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How to "Open Source" Custom, Contract Software?

Posted by Cliff on from the 21st-century-contractor-tactics dept.

customWorks asks: "I've been approached to write a piece of custom software for a small business owner with the promise of autonomy in its design and implementation. I do not intend to stick around for incremental development after I've delivered it, and so I feel strongly that open sourcing the software would be prudent for the both myself and prospective client. That said, I still expect to be paid for the developing the software. The issue of course is over convincing the client of the benefit of giving away the source to something they've just paid to have developed. I'd like to know if any of you who've done similar contract work have had experience (success?) in presenting an argument for open sourcing the end product? What were the major concerns/misperceptions that you had to overcome in making the case for open source?"

4 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. you are lucky! by Graspee_Leemoor · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I am unemployed but doing contracting and I feel lucky if I have enough work to pay my mortgage, so consider yourself lucky that you have the luxury of wondering about whether you can convince them to go open-source...

    graspee

  2. Re:major concern by panck · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    *ends post, dons flame proof suit*

    Jeez, i see this kind of final sentence a lot these days. But there's nothing to be afraid of!
    See, watch:

    Open source software aint all that. Sometimes a proprietary, for-profit model of software development turns out to be better. Linus blows goats, I have proof.

    See, there's nothing to be afraid of.
    Neat, let's see what these 20 replies to my post are ...
    Aieeee! My eyes, my eyes! Mein laben, it burns!!

    --
    "What thou shalt not, I shalt did!" -Bart Simpson
  3. OT, Wow, hmm, interesting... cool. by netsharc · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Wow, although this seems to be the work of a troll, I find this feature quite interesting. See, I can't cook but I want to learn and I'm always interested in easy to cook recipes. And imagine, finding recipes on Slashdot! A good interruption from the usual on-topic discussion. Is this part of the enhanced service from subscriptions?

    --
    What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
  4. collaborative development companies by dan_bethe · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Have any of you guys worked with any of the collaborative development companies such as Collab.net or Asynchrony.com? What was your experience like?

    In particular, I'm curious about Asynchrony because it might be effective for a self initiated community project to acquire the use of Asynchrony's sales and marketing arms. But I find what seems to be a contradiction in their terms of service.

    Here's an excerpt from Asynchrony's FAQ:

    ..."there is really nothing to stop someone from downloading an open-source project from somewhere else on the Internet and submitting it. However, our standards for certification will require significant work in documentation, so anyone doing this would really have to be familiar with the project. As long as we continue to distribute the product under the open-source license it is under, there is really no illegality there."
    However, here's another excerpt from their Intellectual Property FAQ:
    "As stated in the code rights section, we really need to own products to be able to market them effectively. If you are willing to give up ownership in return for 75-90% of the product's net revenue (as well as the resources of the Asynchrony membership to help you improve it), then we can definitely help you."
    The second statement appears to be contradictory to the first. I sent an email last night to the CTO of Asynchrony and his response today was that they're still trying to resolve that issue. I can't think of any upstanding and highly marketable open source project in its right might that would reassign copyright ownership to a foreign company just for a sales and marketing service. However, my cursory glance of their web site leads me to believe that their business model and corporate behavior are fully within the spirit and intent of licenses such as the GPL, so maybe we can come up with some ideas for them to solve this dilemma.

    Why should a third party need to own the copyright of an open source work (GPL, BSD, etc) in order to effectively market and sell it?