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The growth of By* has a number of dimensions, including:
The free software movement is a flourishing creative environment, constantly producing new and better functional software packages. Indeed for any particular functionality there are typically multiple alternative free software packages available. In this environment the task of developing the By* services is not one of software development, it is more a process of selection and integration. It is a matter of selecting the right software components from among the available alternatives, on the basis of fit and consistency with the existing service structure, and integrating the software correctly into the service architecture. Libre Services development becomes more a process of harvesting from the constantly growing body of free software components, than of actual new software development. We will continue to select and incorporate additional functional components into By* as these materialize within the free software environment.
This is the extraordinary magic of free software: the ability to take things and reuse them at extremely low cost. And it is this dynamic that assures constantly expanding features and functionality of the By* services. This is the fundamental engineering growth dynamic of Libre Services, and this is the powerful generative force that is lacking in the proprietary model. This is the key dynamic that causes the free/Libre model eventually to surpass the proprietary model entirely in terms of features and functionality.
An important measure of the growth of By* is the number of service providers who are independently delivering the By* services, whether under the By* name or an independent brand name. It is highly desirable that not only the number of By* users grow, but that also the number of By* service providers grows.
Any company or organization can reproduce and operate any of the By* services for itself, thus becoming an independent Internet services provider. In particular, any company can reproduce the ByName service for individuals. For a company having an existing relationship with a large number of clients or users, this represents an immediate potential business opportunity.
In principle this opportunity is available to a company in any business sector, not even necessarily Internet related. But this is of greatest relevance to companies that are already operating within the Internet and telecommunications sectors. For example, this capability represents a major business opportunity for a large ISP, wireless network provider, or telephone company. Such a company already has a large number of subscribers to whom it provides basic Internet access, but under the existing proprietary services model it cannot readily deliver Internet application services. But under the Libre Services/By* model, it can almost instantly begin providing Internet Services to its entire existing subscriber base.
The business case for this is clear and compelling. The value propositions are: immediate entry into the Internet Services market as an independent service provider, greatly expanded scope of relationship with an existing customer base, and access to a much larger and growing user base. Furthermore, all this can be done extremely rapidly, and at very low cost.
And in addition, the company can deploy the ByName services based on any of several alternative business models:
Each of these business models offers a different pattern of risks and benefits, and the company can thus adopt the model that best fits its positioning and broader business strategies.
The fundamental growth dynamic for ByName deployment by other service providers is the strong and clear business motivation for this.
Based on the above discussion, we can see that the industry sector in the most ideal position to benefit from the free software and Libre Services models consists of the existing ISP companies. These companies have a large body of subscribers with whom they already have a service relationship. Based on the Libre Services model, an ISP can become an Internet Service provider almost overnight.1 And based on the free software development model, it can benefit continuously and at almost zero cost from the constant, on-going expansion of its services in terms of features and functionality.
The most immediate beneficiaries of the free software movement can be the ISP companies who recognize this, and simply get on board for the ride.
In the above discussion we have been focussed on commercial deployment of the By* services. We should also note that there is a very large non-commercial arena for deployment of By*. For example, a large corporation can provide an appropriate set of services for use by its own employees. Or a university can provide appropriate services for its faculty, staff and students. Or a government can provide a comprehensive set of services to its own citizens, as a matter of public policy.
Thus there are clear growth dynamics for By* service deployment. And any participating company can readily generate user accounts for its entire customer base, ready for immediate usage. But creating accounts is one thing; account usage is another. If end users do not actually use the services, all this is meaningless.
As we have seen, there are plenty of good reasons why people should use the By* services. The most compelling benefits to end users are:
But should do is one thing; will do is quite another. We should all eat less, exercise more, and vote Nader for President. It must be acknowledged that the By* merits, real though they are, will not be apparent to the great majority of prospective users. There will therefore be a significant latency between initial deployment of the By* services, and widespread understanding and acceptance of their benefits. So how will this understanding occur, and what will motivate people to adopt the services? The answer is that service usage will increase over time as a result of a number of factors and influences, all acting in concert. These are:
Every one of these is a dynamic, or motivation, or linkage that leads to growing acceptance and usage of the By* services model. They are all synergistic, they are all mutually reinforcing, and they are all monotonically increasing over time. And they are all unopposed--there is nothing to stop, check, bound, or hinder any of this from happening. It is the summation of all of these factors that represents the growth model for usage of By*.
As a new model, Libre Services does not fit well into existing perceptions and expectations. It runs counter to the prevailing assumptions in all areas: engineering, business, and societal. We are dealing with a new concept for which the intellectual structures and vocabulary must be established in society at large. This is something that takes time.
At the outset the freedoms and benefits of By* will be lost on the great majority of end users, who will continue to use their proprietary services for some time to come. But these benefits are very real, and very deep. And the very depth and reality of these benefits is sufficent to ensure a monotonically increasing, organically-driven, grassroots acceptance of the services throughout society.
And in addition to the above the By* services, by virtue of being Libre Services, are a genuine communal resource, inherently aligned with the interests of the user. This creates a climate of trust between the user and the service provider that is not possible under the proprietary services model, with its inevitable dichotomy of interest between the user and the proprietary provider. The result is a long-lasting, close binding between the user and the service, based on user satisfaction, appreciation, trust, and confidence.