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Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:33 pm
by alex.barylski
If you have paid, would you mind telling me what for and what project?

This includes donations.

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:40 pm
by matthijs
I've donated something to a couple of projects I really liked.

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:00 pm
by alex.barylski
I didn't think anyone here would pay for support, etc, unless it was there company buying the product and wished to purchase a support contract or something.

I would guess that having a link to a project in your sig here or other places would likely be for just building community support, promo, etc.

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:06 pm
by onion2k
Hockey wrote:I didn't think anyone here would pay for support, etc, unless it was there company buying the product and wished to purchase a support contract or something.
Why not? What makes you think we're all so uncharitable?

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:28 pm
by alex.barylski
Why not? What makes you think we're all so uncharitable?
I don't dought some donate money, 15 dollars here, 10 dollars there, etc. I was more interested in support, etc...

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 1:25 am
by matthijs
Maybe you could ask directly to people involved in open source projects. I don't think a poll here will give you the answer you're looking for. It seems like you're thinking about a business model around open source?

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 4:45 am
by onion2k
Hockey wrote:
Why not? What makes you think we're all so uncharitable?
I don't dought some donate money, 15 dollars here, 10 dollars there, etc. I was more interested in support, etc...
Why did you say "This includes donations." then?

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:35 pm
by alex.barylski
Maybe you could ask directly to people involved in open source projects. I don't think a poll here will give you the answer you're looking for. It seems like you're thinking about a business model around open source?
I tried contacting the fellow from Wordpress and have not received a reply in over 5 weeks, so I assume he wants to keep his business somewhat hush, which is understandable. I also emailed SugarCRM and they too didn't reply.

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 3:50 pm
by Jenk
My employers have a contract (aka "partnership") with SuSE and RedHat.

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:05 pm
by alex.barylski
My employers have a contract (aka "partnership") with SuSE and RedHat.
That does count although I was really aiming at PHP applications -- my bad I should have noted that.

I'm really struggling with the idea of releasing a product I've worked on as open source. I see many benefits and many draw backs, just as there is in proprietary software models.

I guess what is really enticing about open source for me, is that I am not a marketing/advertising/sales guru so the sources I am aware of that assist in promoting open source would really help.

I'm not really interested in partnering with a sales/marketing/advertising guru as I would rather maintain complete control over the business as well not just the source code.

There is certainly room in open source for the project I developed...so that is appealing too.

Re: Have you ever paid for open source solutions?

Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:12 pm
by Jenk
Release it as open source for non-commerical only. License it properly.