Hi,
I think you're completely right.
We could be interested in such an approach but our business model is a little different. Our tool is not GPL because we think we are not located at the right place of the "software map", contrary to Alfresco who says to its customers he sells compatibility, robustness, …
I think we cannot tell the same because we are as compatible or robust as Alfresco is… but we can't provide more. So, once used, user could throw away our software and should not buy any guarantees, contrary once again to Alfresco 😞
WDYT ?
–
Jean-Christophe Kermagoret
BlueXML CEO
My thoughts on license is that it's a function of motivation. If you want adoption on a mass scale and you don't care about return on investment (that is – if ROI is adoption rather then cash or code) then MIT or ASF is the way to go. If your a business who has to feed families than GPL makes a lot of sense: don't be anyones free lunch – Cash or Code required.
The value really isnt in the bits. You may need to get the product to critical mass in order to see service around it but once you do, any software works with the model. The community can help you get to the point of critical mass. The question is how long do you have to ramp up and how much of your own resources do you have to bootstrap the thing to critical mass?
Open source is good for business - that is what i think.
Sorry, I can't resist here
One more comment on this line in particular "but we can't provide more. So, once used, user could throw away our software and should not buy any guarantees, contrary once again to Alfresco"
I don't think you should look at your software in this way. You are all but saying there is no value in it. Simply not so. There is opportunity all over the place. If the user can use the product once and get what they need , then throw it away because it has no further value – then you don't have a real business model to begin with.
Leverage the open source to build out what your product is missing in terms of long range value. Focus on features that allow the customer to really manage or grok their models. Maybe branch in to these untapped gap areas in alfresco's own administrative capabilities.
If you are worried that alfresco will begin to encroach on that market at some point with their own tools – you would probably be right, they will but that's competition and its great for customers and although painful at first it is ultimately good for you because it will drive your innovation.
You can certainly be the best at something and as long as that something represents an opportunity in the market you're golden. Over time opportunities will come and then be swallowed up by those who follow your lead, you will have to seek new one and over time, just as alfresco did, you will gather enough feature mass that you will have a base line of functionality that needs support even though it doesn't cover gap in the market – again, to make this cost effective for your company, open source is a good option.
Anyway… The product sounds very cool … going to check it out…
