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Profiting from Open Source Software

Posted by michael on from the step-2-is-always-the-problem dept.

Secret Santa writes "Alex Salkever has written an inspiring and Linux-friendly piece about Martin Roesch -- how he went from writing open-source software to building a multimillion dollar company. Excerpt: 'Sourcefire is one of a growing number of small software players that have built new businesses around open-source code. Their business models contain various mixes of proprietary and open-source software components and span the software gamut, from other security companies such as Tripwire to database outfits such as MySQL and desktop-computing offerings like Xandros. Most are still small, with revenues well under $50 million.'"

5 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Money in OSS? by quamaretto · · Score: 4, Informative

    This must be wrong. Bill Gates told me there isn't any money in open source software. The guy probably stole the money from SCO.

    But seriously, there's not much meat to the article. Basically, what it says is:

    • This is the guy behind Snort and Sourceforge
    • He started a company and now he's making money
    • His clients appreciate the open-source nature of the product
    • He has to please the open source community, who in turn support help him support and improve the software
    • Profit!
    As if none of us would have suspected that there is money in open source software. I don't see how the article is that relevant, seeing as most of us here have heard of Red Hat.
    --
    *is run over by rotten tomatoes*
    1. Re:Money in OSS? by WaterBreath · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is the guy behind Snort and Sourceforge

      He's behind Sourcefire, not Sourceforge. Though his open source software is stored in the Sourceforge repository.

      Though it is probably superfluous to point it out here at /. there's a big difference. Sourcefire is a company that sells proprietary interfaces to open source security software. Sourceforge is a repository for open source software and a focal point of the open source community.

  2. Selling GPL'ed Software by jimmythegoat · · Score: 2, Informative

    From the article: "Anyone could look at the software's underlying code, but reselling Snort was proscribed under the rules of its open-source license." This is, of course, not true. You can sell snort, as long as you provide the source code as well. Perhaps the author should take a look at the GPL, it's a really quick read. /me sighs

    --
    Some people have a way with words, and some people... erm... thingy
  3. Re:"Proprietary" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    Sadly, people like Stallman would rather get caught up in the political melodrama of the idea that "commercial software is evil" than deal with reality.
    Sadly, people such as yourself are dishonest scumbags.

    Stallman and the FSF don't have anything against commercial software. In fact, you can buy software from the FSF if you wish (though I suspect that you're the one that doesn't want to pay for software).

    In case you're actually not a dishonest scumbag but simply ignorant, here are some clues for you:

    Free Software != Gratis Software
    Commercial != Proprietary

    PS: Yes, it's very difficult to make money by just selling GPL'ed software, but that doesn't make it any less dishonest to claim that Stallman is against commercial software.
  4. Re:Open Source Business by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Now is your chance for free advertizing. What is your product?