In a similar situation, a friend had a company for several years that 'sold' Asterisk (a Linux based PBX phone system).
The users understood how to use and do some user configuration of the software, but my friends company made money by selling consulting services and the hardware (phones and server and other misc equipment). Some customers didn't understand why it cost so much since the software is 'free'. Basically the only way to make money with open source I have found is to 1) sell support (any number of contract and support companies from IBM & Dell to the thousands of 1 & 2 person shops world wide) 2) sell hardware (Digium) 3) sell value added product (Red Hat) 4) use it as a tool (as end-user) to make/sell other stuff (locally Tractor Supply is a RedHat shop that sells farm and garden supplies and equipment through a retail network and online) In parrens above are some samples or $$ makers using that model. Like in (4) above, there are many examples on this list. Making money from OSS is hard. But then again, making $$ anyway always is. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
