Industry veterans bet on open-source model | CNET News.com

Industry veterans bet on open-source model | CNET News.com ""The trend over the last couple of years, and if you project it forward, it's clear the value (in the software industry) is moving toward maintenance, testing, support and configuration," Silverberg said. "Customers can easily acquire the technology they want via a configurator, just like how they buy computers off the Dell Web site."
SourceLabs will distribute existing open-source software, including server software and enterprise applications, and provide associated services based on a subscription model, said co-founder Byron Sebastian, who recently worked at software infrastructure provider BEA Systems.
Other ex-BEA executives also are working with SourceLabs, including Will Pugh, the new company's chief architect, and Cornelius Willis, who is vice president of marketing and sales. Former BEA chief architect and technology guru Adam Bosworth, who is now working at Google as a vice president in engineering, is also an adviser.
SourceLabs' next moves are to launch a test program with customers and establish partnerships with companies such as open-source database provider MySQL, Sebastian said."

Last I checked, Dell makes most of its money selling PCs, not on maintenance and support, so the analogy is spurious. I also don't see how MySQL AB and other commercial open source vendors (that do make most of their money on maintenance and support) will see SourceLabs as a positive development, both in terms of competition for their primary revenue sources and with the implication that the leading open source offerings are sufficiently complex to warrant fee-based configuration assistance.