Open-Source: Why We Give Our Software Away

Our Contribution Back

According to most reports, the Apache Web Server, the Linux Operating System, and the Perl Programming Language are the most widely used components in Internet platforms today. Each has grown in their use because of their flexibility, their power, and their performance. Another factor has been their price--absolutely free.

Odds are that the majority of the surfing you do in one way or another is augmented or facilitated by these technologies, and they also contribute significantly to our ability to provide you with our services. We recognize the fact that all of us owe an incredible debt to the dedicated and talented programmers out there who have brought us this technology--not for money, but for a love of the challenge, and a desire to see things done right.

Because of this debt, we feel that we should participate and extend this beneficial philosophy by releasing our software under the GNU Public License. If more companies were to participate in such practices, we would all share much higher quality products and greatly reduced costs. We're doing our part.

Open-Source Development Works

Another reason for our decision lies in that it is self-evident that open-source development models work, and work well. While we believe that our programmers are quite talented in their own right, there are limits to how much any limited number of people can accomplish.

By releasing our source into the public community for free, we not only insure that the product will be used, but also that it will be more widely tested than we could do ourselves. Other programmers looking for a good foundation for these types of applications will often use such products as a basis for specialized uses, and continue the good will of the community by releasing their improvements and fixes back to all of us. The GPL license is also a protective measure that insures this.

The final result? More people testing, more people potentially developing it, and a much more solid product available to everyone.

We're in the Web Design/Integration/Hosting Business, Not the Software Business

Our final reason is the most pragmatic: our revenue source is derived from our other services, not from this. On one hand, this does give us perhaps more freedom than strictly software houses have to give away our software. On the other hand, we also believe that it makes good business sense for all the reasons all ready detailed above: better software, the generation of good-will, and our personal satisfaction in making a contribution back to the community. All of which means good PR.

Remember, as well, that we will still commercially support, develop, and customize this software at the requests of our clients, so revenue is still realizable directly from the product.

In Conclusion

We believe that this decision is not only a strong business model, but also an ethical and effective decision to make. It feels right, and everybody wins. In short, it's The Right Thing To Do ™. If you're a business in a similar situation to ours, we highly recommend that you evaluate the possibility of adopting this or a similar model.