Ayman
I have always wondered of ways in which developers of Open Source and Free software could make money out of it in some indirect way.
What I think could be useful if the following:
- Give away the software yet provide commercial support like RedHat
- Getting employed by a company that uses an Open Source product and needs things to be added to it to fit their needs.
Mozilla for example is able to make money out of Firefox and it's other Open Source software products. But how? Is it just the donations? I am really interested to see how their business model works.
What do you think of this issue? Do you think there are other ways of making money out of Open Source? Please share what you think and your opinion, have a good day :)
xterm
Here you go.
P.S.: On a slightly similar note. Open Source is not writing some code and claiming "It's open source". I'm seeing quite a bit of confusion there.
mzaouar
AymanFarhat, Mozilla is *encouraged* by Google in the sense that they have a multi-million dollar (~56 M$) deal where Google is the official search provider, the Firefox themed Google homepage ...
this amounts to 85% of Mozilla's revenue, and the contract expires in 2011.
The thing is, if Chrome keeps at this adoption rate, and if the contract isn't renewed, Mozilla's gonna be cornered..
rolf
It's mostly services I think. Open source developer know the product they are developing like the back of their hand, therefore they are best placed for using it for their own benefit, whether for their own production or for branding, etc...
Another thing is that some companies inject money into open source as a way of fighting the Microsoft monopoly threat, among other benefits.
Also, open source developers have the idealistic factor for added motivation, on top of all that. And it also provides for some good references, contacts, and good stuff to put on the CV.
I cant pretend to know all the reasons, so I guess there are various reasons.
I also sometimes think the open-source model, despite all the reasons outlined above, is a little overinflated, and not very sustainable, yet i think it will stay, maybe in a slightly more sustainable form.
(All above is IMHO)
arithma
Linus Travold is living proof that even if you start out the hugest open source project, it will not mean anything pertaining to your additional income or commercial success.
Open Source is "economics-wise" insane (comparable to communism), that's why it freaks commercial people out. A lot of the open source work comes out of universities where people don't really care about product money value.
rolf
arithma wroteLinus Travold is living proof that even if you start out the hugest open source project, it will not mean anything pertaining to your additional income or commercial success.
I think "anything" is not the correct word. You wont be billionaire, nevertheless I'm sure Linus
Torvalds is in high demand, his rates have gone up, and he has better career options.
Edit: BTW it's "Torvalds" not "Travold"
saeidw
Really sorry about the long post, it's one of my favorite topics :D
There's lots of ways people can make money from free software.
First the basic definition of free software so I can be clear about what I mean:
Free software is software that guarantees four freedoms for the user:
0. Freedom to run the program for any reason
1. Freedom to study and modify the program (you need source code for this)
2. Freedom to make and distribute copies of the program.
3. Freedom to make and distribute copies of your modifications.
Notice how in the above definition I never mentioned price? That's because
the word "free" in "free software" does not mean price, it means freedom.
You can sell free software, for money.
Of course when you sell it you have to distribute the source code.
Other people can always take that source code and compile it, and give it away for free
or even sell it themselves.
So let's say you write some free software and sell it to 3 persons. You get money for that.
But these three people might give their copies away for free. You don't get money.
In reality, when you sell free software you're actually charging for
distribution, packaging, and support services.
Anyone might be able to get your program for free, but they will pay you for the convenience
of supporting that software, of writing custom modules for it, for training in its use.
On the plus side, because it's very easy to copy your program and use it, lots of people will
make copies and use your software. When these lots of people need support or other services,
they will come to you (or someone else who can provide these services), and pay you for them.
You say: what if my competitor steals my super-awesome algorithms and uses them in his
non-free products and makes more money than me?
Well, since free software must guarantee the four freedoms, anyone who uses or modifies your
programs and includes them with his own is also legally (by copyright law) required to release the
source code to his modification if he chooses to sell them. So in that way, your competitor can't get
the upper hand, because as soon as he tries to sell modifications of your code, he will have to reveal
his code as well. Your program and business are protected, and everybody benefits from the modifications.
Joe
Very interesting question Ayman. I haven't read xterm's blog post, but here's what I know.
You are right to mention that open source companies sell support. That means: install, implementation, configuration, maintenance, ...
Home market is not the best for this, but big companies are ready to pay for this. You mentioned Red Hat, which is a perfect example. Canonical does that too.
Also a programmer may be paid to add some features for an open source project. IBM, Google (to name a few) are interested in the Linux kernel (which is an example of open source project). They actually hire employees (that they pay millions of dollars) to add specific features to the code. (Worth noting, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, almost never patches the kernel).
Also, if you sell both the hardware and the software (like Apple) it is easy to make a software open source and still sell it and make money out of it.
Open source can also be found in embedded systems. Intel was paid a lot of money by BMW, Audi and a third one I can't remember, to produce chips that would run the car "computer" they equipped their new chips with a custom version of the linux kernel.
Once again there are thousands of examples these are the first ones to come to mind. I'll show you some more if I find any :)
PS This post is also a reaction to arithma's post. Open source is not simply a communist equivalent to hard working people. Open source is a different business model that aims to make a shitload of money. All the companies I mentionned are multi-million (often billion) companies that make money out of open source. In 2008, IBM made over 20 billion dollars on their open source business, totalling over 20% of their turnover. We're not academic simpletons who have a dream. We're real.