Closed source use of the open source model

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Reread your own article.

Grisoft gives away the home version as marketing. The product is free and remains free. The familiarity home users gain makes them more likely to obtain the paid version.

That makes the free product profitable. If it didn't work, it wouldn't continue.

You wrote:

"I mentioned one such company last year, Grisoft. They give anti-virus software away and then, once you become dependent on it, they tell you to buy it."

That's not what you wrote.


Another strategy is the "pro" version approach.

Give away basic functionality to help people become familiar with and appreciative of the product. Then offer to sell them increased functionality for money.

Some people will buy it.



Both these approach are based on the idea of low incremental costs for distribution. How much more does it cost to deliver 150,000 copies compared to 100,000 over the internet.



These approaches aren't new. Free samples and price-graded versions of products have been available for years.

Of course, as a good post on the Grisoft article noted, the one thing a company hoping to survive on sales revenue would never do is give away its main product.

That's so hostile to commercial, money-making, people-employing activity that it might as well be open source.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 01/25/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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