Comments on: K-Now: Here and Now http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/12/17/k-now-here-and-now/ by Stephen E. Arnold Thu, 24 May 2012 16:47:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Charlie Hull http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/12/17/k-now-here-and-now/comment-page-1/#comment-33445 Charlie Hull Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:26:52 +0000 http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/?p=3588#comment-33445 Interesting article; I'd have to disagree with some of Chapman's points on open source though. Incompatible licensing can be a problem if you want to take open source code and build it into a closed source project, but of course that's kind of the point of open source, that it doesn't get hidden away in a closed wrapper. There are licenses that allow interopability of course - for example Lucene's. As to business models, it's perfectly possible to build a business on consultancy and support - we're doing it here - and there are much larger examples (Redhat springs to mind). It sounds like Chapman just hasn't found the right people to work with! Interesting article; I’d have to disagree with some of Chapman’s points on open source though. Incompatible licensing can be a problem if you want to take open source code and build it into a closed source project, but of course that’s kind of the point of open source, that it doesn’t get hidden away in a closed wrapper. There are licenses that allow interopability of course – for example Lucene’s.

As to business models, it’s perfectly possible to build a business on consultancy and support – we’re doing it here – and there are much larger examples (Redhat springs to mind). It sounds like Chapman just hasn’t found the right people to work with!

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