Comments on: WTF is open? http://www.imakewebjunk.com/2009/12/23/wtf-is-open/ Dave Konopka, Philly web developer Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:30:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Eran http://www.imakewebjunk.com/2009/12/23/wtf-is-open/comment-page-1/#comment-5776 Eran Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:11:52 +0000 http://www.imakewebjunk.com/?p=322#comment-5776 <p>I am a big fan of Google and the open approach. Yet this latest Blog is a little condescending. You can not preach open and talk about all your open apps, and at the same time be very closed and secretive when it comes to your money making search engine & ad program. If open works better than closed, why not contribute the Google search source code to open source and foster innovation around search.</p> I am a big fan of Google and the open approach. Yet this latest Blog is a little condescending. You can not preach open and talk about all your open apps, and at the same time be very closed and secretive when it comes to your money making search engine & ad program. If open works better than closed, why not contribute the Google search source code to open source and foster innovation around search.

]]> By: Gary Gilbert http://www.imakewebjunk.com/2009/12/23/wtf-is-open/comment-page-1/#comment-5773 Gary Gilbert Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:44:28 +0000 http://www.imakewebjunk.com/?p=322#comment-5773 <p>Google is in a very luxurious position that they can afford to open-source a fair amount of the tools they build, or like-wise provide services for free. Don't forget that their main source of income is the proprietary part of their business and not the open-source software or tools they provide.</p> <p>A small company is generally not in the position to invest 100 of man-years into a product and in the end give it away for free. As you said companies are in it to make money and giving away something you have built in the hopes that users of your product will require your expertise is a little naive in my opinion.</p> <p>I believe that is why professional open source and dual licensing models exist, they allow companies to give "community" versions of their product away as well as license a so called "enterprise" version (either that or its simply a means of baiting).</p> <p>I think Google does a good job by giving away tools and software (recent Mysql improvements for example) but their target is always improving the bottom line however they sugar coat their intentions, which doesn't make it evil simply smarter than the competition.</p> Google is in a very luxurious position that they can afford to open-source a fair amount of the tools they build, or like-wise provide services for free. Don’t forget that their main source of income is the proprietary part of their business and not the open-source software or tools they provide.

A small company is generally not in the position to invest 100 of man-years into a product and in the end give it away for free. As you said companies are in it to make money and giving away something you have built in the hopes that users of your product will require your expertise is a little naive in my opinion.

I believe that is why professional open source and dual licensing models exist, they allow companies to give “community” versions of their product away as well as license a so called “enterprise” version (either that or its simply a means of baiting).

I think Google does a good job by giving away tools and software (recent Mysql improvements for example) but their target is always improving the bottom line however they sugar coat their intentions, which doesn’t make it evil simply smarter than the competition.

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