Open Source Closed for Business
A leader of the open source movement recently penned a
piece
for
BusinessWeek arguing that the "open source business model is
broken."
My first reaction is that open source wasn't founded on a business model, but
on a software development model. This software model was then adapted by companies
such as Red Hat to underpin efforts to make money.
But before I get distracted by too much philosophy, let's look at the argument
made by Stuart Cohen, CEO of Collaborative Software Initiative. Cohen wrote
that selling support for open source tools isn't the moneymaker many thought.
The thing is, open source doesn't need all that much support, Cohen argued.
Open source companies need to find news ways, whether it's adding new layers
of software or building communities, to keep the whole business moving.
Making money off something that's intrinsically free is difficult? Who would've
thought? How would you make a buck from open source? Moneymaking ideas welcome
at [email protected].
Posted by Doug Barney on December 02, 2008