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Free Software model, implemented in linuxjunkies.org
at LINUXjunkies foundation, what we are doing is, we are trying to reach more and more people with GNU/LINUX and other Free software.
Now the problem is, people are accustomed to proprieatary software in such a big way that they prefer to use pirated copies. The reason of this are many. Among them some use these s/w because they think, there is no alternative. The reason of this are:
1.they donot aware of the alternatives.
2.they are not well informed about Free software movement.
some others know that there is a alternative but they face mainly two problem to adopt this free alternatives.
1. They don’t know, where to get those.
2. There is no proper and vast training on those
As if we talk about any Computer training facility in West Bengal, whether it’s govt. or Private, everybody’s curricullaum for beginners contains MS Windows and MS office. So the people never know that there is a Free option.
And on GNU/LINUX, here is a perception that this is tough to install and tough to use. and not only that this is made for programmers and not for the home users. Again here is the same reason of this. Everybody, whether it’s the Computer education institutes or Local vendors or local assemblers, everybody are indirectly discouraging people not to adopt GNU/LINUX and Free software by providing them pirated copies of Proprietary s/w and also by hiding the info on the Free software.
To tackle these barriers we have to adopt a simple method.
We have to provide not only the Free software but also the services, rahter i say solutions for them.
We can divided our target people on 4 sections.( keeping West Bengal in the mind )
1. General home users
2. General Students
3. Students of IT and computer Sc.
4. business houses
We will provide them Free software and related solution, from Installation and deploymenet to Training and Education.it may be Free ( Free as Beer) at the beginning and may be paid after some times.
Here are some most probable scenario, in which we can provide organized solutions :
1.people may approach to us with an inquiry such as: “We like the software, but can you make it do xxxx ?” Examples are porting the software to a new platform or adding a particular feature. And We will respond to such inquiry by quoting a price for adding the desired functionality. The parties will typically sign a contract detailing the work to be done, the timetable, and a price, generally fixed, to be paid for the work.
2.Another successful model is to sell yearly support contracts. They are similar to the support contracts sold by many vendors for non-free software, and provides fairly comprehensive service–in particular both assistance using the software (typically by telephone or email) and fixing bugs. By having a fixed yearly price rather than charging for each problem resolution, the free software method has an incentive to maintain a quality product (in those areas that customers care about). However, many users find that such contracts are too expensive. They don’t expect to need a lot of bug-fixing and assistance. For example, they might be willing to work around bugs rather than get them fixed.
3.A support offering which may be more appropriate for some people is telephone support. This is may be priced per-minute or per-call, allowing people to use the service with no big financial commitment. This service is often most useful for people seeking assistance but also could encompass bug-fixing, at least for some kinds of bugs.It is probably not as profitable as the more expensive yearly support contracts, but seems to be viable.
4.Training classes are a method which is well-established at least for non-free software. Classes may be located at the users’s site or our site. Classes typically have a standard curriculum.
5.Another well established method,is hourly consulting or customization. The people will have us come in, look at the their use of the software, and offer advice, help set up the software in a way that matches the their needs, or write software to meet a specific need. The most common arrangement is that the peopel receives ownership of any software produced.
To encourage people to adopt more and more Free software, we must ensure that the software must be easily available. Wide distribution of software is must. Wide distribution also promotes word of mouth marketing. The more people who are using the software, even if they are not people who are interested in the services of the free software at the time, the more likely that it will spread to people who will use those services. To meet this goal, we have to distribute publicly, free software CDs for very cheap rate or even Free ( free as beer). Along with this we also have to provide tutorials to them. This my be done offline by arranging InstallFest/seminars or may be online through websites.
We believe that, most of us use pirated and propreitary s/w, without knowing the fact that there is a Free alternative to this. and to make them aware of this we have not only to provide them free software but also training and most importnat solution to them.
This entry was posted on Monday, July 5th, 2004 at 5:12 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
