on Jul 13th, 2009Innovation, Competition and Open Source
There is an interesting op-ed in today’s NY Times from the venerable Robert Cringley:
Chrome vs. Bing vs. You and Me
Cringley implicitly asserts that neither Google nor Microsoft are going to innovate in the interest of You and Me and sadly, I think this is all-to-often true in ‘big-time, big-money’ corporate software.
First and formost, companies are interested to achieve ever higher ROI for their shareholders. This does not necessarily mean that they will build anything of value for You and Me. They may innovate and that’s terrific when it happens. However, if they can make more money by attacking each other and protecting their existing turf… I think it’s pretty clear they will frequently do so.
In my view, this points directly at a long-term sustainable role for open source and startup ecosystems: end-user-focused innovation. Of course, as Bjorn Freeman-Benson points out, end-user focus can be a challenge for open source communities.
What’s your opinion?
