:-) Hey, that’s what Marc’s post says….Marc is becoming an advisor for RIA vendor Appcelerator.

Fleury writes:

“And finally, what sets them apart, at least for me, is that they are friends and a group of my favorite peoples. So let’s go, I will be helping with as much visibility as I can bring them, mainly PR and this blog. They will need visibility. I am helping with messaging a bit, I am helping with the business model a bit but really all I do is listen to them and what they do and then repeat to them what they told me. This advisory thing is easy when the people in front of you know what they are doing.”

From the Appcelerator website, their business model includes professional services, education/training, technical support and an option for commercial licensing as an alternative to the GNU-based OSS code.

Marc says:

“So what sets these guys apart? 1- First of all, 100% Open Source. No one else in the space is 100% OSS. … “

I do find it interesting that Marc points to the 100% OSS angle as setting Appcelerator appart. Considering the following comment from Marc, that I found this on Fleury’s RSS feed around Nov. 26th (via Google Reader):

“I don’t want to come across as the ultimate realist but as far as scalable business models go, we still haven’t found anything better than a proprietary distribution of open source software.”

Marc, I’m with you 100%. There is no shame in making $$ through gated access to some version of your code. If Appcelerator is successful, you’ll be advising them to shift from a Support Subscription business model (where 100% OSS matters) to a Software Subscription business model (where you have some proprietary products).

So why the big focus on “100% OSS”? Well, I know why..you need to be successful with a Support Subscription business model before you can shift to a Software Subscription business model. I just wish the OSS discussion wasn’t always an either/or discussion.

Anywho, best of luck to Marc & his friends at Appcelerator.