I\'m an UG Student and an Entrepreneur. I have started a small company with whic

Question

I'm an UG Student and an Entrepreneur. I have started a small company with which I'm trying to provide solutions, to various companies in my city, through my software. I put in 30-40 hours of coding and development. I've been a huge fan of Open Source projects and I've also built by software on python.

But now when it comes to selling my software to my customers, I expect money. (Am I being a Hypocrite?)

Is there any OSS license under which I can make money and also make my source open? Please suggest.

Or any other way to make money with my softwares? (I guess I deserve some credit. If not the code, atleast the ideas?

Explanation / Answer

If the whole thing is Open Source and people can download the software and use it, it could be hard making money just from that. Some ways you could make money:

Support: People pay you to configure and set up and maintain the software, they get their bugs fixed on a priority-level, etc...

Training: People pay you to train them how to use and administer your product.

Customization: People pay you to customize the software to their particular needs.

Extension (similar to customization): Make the "basic" version available for free, and any plugins arenot open source and are purchased as needed. Of course this only works if your program actually hasplugins.

As a service: if your application is some kind of hosted application, you could make the code freely available, and then make money off of hosting and administering it for those who do not want to host it themselves.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse I
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.