[wplug] GNU GPL License

[Tom Grove]

On Oct 14, 2009, at 3:42 PM, Bruno Pierri Galvao wrote:

> I am still uncertain on the whole situation. If I have all my code
> contributions open source then how can I develop a multimillion dollar
> business when anyone could take the code and set up the exact same
> business in minutes? Open source sounds nice but is it the best
> approach for my situation?
>

That is certainly a valid question and I believe one that many  
software startups probably go through.  I'm not certain what your  
business model would be so, take this with a grain of salt.  No matter  
whether you go open or closed source someone can mimic your idea.   
Take MySpace for example.  They took an idea from GeoCities and  
expanded upon it, Facebook took from MySpace and expanded upon it, and  
so will the next social networking site.  All of the previously  
mentioned companies were closed source.  Even operating systems can  
"borrow" ideas from one and other, closed or open source...that's not  
an issue.

If you plan on making money by selling your software maybe closed  
source is the way to go, although there are arguments against that.   
If you plan on doing some sort of subscription service or using a  
support contract model then you would benefit from open source and the  
additions that fellow developers would be able to implement and give  
back.  Take these companies into consideration when thinking about  
making money using open source; RedHat (subscription/support model),  
SugarCRM, Zimbra, Novell, Sun, MySQL AB, Zend, Canonical and many  
more.  These companies all use open source software to make money.   
Some certainly do better than others but they all seemed to use open  
source and the community that goes along with it to their advantage.

The bottom line is this.  There are advantages to open source and  
closed source depending on your business model.  If your idea if solid  
and you have a good business plan you are ahead of the game.  The one  
thing that you mustn't forget is to always be innovative.  Someone  
else will eventually use your idea and expand upon it or will create  
something similar and better, you just have to stay one step ahead of  
them.  Open or closed your biggest enemy is becoming stagnant.  The  
more people you have helping develop your software the better chance  
you have of not stagnating.

Tom