A while back, on my previous blog, I said that: I believe the next great business model for an elearning entrepreneur is to provide high quality installation and support services for a select group of open source learning systems. Your customers will soon realize that you are not trying to sell them the next upgrade to get more cash, because the software is free. You will be selling your knowledge, experience, and customer service. Many IT departments would be more apt to use open source if they knew that it was strongly supported. Also, there is a lot less conflict of interest when you remove the vendor from the ongoing support.
I just came across a new business venture that has been 16 months in development, Spike Source. This company is positioned to be the Underwriter Laboratories (UL) of Open Source.
If you want more details on the business model, download the one hour interview on the Gillmor Gang with CEO Kim Polese. It’s worth your time. I knew that this model would soon be taken by someone, but what I found interesting in the interview is that there is room for many more of these companies. I would also wager that there is room for companies using this business model in the learning market. So if you’re looking for a new business model, check this one out.
SourceLabsSourceLabs has a similar model