[ubuntu-my] Ubuntu-my Digest, Vol 18, Issue 4

[Pepper Lim]

After reading Zarul's post, I felt very compelled to share my ideas 
immediately. I hope you will take some time to read this.

I'm all for open source software and keeping software free (as in free 
beer) forever. But I read an interesting interview with Mark 
Shuttleworth where he describes plans to make Canonical profitable in 
order to pay the core staff who will work on Ubuntu. When I read that, I 
suddenly understood how Ubuntu could be free for you and me. It is free 
because Canonical is "paying" for it. You can see a list of commercial 
services by Canonical here http://www.canonical.com/services

This is similar to the "problem with paying for water" - water is given 
by God so it should be free. So why is Syabas charging us for it?! Well, 
the answer is simple: Syabas builds the dams to store the water, they 
clean the water, they build the pipes to bring water to house etc. In 
short, we are paying for their service. I am applying the same concept 
to my idea.

In a nutshell, my plan is to turn a profit as we promote Ubuntu to small 
and medium businesses. I see it as a win-win situation. We get some 
payment (service fee) to keep a core staff who in turn will provide 
support (service) to our customers. Customers on the other hand get free 
software (Ubuntu) and terrific service, tech support, software training 
etc. from our staff.

Just a quick glance: it costs about RM2400++ to install Windows XP, MS 
Office, Norton AV, Nero 7 and WinZip Pro on 1 (one) PC. 10 PCs in a 
medium company will mean RM24,000 on software alone! The cost goes up to 
RM6300++ if Photoshop and Illustrator is installed too. I thought, why 
not charge a small fraction of that and convince the small and medium 
companies to switch to Ubuntu. Many companies are still using pirated 
software that are unable to receive software updates. So rather than 
risk having BSA come knocking on their doors, we will convert them to 
Ubuntu users.

We will need to overcome the following problems:

   1. Wrong perception - people view free stuff as lousy, poor support,
      here-today-gone-tomorrow.
   2. Difficult to use - people are usually resistant to change.
   3. BSA won't raid them - judging by the events unfolding in the USA,
      Britain etc. it won't be long before they really do come-a-knocking!

If all goes well, Malaysia's Ubuntu community can stand proud with the 
best Ubuntu communities from around the world. I hope you continue your 
struggle with us, brother Zarul.



ubuntu-my-request at lists.ubuntu.com wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Re:  Bringing Ubuntu and open source to Malaysians (Tho Man)
>    2. Re:  Bringing Ubuntu and open source to Malaysians (Donald P Kong)
>    3. Re:  Bringing Ubuntu and open source to Malaysians (zarul shahrin)
>    4. Re:  Bringing Ubuntu and open source to Malaysians (Altaf Jauhar)
>    5. Re:  Ubuntu-my Digest, Vol 18, Issue 3 (Pepper Lim)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:32:53 +0800
> From: "Tho Man" <shuhaimie at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [ubuntu-my] Bringing Ubuntu and open source to Malaysians
> To: "Malaysian Team Mailing List" <ubuntu-my at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Message-ID:
> 	<9ce5212a0806180732u184af83dr199cef09a86762df at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> this would be nice....i like to join but my time is limited....may be we can
> have a brainstorming online how we can tap a market on this.
> why not start a google group and we can discuss bout this...
> make money is always something good to me..hehehehe...
>
> On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 4:09 PM, Pepper Lim <pepperlim at 3people.org> wrote:
>
>   
>> I'm not sure if I'm going about this correctly. I couldn't find the
>> rules for posting at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-my
>> so forgive me if this posting is inappropriate.
>>
>> I've been thinking of a plan to bring Ubuntu and open source software to
>> Malaysians and Malaysian companies. It comprises of a business plan
>> (making money while we have fun kicking Microsoft's butt) and a few
>> other ideas.
>>
>> I would be interested to meet anyone else who would like to brainstorm
>> this idea. Please email me at pepperlim at 3people.org or call me at
>> 012-2951245
>>
>> --
>> --
>> Pepper Lim
>> 012-2951245
>> pepperlim at 3people.org
>> Pepper's "Lim Family Tree" http://www.3people.org/limfamilytree
>> BBBS Old Boys' Association website http://www.3people.org/bbbssoba
>>
>>
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>>     
>
>
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>   

-- 
--
Pepper Lim
012-2951245
pepperlim at 3people.org
Pepper's "Lim Family Tree" http://www.3people.org/limfamilytree
BBBS Old Boys' Association website http://www.3people.org/bbbssoba

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