Re: RealThinClient SDK for Linux

So much about the financial aspect of RTC SDK as Open Source.

I've read extensively on how to make money on open source and for a library I've come to the conclusion (as many have) that for a library like yours the only real way is for dual licensing. Anyone using it for free in their product must make their product GPL (or whatever) as well, if you want to keep your application closed source then we have a closed source license you can purchase. I personally believe the record is clear by now that the pure OSS "paid support" path is an economic failure. It's not that people won't pay for support, it's whether you can actually make a living on that support. The ROI has traditionally not been good enough.

Source community, I would have achieved my goals set by making the RTC SDK Open Source. Unfortunatelly, I am still the only developer actively working on the RTC SDK.

This is another issue with OSS projects, they have to attain a very large following to attract just a few active developers. You get only a small group larger that actively "supports" the product by answering user questions on newsgroups or online forums. The vast majority just use the end product and if the project dies (original developer loses interest, whatever) they just look for a new free OSS project that they can use. For libraries programmers will either continue to support it as their own code, but don't try to revive the project, or just look for a new actively developed library they can use. I don't think 800 downloads is enough to garner active developers and active online supporters. I'd try to increase that number significantly which might best be done by getting involved in the JEDI or Lazarus/FPC communities (perhaps getting the RTC SDK into the components folder that ships with Lazarus even). This would bring your tools into a much wider audience that is more likely to a) contribute to development and b) contribute to support. With OSS it's all about the numbers, you have to find a way to keep those numbers high and increasing regularly, and then financial success may well follow. If you haven't been to www.follars.com I'd recommend it. They have a pretty exhaustive list of the different strategies that have paid off and haven't paid off financially.

/Ron

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