Neda Open Business Plan

Copyright ©2007,2008,2009,2010,2013 Neda Communications, Inc.

Permission is granted to make and distribute complete (not partial)
verbatim copies of this document provided that the copyright notice
and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

Contents

• 1  Digest - - Condensed Summary
  • 1.1  Problem: Individual’s Autonomy and Privacy Are Being Crushed
  • 1.2  ByStar Ideology
    • 1.2.1  Halaal and Haraam and The Libre-Halaal Label
    • 1.2.2  Nature of Poly-Existentials: Basis For Abolishment Of IPR
    • 1.2.3  Libre-Halaal Software
    • 1.2.4  Libre-Halaal Services
  • 1.3  ByStar Applied Model Of Federations of Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services
    • 1.3.1  The ByStarEntity Concept
    • 1.3.2  Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services
    • 1.3.3  Federated Libre-Halaal Services
    • 1.3.4  ByStar Convivial User Environments – Blee and BxGnome
    • 1.3.5  ByStar Content Generation and Content Publication Facilities
  • 1.4  ByStar Central
  • 1.5  Current ByStar Services and Capabilities
    • 1.5.1  Current Capabilities of ByStarEntity (ByStarServiceObject)
    • 1.5.2  Current Status of Span of ByStarEntity Generators
    • 1.5.3  Current Status and Scope of ByStar Federated Services
    • 1.5.4  Growth Of User Base: Timing
  • 1.6  Relationship With Existing Realities
    • 1.6.1  Relationship With The Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem
    • 1.6.2  Relationship With FOSS / FLOSS / FreedomBox Movements
    • 1.6.3  Active Private Parallel Digital Ecosystems
  • 1.7  ByStar Economics
    • 1.7.1  The For-Profit Non-Proprietary Quadrant
    • 1.7.2  ByStar Value Chain Analysis
    • 1.7.3  ByStar Open Business Plan
  • 1.8  The Full ByStar Picture

1  Digest - - Condensed Summary

We are building The Libre-Halaal By* (ByStar) Digital Ecosystem, a unified and non-proprietary model for autonomous internet services. ByStar (pronounced “by-star”) is based on the model of Federations of Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services and is being presented as a moral alternative to the American Proprietary Digital Ecosystem.

By “Digital Ecosystem”, we mean the whole thing, including inter-related software, systems, services, content and societal frameworks. The integrated facilities of ByStar are intended to be used by a very large segment of population on this planet. The scope of these integrated offerings is vast – paralleling most of what exists in the proprietary Internet today. The parallels include:

• A Gmail that recognizes your mailbox must be autonomous and private.
• A Facebook that respects your privacy.
• A YouTube that recognizes your content as yours.
• A Windows that creates a deep Software-Service continuum.

The equivalent of all of these in the ByStar model are unified, consistent and coherent.

Broad and deep usage of these software and these Internet application services will create revenue opportunities that are similar to those of large Internet application service providers today. These revenues include subscriber fees, advertising, customization consultation, general consultation and interaction facilitation fees. Significance and emphasis of these revenues source will evolve.

This is not about any new particular functionality. It is not a faster, cheaper, better story. In terms of functionality, what we offer is generally same as what exists today.

Key distinguishing aspects of our approach and software and services are:

• Preservation of the individual’s autonomy. ByStar services are inherently autonomous. They belong to their owner-user – not the service provier.
• Preservation of the individual’s privacy. The individual is in full control of her service. She can fully control her privacy.
• They are comprehensive, unified, consistent and cohesive. The scope of ByStar is everything. The “*” in By* comes from the glob expansion symbol. And all these services are unified with the ByStarEntity model.
• They are rooted in the correct manner-of-existence of software and services. The entirety of ByStar software and services are internally transparent. ByStar software and services development process is fully collaborative.

In other words, morality, health of society, and well being of humanity are an intgral part of software and services that we offer. Our work is primarily not Businessman driven. It is Engineer driven.

We believe that privacy, autonomy and freedom aspects of the Digital Ecosystem that we are creating are important enough to “convert” many existing proprietary service users to become Libre-Halaal ByStar users.

To the extent that Venture Capitalists are an audience for this open business plan, we know that talking morality to a Venture Capitalist is like talking chastity to a prostitute. From the perspective of a Venture Capitalist, morality per se is of no interest whatever. But the moral dimension is an essential component of our marketing strategy, and from the perspective of an intelligent Venture Capitalist, this is what matters.

And, if any disrespect is ever directed towards Venture Capitalists in any of our communications, it is merely part of the execution of our marketing plan. Only the Venture Capitalist who understands this entangled strategy fully—that being held in contempt as a Venture Capitalist represents an investment opportunity—is a suitable investor candidate for this open business plan.

So, we are claiming to have created a complete parallel Libre-Halaal Digital Ecosystem to stand against and in contrast to the existing Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem. And now we want to make its adoption very widespread.

Such a large undertaking by such a small group should normally amount to not much more than pipe dreams. Typical first reaction to our claim is a chuckle. Some say it is insane. Many say that the notion of creating a parallel digital ecosystem is so very lofty that it can’t be realistic.

We have experienced all of that before twice – with Internet itself and with GNU/Linux (FOSS).

There are several reasons why we believe widespread usage of what we are building is more than plausible. It is viable and likely.

1. First ByStar ideology is in harmony with nature. We understand the enormous, seismic force that accompanies halaal manner-of-existence of software and halaal manner-of-existence of Internet services (as expressed in the Libre-Halaal label). Manifestations of this force include the Free Software Movement and Linux. But there is far more to come.
2. We have already built the needed framework and starting points. These are in place and are growing.
3. The ByStar model grand design is broad, evolutionary, expandable and it can grow to scale to planet wide usage.
4. The demand for autonomy and privacy are very real. Many are starting to recognize that things like Facebook are very wrong. Healthy alternatives are craved for.
5. The business and economic models for ByStar have been thought through and are being cultivated.

1.1  Problem: Individual’s Autonomy and Privacy Are Being Crushed

In the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem (Internet Application Services as they exist today), the individual’s autonomy and privacy are being crushed. A deal has been made. Users free-of-charge get: email, calendar, address book, content publication, and facebook friends. In return, American corporations get: semantic analysis of email, spying with consent, traffic, logs and tail analysis and behaviour cross referencing.

A new currency has been created. The user’s autonomy and privacy is now the implicit internet currency. For now, the established business model is that of translation of the individual’s privacy into targeted advertising. That business model will naturally grow in scope. The debit side of this new currency is civilization and humanity.

Today, the world is largely unaware of this. The public is completely oblivious to the perils of the proprietary Internet model, and happily entrusts its personal data, its privacy, its freedoms and its civil liberties to proprietary business interests. And the people whose responsibility it is to safeguard the public interest – government, and the engineering profession – are asleep at the wheel.

We begin by characterizing the existing proprietary digital ecosystem as fundamentally corrupt, and well on its way towards the destruction of humanity. Under immediate threat of destruction are the privacy of the individual, and the autonomy of the individual. There is already the beginning of dawning realization within society of the growing danger to these rights and freedoms. By the proprietary digital ecosystem, we mean the existing digital hegemony of companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others. Individually and collectively, we refer to these as the “Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem.” This is to be contrasted with the healthy and Libre-Halaal digital ecosystem that is needed—and that we provide.

The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem is not theory. A great deal has already been built. The needed framework and starting points are in place. ByStar is growing. Many use it.

To put it in its intended very widespread usage (planet wide), we want your participation.

We now present an overview of our work and the contours of ByStar in 4 regards – Ideology, Model, Capabilities and Economics.

1.2  ByStar Ideology

Digital Ecosystems exist within societal frameworks. Digital Ecosystems are shaped by societal norms and Digital Ecosystems shape people and society.

A very important aspect of societal framework which has immediate impact on shape of digital ecosystems are laws and models governing poly-existentials (knowledge, ideas, information, the digital domain). Societal Agreements governing all that is digital (and more broadly poly-existential) in the West is based on the IP regime. This has shaped the entirety of Western Digital Ecosystems.

Loss of autonomy and privacy are symptoms of the basic model of the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem. At societal level, autonomy and privacy can not be preserved just with new technology. There are no band-aid technical solutions that can be applied to the proprietary digital ecosystem that can fix it.

In contrast, ByStar is ab-initio driven by the ideology that morality and health of society should be the foundation of the ByStar digital ecosystem.

1.2.1  Halaal and Haraam and The Libre-Halaal Label

Our focus as engineers is to build the right thing.

We introduce the sensitive and potent word “Halaal.” We define this in the document titled:

Introducing Halaal and Haraam into Globish
Based on Moral Philosophy of Abstract Halaal
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/120039 — [4]

We precisely define what we mean by “Halaal” and “Haraam” and the explicit context and scope of the “Libre-Halaal” label. We use the word Halaal carefully and consistently to emphasize that our work is anchored in morality.

Briefly, philosophical halaal is “manifestation” of “moral sensibilities” relevant to a specific topic where “the set of actions” map to “right.” And, philosophical haraam is “manifestation” of “moral sensibilities” relevant to a specific topic where “the set of actions” map to “wrong.”

In the “Libre-Halaal” label, Libre indicates that:

1. The scope of consideration of Halaal is manner-of-existence of poly-existentials.
2. We reject the Western IPR regime. That the natural right to copy and the natural right to apply knowledge are the basis of our ideology.

Halaal indicates that:

1. We are rooted in philosphy and morality — Not just economics.
2. For each form of poly-existential, the manner-of-existence that permit Professions to safeguard society and humanity are the Halaal manner-of-existence for that poly-existential.

1.2.2  Nature of Poly-Existentials: Basis For Abolishment Of IPR

Next we attack the foundation of the proprietary ecosytem: the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime of copyright and patents.

In a document titled:

The Nature of Poly-Existentials:
Basis for Abolishment of The Western Intellectual Property Rights Regime
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/120033 — [12]

We analyze and discredit the Western Intellectual Property Rights regime based on the inherent nature of what it seeks to control and restrict. All digital constructs are inherently Poly-Existentials. Poly-Existentials are poly-possessable. Assignment of restrictive ownership to what is poly-possessable is in conflict with nature.

In that document we analyze and discredit the Intellectual Property Rights regime based on the inherent nature of what it seeks to control and restrict. All digital constructs are inherently Poly-Existentials.

The Western Intellectual Property ownership regime is in conflict with nature, it does not serve the ideal intended purpose of societal regulations, i.e. to balance rights equitably among conflicting constituencies. On the contrary, it has the effect of enriching a minority of powerful vested interests, to the very great detriment of society at large. The detrimental effects include the obstruction of engineering creativity, a distortion of the competitive business environment, and denial of the benefits thereof to the public.

Many societies fully reject the basic concept of patents and copyright. Yet, the Western Intellectual Property ownership regime is portrayed by Westerners as universal and global. Since poly-existence and digital entities are inherently not restricted by borders, the nature of global Internet demands rejection of the Western Intellectual Property ownership regime.

1.2.3  Libre-Halaal Software

Next we analyze the correct manner-of-existence of software. We do this in a document titled:

Libre-Halaal Software
Defining Halaal Manner-Of-Existence Of Software
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180044 — [11]

Our definitions for Halaal manner-of-existence of software and Internet service are concrete and precise. These definitions are similar to the “Free Software” and “Open Source” definitions but are distinct. As engineers, our legitimacy for addressing this topic is our responsibility to the engineering profession and the engineering profession’s responsibility to society.

We have created the http://www.HalaalSoftware.org site for further cultivation of the concept of Libre-Halaal Software.

1.2.4  Libre-Halaal Services

We then introduce the concept of “Libre-Halaal Services” and describe the model for guaranteeing internal transparency of Internet application services in a collaborative environment.

In the document titled:

Libre-Halaal Services:
Defining Halaal Manner-Of-Existence Of Internet Application Services
A non-proprietary model for delivery of Internet services
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180045 — [10]

We have formulated a radically new, non-proprietary model for delivery of Internet services.

Libre Services are an extension of the principles of Libre-Halaal software into the Internet services domain. They are Internet services that can be freely copied and reused by anyone. The Libre Services model exists in relation to the proprietary Internet services model of Apple, MSN, Yahoo, and Google, in an analogous way to how GNU/Linux exists in relation to Microsoft Windows.

We have created the http://www.LibreServices.org site for further cultivation of the concept of Libre-Halaal Services.

1.3  ByStar Applied Model Of Federations of Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services

In addition to being Libre-Halaal, ByStar is based on the Unified Autonomous model.

The Internet Services industry has arisen in a highly disorganized, unstructured way, driven by a multitude of uncoordinated commercial initiatives. The various industry capabilities have been built in an ad hoc manner, based on immediate business expedience, rather than by any sort of overarching engineering design. The result is the Internet Services industry as it exists today: chaotic, non-collaborative, uncoordinated, and falling far short of its true potential.

In contrast to this, the ByStar Digital Ecosystem is based on a coherent, collaboratibe, scalable, generalized Internet Services model.

Together, the Libre-Halaal Services and ByStar models have enormous implications. The Libre Services development model, and the ByStar unified services model, can transform the Internet completely, from the proprietary and ad hoc model of today into something far more powerful.

The realization of this potential is large, complex and ambitious. It is far too large in scope to be accomplished by any one company acting alone, but instead can only be accomplished as a coordinated industry-wide effort. But the ByStar Libre-Halaal Services model enables precisely the necessary large-scale, distributed, cooperative effort.

In the document titled:

The ByStar Applied Model
Of Federations of Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180015 — [5]

We provide an overview of the model and design of ByStar Federation of Autonomous Services.

Based on this model and structures, ByStar services can consistently grow and interact with other ByStar services to provide a rich and healthy environment.

1.3.1  The ByStarEntity Concept

ByStar is based on a set of key abstractions, representing the major real-world entities that must be represented within a generalized web structure. These entities include such things as individual persons, businesses, physical locations, and events. For each such entity we have defined the structures and conventions required to represent, instantiate and name that entity in a unified consistent way, and at a very large scale. We have then defined the major classes of services required to manage these entities, and to allow highly generalized interactions within and among each other.

In the ByStar applied model, a real-world entity type (for example individuals or a physical locations) maps on to a ByStarEntityType. A real-world entity instance maps on to a ByStarEntity. All ByStar services are anchored in ByStarEntity.

Each ByStarEntity can be activated within a ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine. The representation of a ByStarEntity in a ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine is called a ByStarServiceObject. A ByStarServiceObject maps to a Unix account and a user-id.

ByStarServiceCapability is a set of capabilities that any ByStarServiceObject can be provisioned to offer. The software of the ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine determines the possible set of capabilities. These capabilities grow as ByStar grows. The current set of capabilities are enumerated in Section 1.5.

Any ByStarServiceCapability can be bound to and publicly exposed through a registered domain name.

1.3.2  Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services

ByStar services are structured in two layers. (1) Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services and (2) Federated Libre-Halaal Services.

An Autonomous Libre Services is a Libre Service where the primary user of the service is the “owner” of the service. The concept of Autonomous Libre Services focuses on preserving privacy by providing control over information to users with safe guards of functional transparency, information portability and non-retention controls.

Each autonomous Libre-Halaal service is anchored in a ByStarEntity and can offer any of the ByStarServiceCapabilities.

1.3.3  Federated Libre-Halaal Services

Autonomous services may wish to engage in end-to-end interactions with other autonomous services. But in order to facilitate such interactions, involvement of some intermediary services may be needed.

We refer to such enabling intermediary services as federated services, and we refer to the association of a federated service plus its subscribing autonomous services as a federation of autonomous services.

The concept of Federated Libre Services is layered above Autonomous Libre Services and focuses on interactions amongst Autonomous Libre Services and facilitation of information aggregation amongst Libre Services.

An example of a federated service for information aggregation is ByTopic.org where autonomously published content (documents/music/video) is optionally centrally republished – autonomous and federated publication are fully consistent.

1.3.4  ByStar Convivial User Environments – Blee and BxGnome

Users experience ByStar Services through ByStar User Environments.

ByStar services can be accessed in a variety of ways. In addition to the traditional browser based model, ByStar provides for rich and deep Software-Service integration.

Initially we are focusing on two convivial, [3], User Environments for ByStar.

Blee (ByStar Libre Emacs Environment) is a layer above Emacs that integrates ByStar platform (Debian GNU/Linux) capabilities into emacs and provides for integration with ByStar Services.

An overview of this User Environment is provided in:

Blee and BxGnome:
ByStar Software-Service Continuum Based Convivial User Environments
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180004 — [6]

The deep integration of Libre-Halaal Software and Libre-Halaal Internet Services creates a Libre-Halaal Software-Service continuum, far superior in capability to any Proprietary/Haraam Software/Service combination.

1.3.5  ByStar Content Generation and Content Publication Facilities

ByStar offers a rich environment and a number of facilities for content generation.

Autonomous Content Publication facilities are a well established feature of ByStar.

In the document titled:

ByStar Content Production and Publication Facilities
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180038 — [8]

we describe capabilities and features of ByStar content generation facilities and ByStar autonomous content publication facilities.

Autonomous self publication can then be augmented by information aggregation federated services such as ByTopic, ByContent and BySearch.

1.4  ByStar Central

The basic design of ByStar is very distributed. Services are autonomous and interactions are usually end-to-end.

This means that ByStar is centrally light. But there are some fundamental and infrastructural and foundational organizations and services that are required at the center of ByStar.

The following infrastructure and foundational organizations have been put in place towards administration, guardianship, direction setting and facilitation of collaboration and growth of ByStar.

The Free Protocols Foundation – non-profit, non-proprietary

Free Protocols Foundation is the non-profit legal entity that facilitates development, maintenance and administration of ByStar.

Neda Communications, Inc. – for-profit, non-proprietary

Neda Communications, Inc. is the for-profit legal entity that has developed Libre-Halaal ByStar Services. The core of ByStar software is subject to the Affero v3 General Public License and also the Neda Commercial License (dual licensed). Neda plans to profit from widespread usage of The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem in a variety of ways.

LibreCenter.net

LibreCenter.net is Neda’s data center. It is distinct and different from other data centers in that is built purely on Libre/Halaal Software. At this time most ByStar Services are hosted at Libre Center.

BySource.org

BySource.org is the Software Distribution Center for ByStar software in source form.

ByBinary.org

ByBinary.org is the Software Distribution Center for ByStar software in binary form.

ByStar Name and Number Assignment Authority

ByStar Name and Number Assignment Authority, is under the auspices of the Free Protocols Foundation and is responsible for central assignment of names and numbers for ByStar services.

1.5  Current ByStar Services and Capabilities

ByStar Services are vast in scope. They are designed to be ever growing. Basic structures of ByStar is in place and many services are built or are partially built. The Libre-Halaal Services collaborative framework allows for ByStar to grow dynamically.

Here we provide a summary of where ByStar services stand today.

A snap shot of the organizations, services and software that form the ByStar Digital Ecosystem today are shown in Figure 1.

Free Protocols Foundation central resources are shown in violet in 1. Neda resources are shown in yellow. Current ByStarEntity generators are shown under the “ByStar Autonomous” label and ByStar federated services are shown next to them. ByStar software consists of three major layers, these are shown in blue.

The current status and growth of of ByStar falls into four broad categories:

1. Current Capabilities of ByStarEntity (ByStarServiceObject) – what any autonomous services is capable of offering.
2. Current Span of ByStarEntity Generators – What type of autonomous services (ByName, ByArtist, BySmb, etc) can be readily generated and supported.
3. Current Scope of ByStar Federated Services.
4. Scale of User Base – how many people are using ByStar?

1.5.1  Current Capabilities of ByStarEntity (ByStarServiceObject)

Every ByStar autonomous service is anchored in a ByStarEntity. Every ByStarEntity can be provisioned to provide any of the current capabilities enumerated below.

• ByStarEntityIds and credentials – single password. [Unix account based]
• PKCS – ByStar Public Key Infrustructure – Credentials.
• Autonomous VPN services and ByStar overlay networks. [openvpn based]
• Large amounts of autonomous disk space. [secure ftp based]
• Autonomous synchronization and version control facilities. [git – and also svn and cvs based]
• A Content Management System based website – with both public and private access. [Plone based]
• A conventional public web-site. [Apache based]
• e-mail and LibreTexting. [qmail, imap, webmail, etc. based]
• Content publication services. [plone based]
• A photo gallery. [galleria based]
• Genealogy web services. [geneweb based]
• Matched User Environment Profile. [blee based]

Various other capabilities are in the works. With the ByStarEntity model in place, addition of features is quite simple.

1.5.2  Current Status of Span of ByStarEntity Generators

A number of ByStarEntity Generators—the machinery required for fully automated creation of new service instantiations—are in place for a number of ByStarEntityTypes. Current ByStarEntity Generators are shown in Figure 1 under the “ByStar Autonomous” label. We thus have the ability to create unlimited numbers of new accounts in batch mode, or at any time we can “enable” the services, to permit self-service account creation by individual and business users.

In Section 1.5.4, “Growth Of User Base: Timing” we explain the rationale for not having enabled the self-service account creation feature at this time.

1.5.3  Current Status and Scope of ByStar Federated Services

A number of sites are in place for facilitating inter-autonomous relations. Current Federated Services are shown in Figure 1 under the “ByStar Federated” label.

Our initial focus amongst federated service are those used for information aggregation. These include ByTopic, ByContent and BySearch.

1.5.4  Growth Of User Base: Timing

An important consideration is the point at which we will begin to accept the burden of significant numbers of users.

In the case of a conventional service deployment there is typically a major emphasis placed on early and rapid growth of user base, to demonstrate demand and marketplace viability of the service, and lay claim to a particular portion of functional territory. This was modus operandi during the dot con era, where claims of user base numbers were an integral part of spin-and-flip and pump-and-dump model. Some of those attitudes still persist.

However we are not following this standard early proof-of-service approach. This may be appropriate for a conventional new service, where service functionality is the central and most critical issue. But for our industry model play, a different timing strategy is required.

First, as a superset of numerous existing services, proof of service for By* in functional terms is already demonstrated by the Internet Services industry as it exists today. It is far more important to prove the model itself rather than its functional manifestations, and hasty creation of user base does little to accomplish this.

Instead we have provided a coherent and complete description of the model in this and our other documents. The theoretical basis for the model is solid, and this will be clear to anyone willing to invest the time to understand it. In addition a number of working By* implementations are already in place; examples are provided. Though the scale of usage remains small, these are sufficient to demonstrate the viability of the Libre model and the By* design, and the value of the resulting services to paying clients.

But a far more important consideration is that installed base is very costly in terms of maintenance and support, and premature exposure to these costs can jeopardize the more critical work of building the underlying model machinery. Therefore we will not take on the burden of user base until the time and/or context is right for this. This means either that we are fully ready to accept the associated costs of ownership, or that the user base is being taken on in an appropriate context, such as a suitable business partnership.

Under either scenario our strategy is the same: at the right time we will populate the services at large scale by mass creation of By* service accounts for large existing user bases, [13].

---

Figure 1: Libre Services Supporting Organizations

---

1.6  Relationship With Existing Realities

The Libre Services and By* models are revolutionary, and can be expected to have a revolutionary effect on Internet usage. But these models are about service development and functionality, not about technological infrastructure. We are not reinventing the Internet protocols, or any other technical aspect of Internet operation.

What is being presented here is not a tear-down and rebuild operation.

Libre Services and By* imply no discontinuity, in terms of either technology or service deployment. The implementation model for Libre Services and By* is wholly evolutionary—there exists a continuous migration path from the proprietary model of today to the Libre model of tomorrow.

1.6.1  Relationship With The Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem

Based on ideology, the Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem fully avoids proprietary software and proprietary services. We simply avoid The Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem.

But, any and all of our services can be used in the Proprietary American model.

The core of ByStar software is subject to the Affero v3 General Public License and also the Neda Commercial License (dual licensed).

In an article titled:

Joining, Adopting and/or Licensing ByStar
A Strategy For Rapidly Becoming An Internet Application Service Provider
A Proposal
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180040 — [9]

We describe various options for those interested in joining, adopting and/or licensing ByStar.

1.6.2  Relationship With FOSS / FLOSS / FreedomBox Movements

Free and open-source software (F/OSS, FOSS) or free/libre/open-source software (FLOSS) is software that is both free and open source. It is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, copy, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code. In the context of free and open-source software, free refers to the freedom to copy and re-use the software, rather than to the price of the software.

Libre-Halaal ByStar Ideology and FOSS Ideology have a great deal in common and we closely collaborate with our FOSS brothers and sisters, but the ByStar Libre-Halaal Ideology is distinct.

We invite our “Free Software” and “Open-Source” brothers and sisters to recognize that the “Libre-Halaal Software” model is a more complete model and that the “Libre-Halaal Software” label is a better label.

1.6.3  Active Private Parallel Digital Ecosystems

What we want to do on very large scale and in the open has been done in medium scale in private.

For instance, the United State’s National Security Agency (NSA) has created a separate parallel private digital ecosystem for its own use. NSA operates the .nsa TLD; many NSA internal email addresses are of the form username@r21.r.nsa, mirroring the NSA organizational group structure. NSA has a particular ideology for its digital ecosystem which includes a large element of security, confidentiality and secrecy. NSA through use of its own particular software and services has created a complete different environment in parallel to the internet.

Precedence of such private parallel digital ecosystems combined with the proven power of Libre-Halaal software demonstrates that widespread realization of ByStar digital ecosystem is very viable.

1.7  ByStar Economics

Having introduced the Bystar Halaal Digital Ecosystem in philosophical, moral, societal and engineering terms, we now turn our attention to the economic and business dimensions.

We are devout Capitalists. The existing capitalist model for mono-existentials is generally correct, in both philosophical and economic terms. But the extension of the mono-existential capitalist model into the domain of poly-existentials, based on the Western IPR regime, is a grave mistake. Philosophically it is wrong. Societally it is harmful to humanity. And economically it is unstable and vulnerable, since it can be displaced by disruptive business models like ours. The Open Business Plan you are reading explains how this will come about, and how we will profit from this.

1.7.1  The For-Profit Non-Proprietary Quadrant

The notion of a non-proprietary construct, residing and operating within the for-profit sector, is new and different. Historically, the for-profit sector has been closely associated with proprietary ownership of assets. Hence the Internet Services industry as we see it today. Also historically, management of non-proprietary or public assets has been primarily associated with the non-profit sector. Hence the current orientation of the Free Software Movement, operating largely within the non-profit sector.

The Libre-Halaal Services deployment model breaks both these traditions. It represents a radical shift of the Internet Services industry from the for-profit, proprietary quadrant, to the for-profit, non-proprietary quadrant. In this space the entire software for an Internet service remains a communal public resource in the trust of the engineering profession, while service deployment is driven forward by the full force of for-profit commercial motivations.

In the document titled:

The For-Profit and Non-Proprietary Quadrant
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/120042 — [2]

We provide more details on this topic.

As shown in Figure 2, the By* services are positioned in the For-Profit Non-Proprietary Quadrant For Internet Services.

---

Figure 2: The For-Profit Non-Proprietary Quadrant For Internet Services

---

As shown in Figure 2, the By* services are positioned in the For-Profit Non-Proprietary Quadrant For Internet Services. Note that in the non-proprietary layer, re-use and collaboration is far richer than the proprietary layer. For example, in the Software slice, Debian and Ubuntu cross progress. In the Services slice the same can happen. Where for example ByStar and FreedomBox can cross progress.

1.7.2  ByStar Value Chain Analysis

ByStar value chain is a chain of activities that we perform in order to deliver a valuable internet services to the market. It is a high-level model of how we take raw externally developed Libre-Halaal software as input, add value to these software packages through various processes, and sell finished services to our customers.

In Figure 3, we illustrate the bystar value chain on the left column and its inter-mixing with proprietary value chains on the right column.

---

Figure 3: ByStar Supply Chain Model

---

Focusing on the right column of Figure 3, notice that “Neda Operated By* Services” establish a direct relationship with Subscribers and Users at the very top. Note that the scope of these internet services is everything – the * in By* – and that the intended scale of these services is planet-wide. By definition, no internet services opportunity can be bigger than that.

The arrows between Neda Services and User/Subscriber in Figure 3 include an element of “Trust, Loyalty and Respect” which is the result of “ByStar Ideology” that we presented earlier. The element of trust and respect is fully absent in the left column. In business terms, Trust and Repect, translate into “stickiness” – where the user is more committed to the service. So, you see, all our investments in ideology are actully also business wise.

All of the ByStar value chain software is Libre-Halaal (Free and Open Source) software. ByStar software in Figure 3 is shown in two different colors.

The software in bright blue represents Debian and/or Ubuntu Gnu/Linux and the specific software packages that we have chosen. These are externally developed open source software packages which are typically subject to the free software GPL license (or similar) which permits their inclusion in proprietary services. This is often refered to as ASP loophole.

The software in bright green is the software that Neda has developed. It is subject to the “Affero General Public License Version 3” (AGPL3) and Neda Commercial License (Dual Licensed). AGPL3 closes the ASP loophole. Any ASP which uses ByStar software must subject its changes and improvements to AGPL3. Those ASPs not wishing to do so, can use ByStar software through the Neda Commercial License.

In the left column of Figure 3, we illustrate a typical proprietary ASP who is incorporating ByStar as part of its services based on the Neda Commercial License.

In this environment the model for implementation of By* service functionality is not one of original software development. Rather it is a matter of selection and integration of already available software packages. Virtually all existing By* service functionality has been created this way—in building By* we have written almost no new software components at all.

Thus we are not so much in the business of software development, as we are in the business of software integration. But the integration of software components to produce a coherent service is far from trivial. We have created a sophisticated technical integration environment for this purpose, called the Neda Libre Services Integration Platform (Neda-LSIP) [1].

Design of LSIP and the ByStarEntity Software Platform recognize the evolution of underlying external software (bright blue) in the ByStar value chain. This is the extraordinary magic of Libre-Halaal software and services: the ability to take things and reuse them at extremely low cost. This is the fundamental growth dynamic of Libre Services, and the powerful generative force that is lacking in the proprietary model. This is the key dynamic that causes the By* Libre Services eventually to surpass the proprietary model entirely in terms of features and functionality.

1.7.3  ByStar Open Business Plan

The exposition above, is the condensed summary of our business plan.

As part of our responsibility to create a viable implementation construct we have fully analyzed the business dimension, and we have formulated the business model in the form of an Open Business Plan, titled:

The Libre-Halaal ByStar Open Business Plan
An Inversion to the Proprietary Internet Services Model
Neda Communication Inc.’s Open Business Plan
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180014 — [7]
http://www.neda.com/StrategicVision/BusinessPlan

This open business plan is available in 3 forms; the Condensed Summary (this document – about 12 pages), the Executive Summary (about 15 additional pages) and the full plan (about 85 pages).

Our business plan is viable because we understand the critical dynamics of poly-existentials. The current direction of the Internet services industry does indeed present a grave hazard to humanity, and we will indeed safeguard humanity against this. These extraordinary claims provide a unique and powerful marketing message. And they also happen to be true.

1.8  The Full ByStar Picture

The big ByStar picture is shown in Figure 4. Each of the layers in this figure represents either a conceptual definition (shown in blue), or an actual software/service implementation (shown in orange). Each layer builds on the layers beneath.

Figure 4 can be used as a reading roadmap.

The top layer paper is:

The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem
A Unified and Non-Proprietary Model For Autonomous Internet Services
A Moral Alternative To The Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180016

It describes the totality of libre/halaal software, libre/halaal Internet services, content generation and content publication facilities and societal frameworks that are designed for Preservation of ByStar user’s autonomy, privacy, freedom and health of society. In that document we analyze the stresses and forces acting against the existing proprietary American digital ecosystem, and we identify four critical “tear points,” where the existing proprietary hegemony can be broken, and invaded by the ByStar ecosystem. The execution of this business plan is focused on those four tear points.

Figure 4 shows how the moral, legal, societal, engineering, economic and business dimensions of the ByStar Halaal Digital Ecosystem are layered as described above.

Note the differing characterizations of this layering on the left and right. Both characterizations are valid, but they reflect entirely different viewpoints. The left side characterization is called “The Human Model,” and reflects the philosophical, moral and societal elements of the model. It also identifies the role of the engineering profession in maintaining these elements. The right side characterization is called “The Venture Capitalist Model,” and is very different from the “The Human Model.” The same elements are present, but now represent their significance as part of an investment strategy. Thus the moral and societal concerns within the human model are now viewed as a sales and marketing opportunity. This makes clear that when dealing with Venture Capitalists, issues of morality and societal welfare are not the topic of discussion. In this regard Venture Capitalists need only understand that human beings are in fact concerned with vital moral considerations such as “privacy” and “autonomy,” and that these considerations have powerful sales and marketing consequences. And that our unconventional strategy of overturning their sacred-cow – Copyright and Patent model – gives us a huge competitive advantage.

---

Figure 4: Reading Roadmap For The Halaal/Libre ByStar Digital Ecosystem

---

The gigantic picture we have drawn in Figure 4 is a blueprint. It represents a complete framework for collaborative work towards an alternative to the current proprietary digital ecosystem. By aligning ourselves with the natural forces and dynamics of poly-existentials, and by means of large-scale unrestricted collaboration, we can achieve this. And we can collectively save humanity.

References

[1]

" Mohsen BANAN ". " lsip design and implementation notes ". Permanent Libre Published Content "110501", Autonomously Self-Published, "December" 2007. http://www.neda.com/PLPC/110501.

[2]

" Mohsen BANAN ". " the for-profit and non-proprietary quadrant ". Permanent Libre Published Content "120042", Autonomously Self-Published, "July" 2011. mohsen.banan.1.byname.net/120042.

[3]

" Mohsen BANAN ". " sa-20000 home ". Permanent Libre Published Content "120044", Autonomously Self-Published, "September" 2012. http://mohsen.banan.1.byname.net/PLPC/120044.

[4]

" Mohsen BANAN ". "introducing halaal and haraam into globish based on moral philosophy of abstract halaal معرفیِ حلال و حرام به بقیه‌یِ دنیا ". Permanent Libre Published Content "120039", Autonomously Self-Published, "September" 2012. http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net/120039.

[5]

et al. " " Banan. " the bystar applied model of federations of autonomous libre/halaal services ". Permanent Libre Published Content "180015", Autonomously Self-Published, "August" 2011. http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180015.

[6]

et al. " " Banan. " blee and bxgnome: Bystar software-service continuum based convivial user environments ". Permanent Libre Published Content "180004", Autonomously Self-Published, "September" 2012. http://www.persoarabic.org/PLPC/180004.

[7]

et al. " " Banan. " the libre/halaal bystar open business plan an inversion to proprietary internet services model neda communication inc.’s open business plan ". Permanent Libre Published Content "180014", Autonomously Self-Published, "September" 2012. http://www.persoarabic.org/PLPC/180014.

[8]

et al. " " Banan. " bystar content production and content publication facilities ". Permanent Libre Published Content "180038", Autonomously Self-Published, "May" 2013. http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180038.

[9]

et al. " " Banan. " joining, adopting and/or licensing bystar a strategy for rapidly becoming an internet application service provider a proposal ". Permanent Libre Published Content "180040", Autonomously Self-Published, "May" 2013. http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180040.

[10]

et al. " " Banan. " libre/halaal services defining halaal manner-of-existence of internet application services a non-proprietary model for delivery of internet services ". Permanent Libre Published Content "180045", Autonomously Self-Published, "May" 2013. http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180045.

[11]

et al. " " Banan. " libre/halaal software defining halaal manner-of-existence of software ". Permanent Libre Published Content "180044", Autonomously Self-Published, "May" 2013. http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180044.

[12]

Andrew Hammoude " " Mohsen BANAN. " the nature of poly-existentials: Basis for abolishment of the western intellectual property rights regime ". Permanent Libre Published Content "120033", Autonomously Self-Published, "March" 2012. http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net/PLPC/120033.

[13]

Mohsen BANAN Andrew Hammoude " " Neda Communications, Inc. " the by * family of libre services for network service providers: Generic proposal a strategy for rapid entry into the internet application services market a proposal ". Permanent Libre Published Content "110005", Autonomously Self-Published, "September" 2007. http://www.neda.com/PLPC/110005.