Hi Danny!

You said today was the deadline for final drafts of conference papers, but
I forgot to ask what time.  I hope I'm not too late for submitting our
final draft.

Attached are two files: our paper in Applix Words format (.aw extension) 
and a PostScript format (.ps extension)

Don't bother returning Mark's call.  He was asking about the deadline
hour.

Have a great weekend and see you soon!
Jo-Ellen
 
---------------------------------------------------------
Jo-Ellen F. Mathews

AbsoluteValue Software     Web:    http://www.absoval.com
P.O. Box 941149            e-mail: joellen@absoval.com
Maitland, FL 32794-1149    Phone:  407.644.8582
USA                        Fax:    407.539.1294
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<T "Developing Linux Software for Fun...Turns into Profit">
<P "Heading1" justifyLeft >
<T "Jo-Ellen Mathews  and Mark Mathews">
<P "Normal">
<T "September 1999">
<P "Normal">
<T "AbsoluteValue Software, Inc. ">
<P "Normal">
<T "P.O. Box 941149 ">
<P "Normal">
<T "Maitland, FL 32794-1149 ">
<P "Normal">
<T "mark@absoval.com">
<P "Normal">
<T "joellen@absoval.com ">
<P "Normal">
<T "1^ajIntroduction">
<P "Heading1">
<T "For the small software company or individual consultant, there is an overpo\
 wering concern with regard to Linux development: \"If I invest unpaid time dev\
 eloping software for Linux, will the investment pay off?\" In the case of Abso\
 luteValue Software, the answer to that question is a resounding YES! The purpo\
 se of this paper is to tell the story of how a Linux development project initi\
 ated for fun and personal use later became profitable by leading to software d\
 evelopment consulting work in both Linux and ">
<T "non-Linux" no-hyphenate >
<T " environments.  Additionally, the reader will be introduced to a growing an\
 d maturing network technology that is available to the Linux community. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "2^ajWho is AbsoluteValue Software, Inc.?">
<P "Heading1">
<T "In 1993, we founded AbsoluteValue Software, Inc. as a small, software devel\
 opment consulting firm. For the first few years, our software development effo\
 rts didn't meet our projected revenue targets. As a result, we fell into teach\
 ing programming classes as a \"quick fix\" resolution to meeting our revenue g\
 oals. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "The commercial teaching profession can be very lucrative and rewarding. Unf\
 ortunately, due to class preparation and travel demands, little spare time rem\
 ained for software development and keeping ourselves current with technologica\
 l advances. We realized the skills we were teaching evolved from our own softw\
 are development experiences. Our concern was if we didn't get back into softwa\
 re development mode, our skills would stagnate and become obsolete. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Due to the fickle nature of the commercial teaching business, we faced a dr\
 ought period. By coincidence (or perhaps fate), this drought occurred about th\
 e time same we were introduced to wireless LAN technology. As a personal inter\
 est, we began a Linux Open Source software project to support this technology.\
 ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Teaching is no longer a necessity; it's now a choice. Our Open Source proje\
 ct has led to a dramatic turn around for our business by providing a guerilla \
 marketing tactic that unequivocally established that we have some expertise in\
  the area of IEEE 802.11 wireless networking technology. We continue to have s\
 oftware development clients queued up and waiting for us to begin working on t\
 heir projects in both Linux and ">
<T "non-Linux" no-hyphenate >
<T " environments.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "3^ajAbsoluteValue Software's Introduction to Wireless LAN">
<P "Heading1">
<T "In December 1996, we were introduced to wireless local area network technol\
 ogy (wireless LAN or WLAN) by receiving a pair of wireless LAN cards from a re\
 lative who works for Intersil (formerly Harris Semiconductor). These IEEE 802.\
 11 compliant WLAN cards contain the PRISM radio chipset developed by Intersil \
 as a solution for the radio function in wireless networking. At that time, the\
  only available device driver for these cards was for the Windows95 platform. \
 This driver only supported communications between wireless stations, so there \
 was no support for communications between wireless stations and a wired networ\
 k. For the wireless LAN cards to be genuinely useful to us, we needed the abil\
 ity for wireless stations to communicate with our existing wired network. At t\
 his point, we started looking for a solution to integrate wireless and wired n\
 etworks. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "4^ajChoosing Linux">
<P "Heading1">
<T "A common solution for integrating networks is either a dedicated router or \
 a host computer configured to perform routing functions. Since the wireless LA\
 N cards we were using were so new, there was no hope of finding a dedicated ro\
 uter that supported these wireless cards. We were left with the choice of conf\
 iguring a host computer to perform routing functions. As previously mentioned,\
  the only existing device driver allowing a host computer to use the wireless \
 cards was for Windows95. However, Windows95 routing capabilities were undocume\
 nted at the time. Besides, we had little interest in a Windows95 solution. Our\
  only solution was to choose a platform with strong, documented, routing capab\
 ilities and to develop a wireless LAN device driver for this platform. The cho\
 ices we considered were Windows NT, one of the commercial Unixes, DOS (ack!), \
 or Linux. Since we were already using Linux as a file server, print server and\
  firewall on our existing wired network, our tendency was to choose Linux. Lin\
 ux also had the strong advantage of being well documented and distributed in s\
 ource code form. Since this project was originally conceived to support only o\
 ur office LAN, we didn't want to spend a lot of money on a new operating syste\
 m and development tools. Our decision to use and develop software for Linux ha\
 s had a profound, positive effect on us and on AbsoluteValue Software. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "5^ajExcuse Me, What is Wireless LAN?">
<P "Heading1">
<T "Before continuing with our discussion, let us briefly answer the question, \
 \"What is wireless LAN?\" Wireless LAN or WLAN stands for wireless local area \
 network. For the moment, forget the term wireless and focus on local area netw\
 ork. We'll assume that every reader is aware of the term \"network\" when spea\
 king of computers. If two or more computers are said to be \"networked\", they\
  have the ability to communicate with one another. According to the Free ">
<T "On-line" no-hyphenate >
<T " Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC), a local area network (LAN) is defined as\
  \"a data communications network which is geographically limited (typically to\
  a 1 km radius) allowing easy interconnection of terminals, microprocessors an\
 d computers within adjacent buildings.\" [1] Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) and token r\
 ing (IEEE 802.5) are examples of standard LAN architectures. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Most LAN architectures use network cables to transmit data between computer\
 s connected to the network. In wireless LAN architectures, data is transmitted\
  via radio or infrared. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "6^ajChallenges Facing Small Software Development Consulting Businesses">
<P "Heading1">
<T "In hind sight, we've been able to observe and identify challenges we faced \
 (and continue to face) as a business and how our experience writing Open Sourc\
 e software for Linux has largely contributed to our staying in business and su\
 staining financial growth.  Keep in mind, as we proceed with the discussion of\
  our experiences, that we have no intentions of presenting a  formula for \"ho\
 w to succeed in business\".  We're simply sharing our experiences and observat\
 ions as a small way of giving something back to the Linux community.  The info\
 rmation provided is from the perspective of two \"techies\" owning and operati\
 ng a small software development consulting business who make no claim by any s\
 tretch of the imagination of being business experts.  We'll leave such topics \
 of discussion to Dr. Donald K. Rosenberg of Stromian Technologies  (http://www\
 .stromian.com).  Take it away Don!">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Any business faces challenges, and small businesses are no exception.  When\
  we say \"small business\", we mean a business having 10 employees or less.  S\
 ome people may believe small businesses experience even greater challenges bec\
 ause of a lack of financial and human resources to get themselves off the grou\
 nd.  Additionally, if you're a software developer wanting to start a small sof\
 tware development consulting business,  the business realm extending beyond yo\
 ur technological comfort zone becomes a secondary career and an even greater c\
 hallenge!">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Based on our own experiences, we've divided the challenges we faced in the \
 earlier years (and continue to face) into three categories:">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "1^ajFinding a Niche and Staying in It">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "2^ajFinding New Business Within Your Niche">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "3^ajRevenue Growth">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "Each of these challenges are discussed in the following three sections.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "6.1 Finding a Niche and Staying in It">
<P "Heading2">
<T "The niches for small software development companies are usually categorized\
  in one of two ways:  by technology or by customer type.  In our case, our nic\
 he is defined by technology, namely wireless networking technology, and we wil\
 l limit the discussion of niches to those defined by technology.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "From a small software development firm's perspective, a \"niche\" is a narr\
 ow slice of a particular market that is small enough for the small firm to occ\
 upy.  In any given market, there are a few companies who own the vast majority\
  of that market.  For the small software development firm to be successful, it\
  must choose a small enough niche  such that the company can be one of the key\
  players holding the vast majority of the market for that niche.  For example,\
  our niche isn't wireless networking device drivers.  That scope is too broad \
 for our small business.  Our niche is narrowed by focusing on driver developme\
 nt for wireless networking cards supporting the IEEE 802.11 standard as oppose\
 d to a vendor's proprietary wireless networking solution.  Our niche is furthe\
 r narrowed by focusing on writing device drivers for those wireless networking\
  cards manufactured with the Intersil PRISM radio chipset.  Finally, we narrow\
  our focus even further by developing our device driver initially for Linux to\
  gain expertise in wireless networking technology.  We aren't aware of anyone \
 directly competing against us in our niche who threatens to steal the vast maj\
 ority of our business away from us.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Whatever niche you choose, it must be something you enjoy (or would enjoy) \
 doing.  We all must have heard \"Do what you love\" a thousand times over.  Wh\
 ile this advice may seem overly simplistic, don't we all know of at least one \
 person who is miserable working in a job they despise?  Could this person poss\
 ibly be you?  When owning and operating a business, you have to possess a pass\
 ion about what you're doing in order to sustain the necessary energy and motiv\
 ation required to succeed.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Some lessons we've learned with regard to software development (for profit)\
  that you may find useful when identifying a niche:">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "^lh" face:"Symbol" >
<T "^ajWhen choosing a niche, the technology must not exceed the limitations of\
  the human and financial resources of the company.">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "^lh^aj" face:"Symbol" >
<T "T" face:"Swiss" >
<T "he software you develop must be based on knowledge you obtained PAINFULLY. \
  If it was easy for you to obtain and understand the necessary knowledge as th\
 e basis of your software development efforts, that knowledge is probably easy \
 for someone else to obtain and understand.">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "^lh^aj" face:"Symbol" >
<T "T" face:"Swiss" >
<T "he software you develop must be ">
<T "non-trivial" no-hyphenate >
<T ".  If you can develop a fully functional piece of software in a week, most \
 likely someone else can too.">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "^lh^aj" face:"Symbol" >
<T "T" face:"Swiss" >
<T "he software you develop must solve a problem that other commercial entities\
  want solved.">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "^lh^aj" face:"Symbol" >
<T "P" face:"Swiss" >
<T "erhaps we should add, based on the previous paragraph, it would be a really\
 , really good idea to enjoy writing software.">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "Linux is shining example of a niche.  Knowledge of operating systems is cer\
 tainly not understood overnight, and developing an OS is certainly ">
<T "non-trivial" no-hyphenate >
<T ".  Looking at how many years software developers have been spent on the ker\
 nel, Linux is certainly a \"">
<T "non-trivial" no-hyphenate >
<T "\" piece of software, and it provides a solution to the problem of an alter\
 native to using Windows.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Staying focused on a niche allows a small business to gain, maintain and pr\
 omote expertise in a specific area.  In contrast, those who grasp at any reven\
 ue opportunity just to keep their heads above water tend to acquire minimal, g\
 eneralized knowledge.  Hence, they never develop the expertise required to exc\
 el in a particular market. Additionally, a well focused niche will provide una\
 mbiguous direction for all of the business's activities, including technical d\
 evelopment, sales and marketing.  Without a well focused niche, members of the\
  business as well as potential customers will be confused about the special or\
  unique product and/or services you offer.  Stick with your niche by constantl\
 y remaining focused and resisting the temptation to earn a fast buck that dist\
 racts you from your niche.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "6.2 Finding New Business Within Your Niche">
<P "Heading2">
<T "The  second challenge for the small software development firm is attracting\
  and acquiring new customers to serve in your niche.  This process can be summ\
 ed up in three steps: ">
<P "ParagraphBlock" leftIndent:0 >
<T "1^ajIdentify potential customers">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "2^ajContact potential customers">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "3^ajSell Your Product and/or Services to Your Contacts">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "Identifying new customers can be particularly difficult in a market where a\
  new technology has recently emerged because few customers exist (i.e. the ear\
 ly adopters).  Investing in a new technology is a high  risk investment and ca\
 n take years to become widely recognized and accepted.  Finding those who are \
 willing to invest in a new technology and take the risk is a great challenge."\
 >
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Traditionally, a business contacts potential customers through advertising.\
   For a  small software business, particularly one just starting out, an adver\
 tising budget may be nonexistent.  However, advertising is also done through c\
 onversation, and reaching potential customers through conversation can be chal\
 lenging to even the most experienced and skilled sales and marketing individua\
 ls.  To  individuals whose primary skills are classified as scientific and tec\
 hnological, initial contact with potential customers can be easily described a\
 s terrifying.  Not to be judgemental or to mold people into stereotypes (becau\
 se they are ALWAYS exceptions), but identifying the business professionals ver\
 sus the technical professionals becomes a fairly easy thing to do at trade sho\
 ws after only a few conversations.  Excelling in both business and technical s\
 kills is an uncommon combination of skills, and we hold individuals possessing\
  such a combination in very high regard.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Lastly, earning a potential customer's business presents a further challeng\
 e even if you succeed in the  initial contact step.  Once you have a captive a\
 udience, selling your product and/or services becomes a  second career.  Becom\
 ing business savvy while remaining a step ahead in your technical expertise is\
  not only challenging, it borderlines genius in our book!">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "6.3 Revenue Growth">
<P "Heading2">
<T "A third challenge for the small software development firm is generating mor\
 e revenue.  You will probably find yourself motivated to increase revenue for \
 reasons such as developing an advertising budget, travel to trade shows and te\
 chnical conferences, establishing a retirement plan, and a higher standard of \
 living to name only a few.  However, if for no other reason, an increase in re\
 venue is necessary just to keep up with inflation.  Three basic methods of inc\
 reasing revenue are:">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "1^ajSell more product or service at current prices">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "2^ajSell the same amount of product or service at higher prices">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "3^ajA combination of both: Sell more product or service at higher prices">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:500 >
<T "For a small software development consulting business, selling more of your \
 software development services means investing more hours developing software. \
  If the existing employees are developing software at maximum capacity, additi\
 onal programmers would have to be hired in order to generate more revenue at t\
 he existing prices.  If increasing your employee base is not a strategy you de\
 sire to initiate, you can always raise your consulting rates.  By implementing\
  this strategy, you wouldn't accept any new software development business.  In\
 stead,  you would continue working on existing projects at higher consulting r\
 ates.  However, even rate increases have their limitations.  Operating at maxi\
 mum software development capacity while charging maximum consulting rates that\
  the market will tolerate makes the challenge to increase revenue even greater\
 .">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "7^ajOpen Source to the Rescue!">
<P "Heading1">
<T "In the previous section, we discussed the three, broad categories of challe\
 nges we observed based on our experiences since starting our business.  From o\
 ur experience, our Open Source software development has played a key role in o\
 vercoming many of the challenges we faced in our earlier years.  However, our \
 Open Source software development isn't the answer to overcoming all of or chal\
 lenges, and many challenges remain that we have yet to overcome In his section\
 , we discuss how our Open Source software project helped (and continues to hel\
 p) our business meet some of the challenges discussed in section 6.  Again, mu\
 ch of our discussion is based on our experiences because that is what we know.\
   Keep in mind the fact that our software development efforts lie at a level l\
 ower than user applications and is based on a fairly new technology.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "7.1 Open Source and Your Niche">
<P "Heading2">
<T "While it's not impossible to identify a niche in technologies that have bee\
 n around awhile, emerging technologies are a great way to identify and target \
 a niche.  A relatively small number of people have any expertise in a new tech\
 nology.  Therefore, if you jump in while the technological knowhow isn't yet s\
 aturated in the industry, your expertise becomes highly valuable, and you make\
  your place in the industry relating to this technology.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Where do you look for emerging technologies?  Watching new standards is one\
  source for discovering what are the latest emerging technologies.  For exampl\
 e, the IEEE has created a new working group 802.15/16 for wireless personal ar\
 ea network (WPAN).  Also, watching new hardware development, particularly by s\
 emiconductor manufacturers, is another good source of learning what's new.  An\
 other source of discovering emerging technologies, and perhaps obvious but doe\
 s warrant mentioning, is industry journals (those published ">
<T "on-line" no-hyphenate >
<T " as well) and news web sites.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "When identifying and targeting a niche, do so with the goal of developing a\
 n Open Source project to support your niche.  Make sure your niche serves a ne\
 ed in the Open Source community and make sure someone else hasn't already star\
 ted an Open Source project serving this niche.  The Open Source community and \
 your Open Source software development project are the greatest tools you have \
 to establish your expertise within your niche, particularly if your niche is b\
 ased on an emerging technology with little or no information available.  In re\
 turn, you fill a need in the Open Source community by providing high quality s\
 oftware and expertise.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Another possible target niche is identifying an Open Source project that is\
  no longer supported by the original author, and the author is willing to tran\
 sfer ownership to you  Again, the criteria discussed earlier still apply, such\
  as you must enjoy developing the project, the project must be ">
<T "non-trivial" no-hyphenate >
<T ", knowledge must be acquired painfully, the project must serve a need and s\
 o on.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "When developing your Open Source software project and expertise, name the p\
 roject and establish the project's presence on the Internet.  In order to get \
 support from the Open Source community, you have to have provide a means for a\
 ccessing your project.  Have one or more web pages dedicated to the project on\
  your company web site or purchase a domain name and dedicate an entire web si\
 te to the project.  Make sure you provide an ftp site so the project's source \
 code and documentation can be downloaded.  As you upload project releases, pos\
 t announcements on Linux/Open Source ">
<T "on-line" no-hyphenate >
<T " news sites.  For example,  comp.os.linux.announce, Freshmeat, Linux Weekly\
  News, and Slashdot to name a few.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Create one or more project mailing lists.  For example, we have three maili\
 ng lists for our Linux WLAN project.  One for users, one for developers and on\
 e for announcements.  Not only is a mailing list good for making announcements\
  regarding the project, such as a new releases uploaded to the ftp site, a lis\
 t becomes a valuable Q&A tool for users of your software.  Through open commun\
 ication with each other, users become self supporting by answering questions, \
 discovering work around solutions to problems, and diagnosing and solving soft\
 ware bugs.  The activity on the mailing lists contributes to the project in th\
 e form of software enhancements, bug fixes and valuable documentation.  In ret\
 urn, you make the changes, credit those responsible, and contribute the improv\
 ed version of the software back to the community.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "7.2 Open Source and Finding New Business">
<P "Heading2">
<T "We discussed the challenges faced by the technical professional when it com\
 es to business.  Developing business savvy becomes a second career.  More frig\
 htening than taking on a second career is when the time and effort spent devel\
 oping your business savvy is at the expense of you lagging behind in your tech\
 nical skills to remain a key player in your niche.  Once again, Open Source co\
 mes to your rescue!">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Your Open Source project has more credibility than any resume could ever ea\
 rn you.  Your skills and expertise speak volumes within the lines of your sour\
 ce code.  Your Open Source software project not only establishes your technica\
 l expertise and reputation, your project is a powerful guerilla marketing tool\
  that essentially becomes your most effective ">
<T "low-cost" no-hyphenate >
<T " advertising strategy.  Your project establishes a presence and reputation \
 in the Open Source community that brings business to you, particularly in the \
 market of an emerging technology when few customers exist.  Potential customer\
 s seeking custom Linux software development support are likely to commission t\
 he services of the Open Source author whose software supports the customer's p\
 roduct .">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "However, software development opportunities don't always come knocking in t\
 he form of requests for Linux development.  By establishing your expertise in \
 the Open Source community, your reputation echoes beyond the boundaries of the\
  Open Source community, and a company may seek your services to port your Open\
  Source project to a ">
<T "non-Linux" no-hyphenate >
<T " environment.  Such a scenario is a win/win situation for your customer, th\
 e Open Source community and your business.  When porting your project to anoth\
 er environment, you provide your customer an expertise in your niche technolog\
 y, an established, stable code base and an expertise in that code base you dev\
 eloped.  Most likely, your customer will need additional features to your exis\
 ting software base and who better than you to understand and enhance your exis\
 ting software?  As long as you don't breach any nondisclosure agreement or tra\
 de secrets, you can port these additional features back into your Open Source \
 project and contribute these new features to the Open Source community.  Every\
 body wins!">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Besides the Open Source community, other sources may also hold the key to f\
 inding new business.  Building relationships with companies who benefit from y\
 our services and are not a direct potential customer can lead you to new custo\
 mers.  Such companies become your sales force.  For example, Intersil was not \
 a customer when our relationship with them began in 1996.  They supported our \
 Linux software development efforts in the form of a marketing strategy.  They \
 provided us with free hardware.  In return, we provided software support for t\
 heir product in the Open Source community at no cost to them which demonstrate\
 d our technical expertise using their product.  Such a demonstration has earne\
 d us credibility with Intersil as well as customer referrals.  When potential \
 customers seek software support from a hardware vendor, hardware vendors are m\
 ore likely to turn to those software developers who already provide software s\
 upport for their products.  Therefore, building hardware vendor relationships \
 earns you customer referrals with your hardware counterparts in your niche tec\
 hnology.  Additionally, we've been in the position to recommend hardware, and \
 we refer our potential customers to our hardware counterparts.  Again, it's an\
 other win/win situation for all those involved.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "When choosing potential customers, keep in mind your rights and ownership o\
 f your intellectual property, particularly your expertise and Open Source soft\
 ware.  Maintaining your rights and ownership are crucial.  Legal entanglements\
  to protect your rights and ownership can be costly and ultimately run you int\
 o the ground.  Choose your clients wisely so  you don't end up losing the righ\
 ts and the ownership of your source code.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Also, beware of those companies who bury you and your legal advisors in mou\
 nds of legal documents.  More often than not, such documents are simply an att\
 empt by your potential customer to whittle away your rights.  The only way for\
  you to establish such a motive is by spending a lot of money on legal counsel\
  analyzing documents that you most likely will not sign anyway.  Therefore, we\
  reject such documents that threaten our rights and ownership, and if doing so\
  loses us new business, then so be it.  We have managed to sustain revenue gro\
 wth through keeping legal issues simple, and we still retain our legal rights \
 and ownership of our Open Source software project.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "7.3 Open Source and Revenue Growth">
<P "Heading2">
<T "As you stay focused on your niche and continue your Open Source software pr\
 oject, your growing recognition and expertise in the Open Source community pro\
 vides you with revenue growth opportunities.  In the case of hiring additional\
  programmers to sell more of your software development services, what better p\
 lace to look for talent than the Open Source community, particularly those ind\
 ividuals interested in your project who have made contributions?  In the case \
 of price increases, your growing recognition and expertise allows you to ask f\
 or higher rates.   Those specializing in a niche typically earn more than gene\
 ralists because of their expertise.   Those customers who value your expertise\
  will pay your higher prices, and such customers do exist.  Losing a customer \
 to a generalist offering lower prices is not at all tragic.  A small software \
 development consulting business has limited human and financial resources and \
 is only capable of serving a few customers at a time.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "A strong, continued presence in an emerging market may present an opportuni\
 ty for establishing ">
<T "de-facto" no-hyphenate >
<T " standards that have your name associated with them.  Such an opportunity e\
 arns you an even greater notoriety possibly leading to more potential revenue \
 growth.  Additional opportunities for revenue stemming from your expertise and\
  notoriety can be found in:">
<P "ParagraphBlock" no-keepWith hyphZone:250 >
<T "^lh" face:"Symbol" >
<T "^ajWeb Link Revenue">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:750 >
<T "^lh" face:"Symbol" >
<T "^ajTraining Courses">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:750 >
<T "^lh" face:"Symbol" >
<T "^ajBooks and Publications">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:750 >
<T "^lh" face:"Symbol" >
<T "^ajSpeaking Fees">
<P "ParagraphBlock" firstIndent:250 leftIndent:750 >
<T "8^ajLinux Software Development is A Win/Win Situation for All">
<P "Heading1">
<T "Linux software development provides a winning situation for developers, use\
 rs and the Open Source community. For the developer, choosing Linux as the dev\
 elopment environment results in: 1] the use of an inexpensive, stable operatin\
 g system, 2] the availability of other developers' source code, 3] access to a\
  global, debugging community, 4] access to a global, information resource, 5] \
 the establishment of a reputation for expertise in a particular application ar\
 ea, and 6] the potential for commercial success. As a result of Linux software\
  development, users win because of the high quality software produced to fill \
 a need. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "9^ajConclusion">
<P "Heading1">
<T "The intent of this paper was to tell our story of how our Linux development\
  project for personal use and fun turned into a successful, profitable journey\
 . We used this story to address concerns the reader may have regarding the que\
 stion, \"If I invest unpaid time developing software for Linux, will the inves\
 tment pay off?\" Our skepticism and doubt of whether our investment of unpaid \
 time in this project would pay off was immediately lifted with the first reque\
 st for custom device driver development. We are indebted to the entire Linux c\
 ommunity for its help toward our success in completing the first release of ou\
 r Linux wireless LAN device driver and its continued development. Our success \
 in completing this driver established our reputation for being experts in devi\
 ce driver development for wireless LAN cards using the Intersil PRISM radio ch\
 ipset and Intersil's reference design. While you can't put a dollar figure on \
 a reputation, you can sit back and count the revenue that it generates. ">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "About the authors">
<P "Heading1">
<T "Jo-Ellen F. Mathews is a co-founder and co-owner of AbsoluteValue Software.\
   Jo-Ellen earned her BSBA degree in finance from Auburn University and her BS\
  degree in computer science from the University of Central Florida.  Before jo\
 ining Mark in founding AbsoluteValue Software, Jo-Ellen led a successful softw\
 are engineering career in the CADD and semiconductor industries.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
<T "Mark S. Mathews is a co-founder and co-owner of AbsoluteValue Software.  Ma\
 rk earned his BS degree in computer science from the University of Central Flo\
 rida.  Before joining Jo-Ellen in founding AbsoluteValue Software, Mark led a \
 successful software engineering career in the following industries: data stora\
 ge peripherals and military communications.">
<P "ParagraphBlock">
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