Jonathan Schwartz begins with outlining the parallels between the history of electricity and the future of the internet. He notes that all of Sun’s clients and many other vendors are focusing on the Social Utility of the network. Utility is an interesting word. I recall from economics 101, that value = utility / price. Software is the Utility and Open Source drives the price. The result is an immeasurable and infinite value. Sugar delivers this value.

As Schwartz notes, open platforms create ecosystems and ultimately serve the customer greater than just the product itself. By lowering the barrier to entry, as in terms of price, it becomes instinctual for us to consume that technology. Schwartz goes on to describe the economies of scale and the social network value of the ecosystem. It makes me think of the old quote “the value of the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts” because the market opportunity is expanding due to FOSS.

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