4 ms·

I'm curious. Has anybody here released open-source code as part of a clear business strategy? Other than selling support and maintenance for it.

by shykes 17y ago

bjelkeman-again 17y ago
Yes. Examples? How about Automattic, Inc., the folks behind Wordpress? But maybe one can define what they do as "support and maintenance". Or IBM, they sell hardware, (among other things) but with open-source operating systems on it. They contribute to the development of this software. We, Akvo Foundation, also release open-source code of our products but may not qualify in your normal definition of "business". http://akvo.org/ http://akvo.org/ Akvo is a non-profit foundation, but one which has as one of its goals to be able to self sustainable on the charges for running some of our services. We are what some people call a "social enterprise". So some of the main differences between us and a "standard" company is: - some of our investors don't expect to get paid back in money, but rather in increased efficiency / improvements / new ways of doing business, within the sector we are working in, water and sanitation development aid (we also have investors who expect some ROI in the form of cash). - we can't turn a profit, but neither should we run at a loss.
DarkShikari 17y ago
http://developers.facebook.com/opensource.php http://developers.facebook.com/opensource.php
- shykes 17y ago
  Thanks for the reference, but I meant someone on this forum. I was hoping someone directly involved in such a decision would share insights. Was there a specific business objective? If so, was it a success? Or was it a more general statement on the company's values? As hackers with an entrepreneurial mindset, we might face the question of whether or not to open-source some of our work. The question is: when we make that decision, which hat are we wearing?
ZeroGravitas 17y ago
I was watching a interview with the guy that suggested the idea with On2 to release their VP3 codec as the basis for Ogg Theora. He used the descriptive term "scorched earth" as one reason for doing so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth In other words, you can undermine your competitors by having a free version. An open source version takes this one step further.

I'm curious. Has anybody here released open-source code as part of a clear business strategy? Other than selling support and maintenance for it.

by shykes 17y ago

I'm curious. Has anybody here released open-source code as part of a clear business strategy? Other than selling support and maintenance for it.

bjelkeman-again 17y ago

Yes. Examples? How about Automattic, Inc., the folks behind Wordpress? But maybe one can define what they do as "support and maintenance". Or IBM, they sell hardware, (among other things) but with open-source operating systems on it. They contribute to the development of this software. We, Akvo Foundation, also release open-source code of our products but may not qualify in your normal definition of "business". http://akvo.org/ http://akvo.org/ Akvo is a non-profit foundation, but one which has as one of its goals to be able to self sustainable on the charges for running some of our services. We are what some people call a "social enterprise". So some of the main differences between us and a "standard" company is: - some of our investors don't expect to get paid back in money, but rather in increased efficiency / improvements / new ways of doing business, within the sector we are working in, water and sanitation development aid (we also have investors who expect some ROI in the form of cash). - we can't turn a profit, but neither should we run at a loss.

DarkShikari 17y ago

http://developers.facebook.com/opensource.php http://developers.facebook.com/opensource.php

shykes 17y ago
Thanks for the reference, but I meant someone on this forum. I was hoping someone directly involved in such a decision would share insights. Was there a specific business objective? If so, was it a success? Or was it a more general statement on the company's values? As hackers with an entrepreneurial mindset, we might face the question of whether or not to open-source some of our work. The question is: when we make that decision, which hat are we wearing?

ZeroGravitas 17y ago

I was watching a interview with the guy that suggested the idea with On2 to release their VP3 codec as the basis for Ogg Theora. He used the descriptive term "scorched earth" as one reason for doing so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth In other words, you can undermine your competitors by having a free version. An open source version takes this one step further.