How can I make money licensing my software as open-source?

My programmers have developped a powerful e-commerce application similar
as Amazon.com's e-commerce application, working with PHP and PostgreSQL.
It uses artificial intelligence and works very well.

My question is: How could I make money if it were open-source? As I see,
open-source shopping cart OScommerce doesn't seem to be lucrative. I have
searched for solutions to releasing it as open-source, and to make money,
but I think people would use it, and no one would buy commercial licenses,
and as far as custom design and support, I think this is not going to be
the project lucrative either. Web design companies might just download it,
install it for their own customers and get the bucks.

Do you have any idea to make this particular project lucrative and
open-source at the same time?
Thanks,

--
Justin.
http://www.opera.com/m2/

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 23:00:42 -0300, "Justin Sane" <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>My programmers have developped a powerful e-commerce application similar
>as Amazon.com's e-commerce application, working with PHP and PostgreSQL.
>It uses artificial intelligence and works very well.
>
>My question is: How could I make money if it were open-source? As I see,
>open-source shopping cart OScommerce doesn't seem to be lucrative. I have

You'll have to use your own judgement as to whether selling software service
s
(consulting, documentation, support contracts) is better or whether selling
software licenses closed source is better for your situation.

Selling your consulting services for your product is the open-source way to 
go.
Sell support contracts, extensions to your product or customizations to your
product, because you know it better than anyone else.

>searched for solutions to releasing it as open-source, and to make money,
>but I think people would use it, and no one would buy commercial licenses,
>and as far as custom design and support, I think this is not going to be
>the project lucrative either. Web design companies might just download it,
>install it for their own customers and get the bucks.

Sure, and when they run into problems or if they want to customize/extend th
e
product then who are they going to call? It could be you because you know th
e
product better than anyone else.

>Do you have any idea to make this particular project lucrative and
>open-source at the same time?

Research earlier threads.
_______________________
Michael B. Johnson

Justin Sane wrote:
> My programmers have developped a powerful e-commerce application
> similar  as Amazon.com's e-commerce application, working with PHP and
> PostgreSQL.  It uses artificial intelligence and works very well.
>
> My question is: How could I make money if it were open-source? As I
> see,  open-source shopping cart OScommerce doesn't seem to be lucrative.

Look at ClickCartPro, a very lucrative open-source eCommerce solution.
You have to pay for the software in order to download the package, and
before using it, you have to provide a license key.  The application then
checks the key against their database, and if it matches the domain
(specified when purchasing) it is "unlocked."  If you try to use it
multiple times, it won't be "unlocked" unless you pay for an additional
license.

There's a number of eCommerce solutions that are open source and
profitable.  XCart is another open source eCommerce solution.

> I have  searched for solutions to releasing it as open-source, and to
> make money,  but I think people would use it, and no one would buy
> commercial licenses,  and as far as custom design and support, I think
> this is not going to be  the project lucrative either. Web design
> companies might just download it,  install it for their own customers
> and get the bucks.

There's also the option to encode some of the PHP code using IonCube so
people can't see the entire codebase to get around your licensing (hack
the algorithm that produces the license key).

Support doesn't have to be free just because the software is released as
open source.

Also, your license would probably be the key ingrediant in preventing
people from redistributing your software.  Having a license key
requirement in order to function would also help.

> Do you have any idea to make this particular project lucrative and
> open-source at the same time?

1. Read above comments.
2. Offer hosting services to host your app for a monthly fee.
3. Provide paid-for support.
4. Look at the competition and duplicate what they're doing.


-Kevin