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sad day for the open source model

It's very interesting that Acquia would choose a closed-source (closed until you pay for it) approach to selling Drupal themes. I think it's a real shame for a number of reasons.

I'm a huge fan of the open source model, but, what dissapoints is when people involved in open source projects suddenly move the goalposts.

Acquia have done just that to the Drupal community and Acquia's strategy of selling closed-source (closed until you pay for it) commercial themes is going to impact badly on the Drupal community - if a designer has created a great theme, why would they share it for free under the open source model when they can sell it for $300-$3,000 dollars (acquia's business partner rates for commercial themes)?

It's also not a big leap in imagination to see Acquia pushing forward a "Top notch modules" business strategy, selling closed-source (closed until you pay for it) commercial modules for Drupal. Again, why would a Drupal developer who has created an extremely useful module contribute it for free under the open source model, when they can sell it?

On top of that, it also opens up huge opportunities for companies like Acquia to come along...pick up existing modules already developed by the Drupal community, test them, package them, give them a new name and launch them as a "hardened" commercial version!

Acquia are setting some very dangerous precedents with their new project and for me, it is a very sad day for the open source model and the drupal community in particular.

It presents a bad image of open source and suggests that the open source model can't create something of commercial grade quality.

Which is totally untrue, of course. In fact, some might argue that the drupal team leaders simply *failed* to harness the collective intelligence, energy and comittment of the huge Drupal community to create something of commercial grade quality. The same team leaders who are now at the helm with Acquia.

Posted by: Thinking Allowed   Posted on: 09/19/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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