The question whether there should be one or many different competitors has a simple answer: yes.

That made me chuckle ;)

I don’t agree on you when you say ‘It’s a fight you will lose, so don’t bother fighting it…’, because there are many examples of open source projects that have a huge market share (Linux, Mozilla, OpenOffice etc.) while challenging big corporations.

The point I’m trying to make here is that there is no sense in fighting the same fight. In that sense, there is NO competition between open source and closed source software. It’s not even the same ballpark. Open Source developers should realize that if they want to create solutions that stick.

As for your examples, they prove my point exactly. These companies don’t have a market share anywhere near the players they challenge. They’re just one of many players and the focus should be on the customizable building blocks they create for others, not on pushing their product like ordinary closed players do. This enables users to create their own viable alternative towards closed source software.

This means the only way open source can truly compete with closed source is by not presenting one alternative, but to present the building blocks to create many alternatives. By staying a movement, because imho the power of open source lies in the creation of a modular valuechain and not in one particular solution that has to compete with their closed source rivals…

I don’t agree on you when you say ‘It’s a fight you will lose, so don’t bother fighting it…’, because there are many examples of open source projects that have a huge market share (Linux, Mozilla, OpenOffice etc.) while challenging big corporations.

A serious challenger for Google does not necessary has he has to be become BIGGER than Google. But who do you trust more, Google or an open source project? I’d go for the open source perks such as transparency and a service that is and will always be totally free.

When will there be a serious open source search engine that will challenge Google?

The question is, should there be one, or should there be many? The thing I feel is lacking in many OS projects today is they still strive to be the winner or to have control over other companies. This goal implicates a zero sum game, a game which is being played on the home turf and by the rules of the parties that already have a large piece of the pie. It’s a fight you will lose, so don’t bother fighting it…

I feel the power of Open Source is its use in the Long Tail. A lot of tiny variations to suit individual needs are better than the monopolized market proposition of organizations like Google/Microsoft/Yahoo/etc. Or to look at it in another way: there is not one race, there are many with many different rules. Heck, you could even make up your own rules!

The only thing you’ll accomplish by beating Google at their game is that you’ll become something that is greater than Google. Or, by challenging your ‘enemy’ succesfully, you’ll quickly become the very enemy you’re trying to challenge…