[OT] Open Source and my company's web application

[Aaron Vegh]

Hey Sy,
Thanks for writing about this; I find your dilemma very interesting!
All the more so because I've run into a very similar situation, with
what sounds like a very similar application. I wrote about it here
recently.

This thing called TaskToy (www.tasktoy.com) is currently
closed-source, and because it's a to-do application (again, like
Backpack), the expectation is that it will be used as one's always-on,
always-there application for managing their life. For me anyway, if I
can't GUARANTEE that it will always be available to me, then I can't
risk using it. Naturally there are plenty of folks who disagree. But
on this list anyway, I think you'll find that most people will agree
that an open source application is the only way to guarantee that
users can rely on it to make it part of their life.

For additional irony, I'm beginning to work on my own open source
to-do list application, indeed using Rails and Ajax goodness. If you
want to go ahead and release it open-source, I would be thrilled! But
then again, I'll probably still work on mine since I want to learn
Rails. :-)

Best of luck!
Aaron.




On 1/18/06, Sy Ali <sy1234-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> It's quite off-topic, but there are some people with good brains
> lurking about.  Or good lurks braining about.  =p
>
>
> There's this little web application that my company has been working
> on for a while.  It really rocks.  It really really rocks.
>
> We've been using it for some time.  It is the single most powerful
> driving force in the way my business runs from day to day.
>
> It's nearing readyness for public viewing/flaming.  We're just not
> sure how to go about this.
>
> It's one of those funky Ruby/Rails whiz-bang AJAXy apps.  Yes, and
> it's yet another todo application.
>
>
> Route 1:
> Releasing the use:
>
> Self-hosting and selling the service has come to mind.  This is what
> backpack has done yes?
>
> Openly hosting applications isn't really our thing, so we've got only
> our wits.  Where can I go to learn more about the pitfalls of such a
> thing?
>
> We're thinking of starting by haivng an openly-accssible version of it
> which resets itself hourly.
>
> Then we're thinking about choking off some of the functionality and
> making that version openly available.  Sign up with a username and
> password, use the thing for life.  It's good marketing/karma and
> something that we'd consider.
>
> Then we're thinking of selling the unthrottled package, including
> shunting it off onto a separate sub-server and all that sort of thing.
>  Custom hosting with the complete package.
>
> Dealing with signups, permissions, money flow and that sort of thing
> isn't a big deal.. the fear is with keeping a good service flowing,
> good uptime.. and dealing with concepts we may never have thought of..
> (documentation, technical support, training.. who knows)
>
>
> Route 2:
> Releasing the code:
>
> We've liberally used various open source components.  Pardon me while
> I use a little FUD.  So because we've used code which have their own
> licensing terms, the application as a whole _may_ find itself
> "infected" by the licensing correct?
>
> Also, some modifications have had to be made to that outsider code
> (fixing bugs, adding features, etc).  We still need to arrange to get
> a hold of the various authors of the alien code to provide patches.
>
> My first goal is go get a list built which describes all of the alien
> code and to get the licensing terms for each item.
>
> Assuming all code is GPL, under what circumstances can that GPL code
> be bundled with ours if ours is under a different license?  Can that
> alien code be referred to as separate modules?  Can it even be shipped
> in the same tarball with our app?
>
>
>
> Releasing the whole shebang GPL is indeed possible.. but we need to
> somehow leverage the "oh my god" aspect.  Bunches of brain and brawn
> have gone into it, and it'd be nice to get something out of it.
> Either it's released into the wild as a marketing tool or it's held
> back somehow for fun and profit by selling only its use.
>
> Ideas?  I'm sure lots of other people have run into the same sort of
> dillema.  I'm not sure where to go to get those experiences.
>
> Really this application isn't such a big deal to us.  We made it
> because we had a BIG itch to scratch.  It's growing up quickly and so
> it'd be nice to start dreaming of its future.
>
> Frankly, I'm leaning towards hosting it for people to try / use for
> free, accepting donations to cover the serving costs, GPLing the lot
> of it and accepting/assembling a public development team to work on it
> on some open source developer site.
>
>
> Comments welcome..
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