Professional open-source is a business model that many open-source software vendors are attempting to follow. The model partners what is perceived as "free" open-source software with paid professional services.
History
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As open-source software began to become popular in the 1990s with the introduction of Linux, there was a growing stigma that such a package could not be trusted as stable or supported. As a consequence, larger businesses would often choose commercially distributed software over a product that was released under an open-source license. However, there has been the growth in the number of professional open-source companies - made popular by companies like Zend Technologies, MySQL AB and JBoss. The business model of these companies tries "to offer open-source software with a free license, while using professional services, maintenance and support for these products to derive revenue."[1]
References
- ^ Montalbano, Elizabeth. "OSBC: Professional open source grows up", InfoWorld, February 16, 2006.
