Pre-media
Tightening purse strings will turn many businesses on to Open Source Software
In January, Adobe announced 600 redundancies, citing weaker-than-expected demand for its Creative Suite 4. While it may be that the credit crunch has stopped existing users upgrading or new users from buying, I think we may be seeing the software bubble about to burst.
The software bubble occurs when software suppliers that continually introduce new versions find customers choose not to upgrade. Most suppliers are in a similar situation. Microsoft has found that many Windows users are happy to stick with earlier versions of Windows such as XP instead of moving to Vista.
With money tight, I think we may see a major rethinking of how we buy software. The cost of buying and upgrading may well be seen as unnecessary. Today there are alternatives to buying software from major suppliers. Alternatives to print and publishing applications, such as Adobe Creative Suite and QuarkXPress, are available through Open Source Software (OSS). In the office area Open Office offers an alternative to Microsoft Office, with applications including writing and desktop publishing as well as presentations, graphics and spreadsheets. For publishers, in the page layout field, Xclamation, Passeportout and Scribus are alternatives to Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress.
Stop updating
The question is, what will happen when budgets get cut and publishers think about making savings? The first thing they do is to stop updating their systems. For those of us who have been in computing since the days when IBM was the only solution and Bill Gates was still in infant school, the ethos was ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. If your system works, why change to get new facilities you haven’t asked for?
Companies are pondering how to go about upgrading. If you are thinking of a new system should you pay for a software licence for a leading system supplier, or do you pay nothing and use OSS?
At this time, OSS lacks the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the leading suppliers’ software, and it may be equivalent to the main suppliers’ earlier products. However, all such systems require integration and linking with other software. Additionally there are many suppliers that integrate products like Adobe Creative Suite or QuarkXPress into total systems. It will only be a short time before OSS receives the same treatment.
This would cause major problems for companies such as Adobe and Microsoft who rely much more on upgrade sales than the development of new systems.
So has the software bubble burst? Do you have a future if your software business is built around ongoing upgrading rather than the development of new business applications? Is OSS going to be a major area in future for organisations to develop new business operations around when the credit crunch starts to bite even harder? Today there is a wide availability of expert low-cost programmers who have skills to customise OSS and build it into an integrated network.
I am not saying OSS will replace major applications for enterprises such as SAP and Oracle. But when it comes to adding new word processing, spreadsheet, graphics or page layout applications the attraction of no-cost OSS is clear. How many users use more than 10% of the functionality of their software and would they find a no-cost or low-cost alternative satisfies their needs?
Major organisations are looking at cost savings in the IT area. An early user of OSS was investment company E*Trade and by the end of 2002 they were saving $13m (£9.3m) a year through use of such software.
Of course I am not taking account of the likely future technology changes as we move more to an internet computing environment largely funded by advertising. Cloud computing will make use of much OSS, and the Google approach to computing will largely be funded by targeted advertising. The challenge to the major software companies is finding how their business will operate when major software users stop regular systems upgrades and look to alternative ways of doing business. Unless companies like Adobe and Microsoft start to bring totally new applications to market it is likely that the software bubble will burst.
Andrew Tribute is a journalist and consultant in digital and pre-media technology. Visit www.attributes.co.uk
Andrew Tribute
Comments
'Not A Doctor' (NDCT) - 06 March 2009
Yes, spot on Andrew. Why anyone would spend a fortune on Microsoft Office is beyond me when Open Office is every bit as functional and documents are easily saved as Microsoft compatible for others to read or use afterwards.
Also, open source Content Management \(CMS) for web sites is gaining ground - organisations like Drupal provide templates for almost any use, and being open source, they are customisable too.
Nigel Cliffe - 09 March 2009
Hi Andrew thanks for your article. It is inevitable and desirable that more technology issues are brought to the attention of the print worlds' readership. Frankly there aren't enough of them. I thought I would add a couple of points to your article. Firstly, whilst the credit crunch may be accelerating the demise of the proprietary software market, this transformation was well underway before now. Open Source is not a new expression by any means. Secondly I would argue with the quality of the user interface issue \(GUI). Because OSS has the flexibility to be upgraded by many, and at a bespoke level, the opportunity to improve the GUI is far more likely than with an off the shelf product. When was the last time Microsoft made a GUI change for you?
If I might quote you, you say "Of course I am not taking account of the likely future technology changes as we move more to an internet computing environment largely funded by advertising. Cloud computing will make use of much OSS, and the Google approach to computing will largely be funded by targeted advertising" Why not?! This is where the real change is happening. It is true that Google's operating model has changed inexorably from a search engine to an advertising model, but to limit your explanation to only this summary misses the point. Google should be at the centre of every communications strategy for any business wishing to promote themselves. The present Web2.0 technologies demands an understanding of how to deploy strategies to make sure you are in 'the space' that you need to be when people are looking for your products, but as we move more to Web 3.0 technologies and the semantic web, a clearer understanding still is required about how to use these technologies. This is not 'the future', it is now! A simple question I would ask any business is: "What is your Google strategy?" Now when was that question last asked in the boardroom of the typical printer?
A key expression missing from your article is SaaS, Software as a Service. Described simply, this is a service based on subscription, pay as you go, if you like. This is where printers have the opportunity to offer services to customers with the use of web-based applications that connect them in any way to their operation. Simple examples might be quotations, production updates, etc. Taking open source developed applications and mashing them with customer services opens possible new revenue steam for printers, especially if they add data handling services such as Digital Asset Management to their portfolio. Lastly, it is OSS that will make use of The Cloud and not the other way round! Thanks again Andrew!
Kelvin Bell - 09 March 2009
Good article and comments.
As a SaaS \(Software as a Service) web2print provider we are busier than ever partly due to the fact that users who are faced with high yearly licensing fees and support costs wish to make savings which they can do with our range of solutions. We have met extreme criticism for offering Free DAM \(Digital Asset Management) from existing players within this market who wish to preserve their huge payments but as mentioned above, things are changing now – not going to change, for every £/$ spent print suppliers must be as sure as they can be ROI is achievable and some technology companies needs to get their heads out of the sand and help the industry that supports them.
Kelv – vpress.co.uk
Nigel Cliffe - 10 March 2009
Hi Kelvin, I can't criticise your 'free' business model. If you can make money out of it, great!? I also applaud your desire to help our industry; heaven knows it needs it right now! What I wanted to add is that a Digital Asset Management strategy, and more importantly its implementation, will certainly not come free. To understand the implications, the workflows, the taxonomies, the protocols, will be the killer application that secures a ROI, not the technology \(although that will help, of course!) If readers wish to know more, please feel free to visit www.digitalassetmanagement.org.uk where a vast amount of information can be found on the subject.
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