A couple of thoughts on licensing.
Does everyone agree with Lee's e-mail on product vs. industry? If that's
the case, then the major point we need to overcome before we reach
consensus on open source is Eric's concern over sustainability.
I'll rephrase his concerns as follows (Eric, correct me if I'm
misinterpreting your e-mails):
1. Can we obtain the proper funding to sustain an open source product?
a. Is it possible to make money off of an open source product?
b. Is it possible for an open source company to obtain VC funding?
The answer to all three points is yes.
Regarding point (a): There are several examples that prove this: Cygnus,
CodeSourcery, the various Linux distribution companies, the various Apache
companies, Scriptics, etc.
Regarding point (b): Point (b) is really a two part extension of point
(a). Is it possible to make a lot of money off of an open source
product? That remains to be seen -- it's not clear that any purely open
source company will ever have the type of returns on investment that VCs
like to see. However, it's probably more likely that companies with
either a hybrid proprietary/open source model like Scriptics or companies
using open source essentially as a loss-leader like IBM can be very
successful. Are VCs going to be interested in open source companies? The
thing to remember about VCs is that there is a herd mentality. One VC
invests in a semi-successful B2B company, suddenly, all the VCs want to
invest in B2B. We've seen this herd mentality among open source companies
over the last year. Previous to that, VCs didn't care about open source,
and it's possible that in the near future, VCs won't care about it
either. But as it currently stands, VCs have put their money where their
mouths are and have invested in open source companies.
So the final and overarching question is, is it possible to obtain funding
for an open source project? Keep in mind that the Bootstrap Institute is
not a business. One way to make money is from software licensing,
although I do not think this is the right approach in this case.
Several open source projects have proven that it's possible to obtain
funding -- Apache, Linux, Mozilla, gcc to name a few. But the common
thread behind all of these projects is that there is company support
behind all of them. This support is not always in the form of
money. Donald Becker, for example, needed high quality, high performance
network drivers for his research at NASA, and so he wrote them for
Linux. Money didn't change hands, but in essence, Becker was just doing
what he is paid to do, and the Linux community benefited.
This project can get funding without relying on software licensing, but it
ain't gonna be easy. One other common thread behind many open source
projects is that they began as completely volunteer efforts, without any
real money behind them. It was only after they came out with a decent
product that they garnered interest and money from different companies. I
think we can avoid this, but it will require a lot of savviness and
effort.
-Eugene
-- +=== Eugene Eric Kim ===== eekim@eekim.com ===== http://www.eekim.com/ ===+ | "Writer's block is a fancy term made up by whiners so they | +===== can have an excuse to drink alcohol." --Steve Martin ===========+------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now the best and coolest websites come right to you based on your unique interests. eTour.com is surfing without searching. And, it's FREE! http://click.egroups.com/1/3013/3/_/444287/_/957321966/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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