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I work at GitLab. Our Open Core business model is part of our 3 year strategy [1] and something I consider one of our key strengths. As a member of the Communi

I work at GitLab. Our Open Core business model is part of our 3 year strategy [1] and something I consider one of our key strengths. As a member of the Community Relations team, I may be a bit biased. :) We acknowledge the risk of "Fork and Commoditize" [2] on our list of biggest risks but believe that risk is reduced because we're application software instead of infrastructure software. 1 - https://about.gitlab.com/company/strategy/#2-build-on-our-open-core-strength https://about.gitlab.com/company/strategy/#2-build-on-our-op... 2 - https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/leadership/biggest-risks/#fork-and-commoditize https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/leadership/biggest-risks/#....

joejoebags 6y ago
Hi John--thanks for sharing these links. I do wonder if there is a fundamental difference between applications and infrastructure. Maybe it's the fact that applications tend to involve a greater share of non-engineering users (and therefore a greater reliance on someone else to host and manage the service)? Food for thought. GitLab is a great company, and I've read a lot of your strategy documents; it's a wonder you publish so much in the open, and I'm grateful for it.
- john_cogs 6y ago
  Thanks! That is great to hear. We detail the differences between infrastructure and applications in link #2 in my previous comment. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve that section, I'd encourage you to create a MR to update the page. Just click the "Edit in Web IDE" link at the bottom to get started. :)
alexchamberlain 6y ago
* Probability is reduced; the impact is the same.
PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
> believe that risk is reduced because we're application software instead of infrastructure software. Why do you believe this? My project uses self-hosted gitlab (ancient version) and I frankly have a very hard time seeing it as anything other than infrastructure. Maybe we just don't push our use of gitlab a lot (to be fair, we don't push it at all).
- ignoramous 6y ago
  > Why do you believe this? GitLab's co-founder and CEO goes into the details in this talk: https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/commercial-open-source-business-strategies/ https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/commercial-open-sourc...
- john_cogs 6y ago
  The link I shared in my last comment goes into detail on how we view the differences between application vs infrastructure. To your point on your usage - it's certainly possible that folks use GitLab in different ways and that our thesis does not apply to each use case.

joejoebags 6y ago

Hi John--thanks for sharing these links. I do wonder if there is a fundamental difference between applications and infrastructure. Maybe it's the fact that applications tend to involve a greater share of non-engineering users (and therefore a greater reliance on someone else to host and manage the service)? Food for thought. GitLab is a great company, and I've read a lot of your strategy documents; it's a wonder you publish so much in the open, and I'm grateful for it.

john_cogs 6y ago
Thanks! That is great to hear. We detail the differences between infrastructure and applications in link #2 in my previous comment. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve that section, I'd encourage you to create a MR to update the page. Just click the "Edit in Web IDE" link at the bottom to get started. :)

alexchamberlain 6y ago

* Probability is reduced; the impact is the same.

PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago

> believe that risk is reduced because we're application software instead of infrastructure software. Why do you believe this? My project uses self-hosted gitlab (ancient version) and I frankly have a very hard time seeing it as anything other than infrastructure. Maybe we just don't push our use of gitlab a lot (to be fair, we don't push it at all).

ignoramous 6y ago
> Why do you believe this? GitLab's co-founder and CEO goes into the details in this talk: https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/commercial-open-source-business-strategies/ https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/commercial-open-sourc...
john_cogs 6y ago
The link I shared in my last comment goes into detail on how we view the differences between application vs infrastructure. To your point on your usage - it's certainly possible that folks use GitLab in different ways and that our thesis does not apply to each use case.