The Open Source Home Business Model - Beyond Installfests
by Kristin Shoemaker - Sep. 16, 2008Comments (2)- Related Blog Posts
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Matt Hartley at Datamation recently suggested promoting open source adoption -- using a very different venue. He suggests mall kiosks as a potentially effective way to spread the word about open source software, and how it can work for the average computer user.
This is a fascinating idea. User groups could reach several different demographics, populations that might never have heard of Linux, never mind understand the joys (and trials) of using it.
It's an idea with real risks, Hartley admits. With realistic expectations, it could also be wildly successful -- even as a business model.
It's the "business model" angle that feels like the biggest sticking point. Hartley argues -- and he's right -- that it isn't helpful to hand a new user a liveCD or installation disk and an informational sheet of common issues and troubleshooting resources. It's not particularly effective at organized events that new users with a budding interest in Linux might attend, and it would be horrific in an environment such as a shopping mall.
User groups considering this type of outreach would need to make the decision, and it is a major one: If we are to give out liveCDs and encourage mall visitors to install Linux at home, are we willing (and are we able) to support them? If we aren't, should we be targeting this group as a potential new user base at this point? If we are, what guidelines do we need to define in terms of what we will, and will not, do with a new user's hardware? What liability do we have if a user, following our advice (or blatantly disregarding it) loses data later deemed invaluable, or somehow destroys a piece of hardware?
Telling a new user at a LUG-organized Installfest or conference to back up a machine he is preparing to dual boot is one thing, telling a mall customer to do so is another thing entirely. Both may ignore the warning to back up their data, and both may pull the dual boot installation off perfectly. Having worked far too many years in retail it's likely that if something goes awry, the mall customer is going to be the one (absolutely seething about the damage you caused) at the kiosk the next weekend. If the Installfest attendee ever shows again, it is more likely to be with a very sheepish expression and (hopefully) more attentiveness to direction.
It is a trade-off, of course. The benefits of a group doing outreach in a retail-type setting are as great as the risks are blood-curdling. There is, first and foremost, the visibility and (perhaps, sadly) a feeling of "legitimacy" that comes from seeing an open source group under the same roof as Best Buy, Circuit City and Apple re-sellers. There is a different, but not necessarily less enthusiastic pool of potential users. And yes, yes, there is the potential for income.
Hartley states that people are often resistant to trying open source software because the community seems sprawling and (in his words) "faceless." People are far more willing to try any new product if there is a human face, a person with a story they can relate to presenting it to them as an alternative. It's also sometimes painfully apparent that people don't consider open source because they believe "you get what you pay for."
Would a user group in this sort of venue promoting open source software be out of line charging fees for their support services -- just enough to cover the kiosk and disks, or cover the membership dues of a struggling student member? Would it make curious mall shoppers value the software and the expertise of the group behind it more if support services were available, and documented, for even a nominal fee?
There are other matters Hartley mentions taking into consideration when "selling" open source to the general population, but they apply as universally to the crowd at the mall as the guests at your house party intrigued by your MythTV media center. Honesty is required for a customer to be truly happy with a product. Enthusiasm for a great item is infectious, but no one likes a hard sell -- regardless of whether the group is charging for support.
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