Comments on: Reading is fundamental http://www.eriknovales.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/25/reading-is-fundamental/ Game and Software Development, plus other stuff Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:13:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Erik Novales http://www.eriknovales.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/25/reading-is-fundamental/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Erik Novales Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:17:30 +0000 http://www.eriknovales.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/25/reading-is-fundamental/#comment-20 Yeah, I'm already fairly aware of the various licensing types out there -- in my last couple of jobs I was frequently utilizing third-party code and components, and had to be very cognizant of what our obligations were under the license of each package. That being said, I think that selling customizations for open source software is not a good long-term strategy -- if your changes are commercially successful, a free competitor will no doubt arise, leaving you with only a short window of opportunity. I think the ideal entrepreneurship situation would be one where income is decoupled from time spent on development and production. That is to say, selling a product that is easily duplicated, can be sold at any time, at any place, and which does not necessarily require time to be spent training a customer on how to use it. Software falls into this category, either in the form of downloadable software or Web services. Yeah, I’m already fairly aware of the various licensing types out there — in my last couple of jobs I was frequently utilizing third-party code and components, and had to be very cognizant of what our obligations were under the license of each package. That being said, I think that selling customizations for open source software is not a good long-term strategy — if your changes are commercially successful, a free competitor will no doubt arise, leaving you with only a short window of opportunity.

I think the ideal entrepreneurship situation would be one where income is decoupled from time spent on development and production. That is to say, selling a product that is easily duplicated, can be sold at any time, at any place, and which does not necessarily require time to be spent training a customer on how to use it. Software falls into this category, either in the form of downloadable software or Web services.

]]> By: Jeremy http://www.eriknovales.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/25/reading-is-fundamental/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Jeremy Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:05:43 +0000 http://www.eriknovales.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/25/reading-is-fundamental/#comment-19 One aspect where a person can add value to open source solutions is with expertise. Businesses want someone to solve their problems in a reliable way and in my experience there is a reasonable gap in terms of consistent quality and documentation between commercial or open source. Some who knows how to properly integrate, customize, and document an open source solution is a valuable resource. There is a middle ground between completely custom and completely off the shelf also. Most of these software packages make it easy to add your own modules and plugins to extend them so you can nicely add your value that way. I get a little confused, but I think some open source license flavors may require you to contribute your additions to open source as well, which might be a concern if you want to greedily hold on to your advantage. One aspect where a person can add value to open source solutions is with expertise. Businesses want someone to solve their problems in a reliable way and in my experience there is a reasonable gap in terms of consistent quality and documentation between commercial or open source. Some who knows how to properly integrate, customize, and document an open source solution is a valuable resource.

There is a middle ground between completely custom and completely off the shelf also. Most of these software packages make it easy to add your own modules and plugins to extend them so you can nicely add your value that way. I get a little confused, but I think some open source license flavors may require you to contribute your additions to open source as well, which might be a concern if you want to greedily hold on to your advantage.

]]> By: johanna http://www.eriknovales.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/25/reading-is-fundamental/comment-page-1/#comment-13 johanna Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:45:27 +0000 http://www.eriknovales.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/25/reading-is-fundamental/#comment-13 what kind of business would you be interested in starting??? i think i am far too scarred by, er, certain aspects of my/our childhood to ever want to start a business for real, so i salute your bravery! what kind of business would you be interested in starting??? i think i am far too scarred by, er, certain aspects of my/our childhood to ever want to start a business for real, so i salute your bravery!

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