“An extraordinary amount of time has been spent analyzing
various open source business models. The business models that have
been adopted so far have been: selling support, selling the
software, selling documentation, or bundling with physical
products. With a couple of financial quarters behind them, how are
the Linux companies doing? Do the numbers show any model being
clearly superior?”
“It is difficult to get a good handle on how well each
strategy is currently performing. The Linux industry is still very
new, and most companies have adopted several of the models.
However, this article will attempt to give the reader some
perspective on the current status on each company and which models
they are using.“
“One of the most talked about strategies for making money on
free software is to sell support and services. There seems to be a
trend in the entire software industry to move to this business
model. Since Linux is freely downloadable, this seems like a good
strategy. Businesses want to know that there is someone available
who can respond to technical problems. Managers seem to sleep
better knowing they can call someone when stuff starts to hit the
fan.”