Thinking about software licensing for a small ISV and the issue of Open Source

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After about 8 years of working in a many-person software company,
eventually ending up in a large web hosting company, I’m back to
running a small (basically one person) software company. Much has
changed in the years since I last developed software this way. Before
releasing any software, I decided to try to understand some of those
changes and see how that affects how I can go about making money.
This essay is written from the perspective of wanting to have a
financially successful software small business. (By financially
successful, I mean that it can provide a nice income for the employees
and owner, not that it must produce great wealth.) This essay is not
written from the perspective of what is best for society, the users,
the individual programmer, big businesses, etc. While I have feelings
in those areas, I think it is important to examine things, at least
for this essay, from the perspective I’ve chosen. There are lots of
other places to read about what is best from other perspectives.

Link: bricklin.com

Category:

  • Open Source