Open source is the way ahead for business. Involving your user base in the development of your project not only cuts down on your research and development costs but making your users feel like they belong and are a part of the project is the best advertising and promotion you can get. A person who feels involved and valued will be more inclined to recommend something to a friend than a person left out in the cold! As I’ve previously stated, the times where a company had to have the best minds in a field working directly for them are long gone (not to mention the fact that it is next to impossible to do so now). For your project to succeed it is a good idea to engage the users, let them bring to bear their creative and technical skills. Their talents can then be put to use in pushing the boundaries. The Open Source model works on this principle, large groups of users join together to create and develop with out much in the way of organisation. This model/practise can be applied to areas outside that of traditional open source with great success though. A good example of this is the game Second Life from Linden Labs.
Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based 3D virtual world launched June 23, 2003 and developed by Linden Research, Inc, which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007. It provides a platform for human interaction with a high degree of naturalness. A free downloadable client program called the Second Life Viewer enables its users, called “Residents“, to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade items (virtual property) and services with one another. – Wikipedia Second Life article
Most people who spend a little time online will have heard about Second Life, it’s even made the mainstream media. Second Life is basically an Online Role playing Game (ORPG), people can create accounts and participate in an online world where they can interact with other users. The thing that sets Second Life apart from most other ORPG’s though is the fact that users of the game can create content for the game which they can then “sell” to other users. The game has it’s own in built currency called the Linden Dollar which has an exchange rate with the US Dollar. A user can create something, add it to the game and then sell on for Linden dollars. These dollars can then either be transferred out of the game into real world currency, or used to purchase other in game artifacts. It’s even possible to purchase virtual real estate. In fact some people have made large profits by purchasing a large area of land for a small fee and then selling on that land to others in smaller parts.
The selling of virtual real estate is another side product, the real difference here is that users create the content though. Linden have fallen on to the idea that there are people out there that will do a lot of the work for them. If they did not allow users to create for Second Life they would be forced to hire people internally to do this. By opening up the software to user additions they have effectively out sourced this side of the project with out having the associated costs. The game’s in built currency will even allow users/creators to benifit financially from their work with out Linden having to pay them directly. The additionally content added to the game will enhance the experience of Second Life which will in turn draw more users and more creativity.
If a large enough user base is built then real world businesses can be enticed into the project, paying money for a Second Life presence (this is already happening and has been for a while). Whilst Second Life’s membership may be waining now, there are other project looks to take up the mantel and push the boundries further, some projects are even making the programming of the back end code open source as well (see OpenSim). Even Google are not trying to get in on the act with Lively, allowing users to open vitural chatrooms around every website they visit.