OpenCASH: A Digital Coupon System
Hosted by: www.sourceforge.net
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Introduction |
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As we enter the digital age, many of mankind's creations are making the transition with us. As an example, hand-written
letters are giving way to email and instant messaging over the internet. One field where things are less defined,
however, is electronic commerce. Most ecommerce happening on the Internet these days utilizes credit cards for
payment, but other financial instruments are possible as well. In this spirit, the goal of OpenCASH is to implement
a truly digital bearer token, or coupon.
While the OpenCASH project may expand to include other uses, my initial goal with this software is to appeal to
the Open Source community. The Open Source community is based on the sharing of information and code. Programmers
release their source code to the world (usually for free), so that other programmers and computer users can use
the software. Most Open Source projects allow contributors to send in their additions, in theory making the overall
project better. While it is closer to a gift culture, this kind of exchange also likens itself to a barter culture,
where people trade their goods and services in a marketplace. This type of barter was commonplace in early markets,
where a carpenter might trade his services to a farmer for food. In todays terms, I think a similar relationship
exists between hardware vendors or integrators and Open Source software developers.
There are several hardware vendors and system integrators that support Open Source projects. In my opinion, the
most notable being VA Linux. They sponsor the Sourceforge.net site, which generously hosts Open Source projects
for free. VA Linux makes money by selling and integrating hardware running the Linux operating system. Their
relationship with Open Source Software (OSS) is not merely a charity case, but symbiotic as well. By supplying
developers with free hosting for their projects, they help spread the software, help projects recruit new developers,
and help develop mindshare with OSS developers and advocates. To further develop this relationship, they could
provide discounts on their hardware solutions to OSS developers. This is where OpenCASH comes in. OpenCASH coupons
are bearer tokens issued by a vendor (or several cooperating vendors if so decided) that can be redeemed for discounts
on that vendor's product or products. A system like OpenCASH perpetuates the "scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours"
attitude of the OSS community by supplying it with a means to quantify its gift culture.
A pioneer in this field is the cosource.com site created by
Bernie Thompson. Under Thompson's model, people
can submit requests for work they need or would like to see done. Open source developers can then submit bids
to the site for the work. Their bids are reviewed, and if enough people pledge financial support to a project
to meet the developers bid, the developer does the work, which in turn gets released as open source software.
I believe that this services-based model will gain significant attention in the future, and it is my hope that
OpenCASH will help provide even more options for this type of commerce.