On 16/01/2012 3:09pm, Alec Taylor wrote:
Initially I was going closed-source all the way, or at least until we
have a good reputation, and open-sourcing will only improve that rep.
Recently though, I've been thinking about open-sourcing the entire solution.
Various popular SaaS solutions have open-sourced under AGPL and are
generating revenue. For instance, Gitorious
(http://gitorious.com/subdomain) is AGPL but they make profit. OpenERP
as does OpenERP.
I am building an ecommerce solution, and am considering offering free
use of part of the system, pay per/month to use the entire system.
By making the solution open-source, couldn't a competitor just
download my project and offer it at a cheaper fee per/month?
If I open-source, will that increase or decrease my revenue?
I think it depends entirely on your revenue model. Pay per month looks
like the only revenue you mention so you would shoot yourself in the
foot by open-sourcing if that is all you are planning.
Open source just means that whoever buys/uses your code is entitled to
have the source so they can modify it to suit themselves if necessary
and/or maintain it themselves in your absence. It doesn't necessarily
mean you will permit them to use your own Python-encoded intellectual
property for free.
What is your long-term exit strategy? Will Google buy your company for a
few billion? If so, maybe you should keep the source under wraps and
charge zero for your SaaS. That is - if Google are in that market ...
Cheers
Mike
To reiterate my question: Should I open-source the project, or keep it
closed-source?
Thanks for the advice,
Alec Taylor
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