Free software in a business world

[noorez]

Hi,

In the kind of business world that we live in today, people choose careers that closely match their talents. My sister would make a great doctor since she is very good at chemistry,biology, etc. If she became a doctor she could open her own clinic and start a business there.

I, on the other hand, am very good with computer technologies and love developing software. I would probably want to get a job with a large software company once I finish with my post-secondary education. However, working with a large software company probably means developing closed-source propriety software. I can understand the reasons for this though. If I want to make money from my talents then isn't it necessary that I guard my secrets for a fair bit of time so that I can enjoy the fruits of my labor?

How can we put the two ideas of open-source software and the need to make money together?

[marshmallow1304]

Get a job with Red Hat, Intel, IBM, Novell, Oracle, Google, etc.
http://apcmag.com/linux-now-75-corporate.htm

[AnimalMagic]

How can we put the two ideas of open-source software and the need to make money together?

You can charge for support.

[weasel fierce]

Everybody knows how to pick bananas, but we still pay people to pick our bananas for us.

[murderslastcrow]

I've heard there are areas in research where you can be paid to make open source software. Of course, there are companies like Novell (local headquarters where I live), Red Hat, and Google who would probably love to have you on board.

Of course, there is the market for hardware- if you can do something like ZaReason or system76 and make it look as elegant and shiek as Apple's products, and make it public, I think you could play the same game. Ubuntu's definitely in that direction, but they don't do their own hardware or anything.

If you can make something spectacular, even just one model of laptop or tablet that would make people drool, and sell it with a matching distribution (probably something with KDE 4 and good package management), you could probably make a dent.

But really, as far as software design goes, see if you can find a company like Google that will sponsor side projects to keep your creativity flowing, and allow you to give something back to the community.