4 ms·

2. Someone will make a lot of money by hosting open-source web applications. Github is cool but with all the cheapskate web devs (no offense, I am one of them)

by dools 14y ago

2. Someone will make a lot of money by hosting open-source web applications. Github is cool but with all the cheapskate web devs (no offense, I am one of them) I don't think it is _that_ profitable. I think he means more like wordpress.com, WPEngine and those ilk. Those are currently the most lucrative, but there are other examples of businesses monetising open source by hosting it.

friendly_chap 14y ago
That's right, much clearer now. And yes, there is indeed shitload of money in that market.
johndavidback 14y ago
I think more specifically he means things like Heroku or Modulus.
- leoedin 14y ago
  I'm not sure if that's what he means. The discussion of the point specifically mentions applications like bug trackers and wikis - not software that tends to be developed in house. Heroku is generally used for hosting applications that you wrote, rather than for hosting open source stacks developed by others (e.g. phpBB or MediaWiki). Saying that, it all falls under the general trend of providing system administration as a service. Given how much ongoing effort is required to maintain secure, up to date and efficient servers, this is probably a good thing.
  - johndavidback 14y ago
    That's very true, good point. I that this was a case of being mostly right and not realizing just how right he is in certain respects: > most small development shops would pay a monthly fee not to have to administer the apps themselves. and > But would an external dev team trust some big company like Amazon with with their intellectual property? and > So I predict that someone will come along and offer an innovation hosting service, and make a lot of money off it. OP had his finger on the pulse of tech, though, that much is certain.
JoblessWonder 14y ago
I agree. And I think more and more open source web applications are using SaaS "supported" versions in addition to their open source/privately hosted options. I think this prediction is pretty spot on as well.

by dools 14y ago

friendly_chap 14y ago

That's right, much clearer now. And yes, there is indeed shitload of money in that market.

johndavidback 14y ago

I think more specifically he means things like Heroku or Modulus.

leoedin 14y ago
I'm not sure if that's what he means. The discussion of the point specifically mentions applications like bug trackers and wikis - not software that tends to be developed in house. Heroku is generally used for hosting applications that you wrote, rather than for hosting open source stacks developed by others (e.g. phpBB or MediaWiki). Saying that, it all falls under the general trend of providing system administration as a service. Given how much ongoing effort is required to maintain secure, up to date and efficient servers, this is probably a good thing.
- johndavidback 14y ago
  That's very true, good point. I that this was a case of being mostly right and not realizing just how right he is in certain respects: > most small development shops would pay a monthly fee not to have to administer the apps themselves. and > But would an external dev team trust some big company like Amazon with with their intellectual property? and > So I predict that someone will come along and offer an innovation hosting service, and make a lot of money off it. OP had his finger on the pulse of tech, though, that much is certain.

JoblessWonder 14y ago

I agree. And I think more and more open source web applications are using SaaS "supported" versions in addition to their open source/privately hosted options. I think this prediction is pretty spot on as well.