Making Money from OpenSource
August 22nd, 2007 by Cedric
There seems to be an argument between Duncan Riley of TechCrunch and Matt Mullenweg of Wordpress on whether it is moral to make a profit from Open Source.
There is no doubt that Matt has worked hard and created fantastic software that millions of people use for FREE. I admit I was a little surprised he took some venture capital ( http://photomatt.net/2006/04/12/a-little-funding/ ) - but only because I was wondering what the other people that contributed to WordPress would get. (How can I invest?)
As a Microsoft developer, I have struggled to learn what “open” really mean for years. My first attempt was a failure, and caused a serious problem between Matt and myself. All I can say is that we worked everything out (and I am sorry Matt!)
I tried to learn from my mistakes and donated the domain Drupal.com (http://drupal.org/node/86768 ), and made a friend with Dries Buytaert. He did originally agree to link to OpenDomain, but the Drupal community was upset so I gave it no strings attached.
There is nothing wrong with making some money – in fact I find it difficult to understand how Open projects will succeed otherwise. I have tried to make OpenDomain a charitable organization – to give back to Open groups. However, I can not continue for long without help – I am NOT rich, and this project almost cost me my marriage. It has been very difficult road – but I am VERY PROUD of some of the domains out there that I have helped – including our recent one: http://www.EcmaScript.Org
When people use an OpenDomain, we do ask for a link - not an Advertisement. We serve no Ads on our site and are not for profit. I use the link only to spread the word about OpenDomain. TextLink ads may very well the the only way Open groups can keep alive.
Disclosure: I read subscribe to TechCrunch, and consider it an insider’s blog the newest technology.
Disclosure: I also use Wordpress to power my blog and Akismet has caught 10,232 spam for you since you first installed it. I LOVE it!