Ask HN: Open source or closed source (business model)?

10 points

11 years ago

I and a collaborator have started a project with components and infrastructure to build line-of-business applications using ReactJS and .Net. We have planned to make it open source in a first moment and try to sell support and other services. We are working on this project for two months, and we realized that it will be a lot more work than we thought. Now we are not sure whether we should be creating a company with paid components and services (yet another one =), or if we should continue with the open source idea, and charge only for offered services.

In the open source argumentation side, if the project succeeds, then we may have additional contributions from other developers world wide. But, is that a real pro? For a line-of-business project? Who's going to contribute since the target audience is generally companies instead of individuals? Another pro is that we may have more visibility, maybe faster than if we made it closed source.

In the closed source side, there is the pro of making it more profitable... but maybe this is just a misconception? That's the question. Is it easy to sell components these days, or is it easier to sell services only, and not worry about payd license?

This is the project repo: https://github.com/gearz-lab

What business model do you recommend us? Advices are very very welcome! And I'll be greatful forever =D

Thanks!

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