My previous post on open source licensing touched on the economic implications.

How do you make money from software that is free?

This article suggests 7 business strategies that explain why businesses use open source software to gain a competitive advantage.

Australian expert Roger Clarke has written a detailed paper on Open Business Models.

Open Source sets out the Open Source Case for Business.

See also here for a discussion on Free Software Business Models.

UPDATE: this paper by Aaron Schiff addresses 2 issues: the first looks at the incentives of
programmers to participate in open source projects; the second
considers the business models used by profit-making firms in the open
source industry, and the effects on existing closed source firms.

I have been getting my notebook ready and secure for going mobile.

Step 1, to physically protect the notebook get a notebook combination cable lock.

Step 2, to protect the notebook contents, activate a power-on passphrase.

This article from a Microsoft Security employee (via Rob Hyndman) strongly argues that a passphrase (requiring more characters than a normal password) is more effective than a password. Other articles argue that passwords are past their prime.

Done!

If I’m going wireless, there are other things I need to do. More on that another time.

PDF’s have become the standard print format for many organisations enabling documents to be exchanged in the knowledge that they will be printed as designed notwithstanding the different computers or software used.

Although the Acrobat publisher was originally created by Adobe, their offering of a free reader lead to other PDF creation software (such as CutePDF). Some time ago Wordperfect integrated a publish to PDF option in its word processing program and Open Office now offers the same feature.

So when Adobe offers a new version of Acrobat it attracts a lot of attention. (see this article at Planet PDF and this article at PDF for Lawyers).

What has attracted the most interest is the ability to use the free Reader to add and save comments on a PDF if it was created by Acrobat 7 Professional.

Technolawyer has a detailed review of Acrobat 7 (free registration required). It has improved performance and organising features.

Somehow we’re attracted to lists: 7 things you always wanted to know about [insert product or name] or the top 20 [insert career].

So you have to read Mobile PC’s The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time .

And while you’re looking at "best of’s", PC World has a feature on new Web tools: the best new browsers,search engines, messagers, blog and RSS tools.

In The Revolt of the Corporate Consumer in the Wall Street Journal (via Steve Hebert) David Bank discusses a change in the software industry: "the buyers … are clearly calling the shots. They are wrangling for better prices, demanding software that’s more reliable and secure, and resisting software companies’ push for constant — and expensive — upgrades."

Steve Hebert responds to the article in detail as a software developer.

The Wired GC goes one step further and draws the analogy with corporate client demands for bottom line value being made on the legal profession.

I was called on by a friend last week to interpret a litigation Settlement Deed. Out of a 8 page document, the key provision was contained in one paragraph with 20 lines and no full stop. I had to read it a number of times and concluded that the paragraph did not clearly say what it was supposed to say.

Where was the value for the client?. The document had been through 2 legal firms before coming to me but the key issue had not been unambiguously addressed. What a waste of time. I made the correction manually (old fashioned pen on paper) and got it signed up.

How is that story relevant? Clients are having the same experience in technology. Manufacturers are bundling hardware and software that does not need to be bundled. The key client needs are either not being met or are over-serviced.

As in financial services and legal services, consumers want technology services unbundled so they can determine where the value lies. And they want results.

Business has expanded enough for me to justify a wireless notebook (IBM T42) so I can be fully mobile.

On the move I use web based email (go daddy), blog writer (Typepad) and RSS reader (bloglines).

So what software do I use?  It only comes with Norton AntiVirus demo.

I added Adobe Reader 7 and Zone Alarm firewall (both free).

I decide to go open source for the rest:

• Open Office (text with  a save to PDF function, presentations and spreadsheet);
• Mozilla Firefox (browser), Thunderbird(email, see this MSNBC News Review) and Sunbird (calendar, it’s only release 0.2 so if it doesn’t work I’ll probably get a commercial PIM like Time & Chaos as Chandler is still in development);
• KeyNote (outliner as a test pending a decision on FreeMind for mindmapping).

Hardware? I need backup storage: I’ve got some small flash drives but will get some larger storage for back ups.

I indulged in a MS wireless notebook optical mouse.

I have to get some earphones for listening to DVD’s while travelling

Then I have to convert my home office network to wireless!

This article was helpful.