Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 14:14:59 +0100 From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> To: Jonathon McKitrick <jcm@FreeBSD-uk.eu.org> Cc: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be>, FST777@phreaker.net, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: When does it make sense for a company to open-source its code? Message-ID: <a05200f3bba9b7a08e92a@[10.0.1.2]> In-Reply-To: <20030317123254.GA82269@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> References: <0HBT00H6WFNMOC@net.WAU.NL> <a05200f33ba9abacabe36@[10.0.1.2]> <20030317123254.GA82269@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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At 12:32 PM +0000 2003/03/17, Jonathon McKitrick wrote:
> That certainly sounds like it makes sense. The only catch for our
> application is it is market specific, and would have limited interest at
> this point.
You are correct. Making a mixed approach work requires a
sufficiently large market that they can adequately take on the bulk
of the support role, once the project goes into the maintenance
phase. If you don't have a market that large, then you might have a
problem.
A smaller market could be made to work, if they are given a
larger sense of control and investment, so that they could make the
tool(s) more flexible and meet a broader range of needs. This way,
they get more involved in the development aspects as well as
maintenance.
However, even if you've got a large enough market, if they're not
already in a medium that lends itself to open source methods, it may
take a while to "prime" the pump.
--
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@skynet.be>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E-(---) W+++(--) N+
!w--- O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)
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