Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 11th Dec 2012 23:12 UTC
Thread beginning with comment 544754
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
They have an identity crises and that should have been solved years ago... SNIP ...By trying to be the jack of all trades, they are becoming the master of none.
I actually agree with you on almost all of your points. But you seem to be implying that if they had stuck to a pure Linux desktop play they would be profitable by now...
Thing is, I think the reason Canonical is flailing all over the place trying to figure out alternative ways to make money is that they don't and never have made any real money on pure desktop...
In fact, I don't see any way they could - no one else has figured out how to crack that nut either... I expect after 8 years Shuttleworth is a bit tired of floating the operation, and trying to figure out new revenue streams seems pragmatic to me.
I just question the point of blaming them for trying different things - its either that or just give up and fold if you ask me.
Goodwill doesn't pay salaries...
Edited 2012-12-12 04:49 UTC
That is what in all my years of software development I have come to realize.
Open source as business is only possible when you can make services or hardware on top of it.
Most ways open source companies are doing business are not possible in the domestic market of the desktop environments.





Member since:
2011-07-14
They have an identity crises and that should have been solved years ago. They came out with a desktop version of Ubuntu, then quickly decided they would embrace netbooks. Well netbooks died and Ubuntu never made it big on netbooks anyway. Now they want to break into tablets and have done a terrible job doing so. All the while their server product is crap compared to Debian, CentOS/Redhat, and SUSE and has almost no way of making money.
Now they are rumored to want to do more with set-top boxes? What a terrible idea. Android forks can and will dominate this market. Canonical needs to figure out what they want to do, 2 years ago, and stick with it. By trying to be the jack of all trades, they are becoming the master of none.
Edited 2012-12-12 03:58 UTC