Hi, I have been working on a cool project and decided to release it as an Open Source Software. However, I am not sure what business strategy I can use to make money with Open Source.
+1
A:
Support, AdWords on project website, donations. Or, if it's really cool, start selling 'Pro' version.
Jakub Konecki
2010-10-16 13:50:41
+4
A:
First thing you have to understand is that open source is free as in freedom, not free as in beer. Being open source does not prevent you from selling your product and make money.
Here are some other business strategies:
- dual-licensing, where you sell full features product, but give away the analogue with limited features. MySQL is a perfect example.
- Giving product for free, but selling support. Red Hat is a brilliant example.
- Provide training, certification (Red Hat does it as well).
- Selling some stuff, such a coffee mugs, t-shirts with the abbreviation of your product.
- Accepting donations.
- Putting advertisement on your project's web site (Google AdWords, for example).
For more information, read How to make money with Open Source Software.
Good luck!
Vlad Lazarenko
2010-10-16 14:05:51
"Dual licensing" and "sell the full features product, but give away the analogue with limited features" (sic) are distinct and independent options.
Ken
2010-10-16 14:31:26
+1
A:
If someone wants certain features and is willing to pay for them, implement them and charge money for the work.
SurvivalMachine
2010-10-16 14:08:23
A:
Another strategy is to make the basic, core software free and open source, and sell advanced features (aka PRO version...) for a price. Alfresco (CMS) and iMacros (web testing, web scraping) do that with good success.
While this is not 100% open source, I think it is a practical compromise, especially if you are not that big and famous as MySQL (yet).
FrankJK
2010-10-16 15:22:20