The Questionable Linux Biz
from the penguins-might-make-money dept
I like Linux but I?m not so sure it?s a great business opportunity. Some of the larger companies may be able to survive on service fees. However, when it starts to come down to individual file managers, such as Eazel, also charging services fees to stay alive, I become extremely doubtful. Basically, my view is that Eazel will either get bought out or sink, it won?t be able to exist as a stand alone company.
Comments on “The Questionable Linux Biz”
Eazel
Eazel’s product is actually pretty cool (even if a file manager sounds pretty boring) once you play around with it. After testing it out, and then going back to a Windows machine, I suddenly discovered how inadequate the Windows file manager really was… However, I agree that they need to figure out their business model a little more (or perhaps they have, and just haven’t stated it clearly yet). The way I understand it, the plan is to charge for additional services like online file storage, but most of those services are available now for free. I’m not exactly sure which services they see that people will be willing to pay for. I do think there is definitely potential, though. If you think about some of the areas the company can move into, it is pretty powerful. The question is how much time do they have to move into those areas, and how how much leeway they have to make some mistakes in finding the right solution.
But, you also have to take into account intangibles like the fact that a Krispy Kreme just opened up directly across the street from their offices… Will this motivate them to work harder? Or will it cause them to waste their time eating donuts all day… 🙂
Re: Eazel
Success is in the eye of the beholder sometimes. I’m sure Eazel can make a living selling a kick-ass file manager. They won’t make a LOT of money, but then how much are they spending on it? Maybe we’re all just caught up thinking that every hi-tech biz needs to aim at taking over the world, when the reality is software companies can make a healthy profit margin by selling a product for more than they built it for… Maybe they “get it” and plan on existing as a “regular” biz that makes moderate but constant profits. Or maybe they plan on taking over the world so that every machine in the world will someday run Eazel….
Re: Re: Eazel
Um… with the folks backing them I’d say they almost definitely DO NOT plan on just selling a file manager and making a nice living. That’s just not the sort of folks we’re talking about here.
Also, I actually don’t think you could make a nice little business out of just selling a file manager. I think the idea is that the file manager starts to take over everything that you do (at least that’s the way Nautilus seems to act) and then suddenly (uh oh!) you’re stuck using Nautilus entirely, and then there are all sorts of other services associated with that… and hopefully you’re interested in buying into them. They’re basically trying to co-opt Linux and become the Linux platform…
I don’t even think they plan on “taking over the world”, but just a portion of it. A portion that keeps you stuck there…
Re: Re: Re: Eazel
Ok, we agree again sort of. When I said, “kick-ass file manager,” I meant “a file manager that sucks you in like an MS product.” I didn’t actually mean “just a file manager” –no one in their right mind could survive on that. The last line of your comment-reply is almost exactly what I meant. Only I think we have different ideas about what a “nice living” means…. I don’t know “the sort of folks we’re talking about here” but that makes it sound like they want to take over the world and break your kneecaps while they’re at it. All I meant to say is Eazel doesn’t have to “take over the world” to be successful. And I stand by my prediction that they’re not going to make a LOT of money. But I guess I’m not clearly defining what I consider a LOT and what I consider a “healthy profit margin”… I think a LOT would be like MS amounts of market share. A healthy profit margin is what Apple enjoys… And since they came from Apple, I can see how they might plan on being a healthy niche sort of company…
Re: Re: Re:2 Eazel
I wasn’t necessarily talking about the folks who work there, but the folks who back them like Accel and Mike Homer. They expect Eazel to be a huge home run from the way they talk about it. Besides, I think Apple always wanted to take over the world, and weren’t necessarily satisfied with being a niche company.