How to make money with open source

How to make money with open source
Two case studies
OSS Watch
www.oss-watch.ac.uk
twitter.com/osswatch
Sander van der Waal

About OSS Watch
Open Source advisory service in the UK
Advice on all things open source
Procurement, engagement, development, legal
Services
Consultancy, events, presentations, community
Publications
Briefing notes, surveys, case studies, slides

Apache Wookie (incubating)
Server for uploading and deploying widgets
Implementation of emerging W3C standard
Extracted from larger project context as a discrete project
A good fit with Apache Software Foundation
Already some interest from outside the project

Networking opportunities
ASF community
Other interested projects
Mobile apps/widgets community
Android community
W3C Social Web XG

New Partnerships

Results
Very substantial value added by community
Income generated for next 3 years: ~ £700k from two FP7 projects
Only actually core funded from Dec 09-Sep10 @ 0.2FTE (around £12k)

TexGen
Textile CAD modeller
Developed at Nottingham’s Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing
Generate geometric models of textiles and their composites

Why open source TexGen?
People can download TexGen and use it for free
Better level of both knowledge transfer and verification
Encourage third-party use / citation
Potential for collaboration
IPR issues are simplified

Why not commercialise?
Limited commercial value
Commercial customers would expect support
Small market - casual use does not occur
All development has to be undertaken in-house
Danger of inhibiting research collaborations

Results
Over 5,000 downloads on SourceForge
Collaborations with previously unknown partners
Renewal of EPSRC's prestigious Platform Grant in 2009
In total approximately £1m research income

Lessons learned
High ROI to open source code
Excellent marketing
Free publicity of research group’s expertise
Opportunity to create new partnerships
There’s no one single way of doing it
Best application of open innovation in software
Funders love it

Any Questions?
Get in touch!
[email_address]
twitter.com/osswatch
www.oss-watch.ac.uk
http://incubator.apache.org/wookie
http://texgen.sf.net

How to make money with open source

by Sander van der Waal on Oct 25, 2010

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How to make money with open source — Presentation Transcript