6 ms·

It sounds like what Caddy tried doing years ago, with an open source thing you could build from source and paid commercial binaries. Especially since the Apach

It sounds like what Caddy tried doing years ago, with an open source thing you could build from source and paid commercial binaries. Especially since the Apache Guacamole installation docs don't mention RPM, it seems like the value-add here is in the packaging. I think the lesson here is that if open source software has nontrivial setup, there's money to be made by simplifying the packaging and distribution. Perversely it suggests you should make your open source software harder to integrate, so that people will pay you to set it up for them.

cy_hauser 6y ago
Yup, if setup and configuration were easy I doubt there would be a business. So the takeaway is to add chaos at that point.
- marcinzm 6y ago
  Same as open source paid for by support contracts, incentive is to add chaos.
Nursie 6y ago
> I think the lesson here is that if open source software has nontrivial setup, there's money to be made by simplifying the packaging and distribution. I think this lesson is there throughout the market - there are many companies now selling "X as a service" where X is something you can get and use for free, but there may be setup and maintenance costs. Doesn't even have to be your software!
fock 6y ago
and with the VDI-crowd you still can sell that as a feature, as they don't like random containers in their auth-workflow. Seems like being conservative is rewarded sometimes.
- edoceo 6y ago
  What is VDI in this context?
  - abrookewood 6y ago
    Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
toyg 6y ago
It’s no different, in practice, from the good old Linux/BSD model: “source is free, but you can pay us to get a bootable ISO ready to go”. Worked for Redhat and OpenBSD...
- nopzor 6y ago
  that's not quite the model that worked for red hat.
  - toyg 6y ago
    That's part of it, at least in the early days.
darkwater 6y ago
I don't think that's really true. In Caddy case for example, simply it's a software space where the rivals are AWS, GCloud and Nginx. But Nginx (enterprise) came way before the cloud boom and so they had already a foot in the market. The Guacamole case is really different since their customers will be by definition the IT departments. So, even if OS packaging was already good enough, you will still have a big chance of selling it to a big corporation.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
jka 6y ago
That does make sense and in practice I think this does currently work for a little while. But given enough time, isn't someone always going to come along and provide open source packaging for the project? If so that would mean you're choosing to trade ease-of-install and community goodwill against revenue -- and revenue with a limited time horizon, at that. I can see how that could appeal in situations where decision-making incentives are not aligned with long-term value of the overall ecosystem. Selling services and expertise seems more sustainable, since offering those doesn't imply that you should add complexity or difficulty to your project. By providing expertise you can continue maximizing community goodwill and contributions, while reducing your own maintenance costs. Providing services also enables the creation of an ecosystem around your project; that may include competition for your services, but it also implies a larger customer base and project adoption -- and more job creation and skill development.

cy_hauser 6y ago

Yup, if setup and configuration were easy I doubt there would be a business. So the takeaway is to add chaos at that point.

marcinzm 6y ago
Same as open source paid for by support contracts, incentive is to add chaos.

Nursie 6y ago

> I think the lesson here is that if open source software has nontrivial setup, there's money to be made by simplifying the packaging and distribution. I think this lesson is there throughout the market - there are many companies now selling "X as a service" where X is something you can get and use for free, but there may be setup and maintenance costs. Doesn't even have to be your software!

fock 6y ago

and with the VDI-crowd you still can sell that as a feature, as they don't like random containers in their auth-workflow. Seems like being conservative is rewarded sometimes.

edoceo 6y ago
What is VDI in this context?
- abrookewood 6y ago
  Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

toyg 6y ago

It’s no different, in practice, from the good old Linux/BSD model: “source is free, but you can pay us to get a bootable ISO ready to go”. Worked for Redhat and OpenBSD...

nopzor 6y ago
that's not quite the model that worked for red hat.
- toyg 6y ago
  That's part of it, at least in the early days.

darkwater 6y ago

I don't think that's really true. In Caddy case for example, simply it's a software space where the rivals are AWS, GCloud and Nginx. But Nginx (enterprise) came way before the cloud boom and so they had already a foot in the market. The Guacamole case is really different since their customers will be by definition the IT departments. So, even if OS packaging was already good enough, you will still have a big chance of selling it to a big corporation.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

jka 6y ago

That does make sense and in practice I think this does currently work for a little while. But given enough time, isn't someone always going to come along and provide open source packaging for the project? If so that would mean you're choosing to trade ease-of-install and community goodwill against revenue -- and revenue with a limited time horizon, at that. I can see how that could appeal in situations where decision-making incentives are not aligned with long-term value of the overall ecosystem. Selling services and expertise seems more sustainable, since offering those doesn't imply that you should add complexity or difficulty to your project. By providing expertise you can continue maximizing community goodwill and contributions, while reducing your own maintenance costs. Providing services also enables the creation of an ecosystem around your project; that may include competition for your services, but it also implies a larger customer base and project adoption -- and more job creation and skill development.