Article by hi joiney
Article by smruti
“Open Source” is a software-licensing model where the source code of the software is typically made available royalty-free to theusers of the software, under terms allowing redistribution, modification and addition,though often with certain restrictions. Thesupport, training, updates and other services for the software may be provided by a range of entities, increasingly under commercialarrangements. Open source programs are often, though not exclusively, developed through a collaborative effort in which anumber of persons contribute elements of the final software. Software companies are also contributing paid programmer time andprograms developed in-house to the open source community.
* “Commercial Software” is the model where the software developed by a commercial entity is typically licensed for a fee to a customer (eitherdirectly or through channels) in object, binary or executable code. The commercial entity often provides support, training, updates andother similar services needed by customers to efficiently use that software. The source code of the software may be made available1 tocertain users of the software through special licensing or other agreements, but is usually not distributed to the general public, and maynot be copied or modified except in a manner provided for in such agreements
Businesses exist and can be sustained because they generate profit through their activities. Shareholders primarily measure businessperformance by the profit levels. While there are some basic differences between the business models of open source and commercial softwareproviders, providers of both models must each find their means to create sustainable revenue. Creating software for software’s sake is notsustainable economically. The focus of commercial software providers is on the functionality, features and innovativeness oftheir technology to meet the customer’s needs, as their revenue model is based on the customer licensing their software. Customers purchasenew versions of software when it provides new functionality, features and value. This incentive drives a tremendous flow ofresearch and development spending into new software, the results of which include higher productivity, lower costs of business, and newtools for learning.
Open source vendors create revenue from supporting services and hardware that they package around open source software and forwhich they charge fees. For instance, some companies package open source software, sell it with their personal computer or server hardware.The companies sell such hardware and charge the customer separate fees for the service they provide to enable their software and hardware towork together. Another example is a system integrator who earns revenue by creating customized solutions for customers by usingexisting open source software as the starting point, and charging the customers for the time and resources to do the necessarycustomizations to meet the specific user requirements. Another model is to allow free downloads of an open source application and toconvert this base of users into paying customers for a full-featured version. In other instances, the pooling of development resources in support ofan emerging technology can also provide indirect revenue or benefits to a company that provides open source software, such as the sale of thecommercial software and/or hardware they offer beside the open source software4. It is recognized that in the open sourcecommunity, there is also a group of contributors who are motivated not by direct revenue generation, but by an altruistic notion that allsoftware should be free and that even though revenues should not be derived from software, the code will be improved by volunteers whowillingly make their work available for anyone’s use and reference.
From the customer’s perspective, the value that acustomer derives from a commercial software product typically correlates with the licensing fee, software functionality and product support. Whilethe customer can correspondingly hold the commercial software vendor directly accountable for the software, there is no “owner” of mostopen source software and thus it is difficult to assign accountability. A number of open source vendors have approached this concern byproviding customers with similar assurances through licensing terms and the payment of corresponding fees5. In making their procurementdecisions, customers from businesses and governments should weigh each one of the above factors according to their individual needs,concerns and environment
open source software alternatives to well-known commercial software
“Miro” alternate to “Windows Media Player”
“Mozilla Thunderbird” alternate to “Microsoft Office Outlook”
“VLC ” alternate to “Quicktime”
“OpenOffice” alternate to “Microsoft Office”
“AbiWord” alternate to “Microsoft Word”
“GIMP” alternate to “Adobe Photoshop”
“Celestia” alternate to “Google Earth”
For More alternates visit quest4soft: Your Quest Our Soft
A corporate blog makes it easy for readers, be they customers or prospects, to find the latest and most accurate information about its new products and services. It can help achieve customer familiarity with the company products or services. Through the corporate blog, a company can converse directly with customers and prospects. Two-way communication creates trust and builds customer relationships. A corporate blog is the perfect choice for interacting with existing and potential clients. Corporate blogging serves as a channel for a company and its customers to meet on common ground and to know each other more. If a corporate blog can fit your company culture, selecting the individual or employee who will write your blog is doubtless to say the most important decision. An ideal corporate blogger is one who is an expert in his field. He should also write with passion and sincerity. The object of your blog is to engage your customers and prospects in conversation and the most effective way to start a conversation is to be sincere and honest in your blog while writing about topics that are important to your company. He should have good writing skills. More importantly, he should be one who is respected by his peers and reacts calmly to outbursts. Blogging is an intense medium. The individuals who will blog for your company should be the ones who can keep their cool despite critical comments. Most likely, the ideal individual is not your CEO. Corporate speak wonâ€TMt thrive in the blogosphere. In corporate blogging, goals/missions are of prime importance. For a blog to yield value, it has to be created with specific goals in mind. Some of these goals may be to increase company credibility, enhance customer service and interaction, and give customers a peek of the behind-the-scenes of the corporate culture, showcase new products or services and more. The important thing is to be clear about your goals. You have to be sure about what you are trying to get done and stick to them. As with any corporate undertaking, you also need to periodically evaluate how well you are meeting these goals. If blogging is proving to be futile, then make changes. If it still does not work, then discontinue blogging. Do take time to know your customers or prospects. Find out what your audience care about, what they are interested in. You have to identify what their needs are and what service you can perform for them. To get their attention, work out a way to participate in a conversation credibly. To be credible, come up with worthwhile content ideas, insights, news and information. Do engage your audience in lively and substantial conversations. Take into account what they say and reply to their comments. Respond in a professional and businesslike manner whether the comment is positive or negative. Allowing comments from your audience will definitely mean some complaints and criticisms. Don’t take them personally. Respond honestly and your company credibility will rise. Allowing audience to make comments is a distinct characteristic of blogs. Openness is important for successful blogging. For a blog to accomplish its mission, do update regularly. Post often and consistently, daily or weekly, at least. Do be generous with your links. Linking is one reason why blogging has become a popular online communication medium. The best corporate blogs, more often than not, have lots of links in each blog post. As for what not to do, do not close down existing employee blogs. More often than not, an employee is already writing a blog. It might be full of grievances about the recent spate of oil increases or it could be snapshots of a relaxing vacation in the Maldives. Maybe this employee is singing praises of the company’s new product. Why not engage this employee blogger in a dialogue about what your corporate blog aims to achieve. Don’t wait for a crisis to break out before creating a corporate blog. It takes time to see potential results of blogging. Don’t keep your corporate bloggers unidentified or hidden behind some make-believe characters. The audience will know and it will have detrimental effects. Lastly, a blog is not a miracle cure. It will not single-handedly turn your distressed company around. Corporate blogging should be incorporated with other marketing and communication tools to achieve desired results.
A corporate blog makes it easy for readers, be they customers or prospects, to find the latest and most accurate information about its new products and services. It can help achieve customer familiarity with the company products or services. Through the corporate blog, a company can converse directly with customers and prospects. Two-way communication creates trust and builds customer relationships. A corporate blog is the perfect choice for interacting with existing and potential clients. Corporate blogging serves as a channel for a company and its customers to meet on common ground and to know each other more. If a corporate blog can fit your company culture, selecting the individual or employee who will write your blog is doubtless to say the most important decision. An ideal corporate blogger is one who is an expert in his field. He should also write with passion and sincerity. The object of your blog is to engage your customers and prospects in conversation and the most effective way to start a conversation is to be sincere and honest in your blog while writing about topics that are important to your company. He should have good writing skills. More importantly, he should be one who is respected by his peers and reacts calmly to outbursts. Blogging is an intense medium. The individuals who will blog for your company should be the ones who can keep their cool despite critical comments. Most likely, the ideal individual is not your CEO. Corporate speak wonâ€TMt thrive in the blogosphere. In corporate blogging, goals/missions are of prime importance. For a blog to yield value, it has to be created with specific goals in mind. Some of these goals may be to increase company credibility, enhance customer service and interaction, and give customers a peek of the behind-the-scenes of the corporate culture, showcase new products or services and more. The important thing is to be clear about your goals. You have to be sure about what you are trying to get done and stick to them. As with any corporate undertaking, you also need to periodically evaluate how well you are meeting these goals. If blogging is proving to be futile, then make changes. If it still does not work, then discontinue blogging. Do take time to know your customers or prospects. Find out what your audience care about, what they are interested in. You have to identify what their needs are and what service you can perform for them. To get their attention, work out a way to participate in a conversation credibly. To be credible, come up with worthwhile content ideas, insights, news and information. Do engage your audience in lively and substantial conversations. Take into account what they say and reply to their comments. Respond in a professional and businesslike manner whether the comment is positive or negative. Allowing comments from your audience will definitely mean some complaints and criticisms. Don’t take them personally. Respond honestly and your company credibility will rise. Allowing audience to make comments is a distinct characteristic of blogs. Openness is important for successful blogging. For a blog to accomplish its mission, do update regularly. Post often and consistently, daily or weekly, at least. Do be generous with your links. Linking is one reason why blogging has become a popular online communication medium. The best corporate blogs, more often than not, have lots of links in each blog post. As for what not to do, do not close down existing employee blogs. More often than not, an employee is already writing a blog. It might be full of grievances about the recent spate of oil increases or it could be snapshots of a relaxing vacation in the Maldives. Maybe this employee is singing praises of the company’s new product. Why not engage this employee blogger in a dialogue about what your corporate blog aims to achieve. Don’t wait for a crisis to break out before creating a corporate blog. It takes time to see potential results of blogging. Don’t keep your corporate bloggers unidentified or hidden behind some make-believe characters. The audience will know and it will have detrimental effects. Lastly, a blog is not a miracle cure. It will not single-handedly turn your distressed company around. Corporate blogging should be incorporated with other marketing and communication tools to achieve desired results.