

It’s “GitHub meets Shopify”: Binpress sells your source code - g0atbutt
http://thestartupfoundry.com/2011/02/04/it%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cgithub%E2%80%9D-meets-%E2%80%9Cshopify%E2%80%9D-binpress-sells-your-source-code/

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100k
Do people really buy source code? I would think raw source code is of limited
utility. A lot of the value is in the heads of the people who wrote it.

If you sell source code do you have to include some amount of
training/consulting to hand it off?

What kind of source code are people buying? Libraries? Windows applications?
Finished web apps?

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ladon86
Are you kidding? Raw source code has huge utility! Many companies build
businesses upon open source software, and this is really no different except
they're paying for the code.

Understanding the API and integrating it into the current system is all most
companies need or want to do, so buying some code off the shelf is a LOT
cheaper than the development effort, and in many cases actually _less_ risky,
even if they don't fully grok the full source.

Of course, support can be sold separately. But that doesn't mean the code
itself doesn't have value. Right now I'm using dozens of OSS modules, most of
which I'd be happy to pay some money for because of the time they've saved me
and my business.

~~~
100k
I think there is a continuum, from fully supported proprietary executable to
tar dump of abandoned code.

When I pick an open source library to use, the continued active development,
documentation, and support community around it are my main criteria. Much the
same is true of commercial software.

I have little interest in downloading some random source code off the
internet. Maybe that's not what's for sale on these sites but that's what it
sounds like from first glance.

If you're selling commercial components, why not set up your own website and
sell it there?

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leftnode
This is awesome. I sell code (non-exclusively) on Codecanyon so they take 75%.
Only taking 30% is huge for me.

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citricsquid
I think you've identified their problem, you're their target audience AND
you're not 100% happy with their competitor yet you don't know about their
service!

They definitely need to work on that, maybe that will solve their chicken and
egg problem!

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erangalp
It is definitely something we are working on (I'm one of the co-founders).
We've just launched and it will take some time before the words spreads around
- codecanyon has been around for over a year and a half. Features like this
certainly help

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krakensden
Have you considered a consumer petition side as well? My immediate thought
upon looking at this (late on a friday night) is "I'd like to sell something
here, but I'm not sure what people want that isn't here."

~~~
erangalp
That is a very good question - we actually thought about that, and are about
to launch a section for wanted components - people can suggest what they need
and discuss it. Developers can pick up ideas from those

Check out <http://www.binpress.com/wanted/list>

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gregwebs
What I really want is an easy way to donate to any open source project or pay
for development of features/bug fixes.

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nkassis
I think this is a great idea, a bounty system.

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motters
How to fund software development, without the problems of proprietaryness or
antifeatures, is the perpetual quandary of our time.

A possible method might be what I'd call "code shares". Here the author of
some code might receive payment for support in the traditional manner, but
because the authors resources are limited they might issue a number of shares,
perhaps corresponding to lengths of time. Like other kinds of shares these
would have a valuation, and customers could buy or sell shares amongst
themselves. Each share is basically an entitlement to a certain amount of
support for the given code base. Cryptographic methods could be used ensure
that shares are unique.

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snissn
they should sell their own source code and be meta

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motters
I'm not sure that this is really going to work very well. A better approach
might be a bounty system. Another approach might be a method by which you can
buy support for specific code bases, but this may not scale well and suffer
from the same problems as "open core".

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asnyder
I think this is a great start, but there doesn't appear to be enough detail in
some of the classes/libraries for sale. For example, there is an interesting
scaffolding class but the details provided are very limited. There's no
compatibility list regarding what databases it works with, or how customizable
the output is via the object's functions. I understand not exposing the source
code of a for sale library, but there should definitely be auto-generated API
docs for each class, in this way I have a better understanding rather than
just a limited demo, clearly in this case $29 isn't a big deal, but it does
add an unnecessary layer of doubt.

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erangalp
There is actually auto-generated API doc for that component, but it should
probably be featured in a more prominent place. Thanks for the feedback

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sandaru1
Is this only for web development libraries? I think there will be a huge
market for iPhone/Android libraries.

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erangalp
Currently it's only for web development - we will be adding mobile and desktop
development environment in about a month or two.

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g0atbutt
As a side note, the guys who work on Binpress are very nice people. It was
really easy to pick up on even via email.

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kupertino
If someone sells source code that they do not have the rights to (open source
or someone else's code), is Binpress liable?

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whalesalad
I don't know how The "Startup" "Foundry" is going to "take on" "TechCrunch"
with their "unnecessary" quoting.

:(

<http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/>

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whalesalad
Why the hell am I being downvoted? They used unnecessary quotes (amateur
mistake) in their title, and a previous mention on the HN homepage suggested
they were going for the jugular of TC.

