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Commercializing Open Source Software

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the market-realities dept.

CowboyRobot writes "Michael Karels, system architect for BSD 4.3 and 4.4, has an article on ACM Queue about the challenges in trying to make money from open source software. From the article: 'As users of the software, open source contributors have certain common interests in making the software stable and usable.' but 'When additions require modifications to the base system, there may be resistance to incorporating the changes.'"

7 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. but... by taff^2 · · Score: 3, Funny

    isn't that why OSS projects get forked?

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  2. Where have I heard this before? by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 0, Funny

    "the challenges in trying to make money from open source software"

    Sounds like SCO tactics to me, eh??

  3. Re:Open Source Movies?? by kikai+suki · · Score: 0, Funny

    Just like lots of stuff that was small clams and far from anyone's radar in the past, if OSS is "picked up" by some large company with clout and skill it will proliferate. Isn't OSX based on OSS?

  4. Re:The reason by latroM · · Score: 0, Funny

    >But because of things like the GPL, they've effectivly shot themselves in the foot. How is this? If you keep all the copyrights yourself you can release it under a different license. And if you started coding that software project and it is popular you can expect that people want support and new features to it.

  5. Costumers? by EnglishTim · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've got all the fancy dress I need already, thanks.

  6. Re:Charging for custom work... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's right!

    MySQL has grown from a $0m business to a $0bn business in just a few years!

  7. ObSCOJoke by Sven+Tuerpe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Making money out of open source software is so simple:

    1. Pick a project
    2. Claim that it contains your intellectual property
    3. Give a PPT presentation in Greek
    4. ???
    5. Profit!
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