Ask HN: Is licensing your Software a viable business model? - casabarata
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It can be, in some circumstances.

I mean, clearly, consider: Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Adobe, AutoCAD, etc. They
all license their software, either as a one-time license purchase, or
(increasingly) as an annual license fee.

On a smaller scale, I've worked at several companies that license their
(proprietary) financial trading software to trading firms. The software is
used to connect the customer's algorithmic trading applications to stock
exchanges, etc. Licensing fees are tens of thousands of USD a year.

For something like Microsoft Word, there's a bunch of circumstances that
contribute to it being a viable product despite the existence of eg.
LibreOffice. Those circumstances are probably hard to replicate for an
individual or small team though.

For something targeting a more specific niche, it can be easier to deliver
enough value to the potential customers that they're prepared to pay for the
software. Often, the licensing is part of a package deal involving ongoing
support, customisation work, and access to the software.

I've noticed that some customers seem to actually prefer to pay for something,
for a combination of reasons including a feeling of access to something others
don't have, a feeling that they'll have more input into the future
development, having someone (contractually) responsible for answering
questions/fixing bugs/etc, and even just a general desire to contribute to the
upkeep of something they leverage in their business.

