I am having a great time attending the first annual Utah Open Source Conference. It is always great to meet the people you interact with in the open source community. Last night we had two keynote speakers, Matt Asay and Bruce Perens. Both presenters had great information along with some good humor.

I want to discuss one of the ideas that Bruce Perens mentioned. He believes that open source vendors are not necessary, and that they do not add any value to the open source movement. I disagree with him on this point, and I will share my reasons below.

Marketing

Marketing is a necessary evil in a large economy. It is evil because marketing does not add anything of value to the product. It is necessary because it allows consumers to learn about the product and understand what it does.

More Here