Open-Source Software

[sayian_z]

I'm just curious about this, if the source-code is made available to people to modify and the softwares are free, then, how does the original developer get benefits for his work?

[red_Marvin]

Not all software developers are in it for the profit.

But for those that are they might be working as consultants as an example, like if a company needs a special piece of software for a specific task but don't have the competence/workforce/time to do it themselves they might hire an external developer to do the job. In that case it is good for the company, as if they later need a modification of the program they can choose who to hire, or do it themselves, since they have the source.

[ExpatPaul]

Support, services and consultancy mainly.

It's worth bearing in mind that for most commercial software companies, the bulk of their income comes not from selling the software but from ongoing support and maintenance contracts.

FOSS companies are doing essentially the same apart from the fact that they are distributing the software first and then trying to sell the maintenance contract.

[fatality_uk]

Support, services and consultancy mainly.

It's worth bearing in mind that for most commercial software companies, the bulk of their income comes not from selling the software but from ongoing support and maintenance contracts.

FOSS companies are doing essentially the same apart from the fact that they are distributing the software first and then trying to sell the maintenance contract.

It's also worth bearing in mind the sector that the software is released into. It's highly unlikely that any current business model will provide a FOSS games developer a good income stream. Where as if it were an enterprise application, such as Zenoss, or a CRM/ERP app, then it's more likely that companies will pay to have support for those.

[ExpatPaul]

It's also worth bearing in mind the sector that the software is released into. It's highly unlikely that any current business model will provide a FOSS games developer a good income stream. Where as if it were an enterprise application, such as Zenoss, or a CRM/ERP app, then it's more likely that companies will pay to have support for those.

Fair comment and I was thinking of enterprise apps when I posted the above.

[az]

I'm just curious about this, if the source-code is made available to people to modify and the softwares are free, then, how does the original developer get benefits for his work?

The developer get's paid for her day's work.

The value in software is not in owning the software, but in making a computer do something. The strength (or one of the strenghts) of F/LOSS is that is is easy to get started on a task. You can build upon someone else's work and get a job done that may cost lots of time and money to do using proprietary software.

So, depending on the task, there may be more value in building an application using free/libre software rather than buy a shrink-wrapped program. Or paying someone to write a proprietary program for you.