

Ask YC: Including source code with commercial software - dfranke

So, if any of you are wondering where I've disappeared to, I quit my
job last week, so now I actually have work to do :-).  I'm going sans
partner and sans investors on a subset of the idea from my YC
application.  The original idea was a web service targeted at
developers, but I later realized that what I thought of as
down-the-road functionality of the web service would actually work
well as a standalone program for the desktop.  It's sufficiently
limited in scope that I can make something feature-complete long
before my savings run out.  So, the plan is to work full time until I get to a release, and
then get a new job and maintain this on the side.  If it's sufficiently
successful, I get back together with my partner and use the cash flow
and the resume boost to jumpstart the original idea.<p>I'm going with a freemium licensing model: this is a database tool, and
it'll be free for use with sufficiently small databases; use with larger
ones carries a per-seat fee.<p>Anyhow: I'm giving consideration using a Minix-style license.
I.e., the program includes source code, which you're permitted to
modify and distribute patches against.  This would essentially result
in free users being on the honor system not to subvert the
database-size check.  There are a number of reasons that I'm considering
doing this:<p>- Given that I expect a fairly sophisticated user base, anyone
  determined to circumvent the size restriction is likely going to
  succeed whether or not they get the source.<p>- The program is written in Haskell and has several dependencies
  licensed under the LGPL.  Due to some GHC implementation details
  involving static linking and intermodule optimization, binary-only
  programs that use LGPL code are rather dubiously in compliance.
  With some work I could get around this, and I realize the chances of
  getting sued over such a thing are infinitesimal, but the necessary
  accomodations would be annoying and I'd feel bad about not making
  them.<p>- Although the idea behind the program is novel AFAIK, no part of what
  it does is especially magical, so I don't place much value on any
  trade secrets.<p>- It means that I get to crowdsource a lot of my technical support and
  bug-fixing.<p>- People will be less hesitant about using software from a small vendor
  for potentially mission-critical work if they know that they can
  do their own maintenance if necessary.<p>- There's a decent-sized community that gets excited about Haskell being
  used successfully in industry.  Letting them see the source may turn
  some of them into customers and/or advocates.  (Much as practically
  everyone in the Haskell community uses darcs rather than git or bzr
  even though the three are pretty much functionally identical.)<p>So, what are everyone's thoughts on this?  Am I out of my mind for
thinking about this?  Any major pitfalls I'm overlooking?
======
rms
Congratulations on quitting your job! With the database tool, what you say
makes a lot of sense.

See this thread for two different people releasing source-available commercial
products: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=73130>

------
SwellJoe
This has been asked a few times. I answered at length in this thread (our
products all include source...some are Open Source, some are proprietary that
just happen to include the source):

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=81351>

------
icky
Try it, and see what happens. Worst case, nothing comes of it, and you dust
yourself off and think of a new idea.

