"Komodo - Why we chose to make our product open source" by Shane Caraveo @ eLiberatica 2008
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The document presents Shane Caraveo's introduction of Open Komodo, detailing its transition from a proprietary product to an open-source model while maintaining revenue. The discussion covers motivations for the change, challenges faced, lessons learned, and the impact on user engagement and sales. Caraveo emphasizes the importance of community involvement and open-source philosophy in fostering creativity and innovation.
"Komodo - Why we chose to make our product open source" by Shane Caraveo @ eLiberatica 2008
- 1. Introducing Open Komodo Shane Caraveo Chief Dragon Wrangler, ActiveState [email protected] slides: blogs.activestate.com/shanec eLiberatica 2008, Bucharest, Romania, May, 2008
- 3. You did WHAT?!? Take a proprietary product called Komodo Edit
- 4. You did WHAT?!? Take a proprietary product called Komodo Edit Make it open source and free
- 5. You did WHAT?!? Take a proprietary product called Komodo Edit Make it open source and free Maintain revenue from the product
- 6. Quick Agenda
- 7. Quick Agenda Why did we go open source?
- 8. Quick Agenda Why did we go open source? What challenges did we encounter?
- 9. Quick Agenda Why did we go open source? What challenges did we encounter? What did we learn in the process?
- 10. Quick Agenda Why did we go open source? What challenges did we encounter? What did we learn in the process? What did we change?
- 11. Quick Agenda Why did we go open source? What challenges did we encounter? What did we learn in the process? What did we change? First a small history lesson...
- 12. ActiveState History 10 year old commercial open source company Strong open source history, many contributions Focus on open source, open standards Customer and employee focus Most of the Fortune 1000 companies use our software Free products, millions of users
- 13. Komodo History Award winning development tool focused on dynamic languages 7 year old commercial product Based on Mozilla code Free Edition released Feb. 2007 Edit Open Sourced Oct. 2007 Our oldest feature request (2001) implemented early 2008 Circa 2000
- 14. Our impetus for change Users love Komodo High value functionality Unique technology stack Large investment Highly fractured market Low financial performance Small user base We feel it has big potential
- 15. Our Hopes and Dreams Re-position product Exposure and access to new markets Build a large community of users Gain open source contributions Contribute something wonderful Increase our commercial sales
- 16. Our Fears Would a free version destroy sales? Building a community from scratch If we build it would they come? ?
- 17. Komodo Download Trends 4.0 OS Announce 4.3 Free Edit OS Available 2006 2007 2008 500K Downloads
- 18. Komodo Daily Usage Trends OS Announce OS Available 4.3 4.0 4.1 4.2
- 19. Results! More downloads today than ever Very positive response from users IDE sales did not collapse (!) Community is growing Contributions are starting to appear We have much more to do!
- 20. Lessons Learned Clarity of purpose Don’t bite off more than you can chew Be Open! with plans, opinions, reasons for actions Listen to your supporters Live big, have a vision and a dream Share you vision with your users
- 21. How did we change? More focused on our business objectives Fears and concerns transformed into opportunities Our development and planning is more open, shared with users and customers early Internal business rules are being redefined Product management focused on complementary business models
- 22. Open source as a strategy Primary business focus on services rather than product Value add functionality in commercial product Provide quality, useful software Leverage open source communities to provide software Give as much as you receive Examine alternative business models
- 23. Open source as a philosophy Open source software promotes creativity and innovation Open source introduced new market possibilities Without open standards, our market will evaporate Economy of scale in software development We must support, contribute and protect free software We are still a commercial company
- 24. Do It Yourself Is it right for you? Consider other alternatives Differentiate, don’t cripple “open” is about more than source code Embrace your users and customers, they will gladly help you Ask for help, seek out experts and mavens Follow your mission and values
- 25. What’s Next? This story is half baked! Lots of new users New business plans are possible Invite me next year and get Part 2 of the story!
- 26. Thank you! Find out more about Komodo at: www.activestate.com/Komodo www.openkomodo.com community.activestate.com Shane Caraveo Chief Dragon Wrangler, ActiveState [email protected] slides: blogs.activestate.com/shanec eLiberatica 2008, Bucharest, Romania, May, 2008