[Asterisk-Users] "open" asterisk?

[Lee Howard]

Colin Anderson wrote:

>This is the failing of the open-source business model
>

I disagree.

The open-source business model fails when the business revenue is 
focused upon monetary sales of the (otherwise free) software.  The 
success in open-source business models comes when the business revenue 
is focused upon support and other products and services that utilize the 
software.

If you're going to develop your software in an open-source environment, 
whatever you do, don't then try to earn your living re-selling that very 
same software (even with some flowers bundled-in).  You'll only go so 
far.  It's a very hard road to walk... trying to keep developers from 
forking at every opportunity... trying to keep your customers from 
concluding that your value-add to the paid-for version is not worth the 
pricetag... trying to maintain the codebase as "stable" in the face of 
the uncontrolled contributions... and so forth.

If you're developing software that really has value to people where the 
real value isn't the software itself (as is the case with games), but 
rather the value is in the work that the software can do (as is the case 
with Asterisk), then a healthy business can be built around support and 
product services utilizing the software.  The value in a PBX, be it free 
or be it $25K, isn't in the PBX itself, but rather in the calls that the 
PBX connects.

It seems a mistake by this rationale for Digium to expect long-term 
business success in attempting to sell the software... it will be a 
never-ending uphill battle and will repeatedly spawn discussion threads 
like this one.

Sell hardware.  Sell tickets to conferences.  Sell support contracts.  
Don't sell free software.

Lee.