to be open source or not – thats the question 2
Dec28
In the last weeks I was thinking about open sourcing my modular framework. So far I kept it closed source and got some money if somebody used it in commercial projects. But I’m not very happy with this solution as it costs quite an effort to use a commercial framework.
That why I though it would be better to distribute it for free and open source. My major problem is that I spent many hours in developing modular and earning some money to redeem would be great. So to help me making a decision I made my own list of advantages for going open source;
Advantages:
- everybody can use it for free.
- can use open source platforms for advertising.
- other programmers may join the development.
- higher possibility for viral marketing without to much effort.
- same level with other open source frameworks. No “why should I paid for this” questions.
- ?maybe? get some money by donations
- possibility to sell commercial modules to companies.
I’m wondering if there is somebody with experience with donations? Does this really work? Or maybe other inputs for changing to open source? Just let me know…
i definitely would love modular to join the opensource community! – although i perfectly understand your concerns regarding earning some money.
i do not know if you really get donations, but maybe you could think about a two license model, a strict os one like gpl and another which allows usage in commercial projects without having to publish sources but in turn having to pay for that. for sure there will be some which will use the opensource version for commercial project without paying – but hey, this problem remains even if you keep it closed source, it’s software… .
if you open modular up to the community, i think there is a higher chance that it would become more popular and if people like it, they will start to develop interesting new modules.
i’m courious how you decide!
btw. happy new year!
yes, i think i made my decision and change to the zlib license which is easy to understand and prohibits simple coping and publish as a own tool. We will see if i really get more users by switching the license. at least so i am forced to write down the doc..