Ask HN: Open Source, the future or not?
5 comments
Open Source monetization options
1. Support (Red Hat)
2. Customization/ professional services
3. Documentation (JBoss in the olden days and most recently with jBPM)
4. Optimization tools
FOSS also helps in sourcing an international labor pool to lower product development costs.
For consumers, mature FOSS provides alternatives to the traditional per CPU cost model. As product spaces and FOSS alternatives mature, the cost models of proprietary software makes little sense.
FOSS also helps in sourcing an international labor pool to lower product development costs.
For consumers, mature FOSS provides alternatives to the traditional per CPU cost model. As product spaces and FOSS alternatives mature, the cost models of proprietary software makes little sense.
Something about FOSS...
Of course they need income to keep running; the question is what they'll monetize besides the software itself. It could be an open base platform with closed premium bits, or fully open with contracts for support, for just two examples.
I had an argument with someone about this, and we ended up agreeing that not everything can be open sourced (figuratively speaking).
Although the complete outcome was more of a stalemate, the above was implied from our discussions.
Although the complete outcome was more of a stalemate, the above was implied from our discussions.
I believe theres a big future for open source companies if they do it right !
This is so cool!
So that is why I'm asking, do you guys on HN think there is a future for businesses with an Open Source strategy where it is free for everyone.
I think that in the next couple of years, we will see a lot of startups with an Open Source strategy, but if they will keep running without any income I'm not sure.
Kind regards Kenneth