I've changed the order a bit to keep the flow...

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I'd also hardly call Star Office a leader at anything.


It isn't the market leader productivity suite yet, but that is Sun's hope and part of their motivation for opening the source.

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In any case, those are software solutions that can be, but aren't generally the vital core of a specific product.


OpenOffice is the core of StarOffice and StarOffice is offered as a individual product by Sun. More importantly, Microsoft Office is the single product that generates the most revenue for Microsoft - more than any other product including the OS itself. A 10% loss of market share of the office productivity suite market would not go unnoticed at Redmond.

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Linksys routers is about the best example I've been able to think about as well. But I wouldn't say they're the market leader because of the Linux-based firmware.


Neither would I. However, the enthusiasts have clearly helped the sales of both the NSLU2 and the WRT54G. Also, it clearly influenced Buffalo - who saw a market opportunity to get rid of old circuit boards while building rapport with expert customers (the same group that were being stonewalled by Linksys).

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I just can't see this model being applied to Apple's iPod at this time for instance.


Absolutely. The market leader only has something to gain by going open-source if they are hemorrhaging market share (and even then you have to first answer the question of why are they loosing market share). That is why Sun doesn't open-source Java.

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Nor can I see it working for Rio. I don't think it would buy them even a single percentage point of market share.


Not significantly on its own*, but if done as part of a licensing programme. The mobile 'phone and digital radio manufacturers seem to be particularly eager to incorporate iPOD-like features into their products.

Sooner or later, someone will open-source their digital-audio player (it almost certainly won't be Apple - see above) and whoever it is, will likely take a nice chunk of the market leaders' segment and pretty much kill off all the other niche companies. From the C|Net article, it would seem to be a straight gun duel between Creative and DNNA. Fastest hand wins.

--
Michael

* DNNA would likely get many of the expert customers (who currently buy iPOD because they like Apple Macs) - but that is a tiny market as we know all too well.