eZ Open Funding
Friday 09 June 2006 1:31:00 am
Since their early days, Free Software and Open Source have been about opening up opportunities. By allowing source code inspection and modification, these models gave developers the means to create their own solutions based on pre-existing infrastructure. Open Source developers do not pay royalties to the owners of the software when they extend an existing solution. In this ideal case, no funding is required; developer time (and possibly hardware infrastructure) is the only cost.
However, not everyone has the technical knowledge required to modify and extend complex and extensive systems like the eZ publish CMS. This is where the service model comes in, and is one of the mechanisms by which Open Source business works: rather than developing in-house expertise, you pay those who have the knowledge to implement a solution you need on top of an Open Source platform. Furthermore, because the solution you funded becomes part of the software system, others profit from your investment, just as you profit from the investment of others.
If your team lacks the knowledge to implement a custom solution, then you are limited by the amount of money you can invest in acquiring the knowledge. Given that, in Open Source software, everyone profits from the investments of others, it is a small step to conclude that joint funding is the solution to overcoming financial limitations and extending solutions to organizations that would otherwise lack the resources to take advantage of new functionality.