[darrenn]

Give money to dell so that they put ubuntu on more of the computers.

[murderslastcrow]

It would be nice if Intel and DELL helped out with some server resources and developers (I think they are, actually) to ensure the success of their new ventures.

After all, if Linux catches on well enough in the preinstalled market, computer manufacturers have much more to gain in the long run.

[Xbehave]

1). Hire a group of programmers with qualifications in porting windows programs to *nix - make sure you have a good mix of graphical, db etc. experience.
Without the source code, they can't port.

2). Approach high selling / important companies about contracts for porting their code for them and creating .bin executables under NDA.
Great, so a whole bunch of closed apps, with canonical doing all the support. This benefits us how? It just turns ubuntu into yet another proprietory desktop.

3). Assist them with deploying a set of PPA type repositories for distribution (Ideally LTS and newer, with support for old LTS dropped after 6 mos of dropping LTS release support).
Spend time and effort supporting PPAs because a few loudmouths on forums/blags want newer software. Ubuntu isn't about running the newest software, there are other distros for that, debian stable is still going strong. BTW many of the PPAs are made by canonical employees, but if an app is supported and backported its in backports anyway.

If i were canonical, I would keep doing what they are, mark has the money for the short term and long term supporting corporate linux deployments is a good investment. Why sell out your ideals for short term gain, which will alienate many of your users and cripple your long term prospects?

Linux is ready for the corporate desktop
Linux is better for many corporate desktops
People are realising this
So being #1 distro when people start shopping for something to run on their corporate desktop is a damn good place to be


Also the ipad is a glorified iPhone, ubuntu don't do phones, let nokia/google/etc + hardware vendors compete there and canonical do what they do best.

[Paqman]

I would get out of the desktop Linux business and invest in something they might be better at or able to make some money at

I think Canonical are pretty realistic about the amount of money they're going to make on the desktop side. But Ubuntu is putting a lot of work into their server releases, too. If they can even nibble off a small chunk of RedHat's business then they should be alright overall. Hopefully they're happy for the server business to carry the desktop for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't be surprised if the desktop was spun off to the community one day though, that seems to be the way it's gone in the past.

[Mustard]

I think business needs to a choose a leading linux distro that frees them from licencing commitments and the clutches of various monopolies and patents. It simply makes good business sense to go open source, and 'copyleft', or whatever suitable licence of that kindred that suits them. Closed source creates security issues and privacy issues for consumers, I think the sheer invasiveness of the 'web' into everyday life will bring these issues to the fore. People need to know if the machines they use are on 'their' side or are tools of others.

Microsoft won over the desktop market and dominates today because people were breast fed Windows from birth. In a strange way it was pure genius because everyone finally had one united operating system, that we, the **** and Jane home user,could finally be familiar with and understand. It made business efficient and integrated the home into the 'web' in a workable manner. The genius again was it automatically meant we all came prepared for a workplace powered by Microsoft. And so it grew....

Ubuntu I think has managed to achieve a popularity that could make this transition to a more open and transparent 'web' in the home, through a number of different factors. It has an enthusiastic user base that is self-sustaining and self supporting, most likely because of its 'Ubuntu Code', which has a near universal appeal. I hope they never lose their spirit in that freedom of access to 'information power' outreach to humanity. It has the same mass appeal as the 'Don't be evil', philosophy associated with the emergence of Google into the market.

This loyal user base will go on to create a future for Ubuntu, driven on pure enthusiasm, in the home market, which really is the key to making Ubuntu happen in business in a dominant fashion. The users tend to first learn the operating systems at home, and Ubuntu will be there.

With that in mind, I think business should back Ubuntu, now, because not only does it have a universally appealing philosophy but it makes a nice balance between the latest software and the best use-ability for the novice user. It has done consistently for many years now and remains the easy choice when you want a quick install and a 'working desktop' is all that is needed. In terms of drivers its like a gift from heaven compared to installing an xp machine. It has the same high usability that Windows had in its early days and better. Most importantly it's time for change.