Earning Money with Open Source Software?

An anonymous reader writes "I've been working on a financial application which I've decided to release to the public. I want to make some money from the application, though I certainly don't expect to become a millionaire. The problem is that I'd like nothing better than to open-source it. There are many aspects of the application that I don't have time to refine, and other developers could definitely improve upon my work. However, I don't know how I earn money from something once I've made it open source. How have you dealt with trying to turn a reasonable profit on your work while remaining open-sourced?"

Comments

Podcasts on making money in open source

[sauge]

There are a lot of podcasts on making money with open source here:

http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/index.html

You may need to look around a little.

I have made money indirectly from open source. Basically I through it out there and some people picked it up. When they needed other projects worked on I was contacted.

Documentation is more important than code I can tell you that much. Installation documentation, user documentation and most importantly programmer documentation.

Re:Are you new here?

[jawtheshark]

I posted this, because many people seem to equate "Free" (as in speech) software with "free" (as in beer, or gratis) Software. The FSF is clear on the issue, and as such the link was completely on topic. I can imagine that you release speciality software opensource. Your clients buy it, and get the source. A bit like a guarantee when you get run over from a bus. However, they have no intention to help their competition and as such won't give away the source to others. You yourself, only give away the source on demand... exactly as the GPL allows.

The GPL isn't as communist as many think. In a small market, it gives your customer certainty that the product can live on if you stop supporting it (Hire programmers, fork, 3rd party support), however they won't distribute themselves because it would give a competitor an advantage.

The comptetitor can get the source, but only if they become your client. As such, as a software provider you have won.

I can't be the only one except RMS to have understood that, really?