'Free software, service fee collection' in open code

Open source, built by thousands of software developers worldwide, is always distributed freely. However, there are still many measures to profit from it.

The fundamental principle of the open source community is that the software code is expanded so that anyone can participate in development and use, instead of "keeping it" as a trade secret. As a result, programs such as the Linux operating system have become the achievements of many programmers.

Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly Media (USA), said: " Packaged software began to be in business since the 1980s and Microsoft is considered a symbol of this trend. But right in the middle In the 1980s, many people claimed they did not like the solution of closing information , especially the information that others could continue to build on it . "

In fact, open source development is not inversely proportional to profitability. Source code may be free, but the "gold mine" appears in the process of software support, training and publishing.

" The secret to success is that we provide free software with a list of service costs, outlining what customers pay for basic problems if they are supported later, " Damian Conway, Director Director at Thoughtstream (Netherlands), revealed. " That way, people can still use it for free if they want to. But when they get into trouble, they will definitely need help and you will benefit from it ."

" The open-source community is implementing significant innovations in the market, addressing un-implemented issues in standardized software, " said IBM's Chet Kapoor expert. A recent innovative thinking product of open source is Flock, which integrates new generation web technologies such as RSS, blogs, bookmark and image sharing.

Karl Fogel, a member of CollabNet software distributor, said: "In certain cases, freedom is a big asset of the business. If open code can really bring in money from self Because, continuing to exploit this field is perfectly reasonable . "

TN ( according to BBC )