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The best thing about it is its name, time bomb. Because that's exactly what it
is. And I don't think any developer, or customer, would feel comfortable
sitting on one. Besides, it'd be difficult to implement, operationally (when
exactly do the 2-4 years start? When you download the GPL? Start coding? Sell
to customer? Customer starts using it?, ..) and legally (what exactly are you
selling to your customer?). So, it's a nice thought experiment, but my guess
is, it's not realistic.
Matt
> On 05 Jun 2015, at 21:09, Fergal Byrne <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> No such thing as a stupid question David, just the ones you don't ask! This
> is a (barely) 4-day old idea, so it'll have wrinkles. Please test to
> destruction.
>
>> On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 2:07 PM, Fergal Byrne <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>> If you're a small startup, and you want to build an Open Source project so
>> that you have extra help developing it, you're currently stuck never earning
>> money directly from the product (you're reduced to secondary income from
>> support, consultancy and so on). You might not have the resources to build
>> it all yourself (we don't all live in the Valley and have the ears of
>> investors), and developing your own commercial license is tricky and
>> expensive.
>>
>> This idea gives you a chance to combine the best of both, and avoid the
>> worst. It also reassures investors that your customers will not be lost in
>> the event your startup fails, because it reverts to an open source project.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 2:02 PM, cogmission (David Ray)
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> Hmmm. Then I don't see the advantage? It's like having your intellectual
>>> property torn out from under you after 4 years? :P lol!
>>>
>>>> On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 7:48 AM, Fergal Byrne <[email protected]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> No, that's exactly what it says you can't do! You have to go 100% Open
>>>> Source after 2-4 years, you have to monetize before then. On the other
>>>> hand, you can start again with a new major version of your product, but
>>>> the old version will have to have been fully opened up.
>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 1:43 PM, cogmission (David Ray)
>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> Assuming the business in question is fully able to monetize their initial
>>>>> offering within 4 years, they could then (after being bombed :-P) opt for
>>>>> a full commercial license with full fees. I like it! It offers a way to
>>>>> charge a minimal affordable fee initially while the business model awaits
>>>>> confirmation - while still offering the original rights owner the ability
>>>>> to capitalize later when affordable by the customer.
>>>>>
>>>>> Interesting...
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 7:26 AM, Fergal Byrne
>>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi guys,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> After a wonderful weekend at the hackathon, Richard Crowder and I were
>>>>>> brainstorming as we walked around Manhattan on Monday. We came up with a
>>>>>> new (or new twist on an) idea for dual Open Source/Commercial projects.
>>>>>> We call it the Time-bombed Open License [1].
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The idea is that you release your software under something strongly
>>>>>> copylefted like the GPL for non-commercial use. For commercial users
>>>>>> (who often can't use GPL software inside their own codebase or
>>>>>> business), you charge a fee to absolve the customer from all the GPL
>>>>>> obligations, but with a catch.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Your ability to operate the commercial license is time-bombed for 2-4
>>>>>> years, after which time it becomes fully GPL (or whichever your OSS
>>>>>> license is). This is transitive, so your customers must also start a
>>>>>> time-bomb of the same length.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We'd welcome feedback on this idea from you guys, and wonder would this
>>>>>> be of interest for Numenta's commercial license for NuPIC? It might also
>>>>>> be worth thinking about for nupic-community projects (this would involve
>>>>>> Numenta granting commercialisation rights to these projects).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Fergal Byrne
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [1] http://occupystartups.me
>>>>>> --
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Fergal Byrne, Brenter IT
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://inbits.com - Better Living through Thoughtful Technology
>>>>>> http://ie.linkedin.com/in/fergbyrne/ - https://github.com/fergalbyrne
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Founder of Clortex: HTM in Clojure -
>>>>>> https://github.com/nupic-community/clortex
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Author, Real Machine Intelligence with Clortex and NuPIC
>>>>>> Read for free or buy the book at https://leanpub.com/realsmartmachines
>>>>>>
>>>>>> e:[email protected] t:+353 83 4214179
>>>>>> Join the quest for Machine Intelligence at http://numenta.org
>>>>>> Formerly of Adnet [email protected] http://www.adnet.ie
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> With kind regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> David Ray
>>>>> Java Solutions Architect
>>>>>
>>>>> Cortical.io
>>>>> Sponsor of: HTM.java
>>>>>
>>>>> [email protected]
>>>>> http://cortical.io
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Fergal Byrne, Brenter IT
>>>>
>>>> http://inbits.com - Better Living through Thoughtful Technology
>>>> http://ie.linkedin.com/in/fergbyrne/ - https://github.com/fergalbyrne
>>>>
>>>> Founder of Clortex: HTM in Clojure -
>>>> https://github.com/nupic-community/clortex
>>>>
>>>> Author, Real Machine Intelligence with Clortex and NuPIC
>>>> Read for free or buy the book at https://leanpub.com/realsmartmachines
>>>>
>>>> e:[email protected] t:+353 83 4214179
>>>> Join the quest for Machine Intelligence at http://numenta.org
>>>> Formerly of Adnet [email protected] http://www.adnet.ie
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> With kind regards,
>>>
>>> David Ray
>>> Java Solutions Architect
>>>
>>> Cortical.io
>>> Sponsor of: HTM.java
>>>
>>> [email protected]
>>> http://cortical.io
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Fergal Byrne, Brenter IT
>>
>> http://inbits.com - Better Living through Thoughtful Technology
>> http://ie.linkedin.com/in/fergbyrne/ - https://github.com/fergalbyrne
>>
>> Founder of Clortex: HTM in Clojure -
>> https://github.com/nupic-community/clortex
>>
>> Author, Real Machine Intelligence with Clortex and NuPIC
>> Read for free or buy the book at https://leanpub.com/realsmartmachines
>>
>> e:[email protected] t:+353 83 4214179
>> Join the quest for Machine Intelligence at http://numenta.org
>> Formerly of Adnet [email protected] http://www.adnet.ie
>
>
>
> --
>
> Fergal Byrne, Brenter IT
>
> http://inbits.com - Better Living through Thoughtful Technology
> http://ie.linkedin.com/in/fergbyrne/ - https://github.com/fergalbyrne
>
> Founder of Clortex: HTM in Clojure -
> https://github.com/nupic-community/clortex
>
> Author, Real Machine Intelligence with Clortex and NuPIC
> Read for free or buy the book at https://leanpub.com/realsmartmachines
>
> e:[email protected] t:+353 83 4214179
> Join the quest for Machine Intelligence at http://numenta.org
> Formerly of Adnet [email protected] http://www.adnet.ie
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