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October 09, 2005

Creative Commons and open support

Joi reminds us that Creative Commons is asking us to step up with some money. In an world that thinks ideas are like donuts — the presumption is that you don't want to share yours — CC has become a valuable resource and an important statement.

Also at Joi's, guest blogger Thomas Cramptom of the International Herald Tribune writes about Steve Ballmer's visit to Munich, a city that's gone all Linuxy. A snippet:

He was also interesting about the future of the corporation when confronted with open source. Corporations offer consistency over time and user support, Ballmer argued.

Several members of the audience disagreed: "Have you ever tried to call Dell or Apple or Microsoft for a problem you have? No, you go to online forums to look up what other users recommend."

...

To come back to the original question: How will corporations look in a world where collaborative volunteer efforts do things for free on the Internet? Will corporations disappear?

 [Tags: JoiIto ThomasCrampton microsoft CreativeCommons linux]

Posted by D. Weinberger at October 9, 2005 01:22 PM

Comments

Did I read that right? Lumping Apple in with Dell and Microsoft? I've been using Apple software and systems for more than ten years and have yet to have a problem with them. If one comes up, I'll probably wander into one of their stores and have it sorted.

Now were I misguided in my loyalty, stubbornly believing against all evidence to the contrary that there was no better alternative to Dell and Microsoft, I'd probably pull my hair out.

Corporations aren't going to disappear. Who could believe they will? But corporations like Dell and Microsoft are going to find it remarkably tougher to dominate markets with buggy, shoddy products and poor customer service. Those days are very quickly coming to an end.

Posted by: Noel Guinane | October 9, 2005 02:44 PM

Did I read that right? Lumping Apple in with Dell and Microsoft? I've been using Apple software and systems for more than ten years and have yet to have a problem with them. If one comes up, I'll probably wander into one of their stores and have it sorted.

Now were I misguided in my loyalty, stubbornly believing against all evidence to the contrary that there was no better alternative to Dell and Microsoft (who, I'm reliably informed, give new meaning to the word 'problem' when it comes to computer systems and software), I'd probably pull my hair out.

Corporations aren't going to disappear. Who could believe they will? But corporations like Dell and Microsoft are going to find it remarkably tougher to dominate markets with buggy, shoddy products and poor customer service. Those days are very quickly coming to an end.

Posted by: Noel Guinane | October 9, 2005 02:47 PM

I don't really care what OS or office productivity package dominates the desktop in the offices of government bureaucrats. The fact that the open source desktop in Munich is bundled with IBM hardware might be a clue about who really benefits from this.

Balmer thinks it's all about Microsoft versus Linux. Yuanqing Yang (and Steve Ward) at Lenovo know different.

Posted by: fp | October 9, 2005 07:55 PM

Here here!

Posted by: Jana | October 9, 2005 11:49 PM

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