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Just Blogging -
Open Source
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Even now, there are people asking about what is open source, why they are developing for free and releasing the source code. The Free Software Foundation places a strict emphasis on the underlying "four freedoms":- The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0)
- The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2)
- The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
For further reference, please follow the link What's Free/Libre/Open Source Software? These freedoms open markets, are business enablers; and also, they are of public interest e.g. OpenDocument as ISO/IEC international standard, adopted at several national levels. Since when we talk about open source is a talk about freedom, if we think how it affects business, we have to talk about business models. Taxonomy of Open Source Business Models, by Carlos Daffara from FLOSSMETRICS and OpenTTT: - Dual licensing, e.g. MySQL
- Open Core, e.g. Zimbra
- Product specialists, e.g. Alfresco
- Platfrom Providers, e.g. RedHat
- Software Selection, e.g. Navica
- Aggregate support providers, e.g. OpenLogic
- Legal certification and insurance, e.g. Palamida
- Training and documentation, e.g. Gbdirect
- R&D cost sharing, e.g. Eclipse
- Indirect revenues, e.g. Firefox
To review the full taxonomy, ODS or PDF.
In the taxonomy, we can appreciate the dimensions along vendors tune their business models: - Number of covered products
- Economic advantage for the vendor
- Economic advantage for the adopter
- Potential disadvantages of the model
- Sale condition
- Freeriding protection
- External ecosystem
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Thinking about SaaS on-demand services, the concerns around Open Source beign use and modified for on-line service, without distribution requirement, are defined by the ASP Loophole concept. Also there's a specific license for the worried developers, Affero GPL, to avoid the issue.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 11 May 2009 15:30 )
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