After reading this several times I still don't understand "how [they] did it." Also tried the AGPL description.[1] Can someone confirm: They just licensed it so that commercial use is prohibited without payment? I've worked (and am working) with companies that have an open-source product and a commercial offering built around it. My experience is that it's easy to get _some_ companies to pay you, whether it's for the…
> to make any significant revenue you're going to have to work hard to provide a lot more value on top of the open-source option, and you probably don't want it to be "consulting." Why not consulting?
Making Money from Open-Source Software
31–40 of 47 posts
Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#32After reading this several times I still don't understand "how [they] did it." Also tried the AGPL description.[1] Can someone confirm: They just licensed it so that commercial use is prohibited without payment? I've worked (and am working) with companies that have an open-source product and a commercial offering built around it. My experience is that it's easy to get _some_ companies to pay you, whether it's for the…
It is more nuanced than that: RavenDB seems OK to use if you have an application that shields its users completely from the database itself. The database server is AGPL, but the client library your application uses is MIT licensed, which is fairly liberal. If you were to directly embed RabenDB in a product, you would have to provide the full source, even if you run it as a service and don't distribute binaries of the…
So they keep commercial clients out by using agpl. That means they want you to pay even if you build a website that uses a cms that uses ravendb. Even though agpl perhaps would let you get sway with it. Dont think so though.
Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is more nuanced than that: RavenDB seems OK to use if you have an application that shields its users completely from the database itself. The database server is AGPL, but the client library your application uses is MIT licensed, which is fairly liberal. If you were to directly embed RabenDB in a product, you would have to provide the full source, even if you run it as a service and don't distribute binaries of the…
From what I understood (surveyed this a while ago) RavenDB wants commercial clients to pay. They do this by licensing the free version as agpl. You pay to get another license. Keeping your code agpl as a commercial entity is a kind of loophole in their eyes. So they keep commercial clients out by using agpl. That means they want you to pay even if you build a website that uses a cms that uses ravendb. Even though agp…
Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#34Would offering a “subscription” improvement program be a viable alternative? You the developer are the expert on the software, and hiring the original developer to modify or tweak the code may make sense, But make it a reoccurring fee kind of like a subscription. You could offer services based on the intensity of the work. Perhaps one subscription offering differs from another by the total max hours. Like the gold pl…
I would also question the ethics - if three customers want the same thing, do I bill each of them? Or each of them at 1/3? After all, they are paying for hours.
I charge a yearly support fee for my product, which covers any questions (rare) and funds additional development. Support customers get free upgrades, so I don't need to figure out the hourly billing.
Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
From what I understood (surveyed this a while ago) RavenDB wants commercial clients to pay. They do this by licensing the free version as agpl. You pay to get another license. Keeping your code agpl as a commercial entity is a kind of loophole in their eyes. So they keep commercial clients out by using agpl. That means they want you to pay even if you build a website that uses a cms that uses ravendb. Even though agp…
As I see it the licensing of RavenDB lets you get away with things like a closed source CMS using the DB for your own use, as long as the database runs as its own process. Not sure of you could sell the CMS binaries without source code, though.
Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#36Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#37Among well known database vendors, the natural comparisons are MongoDB and MySQL.
Like Mongo, RavenDB is available under a single network-copyleft license. Like Mongo, RavenDB client libraries are permissively licensed. However, MongoDB focuses on selling all-encompassing packages that include a mix of support, services, and add-ons. To hear this post tell it, Hibernating Rhinos is running more of a pure dual-licensing play with RavenDB.
That approach puts them close to MySQL. However, MySQL dual licensed both database and client libraries. Nobody needs to buy a commercial license for RavenDB client libraries.
The obvious question, in current context, is whether Hibernating Rhinos is cruising for a cloud provider bruising, the kind of which Mongo has loudly complained. Cue Server Side Public License.
Here follow shameless but relevant plugs:
Plain language, more general take on an SSPL-style license: https://github.com/kemitchell/shared-component-license/blob/...
Open form paid license agreement for indie developers dual licensing, or doing paid add-ons: https://github.com/indieopensource/paid-license
License Zero, which offers dual-licensing back-office as a service, as well as public licenses without the problems and known vulnerabilities of *GPL: https://licensezero.com/
Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#38Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#39I personally like CrossOver's model. It doesn't include anything you couldn't already do with Wine, but it's less setup, and you have a support staff that can look at it if you really need a particular program to work under Wine. Any improvements they make are upstreamed to Wine. I have no idea if they're "profitable" or not.
Re: Making Money from Open-Source Software
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Sounds like fixed-price consulting to me. Is there no difference between technical support and consulting? I see technical support as answering emails and picking up the phone when someone needs the help using your product. For instance, AWS Support Plans[1]. [1] https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/plans/
Yes there is s huge difference. One is a yearly subscription and the other is billed per-hour or is a set of consumable hours you buy one-off. Most teams don’t just sell support on its own, you only get it if you have a subscription to the software product behind it.