JBoss, In the Porn Business?

Once upon a time on an online forum, there was an interchange between an open source developer and a "user" of the product on which he worked, the distinction between user and customer being of some importance in this interchange. When the free help the user wanted was not forthcoming, he proceeded to insult the developer and the product. At this point the developer insulted him back using some choice, off-color words. The episode is certainly in bad taste. However, more interesting than the incident itself is the fascination it seems to hold for those not directly involved.

Are we in the porn business? One would wonder, judging by the number of times that particular incident gets referenced in JBoss threads in public forums and by the fact that even some of the more jaded members of the Java blogging community seem to get hot and bothered about it.

You see, your normal problem in the open source business is not people thinking you're degenerate; it's that people think you're stupid. These would be Sherlock Holmes love to point out the fact that "Ah hah they're not really in this just for peace and love, they have the audacity to want to make a profit"--as if this was some great secret and not something amply referenced in our website and official communication. Then there are the people who equate Open Source with open business. These are the people who write asking for free unlimited licenses to our training material or tell us "You give your software away, where's my free service?"

Nonetheless, if you were in the porn business, against whom would you measure your success? Well, since gonzo "Girls Gone Wild" soft-core porn mogul Joe Francis has been in the news lately, why not compare his business model to that of gonzo JBoss Group Open Source entrepreneur, Marc Fleury.

Business Premise
Joe F: Open Blouses, business based on getting all-American girls to take their shirts off.
Marc F: Open Source, business based on getting top-tier developers to open source their code.

Profit Margins
Joe F: $1000 a day for camera crew, pays girls up to $100; most are apparently just happy to get a free t-shirt. Tapes retail for around $20.
Marc F: Service industry profit margins that subsidize a free product.

Net Worth
Joe F: Upwards of $100 million.
Marc F: Nowhere near $100 million.

Possible pick up lines
Joe F: Want to see my Gulfstream jet?
Marc F: Want to talk about AOP?

Hangs out with
Joe F: rappers, Ashton Kutcher, Tara Reid.
Marc F: wife, children and other developers.

In terms of revenue and lifestyle, professional open source clearly has quite a ways to go before catching up with the adult entertainment industry.

So what does telling someone who insults you to get lost, in no uncertain terms, really signify in a world where, as Bob Dylan says, "You gotta serve somebody"? Maybe it does have something to do with power and self-determination, setting your own rules and boundaries, deciding whom you'll work with and what you'll do. And when you do it, maybe it's about making sure you get paid.

The gentleman to whom the post was originally addressed, in a context that is almost always removed from the reference by subsequent posters, did not take this interchange literally or particularly seriously. Marc and Ben from JBoss met him a year ago. He works for Nielsen Media Research. We are grateful to him for his role in successfully introducing JBoss to Nielsen, who are now happy users of JBoss and customers of JBoss Group.

As for those people to whom this post was not addressed, who are yet fixated on it...they have received their free service. Oh virtue, how dull, perhaps unremarked? would you be were there no somber foil to set off your bright sheen. In a world of crass vulgarity, how much nobler it would be to luxuriate in the onanistic concupiscent bliss of moral superiority.