Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Business Model for An Open Source Developer?

An anonymous reader writes: I'm interested in creating really good open source software. However, unless programmers have an incentive to work on their projects for long periods, many projects are be abandoned.

There's many business models surrounding free/libre open source software: support (pay for help, or additional features), premium (pay for more advanced software), hosting (pay for using the software on someone else's servers), donation (two versions of the same app, pay because you want to be nice to the developers), etc. Not all of those business models align the interests of the developer and the customer/user in the same way: support-based models for example, benefit developers who introduce certain mistakes or delay introducing features. (In the short term. In the long run, it opens a door for competitors...) Which of those align the interests of both?
The original submission also asks if any of these models are "morally questionable" -- and if there's other business models that have proven successful for open source software. Leave your best thoughts in the comments. What's the best business model for an open source developer?

Comments

What's your audience?

[scsirob]

'Really good open source software' doesn't say much. The business model, if there is one at all, depends very much on the audience you target. Enterprise companies will have different incentives to pay you than school kids do. There's quite a difference between making money from the 1000th Flappy Birds clone, or from some financial statistics system that may change a business forever.

Perhaps if your goal is to make a living writing software, get yourself a well-paying job as a developer or start your own closed-source business, and make open source programs on the side without a business model.