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Github is one of the best examples of a successful company built around open source technology. This is proof open source software can be profitable.

kiba 11y ago
It is proof that building a proprietary business around open source is profitable. It is not proof however that being full on open source in everything you do is profitable however I wished that to be the case.
- vonklaus 11y ago
  Right. I think open source software is great. The community, collaboration and transparency make it a great way to build and maintain software. It is not a great way to build and maintain a business. Github has struck a balance between open source and proprietary. I can't think of a successful open source company that has 100% FOSS. Can you? Would be really interested in that actually, it would be an interesting case study.
  - plorkyeran 11y ago
    Red Hat? Of course, every attempt at duplicating Red Hat has failed pretty miserably.
  - sytse 11y ago
    GitLab CEO here, I think Hortonworks is 100% open source. And we like to think that open core is a better model (making the core experience of the product open source instead of just tools surrounding it).
ksherlock 11y ago
If only it was profitable for Linus Torvalds, Junio Hamano, and everyone else that provided that open source technology. But hey, slavery is profitable too, as long as you're not the slave.
- vonklaus 11y ago
  > But hey, slavery is profitable too What does this have to do with leveraging open source software?
Grue3 11y ago
Except Github is closed-source and they make money on private repositories, i.e. closed-source. So it's actually closed-source software that brings them the profits.
shubhamjain 11y ago
I am not sure if Github can be related to open source. Being free for open source, is more or less is their growth hack. Their profits come from hosting private repositories. That said, these kind of freemium Business models are hard to come by and that's why they always triumph the market when they come by like Dropbox. The awesomeness of Github is that it is created by developers, for developers. John Carmack, once estimated that Stack Overflow may have saved billions of dollars in productivity[1]. Hard to estimate but seeing the sheer accelaration in Open Source world, after Github, I am sure, a similar estimate would be much higher for Github. [1]: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/380018564792455168 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/380018564792455168

kiba 11y ago

It is proof that building a proprietary business around open source is profitable. It is not proof however that being full on open source in everything you do is profitable however I wished that to be the case.

vonklaus 11y ago
Right. I think open source software is great. The community, collaboration and transparency make it a great way to build and maintain software. It is not a great way to build and maintain a business. Github has struck a balance between open source and proprietary. I can't think of a successful open source company that has 100% FOSS. Can you? Would be really interested in that actually, it would be an interesting case study.
- plorkyeran 11y ago
  Red Hat? Of course, every attempt at duplicating Red Hat has failed pretty miserably.
- sytse 11y ago
  GitLab CEO here, I think Hortonworks is 100% open source. And we like to think that open core is a better model (making the core experience of the product open source instead of just tools surrounding it).

ksherlock 11y ago

If only it was profitable for Linus Torvalds, Junio Hamano, and everyone else that provided that open source technology. But hey, slavery is profitable too, as long as you're not the slave.

vonklaus 11y ago
> But hey, slavery is profitable too What does this have to do with leveraging open source software?

Grue3 11y ago

Except Github is closed-source and they make money on private repositories, i.e. closed-source. So it's actually closed-source software that brings them the profits.

shubhamjain 11y ago

I am not sure if Github can be related to open source. Being free for open source, is more or less is their growth hack. Their profits come from hosting private repositories. That said, these kind of freemium Business models are hard to come by and that's why they always triumph the market when they come by like Dropbox. The awesomeness of Github is that it is created by developers, for developers. John Carmack, once estimated that Stack Overflow may have saved billions of dollars in productivity[1]. Hard to estimate but seeing the sheer accelaration in Open Source world, after Github, I am sure, a similar estimate would be much higher for Github. [1]: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/380018564792455168 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/380018564792455168