[Asterisk-Users] Re: Re: Digium Website Update: Asterisk Business Edition

[Jason Becker]

Brian Capouch wrote:

> As I have been reading this thread one "missing angle" that perhaps 
> should be addressed by those who are bothered by the current licensing 
> scheme is this: what alternative means exist out there for Digium to 
> try to ensure their corporate existence?
>
> We can all see that in the backroom down in Huntsville there is a 
> pretty fair-sized phalanx of people whose time is spent on Asterisk, 
> not Digium's other business.  Those people need to eat, and Digium 
> needs to make a profit in order to insure that Asterisk isn't simply 
> just maintained, but can grow and respond to what we all have to 
> concede is a very rapidly-changing technological environment.
>
> [snip]
>
> One thing I see lacking in this thread is a discussion of alternatives 
> that would meet the relatively small list of desiderata: keep Asterisk 
> open and free, make enough money to pay for the ongoing cost of 
> Asterisk development, and provide enough return that it would make 
> sense for Digium to exist as a commercial enterprise.
>
> How else could it be done?

John Koenig offered 7 open source business strategies:

http://management.itmanagersjournal.com/management/04/05/10/2052216.shtml?tid=85

Optimization, dual-licensing, consulting, subscriptions, patronage, 
embedded, and hosted open source

David Pool offered 3 more strategies: publishing, hardware, and training

So in addition to dual-licensing, Digium also sells hardware (that point 
seems to have been forgotten) and offers consulting 
(implementation/integration/support).

Regards,

-- 
Jason Becker
Director & CEO
Coalescent Systems Inc.
Enabling Open Source Telephony
403.244.8089
www.coalescentsystems.ca