OSCON 2016 - Lessons learned from 15+ years in open source - Matt Asay
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The document discusses the evolution and challenges of open source software over the last 15 years. It highlights the increasing difficulty in monetizing open source while emphasizing that closed-source platforms no longer dominate the market. The author presents various strategies adopted by companies to navigate these dilemmas, including support disguised as subscriptions and the limitations of the open core development model.
![© 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential.
Option 3: Completely open, completely closed
14
“You can no longer win with a closed-source
platform, and you can't build a successful stand-
alone company purely on open source….
Platform software has to be open source….
But pure-play open source companies never
survive. That's a law of nature….
[So we offer] complementary tools and layered
offerings that let customers run that pure open
source platform better, more affordably, getting
more value out of it.”
- Mike Olson, Chief Strategy Officer, Cloudera](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/oscon2016-lessonslearned-asay-160524163423/85/OSCON-2016-Lessons-learned-from-15-years-in-open-source-Matt-Asay-14-320.jpg)
![© 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential.
Option 3.1: Communities of vendors
15
“[Foundations] pay for all of
the infrastructure to create
these projects, to help govern
these projects so that the
intellectual property doesn’t
fall into one particular for-
profit entity or another but
remains a neutral entity for
decades to come.”
- Jim Zemlin, Exec. Director, The Linux Foundation](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/oscon2016-lessonslearned-asay-160524163423/85/OSCON-2016-Lessons-learned-from-15-years-in-open-source-Matt-Asay-15-320.jpg)
OSCON 2016 - Lessons learned from 15+ years in open source - Matt Asay
- 1. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. What I’ve learned from 15+ years in open source Matt Asay
- 2. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. What open source does so well…
- 3. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. What open source promised to end…
- 4. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. What a difference 10 years makes 4 “There's been a stunning and irreversible trend in enterprise infrastructure….No dominant platform-level software infrastructure has emergedin the last ten years in closed-source, proprietary form.” - Mike Olson, Chief Strategy Officer, Cloudera
- 5. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. OPEN SOURCE HAS WON!(Open source businesses have not.) 5
- 6. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. It’s all your fault 6
- 7. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. The open source dilemma 7 Customer profitability Customer need for support subscription Year 1 Year 2-3 Year 4+ Startup raises $50M or bought for $100M+ Customer opts not to renew Startup is shuttered or sold for scrap
- 8. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. That dilemma is now much, much worse 8
- 9. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. Monetizing free gets harder and harder
- 10. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. So what have companies done? 10
- 11. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. Option 1: Support disguised as “subscription” 11
- 12. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. Option 2: Proprietary software disguised as “open source/core” 12
- 13. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. Open Core: Broken by design 13 “The open core development model…simply does not work. It is a narrowly-cast version of open source that only stands as a matter of corporate convenience for technology providers who continue to hold on to antiquated proprietary offerings, delivering minimal innovation.” - Ashesh Badani, VP & GM, Red Hat
- 14. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. Option 3: Completely open, completely closed 14 “You can no longer win with a closed-source platform, and you can't build a successful stand- alone company purely on open source…. Platform software has to be open source…. But pure-play open source companies never survive. That's a law of nature…. [So we offer] complementary tools and layered offerings that let customers run that pure open source platform better, more affordably, getting more value out of it.” - Mike Olson, Chief Strategy Officer, Cloudera
- 15. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. Option 3.1: Communities of vendors 15 “[Foundations] pay for all of the infrastructure to create these projects, to help govern these projects so that the intellectual property doesn’t fall into one particular for- profit entity or another but remains a neutral entity for decades to come.” - Jim Zemlin, Exec. Director, The Linux Foundation
- 16. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. Option 4: Don’t sell open source 16
- 17. © 2015Adobe SystemsIncorporated. AllRightsReserved. Adobe Confidential. @mjasay 17