eHarmony and open source software
If you’ve seen the commercials or even heard of Eharmony, then you know it is a matchmaking Web site. It is one of the leaders in the rapidly growing industry.
Personals and Dating is the largest online paid content category online (in the U.S.), bringing in $469.5 million in 2004. Consumer spending for dating and personals online is at an all time high. (source: Online Publishers Association Online Paid Content U.S. Market Spending Report, March 2005)
So what is the big deal? Well, they are running open source software. This is a big deal for the open source community. The site is huge, gets a ton of traffic, generates a rediculous amount of money and is taking peoples’ futures into its hands. There is a lot of responsibility in place for whatever is used to run the site, and they chose open source software. This is definately a boost to the open source community’s morale and a step in the right direction for improving their credibility.
