> From: satyaakam goswami <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Ilugc] It?s hard to monetize free open source software >> BTW, the name of my company - Songbird Technologies, has nothing >> whatsoever to do with the Songbird music player. We were established in >> 2003 - well before the Songbird player came on the scene. >> > > Hi Prem, > can you repost your reply to the thread properly , looks like > you added a ? to the subject and it became a new thread , thanks for your > inputs . > > -Satya > Satyaakam.net | fossevents.in | fossacademy.org
Apologies for taking this long to reply. My earlier post is given below: > > On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 7:33 AM, Mohan Sundaram <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> One needs to deliver something to make money. If software is free, just >> giving software does not deliver any value and this no business can be >> transacted. > > >> If free shows is used as a bar and deep knowledge of the software, >> domain >> and integration is packaged and sold as training, configuration >> services, >> customisation, integration with other packages, there is able money to >> be >> made. >> > > in both the above cases you are talking about software as a service , the > point most of the youngsters miss is , there is no tangible direct benefit > from the Free software you write in most of the cases , There is one very > big intangible benefit which most of us ignore is the skill development in > the process .This is what makes this person special who is valued in top > dollars by thousands of companies across the world . This is a big market > place in its own and will need a different thread to talk about . so to > not > to confuse much the first stop if youngsters can cater to this market > place > with skills , once they are employed and once there basic needs and > necessities are taken care of then they can think of taking the next step > towards whatever next big or whatever IMHO. >From my experience with open source development, there is money to be made IF the software being developed is more applicable for enterprises rather than for end consumers. If you are the author/contributor of an open source product, library or framework or even if you are not the author but an expert in that product, companies are willing to pay to have you *consult* with them on the implementation of that product. That is where the money is made - in consulting. When I refer to consulting, I mean: a) Modifications to the software to meet a specific set of requirements unique to a client. b) Implementing the software for the client c) Rebranding the software with the client's logo, corporate colours. This can often be charged at a very high rate. d) Support post implementation e) Training Other avenues for revenue generation: f) The authors/experts can make money on selling books, guides, and other sorts of documentation. g) Some classes of software are dual licensed - open source licensed for non-commercial use, and commercially licensed for everything else. h) In the case of software like Mozilla, there may be option to default to a specific search engine / site. For this the search engine or site will pony up the funds. Examples of opensource software which is making a lot of money: Redhat/JBOSS, Springsource, Eclipse, Joomla, Drupal, Typo3, Liferay, Alfresco, PostgreSQL, Apache Hadoop.. and most Apache products In the case of Mozilla, However, it is unlikely that an end consumer - a retail customer, is going to pay to receive support or consulting from you. That was the problem with the Songbird music player. It was a product intended for individuals to use in their homes. There was a small niche segment of enterprises who may have been willing to use Songbird for their own products - example: Philips for the Mp3 players etc, but the value proposition wasn't strong enough. Someone at Philips can easily download the source code, make a few changes and brand it as the Philips player. There wasn't a lot of scope for consulting. BTW, the name of my company - Songbird Technologies, has nothing whatsoever to do with the Songbird music player. We were established in 2003 - well before the Songbird player came on the scene. Regards, Prem Kurian Philip _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc ILUGC Mailing List Guidelines: http://ilugc.in/mailinglist-guidelines
