Seven, a new active book, tries a different approach to providing evidence about software business models.

I received a review copy of the book Seven Software Business Models. It's got plenty of useful insights for anyone interested in how the software business is changing, and how people intend to continue making money in the industry. The author, Timothy Chou, draws from his experiences as President of Oracle on Demand (LinkedIn profile here). Seven provides an overview of the various business models companies are using these days (see below) -- from traditional enterprise licensing to advertising-supported or freemium software. 

But the emphasis is on the future, not the past: Software-as-a-service, social applications, etc. At SoftwareSeven.com, Chou says the book "is written with a chapter focused on every functional area: R&D, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Finance HR. In addition, you'll also find lots of campfire stories from people who did these jobs at leading companies such as ...Salesforce.com, Webex, Netsuite...."

Fittingly, the book is sold and printed on demand, available from lulu.com. I really admire Chou for shaking the trees.

And even better, it's wiki-ish: Chou describes Seven as "the world's first Active Book. An Active Book combines both the depth and discipline required to write a physical book with the power of the Internet to connect people and information. This is a beta version, wander around, learn and keep coming back - you'll see it changing dramatically as we add new information and people over the next several months." People can request to become a contributor to this active book. Very cool. This is how evidence should be collected and distributed. (Though I believe they need to come up with a way to structure and present evidence so it's easier to pinpoint.)

Evidence? Yes, there's evidence. The book presents real-world P&L information for various software companies during funding rounds. But in business, lots of evidence comes in the form of anecdotes from experts, and there are plenty of those offered here. No, an anecdote isn't the same as a peer-reviewed study... but in this context, it can be equally useful.