Free beer for life?

In a session about Open Source Solutions. According to a recent survey, the three most valued elements of open source software for users are:

-less dependence on vendors;
-cost effective;
-ease of customization.

The analogy is that open source software is not just like free beer, but free beer for life.

And I was thinking, this sounds like how the processes of the association of the future should work. Where there is a way to continuously review all processes and systems of an association, so that they can integrate lots of different vendors and can easily drop those that don't work and are not strangled by a relationship with any one vendor that they can't get out of - so that they fulfill their mission in the best ways possible. Where free or cost effective methods of working (social networking, communicating, marketing, development, education and training, knowledge management, etc) are in regular use. Where all of these things are customizable not just once at implementation, but continuously, as user groups and demographics change.

The momentum towards open source, which empowers the user in creation of platforms and software, is the same as that of social media and web 2.0 which empowers the user in the creation of content. Which is what all associations have to figure out how to integrate going forward, in order to not just stay relevant but be innovators for their fields - to be able to provide that ultimate value which is as good for their members as free beer for life.