J
Greg Schiller:
> The linux PLC project and others applications involving linux must have
> some other form of revenue otherwise how can they provide techsupport for
> the complexities that arise post sale and pre production.
...
> I am looking at all this development and energy being put into making a
> version of linux that will provide an alternative to the competition in
> the PLC market. I am looking how I can contibute or benifit by helping
> develop this technology or by using it. I'm not sure how it would feed me
> down the road.
Another revenue model is the Apache way: a group of webmasters decided that if they each write a piece of a webserver, then they'll all have the software they need to do their jobs.
Similarly, a group of integrators can each write a piece of a SoftPLC and then they can all use it to provide automation solutions.
In reality, things aren't quite so organized, of course. However, if MAT is almost but not quite what an integrator needs, then he/she can extend it so that it *is* what is needed. The integrator benefits by getting the majority of the code for free, the customer benefits because the machine works, and the MAT project gets an improvement to its codebase[1].
Of course, if MAT is exactly what an integrator needs for a particular job, just use it off the shelf.
And then there's the traditional Linux way: procrastinating PhD students.
Jiri
[1] Or not - there's no obligation to contribute.
--
Jiri Baum <[email protected]> http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jirib
MAT LinuxPLC project --- http://mat.sf.net --- Machine Automation Tools
> The linux PLC project and others applications involving linux must have
> some other form of revenue otherwise how can they provide techsupport for
> the complexities that arise post sale and pre production.
...
> I am looking at all this development and energy being put into making a
> version of linux that will provide an alternative to the competition in
> the PLC market. I am looking how I can contibute or benifit by helping
> develop this technology or by using it. I'm not sure how it would feed me
> down the road.
Another revenue model is the Apache way: a group of webmasters decided that if they each write a piece of a webserver, then they'll all have the software they need to do their jobs.
Similarly, a group of integrators can each write a piece of a SoftPLC and then they can all use it to provide automation solutions.
In reality, things aren't quite so organized, of course. However, if MAT is almost but not quite what an integrator needs, then he/she can extend it so that it *is* what is needed. The integrator benefits by getting the majority of the code for free, the customer benefits because the machine works, and the MAT project gets an improvement to its codebase[1].
Of course, if MAT is exactly what an integrator needs for a particular job, just use it off the shelf.
And then there's the traditional Linux way: procrastinating PhD students.
Jiri
[1] Or not - there's no obligation to contribute.
--
Jiri Baum <[email protected]> http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jirib
MAT LinuxPLC project --- http://mat.sf.net --- Machine Automation Tools