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You're ahead of the curve
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I agree with most everything you have to say in your post, but one thing that I don't think you realize is the implication of OSS being written to "fill a need". Not only does it happen when it fills a need, but when that need happens to be interesting to a developer, the person or people doing the work to get the need filled. Generally, industry-specific vertical applications like the one you are looking for will be the _last_ ones to be developed as OSS, if they ever are. They are filling a need, but a very specific, narrowly useful need. A need that if filled, will likely do little for the person who did the filling. Other applications that fall into the "vertical" category are rarely available as open source, even if the need for them is huge. Take student management systems for example. The need is huge, there are tons of schools out there who pay way too much money for crappy SMS software. However, only just recently have there been enough people who are interested in and able to solve that problem that semi-viable OSS SMS software is available. And this is within a segment of the population (educators) who are likely to have a disproportionately large number of programmers among them. It's going to be harder in other verticals like salons, or auto shops, or bike shops, or whatever, where the likelihood of finding people who are both interested in the problem and able to solve it is small.
What is more likely is that a proprietary product will be created which leverages OSS tools to do that vertical work. That way, the developers have an incentive for writing it ($$) but they are still able to leverage the value of the existing OSS stack to their benefit, and to the benefit of their customers.
Want to change that? Learn to program, or be willing to pay an OSS programmer to develop it. Then you can become the OSS Salon hero. But until then, don't be surprised when you propose what looks like a really boring project, and it gets no response. OSS developers may be humanitarians, but we aren't masochists.
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Posted: 09/10/2007 @ 02:25 PM (PDT)
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- qhartman@...
- Job Role: Networking / LAN Administration
- Location: Eugene, Oregon
- Member since: 03/02/2000
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You're ahead of the curveqhartman@... | 09/10/2007 @ 02:25 PM (PDT)
Great Freeware Alternative Free Cash Registerjnhager@... | 09/11/2007 @ 06:33 AM (PDT)
