Posted by Andrew Edwards on July 18th, 2011 at 11:39 am

We know the meme--that information wants to be free. For the sake of argument, let's say we buy into the notion that information has volition, even metaphorically, and can "want" something. But isn't it just a cuter way of saying "People want information to be free for them to use"?

Doesn't it sound a little less self-serving when we look to the information itself for an answer? It isn't the person who wants something for nothing. It's the information itself which, like a living organism, has a need to be disseminated freely and not be associated with any nasty credit-card stuff or invoices or anything yucky like that.

Of course that's what it is!

And so it goes with web analytics. Apparently there is no human drive to seek better value--no human desire to have both great analytics and no bill to pay. It must be web analytics that wants to be free, because it keeps getting harder and harder to ignore "free" in the marketplace (see: Google Analytics) even if you're deploying for an enterprise. And of course Google has a paid version for those that really don't want web analytics to be free, but want to make sure that if Google Analytics goes down, they get to freely call GA and complain until they have delivered themselves from the urge to freedom.

Next up: the logical conclusion. What happens when web analytics becomes so addicted to freedom that it somehow becomes not simply free, but offers you a chance to own your own data because the tools you use are not even owned by anyone? In the relatively new field of Open Source Analytics, there are tools out there that may give pause even to the mighty Google. From among small players like Piwik and Open Web Analytics there will probably emerge a leading platform that is totally free and totally yours.

Look what happened with web design. Once, it cost a million dollars to put up a really great looking web site. Now you can download a million templates and have at it for almost nothing. What about Content Management Systems? There is Sharepoint and there is Websphere and there are others in the race. But coming up very fast on the outside track are technologies like Drupal and Joomla, both opensource solutions to the problem of keeping web sites fresh with new content.

Combine this natural tendency to move from proprietary/expensive to opensource/free with the advent of massively distributed cloud computing, and you've got a cocktail of information freedom that will blow down the walls of many tool vendors/creators, including those in the web analytics space.

Of course, the usual caveats apply. As you move to opensource, you move away from accountability (on an organizational level). In a way, it's like being taught to fish. And if you learn to fish, you'd better catch some, otherwise you're not having dinner. As always, "free" does not imply "easy"; and in fact implies "get friendly with an expert on this".

Conclusion: rather than toying with Chef-of-the-Future, anyone for paying to enjoy a nice healthy prepared meal? Any hands....?