Re: how can we design sustainable business models for open source companies, I came across one really intriguing model a few weeks ago: https://actualbudget.com/ , a local-first family budget app that offers cloud sync. $4/month subscription, which is low enough for most people to tolerate for an app that meets a real need. They talk about needing to fund continued development to keep the app relevant and useful, but I also feel like that $4/mo cloud sync is justification enough to satisfy most people.
I think that if this app were open-source from top to bottom, yes, a few people would try to run their own cloud sync server. And maybe there would even be the danger of rival companies using the same stack to run their own business and take money away from Actual. But I also think that the digital music stores of the world have shown that most people will pay for convenience. Thats why iTunes won the fight against Gnutella and BitTorrent -- because it was a no-brainer. Cheap, accessible music without spyware, missing tracks, weird filenames, corrupted data, or three-day download times.
Re: how can we design sustainable business models for open source companies, I came across one really intriguing model a few weeks ago: https://actualbudget.com/ , a local-first family budget app that offers cloud sync. $4/month subscription, which is low enough for most people to tolerate for an app that meets a real need. They talk about needing to fund continued development to keep the app relevant and useful, but I also feel like that $4/mo cloud sync is justification enough to satisfy most people.
I think that if this app were open-source from top to bottom, yes, a few people would try to run their own cloud sync server. And maybe there would even be the danger of rival companies using the same stack to run their own business and take money away from Actual. But I also think that the digital music stores of the world have shown that most people will pay for convenience. Thats why iTunes won the fight against Gnutella and BitTorrent -- because it was a no-brainer. Cheap, accessible music without spyware, missing tracks, weird filenames, corrupted data, or three-day download times.