The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source The business model of open source (Interview)
Sep 17, 2021
Adam Jacob, CEO of System Initiative and co-founder of Chef, shares his journey through the world of open source business models. He discusses the delicate balance between community engagement and commercial viability, reflecting on Chef's $220 million acquisition. Adam emphasizes the importance of consistent effort and positive mindset for long-term success while offering insights into the future of collaborative software. He also hints at exciting developments at System Initiative, advocating for the goodness of community-driven change in open source.
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Creating Artificial Scarcity
- Open source businesses must create artificial scarcity to encourage payment.
- Open core models often struggle because they give away the most valuable asset for free.
The Red Hat Model
- The Red Hat model focuses on selling enterprise products built from open source software.
- This offers the benefits of open source while maintaining a proprietary-like business model.
Source-Available vs. Open Source
- Companies like CockroachDB and Elastic are essentially reinventing the proprietary model while offering source code.
- This approach sacrifices the community aspect of open source.