October 15th, 2008
80 ways to mix open source and business
Open source and business do mix. In fact, according to Matthew Aslett at the 451 Group, you can mix open source into more than 80 combinations of development model, licensing model, and revenue schemes.
Usually, people talk about three licensing combos: Proprietary, mixed, and “pure” open source models. For broad strokes, that’s fine, but hardly comprehensive. Aslett says that there are “over 80 different combinations of development model, vendor licensing strategy and primary revenue trigger being used today by the vendors we analyzed.”
This isn’t surprising. As more and more businesses embrace open source (even, increasingly, Microsoft) it’s not surprising that they’re finding more and more ways to blend it into their business models. Remember, open source is not a business model, it’s a business tactic.
As a journalist, I found that the fact that a company is using or developing open source stopped being interesting about 2002. The interesting thing is how they use it, how it adds value, and (to me) how they find a way to work in concert with the community. Aslett says:
Some open source purists will no doubt be dismayed that so much software distributed using open source licenses finds its way into commercially licensed products. More pragmatic observers will no doubt be encouraged by the widespread adoption of open source development and distribution principles.
Put me in the pragmatic column. Yes, many companies (including Novell) do not pursue an open source only approach. But it’s a steady march towards more open source, and more collaboration with the community, which includes the competition. Ultimately, it’s best for everyone involved, customer, corporate, and community members that companies keep finding new ways to create business models that include open source tactics.
What’s your take? Happy to see open source and business models being mixed liberally, or should open source be reserved for “pure play” companies?
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier is a longtime FOSS advocate, and currently works for Novell as the community manager for openSUSE. Prior to joining Novell, Brockmeier worked as a technology journalist covering the open source beat for a number of publications, including Linux Magazine, Linux Weekly News, Linux.com, UnixReview.com, IBM developerWorks, and many others. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations. Follow Zonker on Twitter.
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