bluebox | Open source options

There are a large number of open source licences that allow users and developers varying levels of freedom to use, modify and distribute the software. The licence selected has a direct impact on the development, licensing strategy and revenue generation opportunities that are available

Over 80 open source licences have approvoval from the Open Source Initiative or Free Software Foundation .
Not all are the same, with licensing options ranging from permissive through to reciprocal.
Permissive licences (ie. BSD or MIT licences):
- Enable the code to be redistributed under a small set of rules.
- Allow the software to be modified or redistributed under any licence.
- Provide the greatest flexibility in terms of how the software is used.
Reciprocal licences (ie. the GPL licence):
- Require that any modification be licensed using the same licence as the original work
- Restrict the ability to integrate code with more permissively licensed code.
- Are often referred to as “copyleft” licences.
The initial licence used has a strong influence on the development, licensing and revenue-generation strategies adopted to create products and services.

Licensing strategy and revenue generation opportunities

The licensing strategy chosen can set the terms of any potential commercial opportunity. There are a number of well known and established strategies including:

Dual licensing: Single code base licensed with either an open source or commercial licence to different users, often associated with reciprocal licences.
Open core licence: Core code licensed with an open source licence, with extensions to the core code licensed commercially.
Open and closed licecse: Open source products complimented by commercially available closed source products.
Single open source: Single open source licence for the single code base.
Assembled open source: Multiple open source projects utilising multiple open source licences are incorporated into a product or service.
Closed: Product is not available under an open source licence despite being based on open source code, this requires the original code to be permissive.

Using the above licensing strategies, revenue can be generated or triggered in a number of alternate ways. Although there is usually one primary revenue generator, it is desirable to choose a strategy that also allows a number of secondary revenue triggers to be utilised, including:

Commercial licence: Traditional commercial licence.
Subscriptions: Annual support and service agreements, often providing updates and other services.
Service / support : Ad hoc calls for support and service, may also include training and consulting.
Embedded hardware: Source code distributed as part of a hardware appliance.
Embedded software: Commercial software packages that embed smaller open source software.
Software as a service (SaaS): Software applications that are available via the internet, often requiring a fee to access.
Advertising: Advertising is incorporated into the free software.
Custom development: Upon request of a customer the software can be customised to suit their individual requirements.
Other products and services: The software does not directly generate revenue but is provided by other complimentary products.

Each of the above licensing strategies and revenue generation opportunities have a variety of strengths and weaknesses. We encourage you to contact us to discuss the most suitable option for your project.