“Open Source” a word which I believe has really made its name really dominating in the whole computers industry( at least the Internet). We all see all the servers(at least the majority) running on Linux OS and most of the websites on the Internet use open source content management systems such as WordPress or Movable Type. But how do they make money? I mean not everybody in the industry will turn to become the next Bill Gates so how do they make some money in order to live a life or pay the salaries? This is the real solution or the secret that every open source company or entity is following.
As you all may see the names of the biggest open source entities(read the top list) and you will see that all have the open source model and are generally licensed under GPL which encourages sharing of the software and the work so that it is really helpful to the people all around the world.
As I have seen it till now and have experienced the open source product( such as Ubuntu,WordPress) are managed by a foundation which is registered as a not for profit entity in any country of the world. The organization does nothing except for managing the official website and the core contents such as the terms of use and the privacy policy and thats it. The real work is done by the people all around the world. Also the foundation generally runs with the help of donations that its users make from all around the world. Apart from this there is another company which is commercial in nature and is generally registered as a Private company. This company does the real thing of making money. generally this company is founded and operated by the founder of the open source project. I’ll explain this in the following examples.
1. WordPress
This is the world most popular open source CMS which is mainly used by bloggers although it can be used by any body for any diverse purpose.
- Main Foundation : WordPress Foundation (Its not for profit)
- Commercial Entity : Automattic, Inc. (dba WP)
So Matt Mullenweg created the software and did th e best job by putting it for free on the web and the use of it was made diverse. Apart from this what he did was the main thing we gotta understand Matt started the website WordPress.com where he offers WordPress blogging services and due top which he is really earning well.
2. Ubuntu
We all hear this name for desktop computing and this is alsoone of the most popular distribution of Linux for personal computing. So its details are:
- Main Foundation: Ubuntu Foundation
- Commercial Entity: Canonical Ltd.
Canonical sells the services for Ubuntu such as the training and all other technical help to all those entities interested in Ubuntu or the ones who use it for their day to day activities. And obviously that makes a lot of money as the founder Mark Shuttleworth is a self funded space tourist !.
3. Android
Wow, one of the best mobile phone platforms or the OS,this lovely product is also open source and free.
- Main Foundation: Android, Inc.
- Commercial Entity: Google, Inc.
Google, the internet giant and the Alexa rank leader is the one that sells a lot of apps in the Android market that makes it a lot of money. So it hardly matters if the product remains open source or free.
4. MediaWiki
We all have heard about the free encyclopedia of the universe which is better known as Wikipedia. This great website is mangaed by MediaWiki and is also available for free download.
- Main Foundation: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
- Commercial Entity: Wikia, Inc.
So Wikimedia Foundation manages to give free downloads to the people of its software and popularize it freely using Wikipedia whereas the commercial company Wikia is using the same software to make money using advertising.
5. Movable Type
This is the second most used platform for blogs or website sfter WordPress ad what have they done in order to amke money is this.
- Main Foundation: Six Apart Ltd. (dba Movable Type)
- Commercial Entity: Six Apart Ltd. (dba TypePad)
To promote the open source entity the company has two website one is for the download of the CMS and the other one for developers. The company uses the CMS for various blogging services at TypePad where it makes money.
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