So what exactly is the "open source" brand?

What does "open source" mean to you? Most people associate it with "free" and "no cost", however there's more to it than that. Perhaps if I'd gone to the O'Reilly Open Source Convention [1] in July I would have been able to give you a better explanation. Well, I can point you in the direction of a video of one of the conference presentations [2] given by Steve Yegge of Google. Steve's blog [3] also has an amusing write-up of how he came to be giving the talk. I think this is interesting on a number of levels for business students. First, it's a great introduction to branding and the power of brands. Second, it's thought provoking in its discussion of how to brand software and what to do about the "open source" brand. And third, it shows what a great speaker does when his planned presentation doesn't work because the technology fails. There are so many other interesting snippets in the talk, such as the new coke fiasco and why Amazon are no longer just selling books. You'll just have to watch it yourself.